"A public funeral might prove dangerous to the Magnates," observes Metz. "Our modern rulers have profited by the experience of the ancients." Promptly at two o'clock Trueman arrives at the hall. The committee on resolutions present him with their petition. "I shall do all that I can to make the Company appreciate the condition in which you are placed. You may depend upon it, there will be work for you before Christmas," Trueman assures them at parting. "We shall want an answer by to-morrow morning at ten o'clock," the miners urge in chorus. Harvey Trueman leaves for Wilkes-Barre on the mission of appealing to the humanity of the Coal Magnates. Miners' wives and children stream to the Town Hall, to receive their bread and rations. It is at such times as these, where the miners are ruthlessly shut out of the mines, that the highest value of the Miner's Union is demonstrated. From the slender treasury, which is enriched only by the pennies of the miners during their weeks of employment, the money is drawn to purchase the rations that must be had to keep the miners and their families from actually starving when they can no longer buy from the company store. To supplement the rations distributed by the Union, the Hazleton miners have a small supply of medicine. This is as important as food. The medicine chest was given them by Sister Martha, the ministering angel of the mines. Martha Densmore was the daughter of Hiram Densmore, who had owned great tracts of the coal lands. He had been forced out of the industry by refusing to enter the combine which resulted in the formation of the Coal Trust. At the time of his death, of all his fortune there remained but a small part. Mrs. Densmore had not survived her husband a year. Martha was left an orphan. She has an income of $6000, and could live a life of idleness did she so desire. But it was her purpose from girlhood to be always on missions of charity. She had loved Harvey Trueman. They had been schoolmates, and would undoubtedly have wed had not the wreck of Densmore's fortune been accomplished just as Trueman was leaving college. Gorman Purdy had been quick to perceive the calibre of the young man and had brought him into the Paradise Company. With father and mother dead, and with her heart's longing unappeased, Martha determined to join a sisterhood, and devote her entire time to ministering to the poor and the sick. The suffering of the miners of Hazleton attracts her sympathy and she has come to the town from Wilkes-Barre. It is her presence in the town hall that makes even Sheriff Marlin curb his blasphemous tongue. Her calm face, which wears an expression of contentment, if not of happiness, is a solace to the miserable men and women who come to ask for medicine. She always has a word of cheer.