"These countless farms seen from this mountain top resemble garden plots, distinguishable from each other by vegetation varying in tints from the dark green of the maize to the brilliant gold of barley, rye, and oats. Over the billowy grain, cloud shadows chase each other as if in play. Grazing herds are on every hillside and in all the valleys."

Gertrude's words were music to George's ear. Her voice and the magnificent landscape charmed him. When released from the spell he said, "Yes, dear, you have this day hung a never-to-be-forgotten picture in my memory. I shall always remember the arching elms, white gables, college towers, and spires pointing heavenward that mark the towns in this historic and lovely intervale. I seem to hear far off sounds of busy people, thrifty mills, and successful railways. These reveal the secret of New England's power at home and abroad. The greatness of this people springs from their respect for, and practice of, the virtues so long taught in their schools and churches; viz., honesty, industry, economy, love of liberty, and belief in God. Here can be found inspirations for poet, painter, and sculptor."

How glorious the picture as the two young lovers looked out upon the world of promise! It was well thus, for much too soon in life, humanity experiences the same old story of unsatisfied ambitions and weary struggles after the unattainable.

Thus a happy summer afternoon was enjoyed till the sun hid his face behind the western hills. Clouds floated low on the horizon, revealing behind the gold and purple to ambitious souls the indistinct outlines of a gorgeous temple of fame; and birds of rich plumage among the mountain foliage were lulled to sleep by their own sweet songs.

"Life without Gertrude," thought George, "would prove a failure." Then taking her white hand in his, he whispered, "I love you, dearest, with all my heart, and you must be my wife."

"George," she replied, "in a thousand ways you have shown it. I have known your heart ever since we studied together at the high school. My own life has been ennobled by contact with yours." Her voice and hand trembled as she added, "Yes, George, my life and happiness I gladly place in your sacred keeping, and I promise purity and loyalty for eternity."

Then George opened the little case which he had brought from New York, and gave Gertrude a ring containing two diamonds and a ruby, which surprised and delighted her. She placed it on her first finger, saying, "George, we will advance this crystal pledge to the third finger just as soon as we get the consent of father and mother."

Gertrude had found on a former trip some purple crystals on the mountainside, and had had two unique emblems of their love made in New York City. George pinned upon Gertrude a gold star set with a purple amethyst, a tiny cross and a guard chain being attached, and she gave George a gold cross set with an amethyst, the guard pin being a tiny star and chain. Before midnight the two happy lovers had joined the mother and Lucille in New York, and at the close of the week all had returned to Harrisville.



CHAPTER XII

THE STRIKE AT HARRISVILLE

Labor strikes are terribly disagreeable things to encounter whether in the daily routine of steel mills and railways, or in the kitchen before breakfast on blue Monday. Especially inconvenient are strikes in steel mills when the order books are full as were those of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. That the company had large orders could not possibly be concealed. Vast quantities of ore, limestone, and coke were being delivered daily at the mills. Never were more men on the pay-roll, and all the machinery of the gigantic plant was crowded to its utmost night and day. That business had improved was evident to everybody.

In love and war all things are fair, and the same principle, or lack of it, seems to control most modern strikes. No doubt what young Alfonso Harris told his mother on the steamer was true, that the labor agitators were advised of Reuben Harris's plan to sell the steel plant to an English syndicate. Souls of corporations decrease as the distance between labor and capital increases, and naturally American employees oppose foreign control of every kind.

For more than a year the employees had accepted reduced wages with the understanding that the old scale should be restored by the company as soon as times improved and the business warranted. That the employees had timed their strike at an opportune moment was apparent even to stubborn Reuben Harris. It was galling indeed to his sensitive nature and proud spirit that his project of selling the steel plant for millions should have failed.

As he kissed his wife good-bye on the steamer in New York, her last words were, "Reuben, stand up for your rights." Her avaricious spirit had always dominated him.

Before Reuben Harris left his city office for his home he had arranged, in addition to the precaution taken by the mayor, to dispatch to the mills and homes of his employees twenty-five special detectives in citizens' clothes, who were to keep him fully advised as to the doings of his employees about the mills and in their public and private meetings. He had given his men no concessions in a previous strike which lasted for months. He would neither recognize their unions nor their demand for shorter hours.

It was true he had risen to be a millionaire from the humble position of a blacksmith, but he was always severe in his own shop. 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. Of what use is our so-called civilization if it permits such brutal scenes? George, the lion in father is again aroused. There is no telling what he will do this time.

It was cruel of the employees to stop his sale to the English syndicate. Something terrible is going to happen. I feel it. I dreamed about it last night before I left Niagara. You must counsel moderation. I am so glad mother is not here to counsel severity. In the morning I shall put my hand on father's arm, and say, "Father, I have been praying for God to help you."

I read in the Evening Dispatch that the employees claimed an increase of their pay because promised by the company when times improved; that the company now flatly refused to restore the old wages; that the mayor of the city had sent fifty policemen to guard the mills, and that the 4000 employees in an enthusiastic public meeting had resolved to continue the strike.

George, you are in a very trying position. The company of course depends on your loyalty, and the employees also have great confidence in your fairness. What can you do? If disloyal to the Company, you lose your position. What more can I do, except to pray!

Above all, my dear, be loyal to your conscience and do right. Be just. Come and see me at your earliest possible moment.

Your own loving

Gertrude.

Gertrude's brave letter reached George before ten o'clock the next morning, and greatly cheered him. He was never more occupied, but he snatched a moment to say in reply:

Office of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.

Dearest Peacemaker,—

Glad for your heroic letter. It sings the peace-song of the angels. I shall be guarded in my words and actions. Good things, I hope, will result from all this terrible commotion. I confess I see only darkness ahead, save as it is pierced by the light of your love.

We have a thousand men this morning building a fence eight feet high around our works. It looks like war to the knife under the present policy. Of course I can't say much till my opportunity comes, if it ever does.

Believe me, darling Gertrude,

Wholly yours,

George.

The note was dispatched by special messenger. Its receipt and contents gave comfort to Gertrude.

Colonel Harris left his breakfast table almost abruptly. One egg, a piece of toast, and a cup of coffee were all he ate. It was an earlier meal than usual which the Swiss cook had prepared, and by half past six Colonel Harris started from home to his office, Gertrude from her chamber window kissing her hand to him, saying, "Keep cool, father!"

By seven o'clock he and his capable manager were busily using the two office telephones. Before nine o'clock, all the teams of several lumber firms were engaged in hauling fence posts, two by four scantling, and sufficient sixteen foot boards to construct a fence eight feet high about the entire premises of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.'s plant.

This early action of the company for a time confused the strike managers, as they could not divine whether Colonel Harris in a fit of despair planned to fence in and close down his mills, or, perhaps, once getting his plant enclosed, purposed to eject all members of labor organizations, and again as in a former strike, attempt to start his plant with non-union labor.

The leader of the strike was a brawny man with full beard, unkempt hair, and a face far from attractive. "Captain O'Connor," as the labor lodges knew him, was the recognized leader of the strike. He was not an employee at the steel mills, but an expert manager of strikes, receiving a good salary, and employed by the officers of the central union. At 2:30 o'clock a secret meeting of the officers of the several labor lodges and Captain O'Connor was held behind closed doors. All were silent, when suddenly O'Connor rose and began to denounce capital, charging it with the robbery of honest labor.

"Behold labor," he said, "stripped to the waist, perspiring at every pore in the blinding heat of molten iron, shooting out hissing sparks. Pleasures for you laborers are banished; your wives and children are dressed in cheap calicoes; no linen or good food on your tables, and most of you are in debt."

This and more Captain O'Connor said in excited language. Finally he shouted, "Slaves, will you tamely submit to all this indignity and not resent it? The managers of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. are tyrants of the worst sort. They are fencing you out to-day from the only field on which you can gain bread for your starving wives and children.

"Reuben Harris cares more for his gold than for your souls. Since you refuse him your labor on his own terms, he purposes by aid of the high fence and bayonets to forbid every one of you union men from earning an honest living."

The strike committee decided to call a public meeting of all the employees of the steel works on the base-ball grounds at 7 o'clock the next morning. All the saloons that night were crowded, and loud denunciation of capital was indulged in by the strike leaders. Early the next morning a band of music marched up and down the streets where the employees resided, and by 7 o'clock nearly four thousand men had gathered.

The chief spokesman was Captain O'Connor whose words evoked great cheering. He said, "Friends, we meet this morning to strike for our freedom. How do you like being fenced out from your work? What will your families do for a roof when the snows come and you have no bread for your children? We are assembled here not for talk, but for action. I hold in my hand a resolution which we must pass. Let me read it: 'Resolved, that we, the employees of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., having been driven out of our positions by a soulless corporation which promised a return to former wages when the times improved, will not re-engage our services to the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. till the promised restoration of wages is granted." This resolution was unanimously carried, with hurrahs and beating of the drums.

"Bravo men! Here is another resolution for your action," and Captain O'Connor read it as follows: "American citizens! In the spirit of brotherly love we appeal to you citizens and taxpayers of Harrisville for fair play. Four years ago the employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. bowed before the law, and we should continue to do so had we not discovered that the law, the judges, and the government seem to be for the rich alone. But we prefer liberty to slavery, and war to starvation. Again we lay down our tools and seek to arouse public sympathy in our behalf. Again we plead the righteousness of our cause, and may the God of the poor help us."

This resolution was carried with shouts and the throwing up of hats. The band began playing, and the procession headed by Captain O'Connor and his assistants moved forward.

A third of the sober-minded of the employees soon dropped out of the procession, while three thousand or more, many of them foreigners, were only too glad to escape the everyday serfdom of a steel plant. All were armed with clubs and stones. When O'Connor from the hill-top looked back upon the mob that filled the street down into the valley and far up the opposite hill, his courage for a moment failed him.

"What shall I do with this vast army?" he said to himself. Just then the employees made a rush for the company's furnaces by the riverside, filling the yards and approaches, shouting "Bank the fires! Down with capital!"

The big engines were stopped and the furnaces were left to cool. Frightened faces of women and children filled the door-ways and windows of the many little brown houses on the hillside. Success emboldened the strikers whose numbers were now greatly augmented. Again the band played and the strike managers shouted, "Forward!"

The route taken was along an aristocratic avenue where the wealthy resided. Windows and doors were suddenly closed, and the terrified occupants forgot their riches, their diamonds, and their fine dress, and thought only of safety. Vulcans of the steel works, each armed with a club, occupied the avenue for two miles. Evidences of hunger and vengeance were in their faces and sadly worn garments were on their backs.

Prominent citizens now hurried to the mayor's office, where the chief executive was found in conference with some of the labor leaders. The mayor was told that unless he acted promptly in restoring peace and protecting property, a citizens' committee of safety would be organized, that he would be placed under arrest, and the mob driven back. At once the mayor sent one hundred policemen in patrol wagons in pursuit of the rioters. The latter had already battered down the great doors of the screw-works, and hundreds of employees, men, women, and children, were driven out of the factory. The president of the company was beaten into insensibility. Adjacent nail works were ordered to close and all employees were driven into the streets. Finally, near night, the strikers were subdued by platoons of police and forced to return to their homes.

The mayor issued his riot act, which was printed in all the evening papers and read as follows:

TO THE CITIZENS OF HARRISVILLE AND THE PUBLIC GENERALLY.

In the name of the people of the State of Ohio, I, David A. Duty, Mayor of the City of Harrisville, do hereby require all persons within the limits of the City to refrain from unnecessary assemblies in the streets, squares, or in public places of the City during its present disturbed condition, and until quiet is restored, and I hereby give notice that the police have been ordered, and the militia requested to disperse any unlawful assemblies. I exhort all persons to assist in the observance of this request.

David A. Duty.

Mayor.

The mayor telegraphed to the governor for troops. The governor responded promptly, and ordered the First Brigade to be in readiness, and to report at 5 A.M. next morning in Harrisville, with rifles, cannon, Gatling and Hotchkiss guns and ammunition. Orderlies went flying through the city with summons that must be obeyed. The signal corps flashed their green and red lights from the tower to distant armories. Ambulance corps hastened their preparation, packing saws, knives, lint, and bandages.

Imperative orders from general to colonels, to majors, to captains, to corporals tracked the militia men to their homes, and to their places of amusement. By midnight every military organization in Harrisville was under arms. The general with his staff was at his headquarters and ready for action.

Before sunset Colonel Harris had his steel mills enclosed by a high fortress-fence; many agents were dispatched to other cities to advertise for, and contract with, skilled labor for his mills. On his way home, he called again on the mayor, also at brigade headquarters, and satisfied himself that his property would be protected. In forty-eight hours five hundred new workmen had arrived, and in squads of from twenty-five to fifty they were coming in on every train.

Colonel Harris, experienced in strikes, knew just what to do. A great warehouse in the board enclosure was converted into barracks and supplied with beds, and kitchens, and an old army quartermaster was placed in charge. The new men on arrival were taken under escort of the soldiers to the barracks, and were rapidly set to work under loyal foremen.

In a single week Colonel Harris had secured over fifteen hundred new men. Smoke-stacks were again pouring forth huge volumes of smoke. The renewed and familiar hum of machinery was audible beyond the high board fence. This activity in the mills was to the old employees like a red flag flaunted before an enraged bull. Inflammatory speeches were the order of the hour. It was three o'clock on the eighth day of the strike, when three thousand of the old employees left their halls and marched directly to the steel mills. Hundreds of women and children joined the long procession.

The strike leaders in advance carried the American flag, and their band played the "Star Spangled Banner." Most of the men, and some of the women, carried clubs and stones. Radicals concealed red flags and pistols within their coats. Detectives reported by telephone the threatening attitude of the strikers to Colonel Harris at his home, to Manager Thomas at the mills, and to the mayor who ordered more police in patrol wagons to proceed immediately to the steel works. Following the police rode the Harrisville Troop, one hundred strong. Gertrude would not let her father go to the steel plant, so he sat by the telephone in his own house.

Captain Crager in charge of the fifty police on guard in and around the steel plant at once concentrated his force at the great gateway leading into the fenced enclosure. His men were formed in three platoons, the reserve platoon being stationed fifty feet in the rear. Captain Crager himself took position in the center of the first line. He had time only for a few words to his men. "The city expects each policeman to do his duty. No one is to use his revolver till he sees me use mine. Stand shoulder to shoulder, use your clubs, and defend the gateway."

Probably not one of his fifty men had ever read of the 300 Spartan heroes at Thermopylae, who for three days held at bay the Persian army of five millions. To pit fifty policemen against three thousand enraged strikers was too great odds. Captain Crager's orders were "to defend the property of the steel company." The reserve police force and troops en route might or might not reach him in time. The strikers purposed driving out of the mills all the non-union men, and taking possession. Nearer came the mob, determined to rule or ruin, O'Connor in the lead holding the Stars and Stripes. The last fifty feet of approach to the gateway, the mob planned to cover by a rush. On they came swinging their clubs and filling the air with stones.

Captain Crager and his platoons used their short iron-wood clubs vigorously. The strikers' flag was captured. O'Connor fell bleeding. Right and left, heads and limbs were broken. Women screamed and strong men turned pale. The whole mob was soon stampeded and the rioters fled like animals before a prairie fire. Those strikers who looked back saw the approach of more patrol wagons loaded with police, heard the clatter of horses' hoofs, and the heavy rumbling of artillery, and they knew that the city's reserve forces had arrived. A battery of Gatling guns at once wheeled into a strategic position. The police and troop occupied points of advantage, and soon the victory was complete.

Within thirty days over four thousand employees, mostly new men, were at work in the steel mills. Policemen and detectives, however, were still kept on duty. Colonel Harris was frequently congratulated on his second triumph, and orders for steel rails were again being rapidly filled.

Most of the strike leaders left the city, some threatening dire revenge. Many of the employees, who had lost their situations, were already searching for work elsewhere. All who were behind in their payments of rents due the company, were served with notices of evictment, as the tenements were needed for the new employees. Wives and children were crying for bread. In sixty days labor had lost by the strike over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and capital even more.

* * * * *

It was in August. The moon had set beyond the blue lake, and the myriad lights of heaven were hung out, as George and Gertrude alighted from their carriage in front of Colonel Harris's residence. They had been to the Grand Opera House, where they had witnessed Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream," beautifully played by Julia Marlowe and her company. Between the acts, George and Gertrude talked much of the strike, of labor troubles in general, and earnestly discussed the possible remedies.

Reuben Harris, who had awaited their return, hearing the carriage drive up, extended a cordial welcome. His hand was on the knob of the front door, which stood half open, when the sky above the steel mills suddenly became illuminated and deafening reports of explosions followed. The door, held by Harris, was slammed by the concussion against the wall, the glass in the windows rattled on the floor, the ground trembled, Harris seized George's arm for support, and Gertrude's face was blanched with fear. Fire and smoke in great volumes were now seen rising above the steel plant.

George ran to the telephone, but before he could shout "Exchange," a call came for Colonel Harris from his night superintendent, who announced that the engines and batteries of boilers had been blown up, and that all the mills were on fire. The chief of police telephoned that he had sent one hundred more police to the mills; the chief of the fire department telephoned that ten steamers had been dispatched. George dropped the telephone, kissed Gertrude, and on the back of her Kentucky saddle horse flew into the darkness to direct matters at the mills as best he could.

The next morning's Dispatch contained two full pages, headed,

"The Deadly Dynamite!

Frightful Loss of Life, and Destruction of Property at The Harrisville Iron & Steel Plant.

"One hundred employees were killed outright, and hundreds more were wounded. All the mills were either burned or wrecked. Many women and children were also injured. Five hundred tenement houses were damaged, and the windows of most of the buildings within a half mile of the mills were badly broken."

Next morning the citizens of Harrisville were wild with excitement. Ringing editorials appeared in all the morning and evening journals declaring that "Lawlessness is anarchy," and that "Law and order must prevail."



CHAPTER XIII

TRIAL OF ANARCHY AND RESULTS

George Ingram had scarcely disappeared in the darkness, when Colonel Harris fully comprehending the terrible situation at his works telephoned the exchange to summon at once to his mills every physician and ambulance in the city.

The Colonel then ordered his carriage, and taking Gertrude, rapidly drove to the scene of the disaster. Great crowds had gathered, but the policemen, and the Harrisville Troop, already had established lines about the burning steel mills, beyond which the people were not permitted to pass. The police and fire departments were doing all in their power to save life and property.

Colonel Harris drove directly towards his office at the mills, but this he could not reach as policemen guarded every approach. The two story brick office had been completely wrecked by a huge piece of one of the fly-wheels, that had fallen through the roof.

The night watchman whose duty it was to enter the office hourly was killed, and his bleeding body was now being moved to a temporary morgue, which had been established in an adjoining old town-hall. Already over fifty mangled forms had been brought in and laid in rows on the floor, and more dead workmen were arriving every moment.

The mayor and Colonel Harris were everywhere directing what to do. Scores of the wounded were hurried in ambulances to a large Catholic Church, an improvised hospital. Here were sent physicians, volunteer nurses, beds, and blankets. Fortunately the seats in the church, being movable, were quickly carried into the streets, and on beds and blankets the suffering men were placed, and an examination of each wounded person was being made. Names and addresses were taken by the reporters, and ambulances began to remove the severely injured to the city hospitals.

Colonel Harris left Gertrude to minister to the wounded in the church, and sought out Wilson his manager, and George Ingram. Everybody worked till daylight. Many wounded and dead men, and women and children were brought up to the morgue and hospitals from the wrecked tenements that stood near the exploded mills. Several bodies of the dead workmen, and the wounded who could not escape from the burning works were consumed. When the sun rose on that dreadful scene, thousands of workmen and their families and tens of thousands of sympathizers witnessed in silence the awful work of anarchists. At daylight Colonel Harris rode with George and Gertrude home to breakfast.

In the evening press a call for a public meeting at 8 o'clock next morning of the prominent citizens resulted in the forming of an emergency committee of one hundred earnest men and women to furnish aid to the afflicted and needy work-people. The most influential people of Harrisville were enrolled on this committee, which to be more thoroughly effective was subdivided. Every house occupied by the mill-people was visited, and every injured person was cared for.

The women on the committee visited the hospitals and for a time became nurses ministering to every want. Money and abundance of food were also contributed, and such kindness on the part of the rich the work-people had never known before.

The evening papers gave the authoritative statement that the total number of those killed outright by the explosions at the steel mills was one hundred and twenty-seven. Of this number eighty-six were workmen, fourteen were men who lived in the vicinity, but were not employed in the mills, ten were women, and seventeen were children. The total number of wounded was sixty-eight.

A public funeral was decided upon by the committee. The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. sent their check for $5000 to the committee and many others contributed money. The time fixed for the public services was Sunday at 2 o'clock. Ten separate platforms for the clergy and church choirs of the city had been erected on the same open fields where the great strike meetings had so often been held. By 1 o'clock people began to assemble. Workmen came from all parts of the city, till over fifty thousand laborers with their wives were on the ground. Most wore black crepe on their arm.

Fifteen minutes before 2 o'clock solemn band music gave notice to the crowd of the approach of an imposing procession. Platoons of police led the column who were followed in carriages by the mayor, his cabinet, and the city council; then another platoon of police, followed by a long line of hearses, the black plumes of which seemed to wave in unison with the solemn tread of over a thousand workmen, acting as pall-bearers, walking in double file on either side of their dead comrades.

It was some moments before the speaking could begin. By concerted action all the clergy preached on the "Brotherhood of Mankind," the text used being, John XV.-12. "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." The speakers were moved by the Holy Spirit. The services closed with the hymn, "Nearer my God to Thee."

The funeral procession was several miles in length. Public and private buildings along the route to the cemetery were draped with the emblems of mourning. Twenty-five of the bodies were given private burial. Over one hundred of the victims of the dynamite disaster were buried in one common grave. Together they had died, and together they were buried. The mantle of charity covered them.

Soon after the funeral, the press contained an account of a great meeting held by the surviving workmen of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., and of resolutions that were unanimously adopted:—

"Resolved, That we, the surviving workmen of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., hereby desire to express our deep sympathy with the bereaved families of our late comrades in toil.

"That further we desire to contribute from the pay-roll due us the wages received for two days' services, the same to be paid to the emergency committee, one-half the proceeds of which is to apply to the relief of the bereaved workmen's families, the balance to be used for the purpose of erecting suitable monuments over the graves of our unfortunate comrades.

"Resolved, That we, employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., extend our sympathy to the company in their great financial loss.

"That we hereby declare ourselves as law-abiding citizens, and that we neither directly, nor indirectly, were connected in any manner with the late dynamite explosions and fires which destroyed the plant of The Harrisville Iron & Steel Co., and we denounce those acts as dastardly and inimical to the best interest of labor and civilization."

Following the resolutions were appended the signatures of over four thousand workmen. It was also voted that the resolutions, and names attached, should be printed in the press of the city, and that a copy should be delivered to the president of the steel company. This action freed the atmosphere of distrust, and business in Harrisville returned to its accustomed ways.

At a meeting of the directors of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. it was voted "Not to rebuild our mills at present." Manager Wilson was instructed at once to so advise the employees, also to dispose of all the manufactured stock and raw material on hand, and to clean up the grounds of the old mill site.

Colonel Harris remembered the action of Herr Krupp of Germany when a letter once reached him, threatening to destroy with dynamite his vast works at Essing. Herr Krupp immediately called a meeting of his tens of thousands of workmen, and read the letter to them, and then said, "Workmen, if this threat is executed, I shall never rebuild." This settled the matter.

The city council of Harrisville and the county commissioners offered rewards for the arrest and conviction of the dynamiters. The sum was increased to $10,000 by the steel company, and notices of these rewards were mailed far and wide.

By aid of an informer of the band of conspirators, Mike O'Connor and his confederates were arrested as they were about to embark for South America. In the hotly contested trial it was disclosed that O'Connor had directed the placing of dynamite beneath engines and boilers before the high board fence was constructed about the works, that electric wires to ignite the dynamite had been laid underground from the mills to an old unused barn, nearly half a mile distant, and that O'Connor was seen to come from the barn just after the explosion. Within two months after the arrest, the whole band were convicted and sentenced for life to hard labor in the penitentiary.

It was decided that Colonel Harris and Gertrude should soon sail to rejoin Mrs. Harris and party in England, and notice of this decision was cabled next day to them at London. The colonel was busy examining carefully George Ingram's detailed drawings of a new, enlarged, and much improved plan for a huge steel plant. The improvements were to be up to date, and his plans involved an entirely new process of converting ores into steel. It was agreed that George and his father, James Ingram, should perfect their inventions on which both for a long time had been zealously at work, and that later George and the colonel should make a tour of observation of leading iron and steel works in Europe.

Gertrude was now very happy. The selled together, concerning the proper relations of capital and labor, and since the explosion they studied the question more earnestly than ever. Their scheme involved not only improved works in a new location, but also a plan to harmonize, if possible, capital and labor, which they hoped might work great good to humanity. Gertrude told George Ingram that his golden opportunity had come, and she resolved to render him all the assistance possible.



CHAPTER XIV

COLONEL HARRIS FOLLOWS HIS FAMILY ABROAD

Gertrude's receipt for growing oranges in a northern climate was as follows: Let a child hold a large and a small orange in her hands, and give away the large orange, and the smaller will begin to grow until, when eaten, it will look bigger and taste sweeter than the large fruit given away. "Try it!" Gertrude often said.

That was the principle by which Gertrude Harris was always acting. If she had flowers, fruit, books, pretty gifts, or money, her first thought always was, "How can I make somebody happy?" With such a generous soul, part nature's gift and part acquired by self-sacrifice, the life of Gertrude was as buoyant and happy as the birds in a flower garden.

The decision of Gertrude's father to take her and meet his family in Europe was not known in Harrisville except to a few. Most of the colonel's friends supposed that he was busy planning some new business adventure, in which he might employ his surplus capital and his undoubted business abilities. Because of the recent calamity, and the hardships of the employees in connection with their strike, he thought it unwise to make public mention of his future projects.

The more Gertrude meditated upon her father's plan, the more dissatisfied with herself she became. The idea of going to Europe and leaving George behind was unendurable. He needed rest more than she. True, he was to follow later, but she wanted him to cross the ocean on the same steamer, and she earnestly desired that the one she loved best should share all of her enjoyments. It was, perhaps, a test of her love that she constantly longed to lose herself in him, or better, possibly, to find herself in him.

Two days before the date fixed for their sailing, as George left the Harris home, Gertrude was urging him to accompany her and her father, when he ventured to say, "Gertrude, this is what would please me immensely, take my sister May with you. I will gladly pay her expenses. And when your summer's travel is over, I want May to study music abroad."

"Capital!" said Gertrude. "Both you and your sister May shall join our party. Please don't say another word on the subject, nor tell father, till we meet tomorrow evening," and she kissed him an affectionate good-night.

The next evening before the stars shone; Gertrude sat on the piazza anxiously awaiting him, for she had good news for her lover. Gertrude's white handkerchief told him that she recognized his coming, though he was still two blocks away. How light and swift the steps of a lover; though miles intervene, they seem but a step. An evening in Gertrude's presence was for George but a moment. The touch of her hand, the rustle of her dress, and the music of her voice, all, like invisible silken cords, held him a willing prisoner. The love he gave and the love he received was like the mating of birds; like the meeting of long separated and finally united souls.

"George, this is your birthday and the silver crescent moon is filled to the brim with happiness for you and May. Yesterday I had a long talk with father, and I asked him to let me stay at home and to take your sister May to Europe. What do you think he said, George? Never did my father so correctly read my heart. He drew me closely to him, and while I sat upon his knee, said: 'Daughter, I have decided that it is wise, even in the interests of my business, to take George with us.' He also said that I might invite your sister May to go, and that he would pay all the expenses. Oh, how I kissed him! I never loved my father so much before. Here, George, is a kiss for you. Aren't you glad now, that you, and your sister May are going with us? No excuses, for you are both going surely."

"If it is settled, Gertrude, then it is settled, I suppose, but how do you think May and I can get ready in so short a time to go to Europe?"

"Well, George, you can wear your new business suit, and in the morning, I will go with May and buy for her a suitable travelling dress and hat. In Europe we can procure more clothes as they are needed."

Gertrude was now very happy. The dream of her life was to be realized. She wanted George near her as she traveled, so each could say to the other, "Isn't it beautiful?" That is half of the pleasure of sight-seeing. The small orange kept by Gertrude had doubled in size, and she never before retired with so sweet a joy in her soul. That night she slept, and her dreams were of smooth seas, her mother, Lucille, and George.

It is needless to say that May Ingram was overjoyed. She had been fond of music from her childhood, and had given promise of rare talents. She had taken lessons for two years in vocal and instrumental music in the best conservatories in Boston, George paying most of her expenses. For six years May had been the soprano singer in the highest paid quartette in Harrisville. Though she occasionally hoped for a musical education abroad, yet these hopes had all flown away. Her parents could not aid her, and she had resolved not to accept further assistance from her generous brother. At first she could not believe what George told her, but when the reality of her good fortune dawned upon her, taking George's hand in both of hers, she pressed it to her lips and fell upon his shoulder, her eyes flooding with tears.

"Well, May," said George, as he kissed her, "can you get ready by noon tomorrow?"

"Ready by noon? Ready by daylight, George, if necessary."

That night was a busy, happy time for the Ingrams. So much of ill-luck had come to the father, and so much of household drudging to the faithful mother, that work and sacrifice for the children had ploughed deep furrows across the faces of both Mr. and Mrs. Ingram. Opportunities for advancement now opening for their children, both parents found the heavy burdens growing lighter.

Before sunrise George and May had packed two small trunks, by ten o'clock Gertrude and May had made necessary purchases, and the two o'clock express quickly bore the second contingent of the Harris family towards New York, which was reached the night before their steamer's date of sailing.

For some reason, perhaps because the elements of superstition still lurked in the mind of Colonel Harris, he decided not to stop any more at the Hotel Waldorf. It had brought him ill-luck, so his party was driven to the tall Hotel Plazza which overlooks the Central Park.

Fortunately George had inherited a talent for untiring investigation and the power of close observation. His reasoning faculties also were excellent. Besides his education, gained in a practical school at Troy, George, with, his father, James Ingram, had made many experiments, mostly after business hours; each experiment was numbered and the various results had been carefully noted. Before leaving Harrisville his investigations were all drifting towards great possible changes in the production of iron and steel. He was glad to take this trip to Europe, as it might afford him opportunity to verify or change some of his conclusions. He resolved to use every moment for the enlargement of his powers.

After bidding May and Gertrude good-night, he told the colonel that he should now take the Elevated Railway for the steamer "Campania," as he wished to observe at midnight the firing of the great battery of boilers of the steamer; and that he would return in time for breakfast with the party. "Let eight o'clock then be the hour, George," and the capitalist and his trusted superintendent separated for the night.

The elevated railway was not swift enough to carry George Ingram to Pier No. 40, so anxious was he to see the midnight fires started in the hundred furnaces of one of the two largest steamers afloat. It was fifteen minutes to twelve o'clock when he reached the dock, and provided with a letter of introduction to the chief engineer, he hurried as fast as possible to the officer's cabin.

The young engineer's night ashore had been spent at the opera, and, advised of George Ingram's visit, he had promptly returned to the steamer. Mr. Carl Siemens, engineer, was a relative of Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited, the great electrical and telegraph engineers of London. His education had been thorough, and he was very proud of his steamer the "Campania," especially of the motive power, which he helped to design. He gave young Ingram a cordial greeting.

For two hours they examined and talked of mechanism for ships and mills, and they even ventured to guess what the earth's motive power might be. It was now five minutes of midnight. The chief furnished Ingram an oversuit and the young engineers dropped through manholes and down vertical and spiral ladders into the cellar of the steamer, the bottom of which was thirty feet below the water level.

"The 'Campania,'" said Siemens, "has a strong double bottom that forms a series of water-tight compartments which, filled with water, furnish ballast when necessary. On the second steel or false bottom of the steamer, fore and aft, are located the boilers, furnaces, and coal-bunkers. We have fourteen double-ended boilers, fitted longitudinally in two groups, in two water-tight compartments, and separated by huge coal-bunkers. Each boiler is eighteen feet in diameter and seventeen feet long. The thickness of the steel boilerplate is 1-17/32 inches. Above each group of boilers rises 130 feet in height a funnel nineteen feet in diameter, which, if a tunnel, would easily admit the passage of two railway trains abreast."

George saw the fires lighted, and when the furnaces required more coal, suddenly a whistle brought fifty stokers or firemen, the automatic furnace doors flew open, and a gleam of light flooded everything. Long lances made draft-holes in the banks of burning coal, through which the air was sucked with increasing roar. The round, red mouths of the hundred craters snapped their jaws for coal, which was fed them by brawny men whose faces were streaked with grimy perspiration, and their bodies almost overcome by heat. The hundred furnaces are kept at almost white heat from New York to Liverpool.

"Four hours on, and four hours off, and the best quality of food are some of the recent improvements," said Siemens.

George Ingram shook his head, and his heart ached as he witnessed the stokers, and resolved to do his utmost to mitigate the hardships of labor. "What are the duties of the stokers?" inquired George.

"Our stokers," replied Siemens, "must be men of strength and skill, for they both feed and rake the fires. The ashes and slag must be hoisted and dumped into the ocean, and twice an hour, as the gauges indicate, fresh water is let into the boilers. Daily the boilers convert into steam over a hundred tons of water, which, condensed, is used over and over again."

"What quantity of coal do you use?"

"About three hundred tons per day, or an average of nearly two thousand tons per voyage. The coal carrying capacity of the "Campania," however, when needed as an armed cruiser, can be greatly increased."

Siemens led Ingram to see the gigantic cranks, and propeller shafts. Each of the several cranks is twenty-six inches in diameter and weighs 110 tons; the shafts made of toughest steel are each twenty-four inches in diameter, and each weighs over 150 tons. The propellers are made of steel and bronze, and each of the six blades of the two screws weighs eight tons. It was now past two o'clock and George thanked Mr. Siemens and said he should be pleased to examine further his department when at sea. It was past three o'clock when George turned off his gas at the hotel.

At eight o'clock the next morning the Harrises met promptly at breakfast. Promptness was one of Reuben Harris's virtues, and fortunately all his party were agreed as to its absolute necessity, especially when several journey together, if the happiness of all is considered.

"George's eyes look like burnt holes," whispered May to Gertrude.

Overhearing his sister's remark, George added: "Yes, May, and they feel worse after my two hours last night in the stokehole of the 'Campania.'"

"We thought after our long railway ride and the concert yesterday, that you would gladly welcome a little sleep," said Gertrude.

"I did sleep four hours, Gertrude, but my owl-visit to the steamer was highly instructive, and when we get to sea, you all will be delighted to help me complete the study of the marine engines on the 'Campania.'"



CHAPTER XV

A SAFE PASSAGE AND A HAPPY REUNION

Gertrude and May never knew what happiness was before. One maiden had her lover, and the heart of the other was pledged to music. George too was happy in Gertrude's happiness and joyous in his own thoughts that perhaps he had already entered upon his life work, the development of plans which would bless humanity. Colonel Harris's chief joy was that he had earned a rest, was soon to see the absent members of his family, and to behold the work of men in Europe.

People crowded the gangway, the same as on a previous occasion when duty forced him suddenly to leave the "Majestic." It was almost two o'clock; visitors were no longer admitted to the steamer, except messengers with belated telegrams, mail, packages, and flowers for the travelers. On the bridge of the "Campania" stood the uniformed captain and junior officers. The chief officer was at the bow, the second officer aft. The captain, notified that all was ready, gave the command, "Let go!" and the cables were unfastened. The engineer started the baby-engine, which partially opens the great throttle-valves, the twin-screws began to revolve, and the "Campania," like an awakened leviathan slowly moved into the Hudson River. Hundreds on both the pier and steamer fluttered their handkerchiefs, and through a mist of tears good-byes were exchanged, till the increasing distance separated the dearest of friends.

For twenty-four hours George Ingram was seen but little on deck. Most of his time he spent with Carl Siemen, the engineer. The colonel took great delight as the escort of two appreciative young ladies. Before the voyage ended every available part of the "Campania" was explored.

Gertrude was surprised to find an engineer so cultivated a gentleman. He was surrounded in his oak-furnished office by soft couches, easy chairs, works of art, burnished indicators and dials. Mr. Siemen received his orders from the captain or officer on the bridge by telegraph.

"It's mere child's play," said May, "and as easy as touching the keys of a great organ."

Mr. Siemen now conducted his friends into the engine-room. "It is not easy to imagine the tremendous force of the two swiftly turning screws or propellers exerted against the surging waters of the Atlantic," he said. "Our 30,000 horse power engines, a horse power is equal to six men, equal 180,000 strong men pulling at the oars, or twice the number of men that fought at Gettysburg to perpetuate the American Union."

"Wonderful!" said Colonel Harris.

"Steam guided by command of the officer on the bridge, with slightest effort, also steers our immense steamer."

"Mr. Siemen, tell us please how the steamer is lighted?" said George.

"We have fifty miles of insulated wire in the "Campania" for the electric current generated by our two dynamos, which give us 1350 sixteen-candle power lights, equal to a total of 22,000 candle power, absorbing 135 horse-power. We also use large electric reflectors and search lights to pick up buoys on a dark night. All our machinery is in duplicate.

"At night when the broad clean decks of hardwood are illuminated with electric lights and filled with gay promenaders, you easily imagine that you are strolling along Broadway."

The accommodations and appointments of staterooms, of all the large public rooms, and especially the dining-room, are perfect. A week on the Atlantic, with the joyous bracing sea-air of the summer months, and surrounded as you are by a cosmopolitan group of people, passes as delightfully as a brief stay at the ocean side.

The passage of the "Campania" from Sandy Hook Light to Queenstown was made in less than five and one-half days, 5 days, 10 hours, and 47 minutes, or at an average speed of 21.82 knots per hour, the highest day's run being 548 knots. At Queenstown Colonel Harris received telegrams and letters from his family saying that they would meet him at Leamington, and that Alfonso would meet his father at Liverpool.

Reuben Harris wired his wife when his party expected to arrive. It was ten o'clock in the morning when the S.S. "Campania" arrived in the Mersey off Alexandra dock, and the company's tender promptly delivered the passengers on the Liverpool Landing Stage.

Gertrude was first to single out Alfonso, whose handkerchief waved a brother's welcome to the old world. Alfonso was the first to cross the gangway to the tender, and rushed to his friends. The greeting was mutually cordial. The father embraced his boy, for he loved him much and still cherished a secret hope that his only son might yet turn his mind to business. Alfonso seemed specially pleased that George and his sister May had come, for he had frequently met May Ingram and her singing had often charmed him.

May was about his own age. As Alfonso helped her down the gangway to the deck, he thought he had never seen her look so pretty. She was about the size of his sister Lucille; slender, erect, and in her movements she was as graceful as the swaying willows. May's face was oval like that of her English mother. She had an abundance of brown hair, her eyes were brilliant, and her complexion, bronzed by the sea-breezes, had a pink under-coloring that increased her beauty. If Alfonso's eyes were fixed on her a moment longer than custom allows, perhaps he was excusable, for portrait painting was his hobby, and he fancied that he knew a beautiful face.

Alfonso was all attention to his friends in clearing the baggage through the customs and getting checks for Leamington. After lunch, at the fine railway hotel, the two o'clock express from Lime Street station was taken, and Colonel Harris and party became loud in their praises of John Bull's Island, as they sped on, via Coventry with her three tall spires, to the fashionable Spa, where the Harris family were again to be reunited. It was six o'clock when Alfonso alighted on the platform. "Here they are, mother, I have brought them all; father, Gertrude, George, and May."

The Leamington meeting was a happy one. The sorrow of separation is often compensated by the joys of reunion. Mrs. Harris embraced her husband as if he had returned a hero from the wars. In fact, he had emerged from a conflict that brought neither peace nor honor to capital or labor.

Lucille too was enthusiastic. She, who was haughty, rarely responsive, and often proud of her father's wealth, for the time assumed another character and warmly welcomed her sister Gertrude and Gertrude's intended husband as "brother George." Leo too was glad to make new acquaintances. Eight joyous people attracted the attention of many at the station.

Fortunately, the next day was Sunday, which gave time for rest, for review of the past few exciting weeks, and for the development of future plans of travel. Much was told of the Harris trip through Ireland and of the last week spent in the south of England.

Lucille described to Gertrude and May Stonehenge, hanging stones,—the wonder of Salisbury Plain, where stand the ruins of the Druid temple—three circles of upright moss-grown stones with flat slabs across their tops, in which it is supposed the sun was worshiped with human sacrifices. Many burial mounds are scattered about. A broad driveway, a mile in extent, surrounds the temple, where possibly great processions came to witness the gorgeous displays. In early Britain the Druid priests held absolute sway over the destinies of souls. These priests were finally overpowered by the Romans, and some of them burned upon their own altars.

"But, Lucille, you wrote that you planned to visit Osborne House."

"Yes, dear, we did go to the Isle of Wight, and saw Osborne House, Queen Victoria's home by the sea, as Balmoral is her summer home among the mountains of Scotland. Her Majesty's palace is surrounded by terraced gardens, nearly five thousand acres of forests, pastures, and fertile meadows. Osborne House is furnished with much magnificence, mosaic flooring, costly marbles, statuary, paintings, books, and art souvenirs.

"There the queen and Prince Albert painted, sang, and read together. Those were happy days indeed for the young rulers of a kingdom. Each of their children had a garden. The Prince of Wales worked in a carpenter's shop, and the royal princesses learned housework in a kitchen and dairy prepared for them." This was a revelation to Lucille, who had been reared with little or nothing to do.

Lucille told Gertrude and May that she had just been reading the early life of the queen, who said, "If one's home is happy, then trials and vexations are comparatively nothing." The queen also said, "Children should be brought up simply and learn to put the greatest confidence in their parents." Lucille continued, "The queen often visited her people, bringing toys for the children—a promise to a child she never forgets—and gifts of warm clothing for the aged, to their great delight."

At a conference of the Harris family, it was decided to go to London after spending Monday in a carriage drive to Warwick and Kenilworth castles and Stratford-on-Avon. So Monday promptly at eight o'clock two carriages stood waiting at the hotel. Colonel Harris took Mrs. Harris, May Ingram, and Alfonso with him, and George Ingram took Gertrude, Lucille, and Leo in the second carriage.

There are few, if any, more magnificent drives in England than the one through the beautiful Stratford district. It is recorded that two Englishmen once laid a wager as to the finest walk in England. One named the walk from Coventry to Stratford, the other from Stratford to Coventry.

It was a delightful day and both the colonel and George entirely forgot business in their enjoyment of the loveliest country they had ever seen. A drive of two miles, from Leamington and along the banks of the historic Avon, brought them to Warwick Castle which Scott calls "The fairest monument of ancient and chivalrous splendor uninjured by the tooth of time." It is said that Warwick Castle was never taken by any foe in days gone by.

Our visitors drove over the draw-bridge through a gateway covered with ivy, and still guarded as of old, by an ancient portcullis. In the hall of the castle, pannelled with richly carved oak, are religiously guarded the helmet of Cromwell, the armor of the Black Prince, and many historic relics and art treasures. The drawing-room is finished in cedar. In former days guests were summoned to the great banqueting hall by a blare of trumpets. In the gardens is seen the celebrated white marble Warwick vase from Adrian's villa. Interwoven vines form the handles, and leaves and grapes adorn the margin of the vase. Superb views were had from the castle towers. In the Beauchamp chapel in the old town of Warwick repose the remains of Dudley, Earl of Leicester, one of Queen Elizabeth's favorites. She gave Leicester beautiful Kenilworth Castle, which is five miles distant.

As the carriages drove over the smooth road, beneath the venerable elms and sycamores, artists along the way were sketching. Both Alfonso and Leo tipped their hats, as members of a guild that recognizes art for art's sake, a society that takes cognizance of neither nationality nor sect.

Gertrude and George had read Scott's novel in which he tells of the ancient glories of Kenilworth, which dates back to the twelfth century, and to-day is considered the most beautiful ruin in the world. Ivy mantles the lofty ruined walls; the sun tinges in silver the gray old towers, and sends a flood of golden light through the deep windows of the once magnificent banqueting hall.

For years Kenilworth Castle was a royal residence, and later it was the scene of bloody conflicts between kings and nobles. Today sheep peacefully graze within the ruins and about the grounds. Visitors from all parts of the world look in wonder upon the decay of glories that once dazzled all Europe. Here the earl of Leicester entertained his virgin queen hoping to marry her. As Elizabeth crossed the draw-bridge a song in her praise was sung by a Lady of the Lake on an island floating in the moat. Story writers have never tired of telling of the magnificence of these entertainments that cost the ambitious earl $20,000 per day for nineteen days.

Returning, Warwick Arms Hotel was reached for lunch, after which the party drove eight miles to Stratford-on-Avon, a model town on the classic Avon. Here in Henley Street, in a half-timbered house recently carefully restored, Shakespeare was born. The walls and window panes are covered with the names of visitors, while inside are kept albums for the autographs of kings, queens, of Scott, Byron, Irving, and others. One of the three rooms below is an ancient kitchen, where by the big open chimney the poet often sat. Climbing a winding, wooden stairway, George and Gertrude in the lead, our Harrisville friends entered the old-fashioned chamber, where, it is said, on St. George's Day, April 19, 1564, William Shakespeare was born. A bust of the poet stands on the table.

"We know little of his mother," said Gertrude, "except that she had a beautiful name, Mary Arden. If it is true, as a rule, that all great men have had great mothers, Mary Arden must have been a very superior woman."

"The reverse, Gertrude, must be equally true," said George, "that all great women must have had great fathers."

Gertrude who had made a special study of Shakespeare and his works did much of the talking. She said, "All that is definitely known of the life of the great poet can be put on half a page. It is thought that William was the son of a well-to-do farmer who lost his property. William, not above work, assisted his father as butcher, then taught school, and later served as a lawyer's clerk. When he was eighteen, like most young people, he fell in love."

Saying this, Gertrude led to the street, and the party drove to Shottery, a pretty village a mile away, where is Ann Hathaway's thatched cottage. "Here the beardless William often came," said Gertrude, "and told his love to the English maiden. Ann Hathaway was older than William, she was twenty-six, but they were married, and had three children.

"When Shakespeare was twenty-five he was part owner of the Blackfriar's Theatre in London. There he spent his literary life, and there he was actor, dramatist, and manager. He became rich and returned occasionally to Stratford where he bought lands and built houses.

"If we can trust statues and paintings and writers, William Shakespeare had a kingly physique, light hazel eyes and auburn hair."

"What about his death?" inquired Colonel Harris.

"Of his death," said Gertrude, "we know little, save that the Vicar of Stratford wrote that Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Johnson had a merry meeting, possibly drank too much, and that Shakespeare died of a fever then contracted, on the anniversary of his birth, when he was fifty-two years old."

"And where was he buried?" inquired Lucille.

"In the Stratford church," answered Gertrude, and the carriages were driven up an avenue of arching lime trees. The old church, with its tall and graceful spire, reflected in the waters of the Avon, is a restful place for the body that contains the mightiest voice in literature. Near by also lie buried his wife and their children. A plain slab in the floor covers his remains.

Recently a new grave was dug near Shakespeare's and the intervening wall fell in. A workman ventured to hold a lighted taper in death's chamber, which revealed that the ashes of the immortal Shakespeare could be held in the palm of the hand. The Harris party drove back to Leamington to spend the night.



CHAPTER XVI

A SEARCH FOR IDEAS

Later on the Harrises spent considerable time in London staying at the Grand Hotel which occupies the site of the old Northumberland House on Trafalgar Square. They soon learned that the English matrons are devoted mothers, that they take long walks, dress their children simply, and that their daughters have fair complexions, are modest in manner, and are the pictures of health.

Many of the English women find time to study national questions, to organize "Primrose" and "Liberal Leagues," and to vote on municipal affairs. Miss Helen Taylor and other cultivated women have been elected members of the London school board, and aided in temperance reform.

While Alfonso, Leo, Lucille, and May were absent studying the artistic life of the metropolis, Mr. and Mrs. Harris, Gertrude, and George spent most of the day planning for the future. Reuben Harris and his wife had repeatedly talked over the Harrisville affair, and their trips in London where so many generations had lived and passed away had given both clearer ideas of life.

"At best," thought the colonel, "life seems short indeed." More than once he admitted to his wife that his early privations had made his life in Harrisville selfish and inconsiderate, that the questions of higher civilization were involved in the vigorous efforts of humanity for a closer brotherhood, and that if God permitted him he would lend a helping hand.

Mrs. Harris, naturally proud, was slow to respond to the colonel's new ideas, but he felt that under Gertrude's generous influences his wife would prove a help rather than a hindrance. Mrs. Harris knew that Gertrude and George, who had received a broad education, were ambitious to do good, and besides she trusted and loved them both.

It was clear to George and Gertrude that little or no hindrance would be offered to wise plans of usefulness. It was finally agreed that Colonel Harris and George should spend a week or two visiting some of the great industrial centers of Europe, and that Alfonso and Leo should accompany the ladies to Paris, and then visit the haunts of the old portrait painters of the Netherlands.

It was also decided by George and Gertrude that they would be married in Paris. This made the two lovers happy; for soon the two diamonds and ruby would be advanced to the ring finger, as promised by Gertrude on Mt. Holyoke. Each felt that an inexpensive marriage in Paris would be a fortunate escape from possible criticisms at home. Colonel Harris had promised Gertrude a special gift of a thousand dollars for the approaching nuptials, she to do what she desired with the money. So she decided to use only one-fourth of the gift for herself, to send one-half of it to the Relief Society, and the balance to two ladies' benevolent societies of Harrisville.

The discussion of these plans made the last night in London a happy one. Happiness comes when we warm the hearts near us. When selfishness leaves the heart, the dove of peace enters. Early next morning at the Victoria Station, Colonel Harris and George saw their friends off for Paris. The route taken was the one via the London, Chatham & Dover Railway, an hour's run to Dover, thence in the twin steamer "Calais-Dover," an hour and a half's ride across the English Channel to Calais, and from Calais via railway to Paris, capital of the French Republic.

Then Reuben Harris and George Ingram left Victoria Station to pay their respects to Henry Bessemer, civil engineer, who lived at Denmark Hill south of London. They desired to study the conditions which make the British people powerful. Both were aware that England was richly stored with the most serviceable of all minerals, coal and iron, in convenient proximity; that her large flocks of sheep supplied both wool and leather; that Ireland had been encouraged in the cultivation of flax; that the convenience of intercourse between mother country and her neighbors, especially America, had enabled England to engage largely in the manufacture of the three textile staples, wool, flax, and cotton. But material resources are only one element in great industrial successes. Both labor and capital are equally essential.

Englishmen have strength and skill. In delicate and artistic manipulation, however, the Englishman may be surpassed, but he possesses in a rare degree great capacity for physical application to work, also tremendous mental energy and perseverance. Most of the world's valuable and great inventions, as successfully applied to the leading industries, were made by the English.

Though England has neither gold nor silver mines, yet for centuries she has commanded vast capital. Her trading enterprise, which has made the Englishman conspicuous round the world, existed long before the Norman conquest. Helpful and consistent legislation has also favored British industries. Besides, England enjoyed a good start in the race with foreigners. Surplus English capital of late has been employed in promoting foreign industry, and the interests of England as a rival may suffer.

Reaching the station at Denmark Hill, the colonel and George drove at once to Bessemer's home. It is doubtful if England has forty acres, owned by a private citizen, more tastefully laid out and adorned, with forests, lawns, and flowers.

Henry Bessemer was tall and well formed, and looked the ideal Englishman, as he gave cordial welcome, in his large drawing room, to Colonel Harris and George Ingram. Evidences of his constructive skill and exquisite taste were seen on every hand, notably in his billiard room, conservatory, and astronomical observatory. The last contained a reflector telescope of his own design, that rivals the world-famed telescope of Lord Rosse. Both were soon charmed with Bessemer's manners and conversation.

George had read of this wonderful man who was born in 1813; between 1838 and 1875 he had taken out 113 patents, and the drawings of his own work made seven thick volumes. This record of Bessemer indicates an almost unrivalled degree of mental activity and versatility as keen observer, original thinker, and clever inventor.

His drawings showed patents in connection with improvements in engines, cars, wheels, axles, tires, brakes, and rails. Fifteen patents for improvements in sugar manufacture, patents for motors and hydraulic apparatus, for the manufacture of iron and steel, the shaping, embossing, shearing, and cutting of metals, for marine artillery, ordnance, projectiles, ammunition, armor plates, screw propellers, anchors, silvering glass, casting of type, patents for bronze powder, gold paint, oils, varnishes, asphalt pavements, waterproof fabrics, lenses, etc.

Mr. Bessemer's greatest invention, announced to the British Association at Cheltenham, in 1856, is his method of the manufacture of iron and steel without fuel, which started a new era in the iron trade. His name will be forever associated with the rapid conversion of pig iron into malleable iron and steel. By this process the price of steel per ton has been reduced from $160 to $25, a price less than was formerly paid for iron. Mr. Bessemer received the Telford and Albert gold medals and honors from sovereigns and societies round the world.

George said to Mr. Bessemer that he thought Lord Palmerston's definition, "dirt was matter out of place," was especially applicable to the undesirable elements in ores.

"Very true," replied Mr. Bessemer, "and the man who can clean the dirt from our ores, and produce the most desirable steel, at the least cost, is a great benefactor of humanity."

Mr. Bessemer's own story of his most important invention was very interesting. Practical iron men had said that it was an impossible feat to convert molten pig iron in a few minutes into fluid malleable iron, and then into available steel, and all this without additional fuel. But the genius and perseverance of Mr. Bessemer, aided by his practical knowledge of chemistry and mechanics, did it. It had long been known that, if a horseshoe nail were tied to a cord and the point heated to whiteness, the iron nail could be made to burn in common air by being whirled in a circle. The ring of sparks proved a combustion. Mr. Bessemer was the first however to show that if air was forced, not upon the surface, but into and amongst the particles of molten iron, the same sort of combustion took place.

Pig iron, which is highly carbonized iron from the blast furnace, was laboriously converted into malleable iron by the old process of the puddling furnace. Bessemer conceived the process of forcing air among the particles of molten iron, and by a single operation, combining the use of air in the double purpose of increasing temperature, and removing the carbon. The carbon of the iron has a greater affinity for the oxygen of the air than for the iron. When all the carbon is removed, then exactly enough carbon is added by introducing molten spiegeleisen to produce steel of any desired temper with the utmost certainty.

With the ordinary kinds of pig iron early in use, Bessemer's process was powerless. The old puddling process was more capable of removing phosphorus and sulphur. But with pig iron produced from the red hematite ores, practically free from phosphorus, Bessemer's process was a surprising success.

At once exploration began to open vast fields of hematite ores in the counties of Cumberland and Lancashire of England, in Spain, in the Lake Superior regions of North America, and in other countries. Bessemer wisely made his royalty very low, five dollars per ton; capital rapidly flowed into this new industry, and Bessemer won a fortune. Mushroom towns and cities sprung up everywhere and fortunes were made by many.

Mr. Bessemer himself vividly described his process in action: "When the molten pig iron is poured into mortar-like converters, supported on trunions like a cannon, the process is brought into full activity. The blast is admitted through holes in the bottom, when small powerful jets of air spring upward through the boiling fluid mass, and the whole apparatus trembles violently. Suddenly a volcano-like eruption of flames and red-hot cinders or sparks occurs. The roaring flames, rushing from the mouth of the converter, changes its violet color to orange and finally to pure white. The large sparks change to hissing points, which gradually become specks of soft, bluish light as the state of malleable iron is approached."

This very brilliant process, which includes the introduction and mixture of the spiegeleisen, may occupy fifteen minutes, when the moulds are filled, and the steel ingots can be hammered or rolled the same as blooms from a puddling furnace.

Mr. Bessemer explained many things, and offered many valuable suggestions. A remark of Mr. Bessemer to George Ingram led the latter to tell Bessemer a story which he heard in the smoking-room of the S.S. "Campania."

"Two Irishmen once tried to sleep, but could not for Jersey mosquitoes had entered their bedroom. Earnest effort drove the mosquitoes out, and the light was again extinguished. Soon Mike saw a luminous insect, a big fire-fly approaching. Quickly he roused his companion saying, 'Pat, wake up! Quick! Let's be going! It's no use trying to get more sleep here, there comes another Jersey mosquito hunting us with a lantern.'"

Mr. Bessemer was amused, and he ventured the assertion that when electricity could be as cheaply produced directly from coal as the light by the fire-fly, and successfully delivered in our great cities, the smoke nuisance would be effectually abated, all freight charges on coal would be saved, and coal operators could utilize all their slack at the mines.

"Do you think this possible?" inquired Colonel Harris.

"Oh, yes, quite possible," answered Bessemer, "our necessities beget our inventions and discoveries. Thorough investigation in the near future on this and kindred lines must be fruitful of astonishing results in the interests of a higher civilization." The colonel and George took their leave. Truly the fire-fly, like the whirling hot nail, is suggestive of great possibilities, thought George.

That evening it was planned to visit on the morrow the extensive telegraphic works of Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited. George retired to sleep, but his mind was never more active. On warm summer evenings he had often held in his hand glow-worms and studied them as they emitted bright phosphorescent light. He had learned that this faculty was confined to the female which has no wings, and that the light is supposed to serve as a beacon to attract and guide the male. The light proceeds from the abdomen, and its intensity seems to vary at will. He had also read of a winged, luminous insect of South America, which emits very brilliant light from various parts of its body.

When George reflected that under even the most favorable conditions there was realized in mechanical work of the energy stored in coal only 10%, he was convinced that the extravagant waste of 90% of energy was in itself sufficient argument against the present method as being the best possible. Ever since his graduation, he had believed that the greatest of all technical problems was the production of cheaper power. That it was the great desideratum in cities in the production of food, and in food transportation from farms to trunk lines, on railways and on the ocean.

While in America he had discussed the matter of cheaper power with Edison, Thompson, Tesla, and others.

George and his father, James Ingram, experimenting with chemical energy, had already discovered a galvanic element which enabled them to furnish electrical energy direct from coal and the oxygen of the air, but this important discovery was kept a secret. The chief object of George Ingram's visit abroad was to follow the footsteps of other great scientists and manufacturers to the edge or frontier of their discoveries and practical workings.

It was two o'clock that night before George could close his eyes, but promptly at 6:30 o'clock next morning he was ready for his bath and shave, and later he and the colonel ate the usual European breakfast of eggs, rolls, and coffee. The eight o'clock train was taken for the great works of Siemens Brothers & Co., Limited, which are located at Woolwich, down the Thames.

This firm, the pioneers of ship lighting by electricity, has already fitted out hundreds of vessels with electric lights. They also manufacture submarine and land telegraphs in vast quantities, having aided largely in enclosing the globe in a network of cables. All the Siemens brothers have shown much ability. Charles William was born at Lenthe, Hanover, in 1823, and has received high scientific honors. The world recognizes the valuable services that Dr. Siemens has rendered to the iron and steel trade by his important investigations and inventions.

Dr. Siemens, like Mr. Bessemer, labored to make iron and steel direct from the ores. By the invention of his regenerative gas furnace, which makes the high grade and uniform steel so desirable in the construction of ships, boilers, and all kinds of machines, Dr. Siemens has rendered signal service. This visit at Siemens Brothers & Co.'s works was of great interest, and many valuable ideas were gained.

Several days were next spent in Birmingham, and at the centers of steel making in northwest England. Birmingham is called the "Toy Shop of the World" for there almost everything is manufactured from a cambric needle to a cannon.

Colonel Harris and George Ingram studied the workings of the English "Saturday half-holiday," which employees earn by working an extra half-hour on the five previous days. A visit was made to the Tangye Bros. Engine Works at Soho, near Birmingham, which absorbed the engine works of Boulton and Watt. It was Boulton who said to Lord Palmerston visiting Soho, "Sir, we have here for sale what subjects of his Majesty most seek, viz., Power."

The Tangyes employ thousands of men, manufacturing engines and other products. Steam engines of all sizes, in enormous quantities are stored, ready at a moment's notice to be shipped broadcast. It was the invention of the powerful Tangye jack-screw that finally enabled the famous engineer Brunel to launch his "Great Eastern" steamship which he had built on the Thames, and which had settled on her keel.

Today the Tangye Brothers are fond of saying, "We launched the 'Great Eastern,' and the 'Great Eastern' launched us." One of the Tangye Brothers took the two Americans through James Watt's old home, and into his famous garret, where Watt invented the parallel motion and other parts of the steam engine. So important were Watt's engine inventions that he alone should have the honor of inventing the modern engine which has so elevated the race.

George was greatly interested in what the Tangye Brothers were doing for their employees. Instructive lectures by capable men were given weekly to their workmen, while they ate their dinners. Medical aid was furnished free, and in many ways practical assistance was rendered their working force.

After a most interesting journey among the steel firms, including Bocklow & Vaughn of Middleborough, John Brown at Sheffield, and others, Reuben Harris and George crossed over into busy Belgium, and thence they journeyed via historic Cologne to Westphalia, Germany. Here are some of the most productive coal measures on the earth, which extend eastward from the Rhine for over thirty miles, and here one wonders at the dense network of railways and manufacturing establishments, unparalleled in Germany.

At Essen are the far-famed Krupp Works, one of the greatest manufacturing firms on the globe. These works are the outgrowth of a small old forge, driven by water power, and established in 1810 by Frederick Krupp. His short life was a hard struggle, but he discovered the secret of making cast-steel, and died in 1828. Before his death, however, he revealed his valuable secret to his son Alfred, then only 14 years of age. After many years of severe application, Alfred Krupp's first great triumph came in 1851 at the London World's Fair, where he received the highest medal. At the Paris Exposition of 1855, as well as at Munich the year before, he also won gold medals.

Abundant orders now flowed in for his breech-loading, cast-steel cannons. In severe tests which followed, the famous Woolwich guns were driven from the field. The Krupp guns won great victories over the French cannon at Sedan, which was an artillery duel. At Gravelotte and Metz the Krupp guns surpassed all others in range, accuracy, and penetrating power, and Herr Alfred Krupp became the "Cannon King" of Europe. Americans remember well his gigantic steel breech-loading guns at the expositions held in Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Alfred Krupp, however, delighted more in improving the condition of his army of employees. He provided for them miles of roomy, healthful homes. He formed a commissariat, where his employees could secure at cost price all the necessaries of life. He also established schools where the children of his employees could receive education if desired in technical, industrial, commercial, and mechanical pursuits, and in special and classical courses as well. He devised a "Sick and Pension Fund," for disabled workmen, which scheme Emperor William II. has made a law of the German Empire. He likewise created life insurance companies, and widow and orphan funds. The golden rule has been Alfred Krupp's guiding star. He was always kind and considerate, and never dictatorial.

When asked to accept a title, he answered, "No, I want no title further than the name of Krupp." Alfred Krupp died July 14, 1887, in the 75th year of his age. His request was that his funeral should take place, not from his palatial mansion, but in the little cottage within the works, where he was born, which is to-day an object of great reverence to the 25,000 workmen who earn their daily bread in the vast Krupp foundries.

Alfred Krupp lived to see Essen, his native village, grow from a population of 4,000 to a busy city of 70,000, where annually hundreds of engines and steam hammers produce thousands of tons of steel castings and forgings. Alfred Krupp built his own monument in the vast mills and benevolences of Essen, a monument more useful and enduring than marble or bronze. His son Frederick Alfred Krupp, his successor, married the beautiful Baroness Margarette von Ende. Colonel Harris and George visited other great works in Europe, and finally started to rejoin their friends in Paris.



CHAPTER XVII

THE HARRIS PARTY VISITS PARIS

The distance is two hours from London to Dover. Half-way is Gad's Hill, famous as the residence of the late Charles Dickens. Further on is Canterbury, which is celebrated as the stronghold of Kentishmen and the first English Christian city. Its prime attraction of course is its fine cathedral, which in 1170 was the scene of Becket's murder.

Dover on the English Channel lies in a deep valley surrounded by high chalk hills. On one of these, which is strongly fortified, may be seen evidences of Norman, Saxon, and Roman works.

Every morning and evening the royal mail steamers leave Dover for Calais. The channel ride of twenty-one miles was made by the Harrises without the dreaded mal de mer. In the railway restaurant at Calais, Lucille volunteered to order for the party, but she soon learned, much to the amusement of her friends, that the French learned in Boston is not successful at first in France.

The express to Paris is through Boulogne, an important sea town of fifty-thousand inhabitants, which combines much English comfort with French taste. From there hundreds of fishing boats extend their voyages every season to the Scotch coast and even to far-off Iceland.

The scenery in the fertile valley of the Somme is beautiful. The route lies through Amiens, a large city of textile industries, thence across the Arve; the Harrises reached the station of the Northern Railway, in the Place Roubaix, in northern Paris as the sun faded in the west.

Carriages were taken for the Grand Hotel, Boulevard des Capucines, near the new opera house, which is centrally located, and offers to travelers every comfort. The carriages enter a court, made inviting by fountains, flowers, and electric light.

The first day or evening in Paris is bewildering. Early in the morning the Harrises drove along the inner and the outer boulevards that encircle Paris. Many miles of fine boulevards were built under Napoleon III. Most from the Madeleine to the July Column are flanked with massive limestone buildings, palatial mansions, and glittering shops, the architecture of which is often uniform, and balconies are frequently built with each story. Early every morning the asphalt and other pavements are washed. At midday a busy throng crowds all the main streets.

Parisians favor residence in flats, and they enjoy immensely their outdoor methods of living. At sundown the wide walks in front of brilliant cafes are crowded with well dressed men and women, who seek rest and refreshment in sipping coffee, wine, or absynthe, scanning the papers for bits of social or political news, and discussing the latest fad or sensation of the day. The English hurry but the French rarely.

Paris under electric light is indeed a fairyland. The boulevards are brilliant and the scenes most animating. Everybody is courteous, and all seen bent on a pleasurable time. Cafes, shops, and places of entertainment are very inviting, and you easily forget to note the passage of time. Midnight even overtakes you before you are aware of the lateness of the hour. This is true, if you chance to visit, as did the Harris party, some characteristic phases of Parisian life.

Near the east end of the Champs-Elysees, under the gas light and beneath the trees, they found open-air theaters, concerts, crowded cafes, and pretty booths supplied with sweets and drinks. Every afternoon if the weather is favorable, tastefully dressed children appear in charge of nursemaids in white caps and aprons, and together they make picturesque groups in the shade of elm and lime trees.

At breakfast, Leo proposed a study of Paris, as seen from the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, so named from the star formed by a dozen avenues which radiate from it. The location is at the west end of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. This monument is one of the finest ever built by any nation for its defenders. It is 160 feet in height, 145 in width, was begun in 1806 by Napoleon and completed thirty years afterwards by Louis Philippe. Figures and reliefs on the arch represent important events in Napoleon's campaigns. Arriving at the arch, Leo led the way up a spiral staircase, 261 steps to the platform above which commands fine views of Paris.

The Champs-Elysees, a boulevard one thousand feet in width, extends east over a mile from the monument of the Place de la Concord. Handsome buildings flank the sides, and much of the open space is shaded with elm and lime trees. Grand statues, fountains, and flowers add their charm. Between three and five o'clock every pleasant afternoon this magnificent avenue becomes the most fashionable promenade in the world. Here you will behold the elite in attendance at Vanity Fair; many are riding in elegant equipages, many on horseback, and almost countless numbers on foot.

The popular drive is out the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, 320 feet in width, to the Bois de Boulogne, a beautiful park of 2250 acres, containing several lakes and fringed on the west side by the River Seine. In the southwest part of this park is located the Hippodrome de Longchamp, which is the principal race-course near Paris, where races attract vast crowds, especially when the French Derby or the Grand Prix of twenty thousand dollars is competed for early in June.

The Harrises standing on the monument, looked eastward, and Leo pointed out the River Seine shooting beneath more than a score of beautiful stone and iron bridges, and making a bold curve of seven miles through Paris. Then the Seine flows like a ribbon of silver in a northwesterly direction into the English Channel. On the right bank is seen the Palais du Trocadero of oriental style, which was used for the International Exposition of 1878. On the left bank stands the Palais du Luxembourg, rich in modern French art, the Hotel des Invalides, where rests Napoleon, and the Church of St. Genevieve, or the Pantheon, where Victor Hugo is buried.

Beyond the Place de la Concord are the Royal Gardens of the Tuileries, where Josephine and Eugenie walked among classic statues, vases, fountains and flowers; the Louvre filled with priceless art treasures, the beautiful Hotel de Ville or city-hall, majestic Notre Dame, and the graceful Column of July. Paris is truly an earthly Paradise. For centuries it has been the residence of French rulers, and the mecca of her pleasure loving citizens. Fire, famine, foreign invasion, civil war, and pestilence have often swept over this, the fairest of cities, yet from each affliction, Phoenix-like, Paris has risen brighter and gayer than ever.

Gertrude, May, and Lucille were charmed with the fair vision before them, and were anxious to leave the Arch of Triumph and become a part of the gay city. The carriages drove back to the Place de la Concord, one of the finest open places in Europe. Around this place the chief cities of France are represented by eight large stone figures. That of Strasburg the French keep in mourning. In the center stands the Obelisk of Luxor, of reddish granite, which was brought at great expense from Egypt and tells of Rameses II. and his successor. Other ornaments are twenty rostral columns, bearing twin burners. On grand occasions this place and the avenue are illuminated by thirty thousand gas lights.

In the Place de la Concord the guillotine did its terrible work in the months between January 21st, 1793, and May 3rd, 1795, when thousands of Royalists and Republicans perished. Two enormous fountains adorned with Tritons, Nereids, and Dolphins beautify the court. No wonder the brilliant writer Chateaubriand objected to the erection here of these fountains, observing that all the water in the world could not remove the blood stains which sullied the spot.

How beautiful the vista up the broad and short Rue Royale, which conducts to the classic Madeleine! Alfonso was entranced with the beauty of this rare temple, which was begun and finally dedicated as a church, though Napoleon earnestly hoped to complete it as a temple of glory for his old soldiers. Its cost was nearly three million dollars. A colonnade of fifty-two huge fluted Corinthian columns and above them a rich frieze surround the church. The approach is by a score and more of stone steps and through enormous bronze doors on which the Ten Commandments are illustrated.

Entering the Madeleine, one sees an interior richly adorned, floors of marble, and lofty columns supporting a three-domed roof, through which light enters. On either side are six confessionals of oak and gilt, where prince and peasant alike confess their sins. Beyond is the altar of spotless marble. How beautiful the group of white figures, which represents Madeleine forgiven, and borne above on angels' wings! This artistic group cost thirty thousand dollars.

On Sunday morning Leo and his friends came to the Madeleine which is the metropolitan church of Paris. Here every Sunday exquisite music is rendered, and here come the elite to worship and to add liberal gifts. It is a broad policy that no Catholic Church on the globe, not even splendid St. Peter's of Rome, is considered too good for rich and poor of all nationalities to occupy together for the worship of the Master.

All the Parisian churches are crowded on Sunday mornings, but Sunday afternoons are used as holidays, and all kinds of vehicles and trains are burdened with well dressed people in pursuit of pleasure.

Traveling by omnibus and tramway in Paris is made as convenient to the public as possible; nobody is permitted to ride without a seat, and there are frequent waiting stations under cover. This is as it should be. Nearly a hundred lines of omnibuses and tramways in Paris intersect each other in every direction. Inside the fares are six cents, outside three cents. A single fare allows of a transfer from one line to another. Railways surround Paris, thus enabling the public to reach easily the many pretty suburbs and villages.

Both Mrs. Harris and Gertrude on their return to the Grand Hotel were glad to find letters from the men they loved. George wrote Gertrude that he was amazed at the enormous capacity of the manufacturing plants which he and Colonel Harris were visiting; that both labor and capital were much cheaper than in America. His closing words were, "Learn all you can, darling, I shall soon come to claim you."

Gertrude had read of the laundries on the Seine, so she left the hotel early with her mother and Alfonso to see them, while Leo, Lucille, and May went to study contemporaneous French masterpieces in the Luxembourg palace and gallery. The public wash houses on the Seine are large floating structures with glass roofs, steaming boilers, and rows of tubs foaming with suds. Hard at work, stand hundreds of strong and bare armed women, who scrub and wring their linen, while they sing and reply to the banter of passing bargee or canotier.

If the sun is shining and the water is clear, the blue cotton dresses of the women contrast prettily with white linen and bare arms busily employed. Though they earn but a pittance, about five cents an hour, yet they are very independent; mutual assistance is their controlling creed, and few, if any, honor more loyally the republican principle of liberty, equality and fraternity. The women seemed to do all the hard work, while the men in snowy shirts and blue cotton trousers, with scarlet girdles about their waists, pushed deftly to and fro the hot flat or box irons over white starched linen.

Each ironer has a bit of wax, which he passes over the hot iron when he comes to the front, the collar, or the wrist-bands, and he boasts that he can goffer a frill or "bring up" a pattern of lace better than a Chinaman.

Alfonso and his party drove along the handsome Rue de Rivoli, with its half-mile of arcades, attractive shops, and hotels of high grade, and up the Rue Castiglione, which leads to the Place Vendome. Here in one of a hundred open places in Paris rises the Column Vendome in imitation of Trajan's column in Rome. The inscription records that it is to commemorate Napoleon's victories in 1805 over the Austrians and Russians. On the pedestal are reliefs which represent the uniforms and weapons of the conquered armies. The memorable scenes, from the breaking of camp at Boulogne down to the Battle of Austerlitz, are shown on a broad bronze band that winds spirally up to the capital, and the shaft is surmounted by a bronze statue of Napoleon in his imperial robes.

Fortunately Alfonso's carriage overtook Leo's party, and they visited together the pretty arcades and gardens of the Palais Royal. In the open courts are trees, flowers, fountains, and statues, and on the four sides are inviting cafes and shops which display tempting jewelry and other beautiful articles. On summer evenings a military band plays here. Returning, the ladies stepped into the Grand Magasin du Louvre. At a buffet, refreshments were gratis, and everywhere were crowds, who evidently appreciated the great variety of materials for ladies' dresses, the fine cloths, latest novelties, exquisite laces, etc. The ladies planned to return here, and to make a visit to the famous Au Bon Marche, where cheap prices always prevail. Most of the afternoon was spent in the Louvre, a vast palace of art, and the evening at the Theatre Francais, the ceiling of which represents France, bestowing laurels upon her three great children, Moliere, Corneille, and Racine. The Theatre Francais occupies the highest rank. Its plays are usually of a high class, and the acting is admirable. The government grants this theatre an annual subsidy of about fifty thousand dollars.