Mayor Duty, what do you
advise us to do?"
The Mayor was nervous as he replied, "Mr. Burns and members of the
committee, I confess that so many thousands of honest and upturned faces
of workingmen move my heart. If I were able it would give me pleasure
first to ask you all to partake of a good meal, for more satisfactory
business is usually accomplished after people are well fed. You ask my
advice. Here, gentlemen of the committee, is Colonel Harris, your
employer, let him speak to you."
Memories of a wife and three babies at home, dependent for bread upon his
own earnings at the forge, flashing upon the mind of Colonel Harris,
sweetened his spirit and softened his voice, so that he spoke briefly and
kindly to the committee, repeating, however, what his manager had told
the committee at ten o'clock, viz., "that the present bad condition of
the steel market would not permit the company to grant the advance of
wages they asked."
The committee, aware of the large profits of former years, sullenly
retired, and after the company's decision had been communicated to the
anxious thousands below, the employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel
Co. slowly returned to their homes.
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