THE RISING OF THE TIDE THE STORY OF SABINSPORT BY IDA M. TARBELL New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919 All rights reserved ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright, 1919 By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published, March, 1919 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE RISING OF THE TIDE HOW THE WAR CAME TO SABINSPORT CHAPTER I "The town is going to the Devil, and the worst of it is nobody will admit it. You won't. You sit there and smile at me, as if you didn't mind having Jake Mulligan and Reub Cowder pry open ballot boxes. You know those two birds are robbing this village every hour of the day. Nobody with pep enough to sit up and fight 'em. Rotten selfishness, that's what ails this town. People getting rich here and spending their money in the city. Women won't even buy their hats here--starving the stores. Can't support a decent theater--don't bring a good singer once a year. Everybody goes to the city, and we have to feed on movies. "Try to raise an issue, and you get laughed at. Treated like a kid. Tell me to 'cut it out,' not disturb things. Nice place for a man who'd like to help a community! I'm going to get out. Can't stand it. Honest, Dick, I'm losing my self-respect." "Wrong, Ralph. You're spoiling for a fresh turn with the muck rake. You can't make a garden with one tool. You must have several. I'm serious. You're like the men in the mines that will tackle but one job, always swing a pick. The muck rake did its job in Sabinsport for some time. You've got to pass on to the next tool." "I don't get you. You're like all the rest. You're lying down. I'm ashamed of you, Parson. Get out of here. You'll end in corrupting me." "No, only persuading you that taking a city calls for more weapons than one."