r months is about to
come. You know that young Chittenden, the English inventor, has been
experimenting with a machine that will do the work of five men. They
have been trying to force him to join the union, but he has refused,
having had too many examples of unionism in his own country to risk
his independence here. Well, I received a letter from the general
manager this morning. Either Chittenden must join or go; otherwise the
men will go out September first."

"What shall you do?"

"I shall keep Chittenden. I am master there," striking the arm of his
chair; "master in everything. If they go out in September, it will be
for good. I shall tear down the shops and build model tenements."

"John!"

"I am sick and tired, dear. I have raised the wages all over the
district; my men work less than any other hands in town. I have built
a gymnasium for them, given them books, pool-tables, and games, to say
nothing of the swimming-tank. I have arranged the annual outings. I
have established a pension-list. But all this seems to have done no
good. I am at the end of the rope. Oh, the poor devils who work are
all right; it's the men outside who are raising all this trouble; it's
the union, not the men. There's no denying the power these men can
wield, for wrong or right. Ignorance can not resist the temptation to
use it at all times and for all purposes. But I am master at the
Bennington shops; injustice shall not dictate to me. They'll use it
politically, too. After all, I'm glad I've told you."

"But, John, I'm afraid for you. They may hurt you."

John answered with a sound that was more of a growl than a laugh.

"Don't you worry about me, honey; I'm no weakling. I wish Dick could
be with me when the fight comes, but he will have his hands full, and
the strike will not help him any. Don't you worry. Father always felt
that there would be trouble some day. He held a large bundle of
bank-stock and railroad bonds, and the income from these alone will
take care of us very comfortably. There's a good deal of real estate,
too, that may be reckoned on. If the crash does come, we'll pack up,
take the mother, and go abroad for a year or so. But before I'm done
I'll teach local unionism a lesson it will not forget soon. Don't you
worry," he repeated again; "you just leave it to me."

She did not speak, but kissed his hand. She knew that no pleading
could move him; and besides, he was in the right.

"I don't understand the lukew