d present in
the grim strength and rapidity of several machines which moved almost
as if instinct with intelligence, and played with the most unyielding
substances as if they were soft and pliable clay. In the midst of all
the smashing of matter against matter, through the smoke and din and
dust and revolution of the place, Mr. Hardy was more than usually alive
this morning to the human aspect of the case. His mind easily went
back to the time when he himself stood at one of these planers and did
just such work as that big Norwegian was doing, only the machines were
vastly better and improved now. Mr. Hardy was not ashamed of having
come along through the ranks of manual labour. In fact, he always
spoke with pride of the work he used to do in that very shop, and he
considered himself able to run all by himself any piece of machinery in
the shops. But he could not help envying these men this morning.
"Why," he said, "probably not one of them but has at least seven weeks
to live, and most of them seven months or years, while I-- Why should
these men complain because they are not released from toil? Isn't toil
sweet when there is a strong body and a loving wife and a happy home?
O God!" he continued to think, "I would give all my wealth if I might
change places with any one of these men, and know that I would probably
have more than a week to live."

Mr. Hardy walked back to his office, leaving the foreman in a condition
of wondering astonishment.

"Something wrong in his works, I guess," muttered Burns.

Mr. Hardy sat down to his desk and wrote an order, releasing all the
men who desired to attend Scoville's funeral in the afternoon. He did
not have it in his power to do more, and yet he felt that this was the
least he could do under the circumstances. The more he thought of
Scoville's death the more he felt the cruel injustice of it. The
injuries were clearly accidental; but they might have been avoided
with proper care for human life. Robert Hardy was just beginning to
understand the value of humanity.

He worked hard at the routine of his office until noon. He did what
seemed to him the most necessary part of it all with conscientious
fidelity. But his mind, a good part of the time, was with the men in
the shops. He could not escape the conviction that if a railroad
company had the willingness to do so, it could make the surroundings of
their men safer and happier without getting poorer work, or even