ch.
But because you're not she will strike for one of them rose-water snobs
on Algonquin Avenue." Sam writhed, and his wheedling tormentor
continued, watching him like a ferret. "Perhaps she has struck for one
of them already--perhaps--oh, I can't say what may have happened. I
hate the world when I see such doin's. I hate the heartless shams that
give labor and shame to the toilers and beauty and luxury to the
drones. Who is the best man," he asked, with honest frankness, "you, or
some high-steppin' snob whose daddy has left him the means to be a
loafer all his days? And who would the prettiest girl in Buffland
prefer, you or the loafer? And you intend to let Mr. Loafer have it all
his own way?"

"No, I don't!" Sam roared, like a baited bull. "Ef any man crosses my
path, he can find out which is the best man."

"There, that's more like you. But what can you do alone? That's where
they get us foul. The erristocrats, the money power, all hang together.
The laborin' men fight singly, and alwuz get whipped. Now, we are goin'
to change that. We are goin' to organize. Look here, Sam, I am riskin'
my head in tellin' you this--but I trust you, and I like you, and I'll
tell you. We _have_ organized. We've got a society in this town pledged
to the cause of honest labor and against capital--for life or death. We
want you. We want men of sand and men of sense, and you've got both.
You must join."

Sam Sleeny was by this time pretty well filled with beer and wrath. He
felt himself in a certain sense bound by the weighty secret which
Offitt had imparted to him and flattered by his invitation. A few
touches more of adroit flattery, and the agitator's victory was
complete. Sleeny felt sore and tired to the very heart. He had behaved
like a brute to the girl he loved; he had been put clearly in the wrong
in his quarrel with her, and yet he was certain that all was not well
with either of them. The tormenting syllogism ran continually through
his head: "She is the prettiest woman in the world--rich fellows like
pretty women,--therefore--death and curses on him!" Or sometimes the
form of it would change to this: "He is rich and handsome--girls like
men who are rich and handsome,--therefore------," the same rage and
imprecations, and the same sense of powerless fury. He knew and cared
nothing about Offitt's Labor Reform. He could earn a good living by his
trade no matter who went to Congress, and he hated these "chinny
bummers," as he