The next morning the papers contained an account of the proceedings with
glaring headlines, the account in the _Trumpet_ being the fullest and
most sympathetic and giving a picture of the "great labor-leader,
Wringman, the idol of the workingman," who had, by "his courage and
character, his loftiness of purpose and singleness of aim, inspired them
with courage to rise against the oppression of the grinding corporation
which, after oppressing them for years, had attempted by a trick to
delude them into an abandonment of the measures to secure, at least,
partial justice, just as they were about to wring it from its reluctant
hand."
It was a description which might have fitted an apostle of
righteousness. But what sent my heart down into my boots was the
republication of the inserted portion of my article on the delayed train
attacking Mr. Leigh. The action of the meeting was stated to be
unanimous, and in proof it was mentioned that the only man who opposed
it, a young man evidently under the influence of liquor, was promptly
flung out. I knew that I was destined to hear more of that confounded
article, and I began to cast about as to how I should get around it.
Should I go to Eleanor Leigh and make a clean breast of it, or should I
leave it to occasion to determine the matter? I finally did the natural
thing--I put off the decision.
Miss Eleanor Leigh, who had worked hard all the day before despatching
baskets to the hundreds of homes which her kind heart had prompted her
to fill with cheer, came down to breakfast that morning with her heart
full of gratitude and kindness toward all the world. She found her
father sitting in his place with the newspapers lying beside him in some
disorder and with a curious smile on his face. She divined at once that
something had happened.
"What is it?" she asked, a little frightened.
For answer Mr. Leigh pushed a paper over to her and her eye fell on the
headlines:
HONEST LABORING MEN RESENT BRAZEN
ATTEMPT AT BRIBERY
LABOR LEADER'S GREAT APPEAL FOR JUSTICE
LABOR DEMANDS ITS DUES
"Oh, father!" With a gasp she burst into tears and threw herself in her
father's arms.
"That is the work of Canter and his partner, McSheen," said Mr. Leigh
grimly.
It was not the only house in which the sending back of her baskets
caused tears. In many a poor little tenement there was sore weeping
because of the order--in not a few a turkey had not been known for
years. Yet mainly the order was obeyed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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