They Call Me Carpenter: A Tale of the Second ComingSinclair, Upton
General
They Call Me Carpenter: A Tale of the Second Coming
Sinclair, Upton
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Fiction; Jesus Christ -- Fiction
To which Carpenter replied: “I tell you that if these men should
hold their peace, the stones of your jail would immediately cry
out!” And he turned, and looked up and down the streets of the city,
and suddenly I saw that he was weeping. “Oh, Mobland, Mobland! If
you had known even at this time the way of justice! But the way is
hid from your eyes, and you will not see it, and now the hour is
coming, the horrors of the class war are upon you, ruin and
destruction are at hand! Your towers of pride shall fall, your own
children shall destroy you; they shall not leave you one stone upon
another, because you knew not the time for justice when it came.”
The doors of the jail opened again, and three or four more policemen
came out, with clubs in their hands. “Get along, now!” they said
roughly, and began poking the prophet and his disciples in the back;
they poked them down the stairs and along the street for a block or
so--until they were sure the ears of the jail inmates would no
longer be troubled by offensive sounds. But still they did not
arrest them, and I marveled, wondering how long it could go on. I
had an uneasy feeling that the longer the climax was postponed, the
more severe it would be.
There was quite a crowd following us now, hoping that something
sensational would happen. And presently a woman saw us, and rushed
into the house, and came out leading a blind man, and appealing to
Carpenter to restore his sight; and when he stopped to do this,
there were a couple of newspaper men, and an operator with a camera,
and more excitement and more crowds! So we started to walk again,
and came to Main Street, which in our city is given up to ten cent
picture-shows, and pawn-brokers, and old clothes shops, and
eating-stands for workingmen. A block or so distant we saw a mass of
people, and something warned me--my heart sank into my boots.
Another mob!
XLVII
There was shouting, and people running from every direction. The
throng would surge back, and a few run from it. “What's the matter?”
I cried to one of these, and the answer was, “They're cleaning out
the reds!” Comrade Abell, who knew the neighborhood, exclaimed in
dismay, “It's Erman's Book Store!”
“Who's doing this?” I asked of another bystander, and the answer
was, “The Brigade! They're cleaning up the city before the
convention!” And Comrade Abell clasped his hands to his forehead,
and wailed in despair, “It's because they've been selling the
'Liberator'! Erman told me last week he'd been warned to stop
selling it!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account