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Sturdy Oak, The

<h2> CHAPTER XI. BY MARJORIE BENTON COOK </h2> George Remington walked toward headquarters with more assurance than he felt. He resented Doolittle's command that he appear at once. He was beginning to realize the pressure which these campaign managers were bringing to bear upon him. He was not sure yet how far he could go, in out-and-out defiance of them and their dictates. He knew that he had absolutely no ambitions, no interests in common with these schemers, whose sole idea lay in party patronage, in manipulating every political opportunity—in short, in reaping where they had sown. The question now confronting him was this: was he prepared to sell his political birthright for the mess of pottage they offered him? He stood a second at the door of the office, peering through the reeking, smoke-filled atmosphere, to get a bird's-eye view of the situation before he entered. Mr. Doolittle sat on the edge of a table monologuing to Wes' Norton and Pat Noonan. Mr. Norton was the president of the Whitewater Commercial Club, composed of the leading merchants of the town, and Mr. Noonan was the apostle of the liquor interests. Remington felt his back stiffen as he stepped among them. "Good-evening, gentlemen," he said briskly. "H'are ye, George?" drawled Doolittle. "There was something you wanted to discuss with me?" "I dunno as there's anything to discuss, but there's a few things Wes' an' Pat an' me'd like to say to ye. There ain't no two ways of thinkin' about the prosperity of Whitewater, ye know, George. The merchants in this town is satisfied with the way things is boomin'. The factory workers is gittin' theirs, with high wages an' overtime. The stockholders is makin' no kick on the dividends—as ye know, George, being one of them. "Now, we don't want nuthin' to disturb all this If the fact'ries is crackin' the law a bit, why, it ain't the first time such things has got by the inspector. The fact'ry managers'd like some assurance from ye that ye're goin' to keep yer hands off before they line up the fact'ry hands to vote for ye." Doolittle paused here. George nodded. "When are ye comin' out with a plain statement of yer intentions, George?" inquired Mr. Norton in a conciliatory tone. "The voters in this town will get a clear statement of my stand on all the issues of this campaign in plenty of time, gentlemen." "That's all right fer the voter, but ye can't stall us wit' that kind of talk—" began Noonan. "Wait a minute, Pat," counseled Doolittle. "George means all right. He's new to this game, but he means to stand fer the intrusts of his party, don't ye, George?" "I should scarcely be the candidate of that party if I did not." "I ain't interested in no oratory. Are ye or are ye not goin' to keep yer hands off the prosperity of Whitewater?" demanded Noonan angrily. "Look here, Noonan, I am the candidate for this office—you're not. I intend to do as my conscience dictates. I will not be hampered at every turn, nor told what to say and what to think. I must get to these things in my own way." "Don't ye fergit that ye're our candidate, that ye are to express the opinion of the people who will elect ye, and not any dam' theories of yer own——" "I think I get your meaning, Noonan." George spoke with a smile which for some reason disconcerted Noonan. He sensed with considerable irritation the social and class breach between himself and Remington, and while he did not understand it he resented it. He called him "slick" to Wes' and Doolittle and loudly bewailed their choice of him as candidate. "Then there's that P.L. bizness, Pat—don't fergit that," urged Wes'. "I ain't fergittin' it. There's too much nosin' round Kentwood district by the women, George. Too much talkin'. Ye'd better call that off right now. Property owners down there is satisfied, an' they got their rights, ye know." "I suppose you know what the conditions down there are?" "Sure we know, George, and we want to clean it up down there just as much as you do," said the pacific Doolittle; "but what we're sayin' is, this ain't the time to do it. Later, mebbe, when the conditions is jest right——" "Somebody has got the women stirred up fer fair. It's up to you to call 'em off, George," said Mr. Norton. "How can I call them off?"—tartly. "Ye can put the brakes on Mrs. Remington and that there Sheridan girl, can't ye?" "Miss Sheridan is no longer in my employ. As for Mrs. Remington, if she is not one in spirit with me, I cannot force her to be. Every human being has a right to——" "Some change sence ye last expressed yerself, George. Seems like I recall ye sayin', 'I'll settle that!'" remarked Doolittle coldly. "We will leave my wife's name out of the discussion, please," said George with tardy but noble loyalty. "Well, them two I mentioned can stir up some trouble; but they ain't the brains of their gang, by a long shot. It's this E. Eliot we gotta deal with. She's as smart, if not smarter, than any man in this town. She's smarter than you, George—or me, either," he added consolingly. "I've seen her about, but I've never talked to her. What sort of woman is she?" "Quiet, sensible kind. Ye keep thinking, 'How reasonable that woman is,' till ye wake up and find she's got ye hooked on one of the horns of yer own damfoolishness! Slick as they make 'em and straight as a string—that's E. Eliot." "What do you want me to do about it?"—impatiently. "Are ye aimin' to answer them voiceless questions?" Pat inquired. Silence. "Plannin' to tear down Kentwood and enforce them factory laws?" demanded Wes' Norton. Still no answer. "I'm jest callin' yer attention to the fact that this election is gittin' nearer every day." "What am I to do with her? I can't afford to show we're afraid of her." "Huh." "I can't bribe her to stop." "I'd like to see the fella that would try to bribe E. Eliot," Doolittle chuckled. "Wouldn't be enough of him left to put in a teacup." "Then we've got to ignore her." "We can ignore her, all right, George; but the women an' some of the voters ain't ignoring her. It's my idea she's got a last card up her sleeve to play the day before we go to the polls that'll fix us." "Have you any plan in your mind?" Doolittle scratched his head, wrestling with thought. "We was thinking that if she could be called away suddenly, and detained till after election—" he began meaningly. "You mean——" "Something like that." "I won't have it, not if I lose the election. I won't stoop to kidnapping a woman like a highwayman. What do you take me for, Doolittle?" "Georgie, politics ain't no kid-glove bizness. It ain't what you want; you're jest a small part of this affair. You're our candidate, and we got to win this here election. Do you get me?" He shot out his underjaw, and there was no sign of his usual good humor. "Well, but——" "You don't have to know anything about this. We'll handle it. You'll be pertected to the limit; don't you worry," sneered Noonan. "But you can't get away with this old-fashioned stuff nowadays, Doolittle," protested Remington. "Can't we? You jest leave it to your Uncle Benjamin. You don't know nothing about this. See?" "I know it's a dirty, low, underhanded——" "George," remarked Mr. Doolittle, slowly hoisting his big body on to its short legs, "in politics we don't call a spade a spade. We call it 'a agricultural implument.'" With this sage remark Mr. Doolittle took his departure, followed by the other prominent citizens. George sat where they left him, head in hands, for several moments. Then he sprang up and rushed to the door to call them back. He would not stand it—he would not win at that price. He had conceded everything they had demanded of him up to this point, but here he drew the line. Ever since that one independent fling of his about suffrage they had treated him like a naughty child. What did they think he was—a rubber doll? He would telephone Doolittle that he would rather give up his candidacy. Here he paused. Suppose he did withdraw, nobody would understand. The town would think the women had frightened him off. He couldn't come out now and denounce the machine methods of his party. Every eye in Whitewater was focused on him; his friends were working for him; the district attorneyship was the next step in his career; Genevi�ve expected him to win—no, he must go through with it! But after he got into office, then he would show them! He would take orders from no one. He sat down again and moodily surveyed the future. In the days which followed, another mental struggle was taking place in the Remington family. Poor Genevieve was like a woman struck by lightning. She felt that her whole structure of life had crashed about her ears. In one blinding flash she had seen and condemned George because he considered political expediency. She realized that she must think for herself now and not rely on him for the family celebration. She had conceived her whole duty in life to consist in being George's wife; but now, by a series of accidents, she had become aware of the great social responsibilities, the larger human issues, which men and women must meet together. Betty and E. Eliot had pointed out to her that she knew nothing of the conditions in her own town. They assured her that it was as much her duty to know about such things as to know the condition of her own back yard. Then came the awful revelations of Kentwood—human beings huddled like rats; children swarming, dirty and hungry! She could not bear to remember the scenes she had witnessed in Kentwood. She recalled the shock of Alys Brewster-Smith's indifference to all that misery! The widow's one instinct had seemed to be to fight E. Eliot and the health officer for their interference. Stranger still, the tenants did not want to be moved out, driven on. The whole situation was confused, but in it at least one thing stood out clearly: Genevi�ve realized, during the sleepless night after her visit to Kentwood, that she hated Cousin Alys! The following Sunday, when she put on her coat, she found a souvenir of that visit in her pocket, a soiled reminder of poverty and toil. She remembered picking it up and noting that it was the factory pass of one Marya Slavonsky. She had intended to leave it with some one in the district, but evidently in the excitement of her enforced exit she had thrust it into her pocket. This Marya worked in the factories. She was one of that grimy army Genevi�ve had seen coming out of the factory gate, and she went home to that pen which Cousin Alys provided. Marya was a girl of Genevieve's own age, perhaps, while she, Genevi�ve, had this comfortable home, and George! She had been blind, selfish, but she would make up for it, she would! She would make a study of the needs of such people; she would go among them like St. Agatha, scattering alms and wisdom. George might have his work; she had found hers! She would begin with the factory girls. She would waken them to what had so lately dawned on her. How could she manage it? The rules of admission in the munition factories were very strict. Then again her eye fell upon the soiled card and a great idea was born in her brain. Dressed as a factory girl, she would use Marya's card to get her into the circle of these new-found sisters. She would see how and where they worked. She would report it all to the Forum and to George. She could be of use to George at last. She remembered Betty's statement that at midnight in the factories the women and girls had an hour off. That was the time she chose, with true dramatic instinct. She rummaged in the attic for an hour, getting her costume ready. She decided on an old black suit and a shawl which had belonged to her mother. She carried these garments to her bedroom and hid them there. Then, with Machiavellian finesse, she laid her plans. She would slip out of bed at half-past eleven o'clock, taking care not to waken George, and she would dress and leave the house by the side door. By walking fast she could reach by midnight the factory to which she had admission. It annoyed her considerably to have George announce at luncheon that he had a political dinner on for the evening and probably would not be home before midnight. He grumbled a little over the dinner. "The campaign," he said, "really ended yesterday. But Doolittle thought it was wise to have a last round-up of the business men, and give them a final speech." Genevi�ve acquiesced with a sympathetic murmur, but she was disappointed. Merely to walk calmly out of the house at eleven o'clock lessened the excitement. However, she decided upon leaving George a note explaining that she had gone to spend the night with Betty Sheridan. She looked forward to the long afternoon with impatience. Cousin Emelene was taking her nap. Mrs. Brewster-Smith left immediately after lunch to make a call on one of her few women friends. Genevieve tried to get Betty on the telephone, but she was not at home. It was with a thrill of pleasure that she saw E. Eliot coming up the walk to the door. She hurried downstairs just as the maid explained that Mrs. Brewster-Smith was not at home. "Oh, won't you come in and see me for a moment, Miss Eliot?" Genevieve begged. "I do so want to talk to you." E. Eliot hesitated. "The truth is, I am fearfully busy today, even though it's Sunday. I wanted to get five minutes with Mrs. Brewster-Smith about those cottages—" she began. Genevieve laid a detaining hand on her arm and led her into the living-room. "She's hopeless! I can hardly bear to have her in my house after the way she acted about those fearful places." "Well, all that district is the limit, of course. She isn't the only landlord." "But she didn't see those people." "She's human, I guess—didn't want to see disturbing things." "I would have torn down those cottages with my own hands!" burst forth Genevi�ve. E. Eliot stared. "No one likes her income cut down, you know," she palliated. "Income! What is that to human decencies?" cried the newly awakened apostle. "Your husband doesn't entirely agree with you in some of these matters, I suppose." "Oh, yes he does, in his heart! But there's something about politics that won't let you come right out and say what you think." "Not after you've come right out once and said the wrong thing," laughed E. Eliot. "I'm afraid you will have to use your indirect influence on him, Mrs. Remington." Genevi�ve threw her cards on the table. "Miss Eliot, I am just beginning to see how much there is for women to do in the world. I want to do something big—the sort of thing you and Betty Sheridan are doing—to rouse women. What can I do?" E. Eliot scrutinized the ardent young face with amiable amusement. "You can't very well help us just now without hurting your husband's chances and embarrassing him in the bargain. You see, we're trying to embarrass him. We want him to kick over the traces and tell what he's going to do as district attorney of this town." "But can't I do something that won't interfere with George? Couldn't I investigate the factories, or organize the working girls?" "My child, have you ever organized anything?" exclaimed E. Eliot. "No." "Well, don't begin on the noble working girl. She doesn't organize easily. Wait until the election is over. Then you come in on our schemes and we'll teach you how to do things. But don't butt in now, I beg of you. Misguided, well-meaning enthusiasts like you can do more harm to our cause than all the anti-suffragists in this world!" With her genial, disarming smile, E. Eliot rose and departed. She chuckled all the way back to her rooms over the idea of Remington's bride wanting to take the field with the enemies of her wedded lord. "Women, women! God bless us, but we're funny!" mused E. Eliot. Genevieve liked her caller immensely, and she thought over her advice, but she determined to let it make no difference in her plans. She saw her work cut out for her. She would not flinch! She would do her bit in the great cause of women—no, of humanity. The flame of her purpose burned steadily and high. At a quarter-past eleven that night a slight, black-clad figure, with a shawl over its head, softly closed the side door of the Remington house and hurried down the street. Never before had Genevieve been alone on the streets after dark. She had not foreseen how frightened she would be at the long, dark stretches, nor how much more frightened when any one passed her. Two men spoke to her. She sped on, turning now this way, now that, without regard to direction—her eyes over her shoulder, in terror lest she be followed. So it was that she plunged around a corner and into the very arms of E. Eliot, who was sauntering home from a political meeting, where she had been a much-advertised speaker. She was in the habit of prowling about by herself. Tonight she was, as usual, unattended—unless one observed two burly workingmen who walked slowly in her wake. "Oh, I beg your pardon," came a gently modulated voice from behind the shawl. E. Eliot stared. "No harm done here. Did I hurt you?" she replied. She thought she heard an involuntary "Oh!" from beneath the shawl. "No, thanks. Could you tell me how to get to the Whitewater Arms and Munitions Factory? I'm all turned around." "Certainly. Two blocks that way to the State Road, and half a mile north on that. Shall I walk to the road with you?" "Oh, no, thank you," the girl answered and hurried on. E. Eliot stood and watched her. Where had she heard that voice? She knew a good many girls who worked at the factories, but none of them spoke like that. All at once a memory came to her: "Couldn't I investigate something, or organize the working girls?" Mrs. George Remington! "The little fool," ejaculated the other woman, and turned promptly to follow the flying figure. The two burly gentlemen in the rear also turned and followed, but E. Eliot was too busy planning how to manage Mrs. Remington to notice them. She had to walk rapidly to keep her quarry in sight. As she came within some thirty yards of the gate she saw Genevieve challenge the gatekeeper, present her card and slip inside, the gate clanging to behind her. E. Eliot broke into a jog trot, rounded the corner of the wall, pulled herself up quickly, using the stones of the wall as footholds. She hung from the top and let herself drop softly inside, standing perfectly still in the shadow. At the same moment the two burly gentlemen ran round the corner and saw nothing. "I told ye to run—" began one of them fiercely. "Aw, shut up. If she went over here, she'll come out here. We'll wait." The midnight gong and the noise of the women shuffling out into the courtyard drowned that conversation for E. Eliot. She stood and watched the gatekeeper saunter indoors, not waiting for the man who relieved him on duty. She watched Genevieve go forward and meet the factory hands. The newcomer shyly spoke to the first group. The eavesdropper could not hear what she said. But the crowd gathered about the speaker, shuffling, chaffing, finally listening. Somebody captured the gatekeeper's stool and Genevi�ve stood on it. "What I want to tell you is how beautiful it is for women to stand together and work together to make the world better," she began. "Say, what is your job?" demanded a girl, suspicious of the soft voice and modulated speech. "Well, I—I only keep house now. But I intend to begin to do a great deal for the community, for all of you——" "She keeps house—poor little overworked thing!" "But the point is, not what you do, but the spirit you do it in——" "What is this, a revival meetin'?" "So I want to tell you what the women of this town mean to do." "Hear! Hear! Listen at the suffragette!" "First, we mean to clean up the Kentwood district. You all know how awful those cottages are." "Sure; we live in 'em!" "We intend to force the landlords to tear them down and improve all that district." "Much obliged, lady, and where do we go?" demanded one of her listeners. "You must have better living conditions." "But where? Rents in this town has boomed since the war began. Ain't that got to you yet? There ain't no place left fer the poor." "Then we must find places and make them healthy and beautiful." "For the love of Mike! She's talkin' about heaven, ain't she?" "She's talkin' through her hat!" cried another. "Then, we mean to make the factories obey the laws. They have no right to make you girls work here at night." "Who's makin' us?" "We are going to force the factories to obey the letter of the law on our statute books." A thin, flushed girl stepped out of the crowd and faced her. "Say, who is 'we'?" "Why, all of us, the women of Whitewater." "How are we goin' to repay the women of Whitewater fer tearin' down our homes an' takin' away our jobs? Ain't there somethin' we can do to show our gratitood?" the new speaker asked earnestly. "Go to it—let her have it, Mamie Flynn!" cried the crowd. "Oh, but you mustn't look at it that way! We must all make some sacrifices——" "Cut that slush! What do you know about sacrifices? I'm on to you. You're one of them uptown reformers. What do you know about sacrifices? Ye got a sure place to sleep, ain't ye? Ye've got a full belly an' a husband to give ye spendin' money, ain't ye? Don't ye come down here gittin' our jobs away an' then fergettin' all about us!" There was a buzz of agreement and an undertone of anger which to an experienced speaker would have been ominous. But Genevi�ve blundered on: "We only want to help you——" "We don't want yer help ner yer advice. You keep yer hands off our business! Do yer preachin' uptown—that's where they need it. Ask the landlords of Kentwood and the stockholders in the munition factories to make some sacrifices, an' see where that gits ye! But don't ye come down here, a-spyin' on us, ye dirty——" The last words were happily lost as the crowd of girls closed in on Genevi�ve with cries of "Spy!" "Scab!" "Throw her out!" They had nearly torn her clothes off before E. Eliot was among them. She sprang up on the chair and shouted: "Girls—here, hold on a minute." There was a hush. Some one called out: "It's Miss E. Eliot." "Listen a minute. Don't waste your time getting mad at this girl. She's a friend of mine. And you may not believe me, but she means all right." "What's she pussyfootin' in here for?" "Don't you know the story of the man from Pittsburgh who died and went on?" cried E. Eliot. "Some kindly spirit showed him round the place, and the newcomer said: 'Well, I don't think heaven's got anything on Pittsburgh.' 'This isn't heaven!' said the spirit." There was a second's pause, and then the laugh came. "Now, this girl has just waked up to the fact that Whitewater isn't heaven, and she thought you'd like to hear the news! I'll take the poor lamb home, put cracked ice on her head and let her sleep it off." They laughed again. "Go to it," said the erstwhile spokeswoman for the working girls. E. Eliot called them a cheery good-night. The factory girls drifted away, in little groups, leaving Genevi�ve, bedraggled and hysterical, clinging to her rescuer. "They would have killed me if you hadn't come!" she gasped. E. Eliot thought quickly. "Stand here in the shadow of the fence till I come back," she said. "It will be all right. I've got to run into the office and send a telephone message. I have a pal there who will let me do it." "You—you won't be long?" It was clear that the nerve of Mrs. Remington was quite gone. "I won't be gone five minutes." E. Eliot was as good as her word. When she returned she seized the stool on which her companion had made her maiden speech—ran to the wall, placed it at the spot where she had made her entrance and urged Genevi�ve to climb up and drop over; as she obeyed, E. Eliot mounted beside her. They dropped off, almost at the same moment—into arms upheld to catch them. Genevi�ve screamed, and was promptly choked. "What'll we do with this extra one?" asked a hoarse voice. "Bring her. There's no time to waste now. If ye yell again, ye'll both be strangled," the second speaker added as he led the way toward the road, where the dimmed lights of a motor car shone. He was carrying E. Eliot as if she were a doll. Behind him his assistant stumbled along, bearing, less easily but no less firmly, the, wife of the candidate for district attorney! <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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