th of milk-tickets, and I can't get a dam'ed penny of
it," said Tappan. He gave the sheet of paper he held a vicious
crumple and flung it to the floor, whence little Willy Eddy timidly
and softly gathered it up. "Gettin' up at four o'clock in the
mornin'," continued the milkman, in a cursing voice, "an' milkin' a
lot of dam'ed old kickin' cows, and gittin' on the road half-dead
with sleep, to make a present to whelps like him, goin' to the City
dressed up like Morgan hisself, ridin' to the station in a carriage
he 'ain't paid for, with a man drivin' that can't git a cent out of
him. Talk about coal strikes! Lord! I could give them miners points.
Strikin' for eight hours a day! Lord! what's that? Here I've got to
go home an' hay, if it _is_ Sunday, to git enough for them dam'ed
cows to eat in the winter! Eight hours! Hm! I work eighteen an' I
'ain't got anybody over me to strike again', 'cept the Almighty, an'
I ruther guess He wouldn't make much account of it. Guess he'd starve
me out ef I quit work, and not make much bones of it. I _can_ stop
peddlin' milk to sech as Carroll, but the milk sours, an' hanged if I
know who suffers most. Here's my wife been makin' dam'ed little
pot-cheeses out of the sour milk as 'tis, and sellin' 'em for two
cents apiece. They're hangin' all over the bushes tied up in little
rags. She's got to work all day to-day makin' butter to save the
cream, and then I s'pose I've got to hustle round and find somebody
to give the butter to. Carroll ain't the only one. I wish they all
had to work as hard as I do one day for the things they git for
nothin', the whole bilin' lot of 'em. He's the worst, though. What
business did he have settlin' down on us here in Banbridge, I'd like
to know? If he'd got to steal to feather his nest, why didn't he go
to some other place, confound him?" The milkman's voice and manner
were malignant.

The barber looked at him with some apprehension, but he spoke, still
holding his razor aloft. "Now I rather guess you are jumpin' at
exclusions too hasty, Mr. Tappan," said he, in an anxiously pacific
voice. "I don't know about them dividends Mr. Lee's talkin' about.
Captain Carroll, he gave me a little dip." The barber winked about
mysteriously. "He told me he'd tell me when to come in, and he ain't
told me yet, but I ain't no disprehension, but he's all right.
Captain Carroll is a gentleman, he is." Flynn's voice fairly quivered
with affectionate championship. There were te