knew at once
that he had made no mistake. He had noticed when he called that morning
that the bell upon the door had once done service in the cab of a
locomotive, and had made a note of the fact. While Mrs. Cowels hushed
the baby her husband answered the bell and when Mr. Hawkins gave his
name and made his wants known, Cowels told him shortly that they did not
keep lodgers. He knew that, he said, and that was one of the reasons why
he was so anxious to come, but Cowels, who liked to show his authority
at all times, shut the door, and the stranger was not taken in.

That night when the orator was dreaming that he had been chosen Grand
Master of the Brotherhood, his wife stole out of the room and put the
things in Bennie's sock, and then, just to please Bennie, she put a
rubber rattle in the baby's little stocking. Her husband, being a great
thinker, would not consent to having his hosiery hung up, so she would
wait till breakfast time and hide the gloves under his plate. Then she
went over to tuck the cover in around Bennie. He was smiling--dreaming,
doubtless, of red sleds and firecrackers--and his mother smiled, too,
and kissed him and went back to bed.

CHAPTER FIFTH

It was a rough, raw, Chicago day. The snow came in spurts, cold and
cutting from the north and the scantily dressed strikers were obliged to
dance about and beat their hands to keep warm. Special mounted police
were riding up and down the streets that paralleled the Burlington
tracks, and ugly looking armed deputies were everywhere in evidence. The
forced quiet that pervaded the opposing armies served only to increase
the anxiety of the observing. Every man who had any direct interest in
the contest seemed to have a chip on his shoulder.

At ten o'clock the strike was to be extended to all connecting lines,
the switching yards and stock yards. When the hour arrived the switchmen
threw up their caps and quit. Now the different companies made an effort
to replace the strikers and trouble commenced. The deputies, who had
been aching to get a whack at the strikers for countless cursings which
they had received, now used their guns unmercifully upon the unprotected
heads of the men, and the police, who disliked and refused to associate
with the deputies, used their clubs upon all who resisted them. By
eleven o'clock the whole city was in a state of riot and men bruised and
bleeding were loaded into wagons and hurried away until the jails were
fill