neighboring towns, who had come to the surface from
nobody knew where, were beginning to exercise a wholly unexpected
authority. They were going from place to place, haranguing the workmen,
preaching what they called socialism, but what was merely riot and
plunder. They were listened to without much response. In some places
the men stopped work; in others they drove out the agitators; in others
they would listen awhile, and then shout, "Give us a rest!" or "Hire a
hall!" or "Wipe off your chir!" But all the while the crowds gradually
increased in the streets and public places; the strike, if it promised
nothing worse, was taking the dimensions of a great, sad, anxious
holiday. There was not the slightest intention on the part of the
authorities to interfere with it, and to do them justice, it is hard to
see what they could have done, with the means at their disposal. The
Mayor, therefore, welcomed Farnham with great cordiality, made him a
captain of police, for special duty, on the spot, and enrolled his list
of recruits of the night before as members of the police force of the
city, expressly providing that their employment should cost the city
nothing, now or hereafter.

Farnham again made his rounds of the city, but found nothing especially
noteworthy or threatening. The wide town, in spite of the large crowds
in the streets, had a deserted look. A good many places of business
were closed. There was little traffic of vehicles. The whistle of the
locomotives and the rush of trains--sounds which had grown so familiar
in that great railroad centre that the ear ceased to be affected by
them--being suddenly shut off, the silence which came in their place
was startling to the sense. The voices of the striking employees, who
retained possession of the Union Passenger Depot, resounded strangely
through the vast building, which was usually a babel of shrill and
strident sounds.

On the whole, the feature which most struck him in this violent and
unnatural state of things was the singular good-nature of almost all
classes. The mass of the workingmen made no threats; the greater number
of employers made no recriminations. All hoped for an arrangement,
though no one could say how it was to come. The day passed away in
fruitless parleys, and at night the fever naturally rose, as is the way
of fevers.

When nightfall came, the crowd had become so great, in the public
square that Farnham thought it might be better not to march