t a
free agent, as we talked I began to see that he was mentally superior
to the average of his kind. He agreed with Peter Donnelly that Jackson
should have got damages, and he went farther and called the action
heartless and cold-blooded that had turned the worker adrift after he
had been made helpless by the accident. Also, he explained that there
were many accidents in the mills, and that the company's policy was to
fight to the bitter end all consequent damage suits.

"It means hundreds of thousands a year to the stockholders," he said;
and as he spoke I remembered the last dividend that had been paid my
father, and the pretty gown for me and the books for him that had been
bought out of that dividend. I remembered Ernest's charge that my
gown was stained with blood, and my flesh began to crawl underneath my
garments.

"When you testified at the trial, you didn't point out that Jackson
received his accident through trying to save the machinery from damage?"
I said.

"No, I did not," was the answer, and his mouth set bitterly. "I
testified to the effect that Jackson injured himself by neglect and
carelessness, and that the company was not in any way to blame or
liable."

"Was it carelessness?" I asked.

"Call it that, or anything you want to call it. The fact is, a man gets
tired after he's been working for hours."

I was becoming interested in the man. He certainly was of a superior
kind.

"You are better educated than most workingmen," I said.

"I went through high school," he replied. "I worked my way through doing
janitor-work. I wanted to go through the university. But my father died,
and I came to work in the mills.

"I wanted to become a naturalist," he explained shyly, as though
confessing a weakness. "I love animals. But I came to work in the mills.
When I was promoted to foreman I got married, then the family came, and
. . . well, I wasn't my own boss any more."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"I was explaining why I testified at the trial the way I did--why I
followed instructions."

"Whose instructions?"

"Colonel Ingram. He outlined the evidence I was to give."

"And it lost Jackson's case for him."

He nodded, and the blood began to rise darkly in his face.

"And Jackson had a wife and two children dependent on him."

"I know," he said quietly, though his face was growing darker.

"Tell me," I went on, "was it easy to make yourself over from what you
were, say in high sch