Every horse must
be shod, and every tire set in his own way. He heated, hammered, and
tempered steel just as he liked, and if anybody objected he replied, "Go
elsewhere then." To have one's own way in life is often an expensive
luxury. In his first great mill strike Colonel Harris lost most of his
skilled labor and the profits of half a year. His own hands and those of
James Ingram became callous in breaking in new employees.
Gertrude had arrived on the evening of the third day of the strike, and
had busied herself in unpacking her trunk. She knew her father too well
to talk much to him about the strike. While waiting in the drawing-room
for her father, knowing that George was too busy to come to her, she had
written to her lover as follows:--
At Home
_My Darling George_,--
I wish you were here safe by my side. How I hate strikes, they are so
like a family quarrel on the front porch. Everybody looks on in pity,
husband and wife calling each other names, and breaking the furniture,
and innocent little children fleeing to the neighbors for protection.
Strikes are simply horrid. Can't you stop it? Labor and capital are
like bears in a pit with sharpened teeth tearing each other's flesh.
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