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o^^ 
 
 ^^^ Curse of 
 
 tKe Day. 
 
 By WILLIAM L. ROY ALL, 
 
 RICHMOND, VA: 
 TAYLOR & TAYLOR PRINTING CO. 
 
 i9or. 
 
;,,'.'WofCON)Sf?'tS3; 
 
 ': AUG ^190? I 
 
 Copyrighted 1007. 
 
 BY 
 
 William L. Royalt- 
 

 THE CURSE OF THE DAY 
 
 ACT 1. 
 
 SOBNE 1 — Mr. Randolph's library. Mr. Randolph read- 
 ing a newspaper. His manager, Tom Bollen is an- 
 nounced. 
 
 Randolph. Come in Tom. Take a seat. What is going 
 on at the works 
 
 Bollen. Nothing of importance, sir. I called to talk 
 over some of the details of that last order. It must be 
 filled within the next sixty days. That is a very short 
 time to fill an order of such importance. 
 
 Ran. Tom, you have been my manager for some twenty- 
 seven years, have you not? 
 Bol. I have, sir. 
 
 Ran. "Well, in that time we have never had a cross 
 word, have we? 
 Bol. Not one, sir. 
 
 Rand. Well, Tom, that order must be filled. There are 
 reasons of the utmost importance for it, and you must tell 
 the men to brace up and do the job. It will be a reflec- 
 tion on the works for us to fail in it, and every employee 
 we have is interested in seeing the works succeed. 
 
 Bol. That is so, Mr. Randolph, and every man in your 
 employment recognizesr the fact. I will tell the men just 
 what you say, and you may make your mind easy. If 
 the order can be filled it will be done. 
 
 Ran. By the way, Tom, how many men do the workB 
 employ? 
 Bol. About one thousand, sir. 
 
 Ran. And almost all of them have families, have they 
 not 
 
 Bol. Yes, sir. 
 
 Ran. And all of them own their own homes around the 
 works, do they not? 
 
 ■p>y-|1 Vpta sil* 
 
 Ran. Then we have a contented, happy family of some 
 five thousand persons living around the works and sup- 
 ported by them? 
 Bol. Yes, sir. , , ^u * 
 
 Ran. Surely that is enough to make a man feel that 
 
4 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 life is worth living. You recollect, Tom, when I started 
 this establishment twenty-seven years ago I had very lit- 
 tle capital, and nothing to look forward to but what I 
 could accomplish by my own unaided efforts. The best 
 piece of work I ever did was in making you manager of 
 the works, and we have plodded along together honestly, 
 earnestly, faithfully, and in the fear of God, until I am 
 now worth a million of dollars; you are well off and have 
 a good Interest in the business, and we have around us 
 one thousand faith/ul employees with contented, happy, 
 families, who all receive wages as good as are paid any- 
 where in this land. Surely, Tom, when a man can look 
 back over his life and see that as the result of his labors 
 he has no reason to fear that he has lived in vain. 
 
 Bol. You certainly have the right to think that way, 
 Mr. Randolph. No employer of labor ever lived who treat- 
 ed his men more fairly, justly, and considerately than 
 you have done, and the proof of it is the fact that to a 
 man they will stand by you and the works in any emer- 
 gency that may overtake us. 
 
 (Enter Mb. Randolph's Daughter, Cbj.este, a young lady 
 of 22, ic?io goes up to her father and kisses him. 
 
 Celeste. Oh, papa, I have just heard such an awful 
 thing. 
 
 Ran. What is it, my dear? 
 
 Cel. You know Mrs. Ingham, the lady who raised those 
 dear little bantam chickens for me? 
 
 Ran. Her husband is one of the men in the works, la 
 he not? 
 
 Cel. Yes, sir. Well, you know her sister's husband was 
 a brakeman on the Taunton and Eastern Railway. They 
 had a frightful accident on that road the other day and 
 this brakeman was killed, and poor Mrs. Ingham's sister, 
 Mrs. Thompson, is left with four little children and not 
 one dollar to support them with. She has moved into 
 Mrs. Ingham's house with her little children and all of 
 them must be supported by Mr. Ingham, or starve. 
 
 Ran. Dear me, that is a wretched piece of business. 
 Do you know anything about it, Tom? 
 
 Bol. Yes, sir. I know all about it. You see, the rail- 
 road is a single track road. The freight' train that 
 Thompson was braking on had orders to stop at a way 
 station, to allow two other freight trains coming towards 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 5 
 
 it to pass, and it pulled out on the side track. That road 
 brags on the dividends it pays its stockholdei-s, but it 
 earns them by working its men to death. The conductor 
 of Thompson's train had been up all night, and while the 
 train was standing there he fell asleep. Just as the first 
 one of the approaching trains passed him he woke up and 
 got it into his head that it was the second one of them. 
 He signalled the engineer to get back on the main track 
 and go ahead, which the engineer, ignorant of the situa- 
 tion, did at once, and in five minutes he met the secona 
 train head on, and was killed himself and Thompson was 
 also killed. 
 
 Ran. And this poor woman, Mrs. Thompson, and her 
 four little children are now entirely destitute? 
 
 Bol. They are, sir. 
 
 Ran. Well, her husband was killed through criminal 
 negligence, and I will see that that railroad pays her 
 proper damages for killing him. 'My dear, go and tell 
 the butler to phone for Mr. St. George Ashton to come 
 here to see me. (Celeste leaves.) Do you know Mr. 
 Ashton, Tom? 
 
 Bol. I do not know him, but I know of him. His reputa- 
 tion is that of the leading younger member of the bar. 
 
 Ran. And he deserves it, too, Tom. He came here from 
 the country ten years ago to practice his profession. He 
 had nothing but an excellent education and his own pluck 
 and spotless character. My son had known him at college 
 and was his intimate friend. He introduced him into my 
 family, and I at once saw the metal of which he was made. 
 I gave him such legal business as our establishment had, 
 which though not much was, of course, a boon to him. 
 He has now worked himself up in his profession until he 
 Is universally respected and trusted. I shall employ him 
 to sue that railroad for Mrs. Thompson. 
 
 Bol. It will be a generous and a charitable act, Mr. 
 Randolph. I don't know what is to become of poor Mrs. 
 Thompson, and her little children, unless she is aided by 
 people like you. 
 
 (Enter servant with a card, which he hands to Mb. Ran- 
 dolph.) 
 Ran. Show him in. 
 
 (Snteb St. George Ashton.) 
 Ran. Good morning, Mr. Ashton. I have sent for you 
 
6 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 to get you to sue the Taunton and Eastern Railroad tui 
 negligently killing a poor brakeman, who has left a widow 
 and four little children with nothing to support them. I 
 will pay your fee and all expenses. The conductor of the 
 train most negligently went to sleep and thereby caused a 
 collision in which the brakeman was killed. So you can 
 institute suit against that road at once, unless it will pay 
 Mrs. Thompson a handsome sum of money. 
 
 Ashton. I am sorry, Mr. Randolph, but I cannot bring 
 the suit for you. 
 
 Ran. Why Is it possible a man of your pluck and 
 Independence can allow himself to be intimidated by that 
 powerful corporation? 
 
 Ash. Not at all, sir. But the law will not allow a recov- 
 ery in such a case. 
 
 Ran. What! You tell me that the law allows railroads 
 to murder our fellow citizens and escape all liability for 
 their acts? 
 
 Ash. Lamentably, sir; it is only too true. The doc- 
 trine of the law is that if an employee of a railroad is in- 
 jured or killed through the negligence of his fellow em- 
 ployee, he or his wife can recover nothing from the rail- 
 road for it, and this man was killed through the negli- 
 gence of a fellow employee. It is called the doctrine of 
 fellow-servants. 
 
 Ran. Sir; what you say is monstrous. I cannot be- 
 lieve that the laws of my country tolerate any such in- 
 human proposition. Go and bring that suit. I will stand 
 all costs and expenses. iBut I will never believe that the 
 laws of my country refuse compensation to a poor woman 
 like this until it is so officially declared. Go and demand 
 a settlement from this railroad and, if it will not make 
 one, sue them. 
 
 Ash. I will do it, Mr. Randoph, to oblige you, but I tell 
 you there is no possibility of recovering anything. 
 
 {Enter Celeste.) 
 
 Cel. H'ow do you do, Mr. Ashton. What have you got 
 papa so wrought up about? 
 
 Ash. He wants me to overthrow the laws of the coun- 
 try and force the Taunton and Eastern Railroad to pay 
 Mrs. Thompson damages for killing her husband when the 
 laws exempt them from all liability for their act. This 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 7 
 
 is more than I am equal to, but as he is so much rn ear- 
 nest about it I am going to make an effort. 
 
 Cel. That is right. I don't believe the laws will refuse 
 redress to a poor woman like Mrs. Thompson. It is inhu- 
 man to suggest it. 
 
 Ash. Well, my dear Miss Celeste, you know that the 
 poet says, "Man's inhumanity to man, makes countless 
 thousands mourn." i think myself the doctrine of the 
 law is a most unreasonable and harsh one, but you are 
 hardly going to be so tyrannical as to hold me responsi- 
 ble for the law being the law, are you? 
 
 Cel. I don't know anything more about tyranny than I 
 know about good government. But I know you ought to 
 make that railroad pay Mrs. Thompson enough to support 
 those little children with, and I expect you to do it. Do 
 you hear that? 
 
 'Ash. Miss Celeste, if you should direct me to dive to 
 the bottom of the ocean in search of a pearl you had 
 heard was there, or if you should call on me to climb the 
 highest snowclad peak of the Andes to catch for you that 
 famous red bird that has its habitat there, I should make 
 the attempt. 
 
 Cel. I don't believe you would be so foolish as to attempt 
 either thing. 
 
 Ash. Nobody knows what a man will attempt when a 
 beautiful and fascinating woman makes a request. 
 
 Cel. Pshaw, don't talk nonsense. Look here papa, why 
 can't I do something towards helping Mrs. Thompson. 
 Suppose I have a fair, what they call a iete champetre 
 on our lawn to raise some money for her. I believe I could 
 raise her quite a little sum. 
 
 Ran. I see no reason for objecting to it. 
 
 Cel. Very well. I'll make all the arrangements and 
 have a fair next Saturday evening. Mr. Ashton, you must 
 give me all the aid in your power . 
 
 Ash. You may count on me, and I think I shall be 
 much more effective than in our proposed law suit. Adieu, 
 till then. 
 
 (Exiint.) 
 (Curtain goes doivn.) 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE I — Mr. Randolph's Imvn. Tables with lemonade, 
 ice cream, cake, etcl, on them. Persons m,oving ahout. 
 
8 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 just before the curtain rises the orchestra, behind the 
 curtain strikes up ti'alve Dem'ora, from Gounod's Faust; 
 as it is concluded the curtain rises. Cki^ste and Ash- 
 ton standing in the front in conversation. 
 
 AsMon. And this is your fete champetre, is it? 
 
 Celeste. It is. I hope it does not offend your refined 
 sensibilities. 
 
 Ash. By no means. Upon the contrary I ratlier approve 
 of it. 
 
 Cel. Thank you; you are very Icind. 
 
 Ash. Don't speak of it. By the way, was that beautiful 
 selection of Salve Demora from Gounod's Faust, the or- 
 chestra was playing a moment ago, made by you? 
 
 Cel. Oh, dear, no, I don't know enough about music to 
 make selections from the operas. How came you to know 
 so much about it 
 
 Ash. I have what they call an "ear for music," and I 
 am passionately fond of it. 
 
 Cel. What do people mean when they talk of an "ear 
 for music?" 
 
 Ash. Well, that is the capacity for appreciating music, 
 and telling good music from bad music. The ability to 
 judge of music turns on the degree with which nature has 
 endowed one with a "ear for music." If you have a good 
 "ear for music," lyou will be delighted with good music. 
 If you have a poor "ear for music" you will think you 
 enjoy good music, but you won't, because you will be un- 
 able to tell good music from bad when you hear it. 
 
 Cel. Then, you set up to be a connoiseur in music, sir? 
 
 Ash. Not at all, and it is a mean thing in you to say so. 
 You asked me how I came to know about music, and I 
 told you I had an "ear for music." I could not deny 
 nature's gift, could I? 
 
 Cel. Well, I have heard people say that you were a 
 connoisseur, and I was merely trying to find out what 
 you thought about it. You have spoken of Gounod's Faust. 
 What do you think of it and of French m.usic, generally? 
 
 Ash. The French have but one musician, Gounod, and 
 he has written but one thing that I care to hear, Faust. 
 But strange as Faust is, I can listen to it with delight all 
 the time. The music is absolutely unique, and in some 
 sort, not music at all. But it is a combination of sweet 
 sounds that is very delicious to me. 
 
 Cel. Well, Mr, Connoisseur, since you think so poorly 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 9 
 
 of French music, perhaps you think better of Italian music? 
 
 Ash. But little better than the French. When one who 
 really appreciates music and asks for it and is given 
 Italian or French music, it is like giving a hungry man 
 molasses and water when he craves beef steak. 
 
 Cel. Then, pray tell me, sir, v/hat composer you are 
 willing to listen to 
 
 Ash. There is but one composer. 
 
 Cel. And who may he be? 
 
 Ash. Why, Wagner, of course. It's like the famous 
 horse race won hy Eclipse. "Eclipse first, the others no- 
 where." If you want to hear a piece of music, call to the 
 leader of your orchestra to play the song to the Evening 
 Star in Tannhauser. 
 
 (Celeste calls to the leader of the orchestra to play the 
 song to the Evening Star. The orchestra plays it.) 
 
 Cel. That is very beautiful, indeed. 
 
 Ash. Aha. There is hope for you, then. If you appreci- 
 ate that which is one of the most exquisite pieces of music 
 ever composed, it shows that you have a rudimentary 
 ear at least. Something might be made of you by cultiva- 
 tion, yet. 
 
 Cel. Thank you, sir; you are very kind and condescend- 
 ing. 
 
 Ash. A mere trifle. Don't give it another thought. Let 
 me point this out to you, however. The difference between 
 Wagner's music and the music of all other composers is 
 one of kind and not of degree. No other writer composes 
 music of the same sort, and when your ear has once 
 become familiar with Wagner's music you do not wish to 
 hear the music of any other composer. You can listen 
 to Wagner's music all the time, but you cannot tolerate 
 any other music. 
 
 ,Cel. Well, Mr. Connoisseur, I must tender you my very 
 sincere thanks for your essay on music, which is entertain- 
 ing if it has no other value. Are you as ready with criti- 
 cisms on poetry as you are on music? 
 
 Ash. I have my favorite poet. 
 
 Cel. And who is he? 
 
 Ash. Shakespeare, of course. Another case of Eclipse 
 first, the others nowhere. 
 
 Cel. Do you call a man who never writes in rhyme a 
 poet? 
 
 Ash. Perhaps, my answer should be that I do not see 
 how a man who writes in rhyme can be a poet. Take that 
 
10 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 exquisite picture from the Tempest: "The cloud capped 
 towers, the solemn temples, the gorgeous palaces, the great 
 globe itself, yea, all that it inherit shall dissolve; and like 
 this unsubstantial pageant faded leave not a rack behind." 
 Put your greatest word-master now to turning that into 
 rhyme, and what a scarecrow he would make of it. Thomas 
 Carlyle had the most poetic mind that any English speak- 
 ing man since Shakespeare has had, and yet he could not 
 write decent rhyme, and he scorned to write any. Poetry 
 is in the thought, the imagination and not in the jingle. 
 
 Cel. Won't you admit that Tennyson is a poet? 
 
 Ash. He has written some very beautiful lines. 
 
 Cel. Quote me some that you think beautiful. 
 
 Ash. In all the range of literature there is nothing 
 more beautiful than the lines — 
 
 "Dear as remembered kisses after death. 
 And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned 
 On lips that are for others." 
 
 Cel. (abstractedly) They are very touching; but why 
 do you dwell so tenderly on kisses imagined for lips that 
 are for others? 
 
 Ash. Because I fear that the lips I want to impress my 
 kisses on will never allow me to imprint them there. 
 
 Cel. Do you remember when Sir Walter Raleigh scrawl- 
 ed on the pane of glass with the diamond: 
 
 "I fain would climb, but fear to fall." 
 
 Queen Elizabeth scrawled under it — 
 
 "If thy heart fails, then climb not at all." 
 
 There might be a lesson for you in that. 
 
 Ash. No, no; the girl I love will never requite my affec- 
 tion. 
 
 Cel. You don't know; keep after her; you know the old 
 saying: "Faint heart never won fair lady." Nothing could 
 be truer, and the converse is almost as true, that persist- 
 ence is very apt to win her. 
 
 Ash. No; she don't appreciate me, and will never love 
 me. 
 
 Cel. Let me suggest to you some of the perversities of 
 a woman's nature. Lord Bacon says in his essay on love 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 11 
 
 that "it is a true rule that love is ever rewarded either 
 with the reciproque or with an inward and secret con- 
 tempt." This is entirely true. When a man addresses a 
 woman he prostrates himself before her and that inevitably 
 rouses in her mind, if she does not return his love a sort 
 of contempt for him. But this, nevertheless, is true; no 
 woman ever yet failed to feel a different interest in a man 
 after he has addressd her, from what she felt in him before. 
 Now, if she rejects him and the man will pursue her, 
 declaring his love continuously and at every oi)portunity, 
 and if he piques her and keeps her piqued, he will win her 
 as surely as the sun rises and sets. When he has once 
 piqued her all he has to do to catch her is to be indifferent 
 to her. She can't stand indifference from the man who has 
 piqued her. 
 
 Ash. But hoAV can I show indifference to the woman 
 I love? I can easily declare my love at every favorable 
 opportunity, but I must be always showing myself to be 
 her slave? 
 
 Cel. Then you will never win her. Though she will 
 never admit it. yet every woman in her secret heart longs 
 for a master. A kind and gentle one, it is true, but a 
 master, nevertheless. If she thinks she is stronger than 
 you, you will never win her love. But if your wills conflict 
 and yours predominates, she falls before you. Keep these 
 suggestions before your mind and you may yet win your 
 sweetheart. 
 
 Ash. I don't think much of your philosophy, and though 
 you are a woman you have much to learn of woman's 
 nature. A woman is won by devotion to her. That is 
 what she yields to. 
 
 Cel. All right, my friend, some of these days you will 
 learn that I have looked beneath the surface at the real 
 state of affairs. But the company is leaving, and it Is 
 time we were going into the house. 
 
 (Exunt.) 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 2 — Randolph's loorkmen's village. A number of 
 his tvorkmen, their tvives and children, all in their holi- 
 day clothes. Mrs. Tiio^mpson and her four little children. 
 Mr. Randolph, Cei,este and Ashton, a committee of 
 loorkmen to wait on Mr. Randolph. 
 Celeste to Mrs. Thompson. Mrs, Thompson, my fete 
 
12 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 champtre netted you $500.00. I gave tlie money to papa 
 and he has given me his check for $500.00 payable to your 
 order, which he now presents to you. 1 hope it will give 
 you substantial aid in taking care of your four little ones. 
 
 Mrs. Thompson. God bless you, Miss Celeste; you are 
 an angel. This money will enable me to take good care 
 of my children. I shall open a smalT millinery store here 
 in the village with it. The families of all the men will 
 patronize me, and from the proceeds I will be able to live 
 comfortably. 
 
 Cel. And I shall patronize you, too. 
 
 Mrs. Thomp. Oh, Miss Celeste, a fine lady like you 
 would not wear such things as I shall keep. 
 
 Cel. You don't know me; I will wear whatever will 
 help to take care of those poor little childi*en. 
 
 Mrs. Thomp. I say again. Miss Celeste, you are an angel. 
 (Aside to Ashton) If you get her it will be the best day's 
 work you ever did. 
 
 Ash. (aside to Mrs. Tiioiir.) Get her. how can I ever 
 get her? 
 
 (Balkans, spokesman of the icorkman's committee^ ad- 
 dresses Randolph.) 
 
 Balkans. Mr. Randolph, knowing that this meeting was 
 to take place this evening, your workmen had a meeting 
 last evening to take under consideration the relations ex- 
 isting between you and them, and to pass resolutions ex- 
 pressive of their sense of the manner in which you have al- 
 ways treated them. I v^^as made chairman of a committee 
 appointed to present resolutions passed at that meeting, and 
 I ihave them here now to present to you. Instead of 
 reading them at large I will state to you briefly what they 
 express. They say that you have always treated your men 
 with the greatest kindness and consideration, that you 
 have always paid wages equal to the best that are paid 
 anywhere; that if any man has a cause of complaint of 
 any sort whatever, he knows he can come and state it to 
 you fully and freely, and that it will be thoroughly investi- 
 gated and that absolute justice will be done, that you treat 
 your men more as a parent than as an exacting employer 
 and that the men, deeply sensible of the just, fair and 
 liberal manner in which you have always treated them 
 will stand by you if any necessity for such action should 
 arise, to the last extremity. 
 
 (Hands Randolph the resohitions.) 
 
 Randolph. Mr. Balkans, it is needless for me to say that 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 13 
 
 I am touched by this expression of the couficlence my men 
 have in me. I have always tried to treat them justly, 
 fairly and kindly, and it is a source of inexpressible grati- 
 fication to me to know that they appreciate the feeling 
 with which I have always dealt with them, and I can say 
 that no employer of labor has ever received from his men 
 more gratifying recognition of well meant attention to 
 their wants than I have had; no man could have a better 
 set of workmen than mine. By the way, do the men belong 
 to the labor unions? 
 
 Balk. We do not belong to the regular labor unions, 
 but we have a labor union of our own, to which all of the 
 men belong. We took the matter under grave and serious 
 consideration, and as a result of it we determined that we 
 would have our own union. 
 
 Ran. What was there in the regular labor unions that 
 you objected to? 
 
 Balk. We objected to the principle of coercion upon 
 which they are all founded. We do not believe that coer- 
 cion and physical violence are the proper methods of 
 securing recognition of rights. 
 
 Ran. You are right; coercion is opposed to every prin- 
 ciple of development and evolution. It is the use of the 
 strong hand. It is a manifestation of the old saw that — ■ 
 "They shall take who have the power, and they shall keep 
 who can." Human life and human institutions cannot 
 grow and develop upon any such plan. No man will sub- 
 mit to being forced to do anything. Argument and per- 
 suasion are the only methods by which useful results can 
 be arrived at. 
 
 Balk. That is the conclusion we reached, sir, and we 
 consequently determined to have our own labor union, 
 which wholly discards from our theory of action the prin- 
 ciple of coercion. 
 
 Ran. And you were wise to do it. Let me call your 
 attention to one of the most signal instances in history 
 of how men resent the idea of being forced to do anything. 
 The resistance made by the people of the South during 
 our great civil war. to the efforts of the United States 
 Government, exceeds in desperate tenacity any struggle 
 ever made by a whole people. That struggle was not for 
 secession, slavery, or a desire for a new and separate 
 republic. The people of the South got it into their heads 
 that the North proposed to compel them, against their will 
 to come back into the Union, and it was the spirit of 
 
14 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 resentment to coercion that welded them together as one 
 man, to resist and fight until they were simply exhausaed. 
 That is what coercion always produces. 
 
 Balk. We understand that, sir, and that is why we 
 have deliberately discarded the principle of coercion 
 from our scheme of organization. 
 
 Ran. Well, gentlemen, I am glad to have had this meet- 
 ing with you. Come, Celeste, it is time we were going. 
 Adieu. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Ashton, walk home with us? 
 
 Ash. With pleasure, for a few moments tete-a-tete. 
 
 (Exunt.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 3 — Mr. RANDOLrii'vS parlor. Celeste and Asiiton 
 
 enter. 
 
 Celeste. It was inexpressibly gratifying to me to hand 
 poor Mrs. Thompson that money, and to think I had been 
 useful in providing means for taking care of those little 
 children. 
 
 Ashton. Mrs. Thompson was right in telling you, you 
 were an angel. How is it possible such a fascinating crea- 
 ture as you are, could have gone twentytwo years without 
 being caught up and married by some fascinating man? 
 
 Cel. Because the right one has never yet appeared. 
 
 Ash. And what sort of a one will the right one be? 
 
 Cel. Oh, I have a a corner way back in the recesses of 
 my heart, where he sits enthroned, and I fall down before 
 him every day and worship him. 
 
 Ash. What is he like; 
 ,Cel. My hero 
 
 Ash. Do you recollect those beautiful lines: 
 
 She is standing somewhere, she, I shall honor. 
 She that I wait foi-, my queen, my queen, 
 Whether her hair be golden or raven. 
 Whether her eyes be hazel or blue, 
 I know not how, twill be engraven 
 Some day hence, as my favorite hue. 
 
 She may be proud or humble, my lady, 
 Or that sweet calm which is just between 
 But whenever she comes she will find me ready 
 To do her honor, my queen, my queen." 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 15 
 
 Can you put the word king in place of queen, and repeat 
 the verses as expressing your feelings in the matter? 
 
 Cel. Oh, how beautiful those verses are. Where did 
 you meet with them? Yes, I can put king where queen 
 now stands, and repeat every line as pouring out my 
 heart's inmost yearnings. 
 
 Ash. Do you believe that marriages are based generally 
 upon affection? 
 
 Cel. Yes, I do. I believe that ninety-nine marriages out 
 of every hundred are heart to heart marriages. 
 
 Ash. You know Sheridan makes Mrs. Malaprop say that 
 it is a small matter whether marriage begins with affec- 
 tion or aversion, and as either one always wears off, it's 
 safest to begin with a little aversion. What do you think 
 of that? 
 
 Cel. I think it is a cynical falsehood, and Sheridan 
 knew better than to have written it. Take the cases of 
 domestic infelicity, what a trifling per cent, of them as 
 compared with the whole. WTien a divorce case arises we 
 hear a great noise about it, but nothing is said of the 
 thousands of happy homes. It is illustrated by that beauti- 
 ful saying of Thomas Carlyle, "the crashing fall of the 
 monarch of the forest is heard by many ears, whilst an 
 unnoticed breeze may plant a thousand acorns." 
 
 Ash. Celeste, I'll die if I don't declare my love to you. 
 I have loved you ever since you were a girl in short 
 dresses. I have struggled against it, while I was a poor 
 young man, unable to support a wife, but I could never 
 conquer it. It had me gripped in a vise from which I 
 have never been able to free myself. Now tliat I am pros- 
 perous and able to take care of a wife, I can no longer 
 restrain myself. Celeste, don't you care something for me? 
 
 Cel. No, Mr. Ashton, I do not; I have the highest 
 respect and regard for you, but I do not love you. 
 
 Ash. Celeste if I were offered the choice between the 
 wealth of all the Rosthchilds and Rockefeller's combined, 
 without you on the one hand, and grinding poverty with 
 you on the other, I would spurn their wealth and eagerly 
 take you and poverty. Don't you think that in time you 
 could come to care for me a little? 
 
 Cel. No, Mr. Ashton, I can never love you. 
 
 Ash. Is there some other man in the case? Do you 
 care for some one else? , 
 
 Cel. No; I am absolutely "heart whole and fancy free." 
 I care for no one. 
 
16 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Ash. Then, how can you know that you will necer care 
 for me? 
 
 Cel. I know it perfectly well. I respect you too much 
 to ever love you. 
 
 Ash. Do you mean to say that your love will be given 
 to a man you do not respect? 
 
 Cel. Oh, no; but when you have been raised up with a 
 man, whom you have always been taugli^t to look on a*^ a 
 model, there is not much probability that you will love 
 him that way. 
 
 Ash. (But let me continue to hope that I may wlii you 
 after awhile. 
 
 Cel. It is useless, Mr. Ashton. I think too highly of 
 you to hold out false encouragements to you. I can never 
 love you, so get me out of your heart and mind. 
 
 Ash. Well, if it must be so, it must be. Farewell. I 
 will struggle against my fate with all the resolution I 
 possess. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 4 — Celeste Randolph's sitting room. Celeste and 
 her maid Saeah. 
 
 Celeste. Sarah, have you noticed that Mr. Ashton never 
 comes here now? 
 
 Sarah. Oh, yes, Miss; I have noticed it. 
 
 Cel. You know he has nol been here since the evening 
 we went to the works to give Mrs. Thompson that money 
 I made at the fair. 
 
 Sarah. Yes, Miss, I know, and that has been more than 
 three months ago. 
 
 Cel. Isn't it strange he should have stopped coming 
 here so suddenly, when he used to come almost every day. 
 What do you think can have been the cause of it? 
 
 Sarah. I have no idea, Miss, but I expect you know 
 the cause. 
 
 Cel. Oh, Sarah, how foolish. How could I know the 
 cause? 
 
 Sarah. Well, Miss, when young gentlemen stop coming 
 to see young ladies they have been desperatively attentive 
 to the young ladies are very likely to know why. 
 
 Cel. Sarah, that is absurd; young gentlemen are gov- 
 erned by their humors and young ladies can't be expected 
 to know what humors govern them. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 17 
 
 Sarah. All the same, I expect you know more about 
 Mr. Ashton's humor in this case than anybody else. By 
 the way, Miss, have you heard how he is carrying on? 
 
 Cel. What, Sarah; what do you mean by his carrying 
 on? 
 
 Sarah. Well, Tom Jones who married my sister, is the 
 janitor of the building in which Mr. Ashton has his offices, 
 and he is devoted to Mr. Ashton. He tells us that Mr. 
 Ashton has become an utterly different man from what he 
 used to be. 
 
 Cel. In what respect, Sarah? 
 
 Sarah. Why, he used to he the steadiest man in town, 
 doing nothing but attending to his business. Of late, he 
 neglects his business and is on a constant spree. 
 
 Gel. Oh. Sarah, you don't tell me so; what a pity, what 
 a pity. 
 
 Sarah. Such a fine young gentleman. It is a pity. 
 
 Cel. Does Tom say he sprees much? 
 
 Sarah. Yes, indeed, maam. He is on a spree all the 
 time. 
 
 Cel. Fie, fle, that is too bad. Surely, Sarah, he doesn't 
 get drunk and make an exhibition of himself? 
 
 Sarah. Well, I haven't heard of his being picked up in 
 the streets. It is not so much a case of over drinking as 
 it is of carousing and neglecting his business. Something 
 seems to have taken possession of him that has changed 
 his whole nature. From being one of the steadiest men in 
 the world, he has become a trifler and an idler. 
 
 Cel. Dear me. It is too bad. Do you hear whether he 
 goes much Into society, Sarah? 
 
 Sarah. I hear he frequently goes to see Miss Plnkney. 
 
 Cel. iWhat, that red headed girl that lives up on Fourth 
 Avenue?? 
 
 Sarah. That is the one. 
 
 Cel. And Tom tells you he goes frequently to see her? 
 
 Sarah. Yes, Miss. 
 
 Cel. Why, Sarah, that is not a preitty girl, and she cer- 
 tainly is a very bad mannered one. No later than yester- 
 day she snubbed me in Morrison's dry goods store. 
 
 Sarah. I expect she has heard that Mr. Ashton is an old 
 beau of yours. 
 
 Cel. But, Sarah, he is not. He used to come here very 
 often, but no one had the right to call him a heau of mine. 
 
 Sarah. Well, people will put a gentleman down as a 
 young lady's beau, when he goes to see her six times a 
 
1» THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 week, aud then drops iu every Sunday evening. 
 
 Cel. Pshaw, Sarah, you are incorrigible. Get me my 
 hat and coat, I am going to talve a woUi. 
 
 (Sakah goes for hat and ooat.) 
 Cel. (to herself) How sttrange. Before Mr. Ashton 
 addressed me I never cared anything about him. I care 
 nothing for him now, but ever since I heard he was get- 
 ting into bad habits, I have felt that maybe I was the 
 cause of it, and oh, me, that would be too bad. Anyhow 
 that haiteful Miss Pinkney shan't take him away from me. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 5 — A street. Cei.,este a7id Asiiton enter from oppo- 
 site direction and meet. 
 
 Celeste. How do you 'do, Mr. Ashton? Its an age since 
 I saw you. "W^ere have you kept yourself? 
 
 Ashton. Oh, I have been around and about engaged in 
 a somewhat unusual occupation — attending 'to my own 
 business. 
 
 Cel. Ah! . I thought your business was that of attending 
 to "'the business of other people. 
 
 Ash. So it is, in a sense, but I only do that when I am 
 paid for it. I have ceased concerning myself about other 
 people when I can ^make nothing by it. 
 
 Cel. Well, at any rate, your newly adopted cynicism 
 ought not to make you forget old friends. 
 
 Ash. I do not find old friends of any more consequence 
 than new ones. Friendship seems to me in the main what 
 the 'friend can get out of it. 
 
 Cel. Oh, Mr. Ashton, how you have changed. How 
 could a few months make such a difference in a person? I 
 never heard you hint at such horrible sentiments before. 
 
 Ash. Well, perhaps not. But a few months of moody 
 reflections may teach a man a great deal. 
 
 Cel. It should never teach him to give up his old 
 friends. 
 
 Ash. Perhaps not. But perhaps also he could make 
 some new friends in the toeantime who would suit his pur- 
 poses just as well. Meantime as I have an engagement 
 with one of those^ best friends, the man who pays money 
 for my interviews, I must bid you good day. 
 
 Cel. Are you sure you are not going to see Miss ^Pink- 
 ney? 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 19 
 
 Ash. Why, what do you know of Miss Pinkney? 
 
 Cel. Well, I know as much as anybody can know of a 
 red headed girl. Why, if you even speak of one a while 
 horse comes in sight. Look at that white horse crossing 
 the street down there. 
 
 Ash. Indeed, well, I didn't know that there was any 
 calamity in looking at a white horse. '■ 
 
 Cel. No., but it seems to me if I were devoting my 
 self to a young lady, '^I should hate the idea that she vv^as 
 inseparately connected with a white horse. Suppose that 
 the sight of her always suggested a monkey. 
 
 Ash. But the sight of Miss Pinkney is very far from 
 suggesting a monkey. She is a very beautiful girl with 
 very fascinating manners. I find her very charming. 
 
 ■Cel. Oh, yes, that is the 'v/ay with all of you men, al- 
 ways ready to drop old friends for new ones. 
 
 Ash. Well, this is a free country, and there is no law 
 ihat I know of that requires a man to visit those he does 
 not care to visit, or 'that prohibits him to visit those he 
 wishes to visit. 
 
 Cel. Oh, no; oh, no; you have % pei'fect right to devote 
 yourself to your new red headed friend and to neglect your 
 old and tried friends if you choose to do so, but Mn time 
 you will find you have made a mistake. 
 
 Ash. Possibly, but I 'will take chances on it at any rate. 
 Good day. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 
 Cel. (to herself) I never saw a man so changed as Mr. 
 ashton is. Pie shows evidences of dissipation, and he is 
 utterly 'cynical and sour. Formerly he had no trace of 
 either. I think it is really mean of him to treat me as 
 he does. I was not responsible for his falling in love with 
 me, and it was all his own fault. But what is to be done. 
 I don't love him, at least I don't love him enough to marry 
 him. I certainly like him a great deal more than I used 
 to. ^but I don't like him enough to marry him. I always 
 had the greatest respect and admiration for him, and now 
 his indifference and harshness, instead of driving me away, 
 seem to draw him nearer to me. Well, well, *I shall never 
 put myself in the way of being snubbed by him again as 
 I was to-day. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 6 — Ashton's apartments. Supper table covered xoith 
 
20 THE CURSE OF THE DAY, 
 
 viands and bottles of champagne. Ashton and fiis 
 friends, Bastrom Rendeleab and Rudolph, sitting at 
 the table drinking loine very freely. 
 
 Ashton. Well, my friends, Bastrom, Rendelear, and Ru- 
 dolph, what have you to say of me in my new character? 
 
 Bastrom. For one I say that you are the most charming 
 companion I ever had, but am very sorry to see you aban- 
 doning your old steady' ways and getting into bad habits. 
 
 Rendelear and Rudolph. Those are our sentiments also, 
 old fellow. 
 
 Ash. Bah! ^ Don't talk to me of the drudgery of a 
 lawyer's life. Give me the flowing bowl, boon companions 
 and plenty of music. I'll give you a song from Olivette. 
 (Sings) i 
 
 Where balmy garlic scents the air, for much 'tis eaten by 
 
 the many, 
 And where on or;inges they fare, as low I'm told as 
 
 twelve a penny; 
 Yes, that's the land for which we pray. 
 Who have to live upon half pay, 
 We'll dance by starlight on the green. 
 To merry castanet and tambourine, 
 Stroll in the vegas. 
 Flirt in the Bodegas, 
 Yes, let us go to Andalusia, ho." 
 
 {Dwelling on the high note "ho" he rises from his' chair 
 and hops around the room, as though holding a guitar in 
 his hands and dragging the right fooV after the left.) 
 
 All three. Bravo! Bravo! 
 
 Bas. Why, Ashton, you have mistaken your calling, you 
 ought to be in opera.- 
 
 Ash. Give me time, maybe I'll get there yet. 
 
 Ren. How did you get this turn for music, that you are 
 always showing? - 
 
 Ash. Well, my mother was a most accomplished musi- 
 cian, and she had me taught to play on the violin when 
 I was a boy. I became passionately devoted to it and have 
 remained so ever since. When I was about nineteen, 
 there was a riot in the city where I lived, growing out of 
 a labor strike and I joined with the police in endeavoring 
 to quell it. In the- melee that followed some fellow shot 
 a pistol ball through my left band breaking the bones of 
 
THE CURSE OP THE DAY. 21 
 
 the third and little fingers, and this made them stiff, and 
 I could' no longer get them upon the finger board of the 
 violin. Possibly another Ole Bull was lost to mankind by 
 that unlucky pistol shot. 
 
 Bas. Do you 'find yourself much the looser by it? 
 
 Ash. There is never a moment that I do not regret my 
 inability to play on my dear old violin. I fondle it as a 
 young mother does Mier first born. There is never a mo- 
 ment when some favorite piece of music is not running 
 through my mind. Sometimes when deep in Fearne on 
 Contingent Remainders, or any other absorbing work, I 
 wake up from my meditations and become conscious that 
 the whole orchestration of the overture to Tannhauser ia 
 crashing through my mind.'- 
 
 Bass. Well, my boy, what has happened to turn the 
 dignified and sedate Ashton, into the romping, carousing, 
 all around good fellow that you have become? ' 
 
 Ash. Taisez vons. That is another story. 
 
 'Bas. 'But the world is saying it is disappointment In 
 love. 
 
 Ash. You tell the world from me to mind its own busi- 
 ness; to let my affairs alone. 
 
 Bas. Yes, but the world will go on wagging its tongue 
 just the same. 
 
 Ash. I'll tell you what you tell the world. You tell the 
 world I am trying to find out how old man Sam Tilden 
 came to make that colossal blunder in writing his will, and 
 that I am experimenting with champagne to see how far 
 it might have entered into the case. 
 
 Bas. I'll tell the word no such lie. But, really, Ashton, 
 you 'ought to stop this foolishness and get back to work. 
 
 Ash. Well, I'm going to reform in a short time. Indeed, 
 I have got to get into shape before long. Randolph em- 
 ployed me in a case Uhat requires me to overthrow the 
 fellow servant doctrine, and its coming on for trial after 
 awhile; you will admit that I shall need all that's In me 
 to accomplish that event. 
 
 Bas. Well, 'rather. But by the way, are you fellows in- 
 vited to Miss Pinkney's soiree next Wednesday evening? 
 
 All three. We are. 
 
 Bas. We'll all meet 'there and have a good time. Mean- 
 while, its time for this carousal to come to an end; so let's 
 break up. Adieu, Ashton, you have given us a very 'pleas- 
 ant evening. 
 
 '- (Exunt.) 
 
22 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 7 — Miss Pinkney's drawing roovi. Couples of ladies 
 
 and gentlemen standing around engaged in conversation. 
 
 AsiiToN a7id Miss Pinkney standing together at the 
 
 front of the stage. Bastkom and Celeste Randolph stand- 
 ing together on the other side. 
 
 Miss Pinkuey. Mr. Ashton, I am so glad you 'came to- 
 night. I have heard that you have not been very well 
 recently, and I was afraid you would' not be able to come. 
 
 Ashton. My health has not been very good of late, but 
 you know I would brave every peril to comply with your 
 wishes. 
 
 Bastrom. (aside) A lie; and he knows it. There has 
 been nothing the matter with him but headaches and 
 nervousness from late hours and too much champagne. 
 
 Miss Pink. That was very nicely said, and now if you 
 are so anxious to comply with my wishes, I want you to 
 be particularly nice to Miss Celeste Randolph this evening. 
 
 Ash. Why do you wish- me to be particularly polite to 
 Miss Randolph? 
 
 Miss Pink. Never mind what are my reasons. However 
 this one is' enough for you. I have heard that she said I 
 have not been polite to her of late. I want to show her 
 by making the nicest man here attentive to her this' even- 
 ing, that she is very much mistaken. 
 
 Ash. I doubt ' if she will feel very grateful to you to 
 think that the attentions she receives are due to your 
 sending gentlemen to wait on her. 
 
 Miss Pink. Oh, • but then you are naturally so glad of 
 an opportunity to be with her. 
 
 Ash. Why do you think that? I have not seen her' in 
 several months. 
 
 Miss Pink. Yes; but I have noticed when you did a«t 
 think 'I was noticing, that you have seen her a good deal 
 this evening. 
 
 Ash. Why, I have not spoken to her and have' scarcely 
 even looked at her. 
 
 Miss Pink. Oh, what a fib; you have haraly ever 'taken 
 your eyes off of her since she came in the room. 
 
 Ash. You ladies are so observant, that you wholly over- 
 do the matter. But come, I see the orchestra is about start- 
 ing up. Let's dance. 
 
 (The orchestra plays the loaltz from Faust. Every one 
 dances.) 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 23 
 
 Cel. Mr. Bastrom, you are a great> friend of Mr. Ashton, 
 are you not? 
 
 Bas. Oh, yes, indeed. Ashton and I have been' intimate 
 and devoted friends ever since we were boys. 
 
 Cel. He is a very charming man, and I am not sur- 
 prised you should be very fond of him; but what is the 
 meaning of these stories I hear of his becoming dissipated? 
 
 Bas. It is one of the most surprising things I ever 
 knew of; until four or five months back, he was one ot 
 the steadiest fellows I ever knew, caring for nothing ap- 
 parently but his profession, but recently he neglects his 
 business' doing many things he should not do, and leaving 
 undone many things he should do. 
 
 Cel. It's too bad that such a splendid fellow should take 
 to such bad' courses. But have you noticed he has not 
 spoken to me this whole evening. He used to be one of 
 my best friends; But now I never see anything of him. 
 
 Bas. Now, you have hit the nail on the head. I suspect 
 you know more of this change in him than any one else. 
 
 Cel. Oh, Mr. Bastrom, what do you mean? 
 
 Bas. Why, a guilty conscience needs no accuser, aad I 
 can't help thinking you can give more information in this 
 matter than anyone else, except Ashton himself. 
 
 Cel. Pshaw. Mr. Bastrom, you talk nonsense. 
 (Miss Pinkney moves over to Celeste.) 
 
 Miss 'Pinkney, Oh, Miss Randolph, you are looking 
 your best this evening. That lovely ruby in your hair con- 
 trasts beautifully with the dark shades. 
 
 Cel. Thank you, so much. That ruby was a birthday 
 present to me two years ago from Mr. Ashton. You know 
 his taste runs to red. 
 
 Miss Pink. I did not know it. I thought he liked the 
 dark and sombre. 
 
 Cel. Well, I believe his taste varies. When he is him- 
 self, he is very serious, with no tendency towards the 
 frivolous, and then he likes dark colors. But I believe he 
 sometimes becomes erratic, and then I think bright colors 
 attract him. You must not conclude that his present parti- 
 ality for red is permanent. 
 
 Miss Pink. Really, Miss Randolph, his permanent or 
 tem'porary partialities are a matter of no moment to me. 
 But as I see he is quite alone. I will excuse myself to see 
 that he is not neglected. 
 
 (Moves off.) 
 
24 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Bas. Pretty pointed talk, that. 
 
 Cel. She made it a point to be rude to me in Morrison's 
 dry goods store the other day, and I made up my mind 
 to get even with her at the first opportunity. 
 
 iBas. Well, I think you evened up matters between you 
 pretty' thoroughly that time. I don't think there is much 
 coming to you. But look there she is bringing that odious 
 little monster, Hogbloom, son of the president of the trust, 
 ifj) to introduce him to you. If -you don't look out you 
 will be a member of the Hogbloom family before you know 
 it. 
 
 Cel. Oh, mercy. Heaven forbid. 
 (Miss Pinkney brings up young Mn. Hogbloom.) 
 
 Miss Pink. Miss Randolph, allow me to present you to 
 Mr. Hogbloom. His father is so well known to everybody 
 that Mr. Hogbloom hardly needs an introduction to any 
 one. 
 
 Young Hogbloom. Well, my father is pretty well known 
 in this community, I believe; indeed,, he is so well known 
 that I feel as though I might go up' and speak to most 
 people with'out the formality of an introduction. 
 
 Cel. Did it ever occur to you that those Knowing your 
 father' so well, might on that account demur to making 
 his son's acquqaintance? 
 
 Young Hog. Well, I must admit that that view of the 
 case never presented itself to my mind; and especially be 
 cause I can't help thinking my father a very popular man. 
 You can't imagine the number of people that come 'to see 
 him, and I must say they all treat him with very great 
 respect. 
 
 Cel. Perhaps it might be a very disastrous thing for 
 them if^ they did not. 
 
 Young Hog. I can't think so; my father is an exceed- 
 ingly kind hearted man, who would not hurt any one. 
 
 Cel. Perhaps not; and yet he might' direct the power 
 of the trust very destructively against a rival in business. 
 
 Young Hog. Oh, well; I don't allow my mind to dwell 
 upon topics 'Of 'that sort. But they are all about to leave, 
 and I would like before they go to ask your permission to 
 call at your house and pay my respects. 
 
 Cel. Why, Mr. Hogbloom, our house is open to every- 
 body in society. If you care to call we shall be very glad 
 to see you. 
 
 (Exunt.) 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 25 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 8 — A State court room, Judge Harrison on the 
 
 hencTi. A jury table, with Ashton a7id Wallace, counsel 
 
 for defendant, sitting att it. Mrs. Thompson and her 
 
 four little children, all in deep mourning, sitting next 
 
 to AsiiTON. Mr. Ashton for plaintiff and Mb. Wallace 
 
 for defendant. 
 
 Judge Harrison. Well, gentlemen, the case of Thomp- 
 son's Admr. v. Taunton and Eastern R. R. Co., is set for 
 trial this morning; are you ready? 
 
 Ashton. I am ready for the plaintiff, sir. 
 
 Wallace. I am ready for the defendant. 
 
 Judge. Swear the jury, Mr. Sheriff. 
 
 (Sheriff sivears the jury.) 
 
 Ash. Gentlemen of the jury, this is an action against 
 this railroad for negligently killing the husband of this 
 lady who was a brakeman on said railroad. You will hear 
 the evidence and give your verdict in the case. Call the 
 conductor of the train. 
 
 (Conductor takes the witness chair.) 
 
 Ash. You were the conductor on the train when th« 
 brakeman Thompson was killed, were you not? 
 
 Conductor. I was. 
 
 Ash. Well, tell the jury all about how it 'occurred. 
 
 Cond. I had orders when I got to Ashwell Station, to 
 take the siding and wait there until No. 45 freight, which 
 was running in two sections, passed, when I was to go 
 back on the main track and go on west. I had been up 
 all night and was overcome by fatigue and loss of rest. 
 I sat down by the side of the train and involuntarily 
 fell asleep. A passing train aroused me and T got it Into 
 my head that it was the second section of No. 45, whereas 
 it was in fact the first section. The engine and train handa 
 did not know my orders. I signalled to the engineer to 
 get on the main track and go ahead, which he did, and in 
 five minutes he met the second section coming at full 
 speed, head on, and the engineer and brakeman Thompson 
 were killed. 
 
 Ash. That is our case, sir. 
 
 Wallace. I don't care to cross examine the witness, 
 and have no witness to olfer. We admit those to be facts. 
 
 Ash. I move, your honor, to instruct the jury to find 
 a verdict for a sum, the interest on which will support 
 Mrs. Thompson and her four children. 
 
26 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Wal. And I move, your honor, to refuse to give any 
 such instruction. This man was lulled through negli- 
 gence, it is true, but it was the negligence of his fellow 
 servant, the conductor, and the law allows no recovery In 
 that case. I move, your honor, to direct a verdict for the 
 defendant. 
 
 Ash. The law which the gentleman claims the protec- 
 tion of, is old, obsolete, and abandoned. It was once the 
 law, but it is no longer the law. It has run out along 
 with the times that gave it birth. That was made the law 
 when there were privileged classes that were given favors 
 and protection by the law, which the masses did not have 
 Accordingly when a privileged person hired several poor 
 laborers he got it adopted as the law that if one of them 
 was injured through the negligence of another he, the 
 lord, was not to be held responsible, because the party 
 was injured through the negligence of a fellow servant, 
 although that fellow servant was his own agent. It was 
 one of the attendants of privileges and caste. But thank 
 God, the day of privilege is over now, and all men stand 
 upon the footing of equality before the law, and this 
 odious attendant of privilege should go with the privilege 
 to which it was incident. Sir, the French Revolution was 
 the great event in the history of mankind after the 
 advent of our Lord and Saviour. Its message to mankind 
 was liberty, equality, and the charity which our Lord 
 and Saviour preached. It found the poor people followed 
 by the prying eye of the lord when they took their cattle 
 to the butcher or their meal to the oven. The poor man 
 could not cross a river without paying the lord a loll; 
 nor take the produce he had raised to market without 
 paying the lord for leave to do so; nor consume what re- 
 mained of his grain till he had sent it to the lord's mill to 
 hv ground; nor sharpen his tools at his own grindstone; nor 
 full his clothes on his own works; nor make wine, oil, or 
 cider at his own still without paying the lord for the privi- 
 lege. He could not marry off his own daughter until she had 
 spent a night at the castle. When gathering acorns in 
 the fall for his winter's supply of food, he was liable to 
 be sprinkled with shot by the lord for interrupting the 
 course of the hunted stag. That furious upheaval of &o- 
 ciety which we call the French Revolution, was the protest 
 and rebellion of mankind against this hated and hateful 
 order of things, and the message which the Revolution 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 27 
 
 sent out to the world, was that such hings should exist 
 no more. Sir, in traveling through France I have come 
 to public buildings erected before the year 1800, and there 
 covered with lichen and moss, and scarcely legible, I have 
 made out, graven deep upon imperishable granite, those 
 magic words, Liberte, Egalite, et Fraternite, the message 
 of the Revolution to mankind, placed there by those stern 
 men who had declared that tyranny should end, and I 
 have taken off my hat to those words as the greatest ser- 
 mon that has ever been preached on this earth, 
 since that divine one on the mount. That sermon meant 
 the ending of privilege and the equality of all men before 
 the law, and from that day the laws of all civilized people 
 have been struggling to fashion themselves into harmony 
 with those words. Are we in this enlightened country 
 and in this enlightened day to hold on to the tenets of the 
 old order of things and allow incorporated wealth to enjoy 
 the privileges of the feudal lords at the expense of the 
 great mass of the people. I appeal to your honor to put 
 your foot upon this old and obsolete doctrine and force 
 this wealthy corporation to make amends for the negli- 
 gence of its servants, which deprived these little children 
 of the means of getting bread. 
 
 Judge Harrison. Gentlemen of the jury, the law is, that 
 if an employe is injured by the negligence of his fellow 
 servant he can make no recovery from his employer. I 
 direct you, therefore, to find a verdict for the defendant. 
 
 Mrs. Thompson. Do I get nothing, then? 
 
 Ash. The Judge rules that you can recover nothing. 
 
 Mrs. Thomp. (weeping) How am I to take care of these 
 little ones, then? Their father was a devoted father and 
 an industrious man, and he provided them with a good 
 support. This rich railroad company has murdered him, 
 and is it not to be made to help me take care of the little 
 ones? 
 
 Ash. My dear, madame, it is very pitiable, but it is the 
 law. 
 
 iExunt.) 
 
 ACT. 11. 
 
 SCENE 9 — Office of the Executive Committee of the Ameri- 
 can Turnover Company. Present :Mr Hogbloom, Presi- 
 
28 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 dent of the Company, and Messrs. Swineiiurst and 
 Bloatbond, Directors; the three constituting the Execu- 
 tive Committee. 
 
 Hogbloom (entering). Good morning gentlemen, we 
 three, I the president, and you two directors, constitue 
 the Executive Committee of the American Turnover Com- 
 pany, which under our management, we can confidently 
 claim to be the most successful trust in the United States, 
 and that is saying a great deal, gentlemen, for the great- 
 ness of a country depends upon its rich men, who fur- 
 nish the capital for all new enterprises, ar|d the trust is 
 the thing to make rich men. 
 
 Swinehurst. Every word you say is true. This sense- 
 less clamor against the trusts ought to be suppressed by 
 the strong arm of the law. It is suicidal. 
 
 Hog. Well, gentlemen, as you know we are met togeth- 
 er this morning to go over the affairs of our company. We 
 have all of the United States divided into three dis- 
 tricts. You, Mr. Swinehurst have charge of district No. 1; 
 you, Mr. Bloatbond, of district No. 2; and I have charge 
 of district No. 3. What have you to report, Mr. Swine- 
 hurst, from district No. 1? 
 
 Swine. Nothing of importance, sir; our affairs are in 
 the best possible shape in district No. 1. The factories 
 are all full of orders and we have crushed out all opposi- 
 tion to us in the district. We have an absolute monopoly 
 in all of my territory. Wlien the next dividend is declar- 
 ed the contribution of district No. 1 will be something to 
 be proud of. 
 
 Hog. That's good; and what have you to report, Mr. 
 Bloatbond? 
 
 Bloatbond. I can report the same thing for district 
 No. 2. All opposition is crushed out in No. 2, and our mon- 
 opoly there is complete. 
 
 iHog. Well, gentlemen, I am sorry to say that my re- 
 port from district No. 3 is not quite so good as yours. 
 That infernal fellow Randolph has kept his establishment 
 going in opposition to us, and our revenues are somewhat 
 cut down there by reason of it. We have no other opposi- 
 tion in the district, but his opposition tells upon our net 
 revenues. It seems to me the entire power of the trust 
 should be turned upon him until we crush him out. 
 
 S'wine. 
 
 Bloat. We entirely agree with you. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 29 
 
 Hog. Then I will see Randolph and give him fair no- 
 tice that unless he sells out his establishment to us for 
 stock in our company and on terms that suit us, we will 
 crush him out. 
 
 Swine. 
 
 Bloat. That's the thing to do. 
 
 Bloat. By the way, Mr. Hogbloom, I want to get my 
 mind straightened out about some of the details of our 
 trust. How many workmen were employed by the estab- 
 lishments we consolidated l)efore we formed our trust. 
 
 Hog. About 300,000. 
 
 Bloat. And how many are employed now? 
 
 Hog. About 160,000. This is one of our great econo- 
 mies. We are now doing the work with 160,000 men that 
 300,000 were once employed to do. We dispensed with 
 140,000 workmen. 
 
 Bloat. And how many salaried officers, clerks, and 
 drummers did the old establishments employ? 
 
 Hog. About 20,000. 
 Bloat. And how many do we employ? 
 
 H'og. About 1,000. 
 
 Bloat. And how many families who were owners, lived 
 on the old establishments? 
 
 Hog. About 1,000 
 
 Bloat. And as ten of us own the entire trust, all of 
 what those 1,000 families lived on comes now into the 
 pockets of us ten 
 
 Hog. You are not complaining of it, are you? 
 
 <Bloat. By no means. I was only thinking that It ought 
 to enable us to keep the wolf away from our doors. 
 
 Hog. If we live economically it seems to me we ought 
 to be able to live. 
 
 Bloat. Let me see. We have one hundred millions of 
 ten per cent, preferred stock, and three hundred millions 
 of common stock. It looks as though we would be able 
 this year to pay the dividend on the preferred and to pay 
 a dividend of twenty per cent, on the common. That will 
 give us some seventy millions of dollars to divide out 
 amongst us ten this year, or about seven millions to each 
 of us. Quite a snug income for us, I must say. 
 
 Hog. Well, if we are not extravagant, I think we ought 
 to be able to get along. 
 
 Swin. Mr. Hogbloom, what do you think of the clamor 
 made by the public that it is bad policy for the govern- 
 ment to permit ten men to monopolize all the revenues 
 
30 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 that formerly sustained all these people? 
 
 Hog. Perfect nonsense, sir! As a proposition in politi- 
 cal economy, it will not bear a moment's examination. You 
 see it turns all that great body of people loose upon the 
 community with little or no means, and under an im- 
 perative necessity to scuffle for existence. This sets them 
 all industriously at work, and they create a vast number 
 of new enterprises, which add incalculably to the general 
 wealth. The clamor is perfectly senseless, sir. 
 
 Swin. I see. I believe you are right, and if we have 
 deprived this large body of people of what they formerly 
 lived on, we have greatly cheapened the price of commo- 
 dities. 
 
 Hog. Yes, sir. That is a good idea to keep before the 
 dear people. But you know, Swinehurst, that there is 
 a good deal of humbuggery about it. We have undoubted- 
 ly cheapened commodities somewhat, but we are not in 
 the elemosynary business. We are in business to make 
 all we can out of it. We bring prices down to the highest 
 point we think the public will stand, and we stop right 
 there. But you know as well as I do that if competition 
 were free it would bring prices far below that. We bring 
 jirices down to what we want them to be and then if 
 independent concerns attempt to bring them lower we 
 simply crush out these independent concerns. 
 
 Swin. Well, but we need not tell the people that. 
 
 Hog. Of course, not. Where Ignorance is bliss, 'tis 
 folly to be wise, and if the public fools itself with the 
 notion that the trust cheapens commodities to their low- 
 est point, let it hug its dear delusion while we gather in 
 the shekels. 
 
 Well, gentlemen, adieu until our next meeting. 
 
 ACT II. 
 SCENE 10 — HoGBLOOM and Randolph meet in the street. 
 
 Hogbloom. Well, Mr. Randolph, how is business? 
 
 Randolph, Well, Sir; Competition is pretty lively, but 
 we are able to keep going quite satisfactorily. 
 
 Hog. Mr. Randolph, you ought to sell your establish- 
 ment out to us. If you find competition severe now, it 
 Is nothing to what you will find it hereafter. We cannot 
 permit you to continue as a competitor to us. 
 
 Raa. Mr. Hogbloom, I am perfectly well aware of the 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 31 
 
 power of your trnst, but I cannot believe that the laws 
 of our country will permit you to set yourselves deliber- 
 ately to work to crush out my business. 
 
 Hog. Well, Mr. Randolph, you had better sell to us 
 than to drive us into crushing you. It will be cheaper 
 to us and far better for you. 
 
 Ran. What would be your idea of a proper price for 
 my establishment? 
 
 Hog. Well, if we give you $250,000 of our stock for 
 your whole plant, I think we would give you a fair price. 
 
 Ran. Why, Mr. Hogbloom, my plant is worth one mil- 
 lion of gold dollars, and you talk of giving me only 
 $250,000 of your watered stock. My plant represents a 
 life's work, and it is one of the most complete plants m 
 the world. 
 
 Hog. That may be all so, Mr. Randolph, but we must 
 look at it from the standpoint of what it will cost ua to 
 crush you. The question with us is which will put the 
 severest drain on our pocket; to pay you $250,000 of our 
 stock or to crush you. That is the only way we can look 
 at it. 
 
 Ran. Mr. Hogbloom, you must excuse me, because I am 
 going to use some very plain language to you. I have 
 spent twenty-seven years of my life in building up my 
 plant. These have been twenty-seven years of honest, 
 manly endeavor, in which I have secured the good opin- 
 ion of all men I have dealt with, and in which I have 
 gathered around me a family of 1,000 workmen who trust 
 me and look up to me in a measure as a father. I will 
 not submit, at the dictation of an overgrown bully, to 
 sacrificing my property and turning my employees over 
 to a heartless corporation, which will treat them as so many 
 pack-mules, to be kicked about from pillar to post and 
 turned out to starve, just as five cents can or cannot be 
 added to its bloated treasury, Sir, the enormous wealth 
 of your trust may enable you to crush me. But In my 
 effort to protect my property and save my men, I shall 
 fight to the last and go down, if I must, with my flag in 
 my hand and my honor unstained. Sir, your threat has 
 all the savagery of a wild beast's appetite. But do your 
 worst. Sir; I defy you. Good day, sir. 
 
 (Exunt.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 11— Mb. Randllpii's office at his works. Enter 
 
32 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 'Mr. Randolph. Rings for Tom Bollen. Bollen entert. 
 
 Randolph. I must talk this matter over wij;h Bollen 
 and see what is to be done. Ah, Tom, good morning, my 
 man. Tom, we have stood some terrific strains together, 
 but I'm afraid the worst we have ever encountered l3 
 ahead of us now. 
 
 Bollen. Why, what's up, Mr. Randolph. There can't be 
 anything much worse than the panic of 1893. 
 
 Ran. You think so, Tom? Tom, I'll tell you a story. 
 General Fitz Lee used to illustrate the difference between 
 the Cuban War and our Civil War by the following an- 
 ecdote: Some fellow came into a company giving the 
 most exaggerated account of the Johnstown flood. An 
 old chap standing up in the corner with his hat pulled 
 down over his eyes would grunt out every now and then, 
 "Oh hell." Presently the fellow asked who is that old 
 chap? A friend replied, it's Noah. The difference between 
 what we met in 1893 and what is before us now, Tom, is 
 about like the difference between the Johnstown flood and 
 Noah's flood 
 
 Bol. Why, sir, what can be ahead of us that is so 
 terrible? 
 
 Ran. The trust is going to undertake to crush us. 
 
 Bol. Whew. That is something to make us stand up 
 and take notice. But why do you think so, Mr. Randolph? 
 
 Ran. Hogbloom has just given me notice. 
 
 Bol. Well, well. What are you going to do, Mr. Ran- 
 dolph? 
 
 Ran. Tom, if you and the men will stand by me I am 
 going to fight to the death. 
 
 Bol. You know what I am going to do, Mr. Randolph., 
 and j'ou can count on the last one of the men, too. You 
 have always been fair and square with them, and they 
 are going to back you now to the last drop of their blood. 
 
 Ran. Well, Tom, it is going to be a terrific struggle, 
 but I intend to put up the last dollar I have in my effort 
 to save my works and my men. I will not surrender un- 
 til I am crushed. 
 
 Bol. Well, Mr. Randolph, I'll go and talk the mattef 
 over with the men and I'll let you know what they think 
 
 of it. 
 Ran. I wish you would, Tom. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 33 
 
 (Tom goes out. Enter Ashton.) 
 
 Ashton. Good morning, Mr. Randolph. I have come to 
 report to you the result of the trial of Mrs. Thompson's 
 case. It turned out just as I told you it would . The 
 judge ruled that Thompson was killed through the negli- 
 gence of the conductor, who was his fellow servant, and 
 therefore that the railroad company was not responsible 
 for his death. 
 
 Ran. Well, such a doctrine is a blot upon our laws. It 
 is simply scandalous. But that matter is ended and over 
 now and I want to consult you, Mr. Ashton, aliout another 
 most important matter personal to myself. 
 
 Ash. All right, sir. I'll give you the hest advice that 
 I know how to give. 
 
 Ran. Hogbloom, president of the trust, has been to me 
 and demanded that I sell my plant to them for $250,000 
 of their common stock. The proposition is absurd. My 
 plant is worth a million of gold dollars, and I at once 
 rejected his offer. He then notified me that they would 
 crush me. Now, you know their crushing methods, I sup- 
 pose. They go to all my customers and offer goods below 
 cost. Their competitor has, of course, to meet this reduc- 
 tion of price, and the contest becomes simply a question of 
 which one has the longest purse. They have got a thous- 
 and dollars where I have got one and in such a contest. 
 I will, of course, have, ultimately to go to the wall. What 
 I want to know of you is cannot I invoke the protection 
 of the law in such an unequal contest? 
 
 Ash. Mr. Randolph, you ask me one of the most 
 difficult questions that a lawyer can be called upon to 
 answer. In my opinion the principles of our laws pro- 
 tect you, but it is by no means certain that you can get 
 a court to make that ruling. 
 
 Ran. Why, how is that? 
 
 Ash. You see doctors differ: I think the principlos of 
 our laws protect you. But the judge you happen to go 
 before may think differently. 
 
 Ran. Can't you give me some sort of idea of the naturt- 
 of the questions involved? 
 
 Ash. Without the slightest difHculty. We inherited the 
 principles of our laws from England. A case was decided 
 there two hundred years ago which, in my 3ii(Tgment, an- 
 nounced principles that control your case. A man had a 
 water front and shot ducks at a decoy for a living. His 
 
34 THE CURSE OF THE DAY, 
 
 neighbor hated him and walked up and down on his own 
 water front firing a gun to scare the ducks away. The man 
 sued him for damages and recovered them. The court 
 held that if the second man had voccasion to fire his gun 
 and the ducks were frightened off thereby, the first man 
 had nothing 'to complain of. iBut if the second man had 
 no occasion to shoot and shot merely to gratify a mali- 
 cious feeling towards the firat one, that was a wrong for 
 which he must pay damages. 
 
 Ran. The idea, then, is that Hogbloom's business does 
 not call upon him to give his goods away to crush me and 
 that he only does it to gratify what is in law a malicious 
 disposition towards me. 
 
 Ash. That is it exactly. .When he sells his goods above 
 cost, although very little above cost, he is doing business, 
 and if that completely ruins you, you must put up -vith 
 it. But when he gives his goods away, which, selling 
 them below cost, is, in effect, pro tanto, he ia not doing 
 business. He is simply trying to destroy j'oii. He Is 
 doing exactly what the man did who fired the gun. 
 
 Ran. Do you mean 'to say a merchant cannot have bar- 
 gain counters, or give his goods away as an advertise- 
 ment? 
 
 Ash. By no means. It all turns on the purpose and 
 intention. If he has a bargain counter in good faith to 
 get rid of old stock, he may have it. If he gives his goods 
 away in good faith to advertise his other goods, he may 
 do that. But that is altogether a different affair from 
 deliberately giving goods away in large quantities for the 
 purpose of destroying you, his competitor. 
 
 Ran. Ah! I see, I see. 
 
 Ash. These propositions are not war upon business or 
 rich men. We want to see business as active as possible, 
 and a country is all the greater and stronger for its rich 
 men. In this day of electricity and steam there must be 
 combinations of capital and great combinations of capital 
 Iso. All that is asked is that rich men and corporations 
 be required to confine themselves to busine'ss and aban- 
 don piracy, conducted under the name of business. And, 
 when they do this, they must get just as rich as possible, 
 and it is all the better for the country that they do get 
 rich. 
 
 Ran. Can't a man give away what belongs to him as 
 he chooses? 
 
 Ash. Undoubtedly, when the spirit of gift is what 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 35 
 
 animated him. But no man can use him own right for 
 the destruction of another when the destruction cf that 
 other is the sole thing he desires to accomplish. You have 
 a perfect right to throw a bombshell at night into your 
 backyard to amuse yourself with the sparks emitted at 
 its explosion. But if there are some people in your back- 
 yard whom you want to multilate, you can't mutilate them 
 with your bomb and then say you were only amusing your- 
 self with your bomb explosion. The purpose and inten- 
 tion to hurt the people makes the exercise r.f your right 
 to throw bombs into your backyard vicious. 
 
 Ran. You think, then, the courts will forbid Hogbloom 
 to sell his goods below cost to destroy my business 
 
 Ash. I do not say I think the courts will do it. But I 
 say that I think they ought to do it. I believe that to be 
 our law. I believe the duck case contains the element and 
 spirit of our laws, and I think the courts ought to enforce 
 the principle involved in it. 
 
 Ran. Well, Mr. Ashton, when Hogbloom and I get fair- 
 ly engaged I want you to take charge of my case and see 
 if you cannot have him stopped in his piratical war upon 
 me. I am very busy just now, but I would like to talk 
 this matter over with you further. I will thank you to 
 call at my house to-night that we may consider it more 
 at large. 
 
 Ash. I will do so. 
 
 (He goes out.) 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE 12 — Mb. Randolph's parlor. A servant ushers 
 Mb. Asuton in. Enter Miss Celeste. 
 
 Celeste. Good evening, Mr. Ashton.' Papa was unavoid- 
 ably called away this afternoon, and he requested me to 
 see you when you came and explain to you. 
 
 Ashton. That is all right. Miss Celeste. I can call 
 another time. 
 
 Cel. Well Mr. A.shton, I hope you have somewhat modi- 
 fied the very cynical views you gave utterance to the last 
 time I saw you. 
 
 Ash. I have, Miss Celeste. I do not feel so bitterly 
 towards the world ^as I did then. 
 
 Cel. Why should you have felt bitterly towards the 
 v\-orld? I know no one who had better reason to feel 
 kindly towards it. You had many friends, you were uni- 
 
36 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 versally respected and beloved, you stood at the head of 
 your profession and had prosperity secured. Why should 
 you not have been happy? 
 
 Ash. Because I was denied that without which all the 
 rest was without value to me. I wanted you. With you 
 my life would have been one long delight, although I had 
 nothing. Without you I was condemned to misery al- 
 though I commanded all the wealth of all the trusts. 
 
 (Celeste remains silent.) 
 
 Ash. Why are you silent, Celeste. Is it possible you 
 are beginning to feel some interest in me? 
 
 Cel. Mr. Ashton, I cannot deny that I feel a greater 
 interest in you than I did. But I do not love you and I 
 cannot encourage you to think that I will. But even if I 
 were becoming interested in you, how could you expect 
 my interest to keep up with such reports as I hear com- 
 ing from you? 
 
 Ash. You have heard of it, then ? 
 
 Cel. Of course I have. Everybody has. 
 
 Ash. Celeste, you drove me to it. But I have taken a 
 grip upon myself, and I have got myself thoroughly in 
 hand again. You will hear no more evil reports about 
 me. 
 
 Cel. Oh, Mr. Ashton, I am so delighted to hear that. 
 
 Ash. And wont you own up that you are beginning to 
 care a little bit for me? 
 
 Cel. Don't press me any further (;o-night, Mr. Ashton? 
 Leave me alone and let me think ever the matter? 
 
 Ash. Leave you alone? Rather will I perish. 
 
 {He seizes Celeste in Ms arms and covers her mouth 
 xvith kisses. She resists at first, l>nt gradually sub- 
 mits.) 
 
 Ash. Oh, my darling, then you do really love me? Why 
 have you kept me miserable so long? 
 
 Cel. Oh, here comes Sarah. Really you must go. 
 
 {Exit Ashton. .Curtain falls.).. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 1 — Celeste Randot.ph's sitting room. Celeste sit- 
 ting, her maid, Sarah, startding near. 
 
 Celeste. Sarah, what report does Tom .Tones make to 
 you these days about Mr. Ashton's habits? 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 37 
 
 Sarah. Go away, Miss Celeste, you know that since you 
 and Mr. Ashton made up, he is another man. You know 
 he is his own self, and just as steady as the old preacher 
 at St. Mark's. 
 
 Cel. Why do you say since we made up? What had 
 that to do with it? 
 
 Sar. You know it had everj^thing; to do with it. You 
 know your falling out with him was what upset him, 
 and you know that your making up with him was what 
 got him back right. Miss Celeste, you ain't going to 
 give up your old servant maid when you and Mr. Ashton 
 gets married, are you? 
 
 Cel. When Mr. Ashton and I get married? Why, what 
 put such an idea in your head, Sarah? 
 
 Sarah. Oh, go away. Miss Celeste, you don't fool me. 
 I know all about it. I know how you done changed just 
 as much as Mr. Ashton. You done got just as happy as 
 he is. You can't fool Sarah. 
 
 Cel. Well, never mind about fooling you, Sarah. But 
 you need not fear that anything that happenis is going to 
 make me give you up. By the way, wasn't that odious 
 young Hogbloom here last evening? 
 
 Sarah. Yes, Miss; he calls nearly every day. Sometimes 
 I tell him you are out, when I know you are in, but last 
 evening you really were out when he called. 
 
 Cel. He is the pest of my life, but the enmity of hia 
 father to papa might mean so much to papa that I feel 
 compelled to receive him when he calls and be polite to 
 him. 
 
 Sarah. Well, you been receiving him a heap, and I 
 expect Mr. Ashton is going to get right tired of his coming 
 here so much. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Ashton has got nothing to do with who visits 
 me. Besides he is a good friend of mine and will be glad 
 to think I am enjoying myself. 
 
 Sarah. Oh, yes, I know that, but young gentlemen don't 
 relish the idea of other young men being intimate with 
 their sweethearts, especially when the other gentleman 
 has got money enough to buy out the whole shebang. 
 
 Cel. Sarah, don't talk such nonsense, I couldn't marry 
 him. But get my hat and coat, I am going out for a 
 walk. 
 
 {Exunt.) 
 
38 THE CURSE OF THE DAY 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 2 — Mr. Randolph's office at the work.fi. .Mr. Ran- 
 dolph sitting. Tom Bollen enters. 
 
 Ran. Well, Tom, it is now a year and half since the 
 irust declared war upon us and in that time they have 
 made the pace a pretty hot one for us. 
 
 Bol. They have, indeed, pir. The cruel war they have 
 waged against us is simply outrageous. 
 
 Ran. Yes, Tom, I can't help feeling very bitterly to- 
 wards them. We had a happy family here of five thous- 
 and men and women and children, all contented and a 
 great proportion of them helpless little children. They 
 deliberately plotted to break this family up and scatter 
 its members broadcast over the earth, the little children 
 to freeze and starve unless good luck or charity pro- 
 vided for them. 
 
 Bol. What we have had to encounter does not seem to be 
 right. Our drummers report from all directions that 
 wherever they go they find our customers supplied with 
 our goods at from fifteen to twenty per cent, less than 
 they can be produced for. We cannot, of course, stand 
 such competition as that. 
 
 Ran. No, Tom, it must soon ruin us if we get no reliei 
 from the law. I have mortgaged the works for every dol- 
 lar I can get on them, and I have mortgaged everything I 
 have outside of the works for all I can get on it, and the 
 end of my purse is well near in sight. We are ruined 
 unless we can get some help from the law. 
 
 Bol. Well, Mr. Randolph, the men have all stood by 
 you like heroes. We have cut down wages from time to 
 time as the pressure got heavier, and there has never 
 been a murmer. The wages are now almost starvation 
 wages, but the men work away with a will and never 
 utter a complaint. In addition almost all of them own 
 their little homes, and they have all mortgaged them to 
 eke out a living. I declare, sir, it almost breaks my heart 
 to go amongst their homes and see how near they are to 
 destitution, when I think of how prosperous and con- 
 tented they all were a year and a half ago. 
 
 Ran. Oh, Tom. it breaks a man's heart. 
 
 Bol. Mr. Randolph, you spoke of the law assisting you. 
 What can the law do for you? 
 
 Ran. Well, Tom, Mr. Ashton, whom T look on as one of 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 39 
 
 the first lawyers in this country, advises me that he 
 thinks the courts ought to forbid the trust to make this 
 piratical war upon me. I have instructed him to take 
 the necessary steps for bringing the matter to a test. Ah, 
 I see him coming now. He will enlighten us about our 
 chances. 
 
 (Enter Ashton.) 
 
 Ran. Well, Mr. Ashton, how are things going on? 
 
 Ash. Well, sir, I have applied to the United States Cir- 
 cuit Court for an injunction to stop the trust from giv- 
 ing their goods away or selling them below cost for the 
 purpose of destroying you. The case is set for hearing 
 next week, and we shall then know what can be done,. 
 
 Ran. Mr. Ashton, I hope you will do all you can to get 
 a speedy decision of the case. I had as well be frank with 
 you, sir. I am wholly ruined unless the court enjoins the 
 trust and compels them to stop their selfish and unlaw- 
 ful competition. I can hold out but a little while longer. 
 
 Ash. That is dreadful, sir, and I cannot promise that 
 the court will take the same view of the law that I take. 
 The truth is that while, in my opinion the principles of 
 the common law forbid such practices as this trust resorts 
 to the legislature ought to take hold of the subject. 
 Whether their course is contrary to the principles of our 
 laws or not, there can be no doubt that it is unjust, im- 
 moral and against all sound public policy, and, if it is not 
 unlav/ful the legislature should make it unlawful. The 
 Congress of the United States should deal with it so far 
 as it concerns interstate commerce, and each State should 
 deal with it so far as it concerns intrastate commerce, 
 and officers of the trust who can be convicted of taking 
 part in such practices should be sent to the penitentiary 
 to wear striped clothes and have shaved heads. 
 
 Ran. I think that a sound and conservative view, 
 though being one of the trust's victims, nobody would 
 pay much attention to my opinion. Let me hear from 
 you as soon as you know anything, because I have abso- 
 lute ruin staring me directly in the face. 
 
 (Exit AsiiTON. Enter Mrs. Bradlav/. wife of one of 
 Randolph's workmen, with her three little children.) 
 
 Mrs. Bradlaw. Mr. Randolph, I am the wife of John 
 Bradlaw, one of your most trusted workmen, and we 
 
40 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 have three little chilclren, the oldest only seven vears old- 
 my husband has stood by you through thick and" thin and 
 he IS going to stand by you to the end, but I don't see 
 how we are going to continue to live. His wages have 
 been cut down until they will not support u% and we have 
 mortgaged our little home to help us to live; the intei^ 
 est upon that mortgage is now due, and v.e have no mon- 
 ey to pay it with, and our home is going to be sold over 
 our heads. Can't you help us a little? 
 
 Ran. My God, Mrs. Bradlaw, you break my heart. How 
 many of the others are in your fix? 
 
 Mrs. Bradlaw. Nearly all of them, sir. 
 
 Ran. How much is your overdue interest? 
 
 Mrs. Bradlaw. Thirty dollars, sir. 
 
 Ran. Well, here is the money. Go and pay your inter- 
 est and save your home. But I shall probably be without 
 a home myself in a very short time. 
 
 (Exunt both.) 
 ACT HI. 
 
 SCENE 3 — Mr. Randolph's parlor. Celeste Randoli'h 
 sitting Servant brings her a card. 
 
 Celeste. Ask him in, John. 
 
 {Enter St.Geoege Ashton, who takes Celeste in hin arms 
 and kisses her passionately.) 
 
 Ash. My darling, twenty-four hours have intervened 
 since I saw you, and I feel as though it had been an age. 
 
 Cel. What have you been doing iu that time? 
 
 Ash. Working on your father's case. It will be argued 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Cel. Oh, Mr. Ashton, will it. Poor papa is almost 
 distracted. He says he is utterly ruined if you lose it, 
 and that we will all be beggers m the street. 
 
 Ash. My darling, you know I am going to do my very 
 best. It is bad enough to think of your father being 
 ruined, but to think of you being reduced to des- 
 titution — oh, I can't bear the thought. 
 
 Cel. I think nothing about myself. It is only of poor 
 papa that I think. I don't belie'/e he will survive the 
 distress and mortification of seeing his i)lant sold at auc- 
 tion and his workmen with their families dispersed. 
 
 Ash. But it will not be so bad, Celeste, I am doing 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 4-1 
 
 splendidly. I am making an income of twenty thousand 
 dollars a year. We will be married at once and I will 
 take care of your papa. 
 
 Cel. No, Mr. Ashton, I cannot marry you. Papa will 
 be too proud to live upon yonr generosity, and I shall 
 stay with him and comfort him as long as he lives. I'm 
 afraid it will not be long. 
 
 Ash. Come, come, Celeste, 1 will not listen to that sort 
 of talk. You must marry me right away and avoid all 
 danger of distress to either yourself or your father. 
 
 Cel. I cannot do it, Mr. Ashtoi. I have thought over 
 the whole thing and cried over it all night, and I see my 
 duty plainly before me. I must remai;i with my father. 
 My mother and brother are dead, and he has no one to 
 lean on but me. 
 
 Ash. Oh, well, I haven't lost his case yet. Maybe I'll 
 win it, and everything may come out all right. We will 
 postpone further discussion of the subject until the court 
 decides. Meantime, I must go and give my whole mind 
 to preparing for the argument. 
 
 ({Exit.) 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 4 — The street. Enter Randolph and Hoc.cj.oojM 
 from opitosite directions. 
 
 Hog. Ah, Mr. Randolph, good morning; and so you 
 are going to try and stop us in our regular business by a 
 decree of court, are you? 
 
 Ran. Regular business? You mean legular piracy. 
 
 Hog. Well, Mr. Randolph, hard words don't bring 
 many dollars; and so you really believe you can get Judge 
 Tubercle to stop us from going along with our business in 
 our regular way? 
 
 Ran. Mr. Hogbloom, I don't know what sort of a pull 
 you may have with Judge Tubercle; but ic he Is a just 
 judge he will find some way to stop you from taking ^he 
 bread out of the mouths of poor women and little chil- 
 dren, to swell the enormous income that you already en- 
 joy. 
 
 Hog. Sir; the rights of property are superior to all 
 other rights; our laws are made to protect property, and 
 if this country is going to start upo;i a course of denying 
 the protection of the laws to property, in a very short 
 time we will have anarchy here. 
 
42 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Ran. Mr. Hogbloom, I am as coussrvative a man as 
 lives. But there are some things in this life that come 
 ahead of property conservatism and even of law itself; 
 and they are humanity and justice. I have but little re- 
 spect for the law that protects property at the expense 
 of humanity and justice, and sir, I v/ant to say to you that 
 I do not believe this ever happens if the law has a free 
 course. We sometimes see what we take to be this, but 
 they are cases where tricksti^rs and shysters have per- 
 verted the laws and prostituted them to ends and aims 
 that the laws abhor; and yours, Mr. Hogbloom, is just 
 one of those cases. H-umanity, justice, and the true spirit 
 of our laws rise up in protest against what you are about 
 to do to my plant and my workmen, and the pettifoggers 
 and vermin of the law, hired to do so by your money are 
 finding you ways to get its apparent sanction for your 
 piracy and other crimes against the law. The protection 
 of property, Mr.Hogbloom, lies at the foundation of all so- 
 cial order. But you, and the men like you, stealing the 
 livery of heaven to serve the devil in pervert the laws to 
 get pretexts for robbing other men of what belongs to 
 them, and being in the possession of stolen goods you 
 raise a great outcry about the necessity of protecting 
 property, the real purpose being to protect you in what 
 you have stolen. Your clamor is a false clamor, and the 
 world will find you out in time and it will protect prop- 
 erty and expose you naked to the scorn of mankind also. 
 
 Hog. Well, Mr. Randolph, when we have sold you out, 
 perhaps you will repent these hard words. 
 
 Ran. I think it very probable that you will sell me out. 
 But in my penury and want, I had rather endure my fate 
 than to ride in your luxurious automobiles, pursued by 
 the curses of my one thousand honest workmen, ana 
 haunted by the tears of their wives and little children. 
 May you enjoy the feasts that are sweetened for you with 
 those tears. Good day, sir. 
 
 They separate and go out. 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 5 — Mr. Randolph's parlor. Celeste sitting in it. 
 Enter Sarah with a card. 
 
 Cel. Show him in. 
 
 Young Hog. Good evening, Miss Randolph. Its an age 
 since I saw you. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 43 
 
 Cel. Time passes so rapidly with me that it seems but 
 yesterday that I saw you, Mr. Hogbloom. 
 
 Young Hog. And why should time pass so rapidly 
 wth you? Are you so very happy? 
 
 Cel. Upon the contrary, I am very wretched. 
 
 Young Hog. And why should you be wretched. You are 
 so beautiful, so cultivated, so charming, indeed, in every 
 way. It looks like a profanation of nature's gift for you 
 to complain of unhappiness. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Hogbloom, if you had a father like mine, who 
 had ruin staring him in the face, you would be wretched, 
 too, when you saw what he endures. 
 
 Young Hog. Miss Randolph, that brings from me what 
 I have been dying to say for some time. I love you with 
 all my heart and soul. Marry me and your father's ruin 
 will be a matter of no consequence; my father is enor- 
 mously wealthy and he will provide for us so liberally 
 that you can take care of your father in his misfortunes. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Hogbloom, I do not love you, and therefore 
 cannot marry you. 
 
 Young Hog. You absolutely refuse, then, to marry me? 
 
 Cel. I do. 
 
 Young Hog. Then, listen to me. Your father is being 
 ruined by my father. My father is devoted to me and 
 will do whatever I ask him to do. If you will marry me 
 I will go to my father and ask him to stop the pressure 
 on your father's works, he will do it, and your father will 
 be saved from ruin, and will again become a prosperous 
 man. 
 
 (Celeste averts her face and is silent.) 
 
 Young Hog. You are hesitating, then? 
 
 Cel. How can I help hesitating, Mr. Hogbloom, with 
 such a father? 
 
 Young Hog. Then, marry me and become a happy 
 woman. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Hogbloom, I cannot refuse under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 {HoGBioo:\r attempts to seize her and kiss her. 8he strug- 
 gles and escapes from him.) 
 
 Cel. Mr. Hogbloom, when we leave the altar, I will be 
 yours and shall have to submit to whatever is your will, 
 but until then you must leave me my entire liberty. 
 Please leave me now. 
 
 (Hogbloom hesitates ahoxU leaving.) 
 
44 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Cel. Mr. Hogbloom, you must leave me now, I am in 
 such a nervous condition that I require absolute solitude. 
 Please go. 
 
 (Hogbloom goes out.) 
 
 (Celeste hursts into a flood of tears and weeps as if her 
 
 heart would break. Enter Sarah.) 
 
 Sar. Why, what is the matter. Miss Celeste? 
 
 Cel. Oh, Sarah, I wish I was dead. 
 
 Sar. Why, what is the matter? 
 
 Cel. Well, Sarah, you know that odious old Hogbloom 
 has driven papa to the wall, and that he has ruin directly 
 iietoi'e him. Young Hogbloom has proposed to me and has 
 promised that if I would marry him he would get his. 
 father to let up on papa and give him an opportunity to 
 
 n'Mture himself. What C"ult! 1 do. 1 al>li'>r hiui niul 
 I love another man with all my heart. But what could I 
 do? I had to accept him and I have done it. I have got to 
 marry him, and I would rather be dead. 
 
 Sar. Poor Miss Celeste, you have had hard luck. But 
 Miss Celeste, this shan't be, you shan't be sacrificed for 
 your father's sake. 
 
 Cel. It must be, Sarah. I must bid farewell to all I 
 love in life; my father must be saved. 
 
 Sar. I tell you, Miss Celeste, it shan't be. I know what 
 I am talking about. Come, go to your room and lie down 
 and get yourself composed. 
 
 (Exunt.) 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 4 — Mr. Randolph's parlor. Celeste sitting in it. 
 Enter butler with a card tohich he presents to her.) 
 
 Celeste. Show him in. 
 
 (Enter St. George Ashton.) 
 (AsHTON seizing Celeste in his arms and endeavoring to 
 kiss her. Celeste resists, but her resistance gradually 
 subsides.) 
 
 I 
 Cel. Oh, St. George, don't, please don't, you do not know 
 
 what you are doing. 
 
 Ashton. Why don't I know what I am doing. I am 
 
 hugging and kissing my own sweetheart, and if a man 
 
 can't do that, I would like to know whose sweetheart he 
 
 can hug and kiss. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 45 
 
 Cel. (leaning her head on his shoulder and beginning 
 to cry) Oh, but you don't know. 
 
 Ash. But what is it I don't know? 
 
 CeL Oh, it is too awful to think of. 
 
 Ash. Why, Celeste, what can all this mean 
 
 Cel. Young Mr. Hogbloom has proposed to me. I re- 
 jcctet him, of coorse. He then said in effect that his father 
 had my father by the throat, and was strangling him to 
 death. That his father was devoted to him, and would 
 do whatever he asked him to do. That if I would marry 
 him he would appeal to his father to release his hold on 
 papa, and that papa would be restored to his old time 
 position and business. What could I say in answer to 
 that? I had to say I would marry him, and I am going 
 to do it. 
 
 Ash. Do you mean to say that dog made such a propo- 
 sition to you? 
 
 Cel. He certainly did, and I have agreed to marry him. 
 
 Ash. You shall not do it, by God. I will kill him before 
 he shall force you into such a sacrifice. 
 
 Cel. No, St. George, you must not interfere, you do not 
 know what a papa mine has been to me. Forcing him 
 into bankruptcy is going to kill him, and it is my duty 
 to save him at all cost and hazard. 
 
 Ash. But, Celeste, I am a prosperous man; marry me 
 and I will give your father a home and he shall never 
 want for anything. 
 
 Cel. You don't know papa. The sale of his plant and 
 the scattering of his workmen will be more than he can 
 stand. No, it is an awful sacrifice, but my duty calls 
 upon me to make it and I must make it. 
 (She buriies her head in Ashton's bosom and iveeps hys- 
 terically. AsHTON strokes her hair.) 
 
 Ash. Poor Celeste, you are a noble girl, and what you 
 propose is prompted by a heart of gold, but it shall not 
 be. I swear by the Almighty God that it shall not be. if 
 I have to kill that dog, Hogbloom, to prevent it. 
 
 Cel. Oh, St. George, don't talk that way. Think of my 
 having to give you up and also to endure the agony ot 
 your being prosecuted for murder. 
 
 Ash. I can't help it, Celeste, you shall not be forced 
 into this sacrifice. Listen, I am not going to do anything 
 rash, but I am going to stop the further prosecution of 
 
40 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 this awful crime. You get calm and wait until you hear 
 further from me; meantime T must go. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 5 — The street. Asiiton meets young Hogbloom. 
 
 Ashton. How do you do, Mr. Hogbloom. I have some 
 very important business to discuss with you, and I will 
 go to your office and discuss it there, or you can come to 
 my office and we will discuss it there. 
 
 Young Hogbloom. Oh, it is a matter of indifference to 
 me to which office we go. I will go with you to yours. 
 
 Ash. Very well.; come along. 
 
 (They enter Asiiton's office and are seated on opposite 
 sides of a table.) 
 
 Ash. Mr. Hogbloom, I have been devotedly in love with 
 Miss Celeste Randolph for a long time, and she responds 
 to my love. I am just from her and she told me of your 
 proposition to her and that she promised to marry you 
 if you would get your father to let up on her father. 
 Mr. Hogbloom, Celeste Randolph loves me, and I love her. 
 I want to appeal to you as man to man to keep out of 
 this affair and let nature have its course. 
 
 Young Hog. (Haughtily) Mr. Ashton, you must excuse 
 me. I don't propose to discuss my private affairs with you. 
 
 Ash. But, Mr. Hogbloom, this is a matter which in- 
 volves the very existence of Miss Randolph and myself. I 
 tell you it will kill her if you force her to marry you to 
 -save her father; as for me I don't expect you to give 
 much consideration to my fate, but it would be the ending 
 of me. 
 
 Young Hog. Your fate is a matter of no concern to me. 
 As for Miss Randolph, I know very well that she will be 
 happy with a husband who devotes his whole life to her 
 and I shall do that. 
 
 Ash. Then, you are immovable? You will call for the 
 whole penalty of the bond? 
 
 Young Hog. I shall marry Miss Randolph if I can in- 
 duce her to morry me. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 47 
 
 Ash. Very well, let the best man win. 
 
 (Goes to a book case and takes from it two Smith and 
 Wesson 44 calibre revolvers.) 
 
 Now listen to me, sir. You shall not force this sacrifice 
 on her while I am alive. I am going to place these two 
 revolvers on this table midway between us two, the handle 
 of one turned to you, the handle of the other turned to 
 me. At the .'.(ord fire from me we will each sieze a 
 revolver and fire as quickly as possible. If you survive 
 and can get Miss Randolph to marry you, then you will 
 have won her. Prepare, sir f,or your last day on earth, 
 if I can kill you. 
 
 Young Hog. Oh, Mr. Ashton, you would not murder meV 
 
 Ash. Not more than you would murder me. It is going 
 to be an open, fair combat, with the prize to the survivor. 
 
 Young Hog. But I don't want to engage in a combat. 
 
 Ash. Its a matter ot no consequence to me what you 
 wish. You are going to force this pure and angelic girl 
 into the most horrible sacrifice that a woman can be driven 
 into, and I tell you you shant do it while I am alive. 
 Come, get ready. 
 
 Young Hog. But, Mr. Ashton, this is barbaric and un- 
 civilized. 
 
 Ash. Barbaric and uncivilized be dammed. I tell you 
 to get ready. I am going to put these two revolvers on the 
 table and give the word "fire." You will be a dead man 
 in the next five minute.s iiMles.s you kill nie. 
 
 (Places the revolvers on the table.) 
 
 Young Hog. Vv^'ell, sir, if you will have it so, give the 
 word? 
 
 Ash, Fire. 
 
 (Each one seizes a pistol. Ashton's misses fire. Hog- 
 BLOOM fires. Ashton falls to the /toor.. .Hogbloo"m looks 
 around for a bell. Sees the button and presses it. Toai 
 the janitor, and Jenny, the janitress come into the room. 
 
 Young Hog. Mr. Ashton, there forced a duel upon me 
 with these pistols you see here and I have shot him, do 
 what is necessary to take care of him. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 (Tom goes to Ashton and raises his head.) 
 
 Tom. Oh, Jenny, he is alive. He is breathing. 
 
48 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Jennj'. We must g;et him up and get him to his bed- 
 room. 
 
 (AsHTON moves a little and looks around.) 
 Ash. Oh, Jenny, you and Tom are the people to have 
 charge of me. Get me to my room and send for Dr. Brown. 
 (They carry Asiiton out.) 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 7 — Mk. Randolph in his parlor. S.a,raii enters. 
 
 Randolph. Well, Sarah, what is it? 
 
 Sarah. Mr. Randolph, a great crime is about to be com- 
 mitted in your house, and I am going to tell you about it, 
 and you must stop it. 
 
 Rand. Why, certainly, Sarah, I will put an end to it. 
 But, what is it? 
 
 Sar. That young Mr. Hogbloom has been courting Miss 
 Celeste, and she hates him. But he has told her that if 
 she will marry him he will get his father to let up on you 
 and restore your business to you, and she has agreed to 
 do it, and it is about killing her because she loves Mr. 
 Ashton with all her heart and he loves her the same. Mr. 
 Randolph that thing must be stopped and that poor young 
 thing must be saved. 
 
 Ran. Why, of course it must, Sarah. Go tell Celeste to 
 come here at once. 
 
 (Sarah goes out. Celeste enters.) 
 
 Ran. Celeste, Sarah tells me that you are going to 
 sacrifice yourself by marrying young Hogbloom to save me 
 from ruin? 
 
 Cel. Papa, Sarah ought not to have told you that. 
 
 Ran. Never mind about that. I want to know whether 
 it is a fact? 
 
 Cel. Well, papa, I have agreed to marry him. 
 
 Ran. And you do not love him 
 
 Cel. I cannot say that I do. 
 
 Rand. And you are marrying him solely to save me? 
 
 Cel. Papa, it was my duty to do it. 
 
 (Randol-h talzing Celeste in his arms.) 
 
 It was a noble and heroic resolution in you my darling 
 child, but it must not be. I cannot permit it, my child. 
 
 Cel. But, papa, it is the only way to, save you from 
 ruin, and I am perfectly ready for the sacrifice. 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 49 
 
 Ran. I tell you, my child, that it cannot be. I positively 
 prohibit it. Go and write Mr. Hogbloom a letter, telling 
 him that I have got on to it and that I forbid it. 
 
 Cel. But papa, what is to become of you? 
 
 Ran. Become of me? Do you suppose I would allow 
 myself to be saved at the expense of my child's happiness. 
 What do you take me for? Go and do as I command you. 
 I tell you in all seriousness that if you do not break this 
 thing off, I will set fire to the works and burn them down. 
 Why, Celeste, I would murder you before this thing should 
 occur. 
 
 Cel. Well, papa, if you take this thing so much to heart 
 I shall have to do as you require. I will write to Mr. 
 Hogbloom ending it all. 
 
 (Etiter Sakaii ivith a neivspaper.) 
 
 Sar. Oh, Miss Celeste, it is terrible. 
 
 Cel. What is the matter, Sarah? 
 
 Sar. Young Mr. Hogbloom has shot Mr. Ashton. 
 
 Cel. What, give me the paper. (Reads.) "Young Mr. 
 Hogbloom, son of the president of the Trust, shot Mr. St. 
 George Ashton in the latter's oflBce to-day and wounded 
 him desperately. The wounded man has a chance to re- 
 cover, but his fate is very uncertain. Hogbloom says Ash- 
 ton forced a duel on him and he shot him in self defense." 
 
 Cel. Oh, this is awful, papa; it is all about me. I love 
 Mr. Ashton with all my heart, and he loves me. I told 
 him of my engagement to Hogbloom, and he left me say- 
 ing he would not permit the sacrifice to be made, and that 
 he would kill Hogbloom first. He has forced a difficulty 
 on Mr. Hogbloom, who has shot him. Papa I am going 
 to throw all maidenly scruples aside and go to Mr. Ashton 
 and nurse him and try to save his life. 
 
 Ran. My dear daughter, I entirely approve of your 
 resolution. fil 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 8 — Ashton's bed room. Ashton on his hed, Tom 
 and Jenny standing arotnid. Enter Celeste Randolph. 
 She approaches the bedside very softly. Ashton hears 
 her and turns his eyes towards her. 
 
 Ashton. Oh, Celeste, this is so good of you. 
 Cel. The doctor says you must be kept perfectly quiet 
 and you will get well. 
 
50 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Ash. I must tell you this. At the critical moment when 
 we were firing I caught the dog's eye. He was frightened 
 to death, and I don't believe h could have fired. My pistol 
 missed fire and he saw he had me. I saw a savage glare 
 come in his eye, and he shot me down as if I were a dog. 
 
 Cel. Well, well, don't say anything more. Keep per- 
 fectly quiet and you will get well. I am going to nurse 
 you through it and I shall never leave you again. 
 
 Ash. Oh, Celeste, you are an angel. 
 {Scene closes.) 
 
 ACT III. 
 
 SCENE 9 — ^Mr. Randolph's office. Enter RAxnoLPn. 
 
 Randolph. Well, Mr. Ashton pulled through and has 
 got back to his practice. I am looking for him at any 
 time, now, to tell me what the court is going to do in 
 my case. Unless it decides for me I am utterly ruined. 
 My whole plant and dwelling house will be sold and I 
 shall have no shelter for myself and daughter. 
 
 Ran. Well, Mr. Ashton, what news do you bring me 
 from the court? 
 
 Ash. Judge Tubercle has decided the case against you 
 and refused the injunction. 
 
 Ran. Gracious God, then I am lost. I am turned out in 
 the street, Ashton. Everything I have will be sold out 
 under the mortgage next week, and my workmen and 
 their families will be turned out of doors. Did the judge 
 give no reason for his decision? 
 
 Ash. Oh, yes, sir. He admitted the force of the duck 
 case. He also admitted that the English House of Lords 
 has within the last few years affirmed the doctrines of the 
 duick case in the Mogul Steamship case. But, he said, 
 the House of Lords has since decided in the case of Allen 
 vs. Flood, that motive and intention are of no inijiortance 
 in determining whether an act is lawful or unlawful; and 
 that as the trust has the legal right to give its goods 
 away, giving them away to destroy you cannot make the 
 ' act illegal. He is all wrong, but we must all bow to his 
 decree. 
 
 Ran. It would be interesting to know what part the 
 trust's money played in Judge Tubercle's dicision. Well, 
 since the tribunals of the law declare that to be the law, 
 we must all, of course, submit to it. But it is founded 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 51 
 
 in radical injustice and wrong. I don't mind my own 
 fate so much. I will find some way to get a shelter 
 and a crust of bread for myself and my daughter. But 
 when I think of my faithful men and their families being 
 turned out of their homes and scattered over the face of 
 the earth, it is too much for me. 
 
 Ash. Mr. Randolph, I have a home and I am doing 
 splendidly in my profession. I invite you and your daugh- 
 ter to make my home your home until you can see your 
 way to doing something else. 
 
 Ran. That is very kind of you, sir. I shall have to 
 look around and see what is to be done. 
 
 {Exunt both.) 
 
 SCENE 10.— Randolph's ivorks. An auction flag hanging 
 out. A boy toalkiiuj about ringing a b.ll Randolph, Ash- 
 ton; BoLLEN, auctioneer: Fred Jones, a junk dealer, two 
 other citizens who loant the property, Hoghioom, Swine- 
 hurst, Bloatbond, loorkmen, Binghajm and Bkadlaw, and 
 a dozen other of the workmen, Mrs. Bingham, and Mrs. 
 Bradlaw with the little children, and wifes of a dozen 
 other workmen, the women in tears, and the children 
 cUnOing to them. 
 
 Auctioneer. What are you doing here, Fred Jones? You 
 are a junk dealer. You don't expect to buy this plant as 
 junk, do you? 
 
 Jones. That is just what I expect to do. 
 
 First Citizen. And why shouldn't he? The trust has 
 killed it as a manufacturing plant. I don't see what any- 
 body wants it for, except for junk. Nobody will attempt 
 to run it in opposition to the trust. 
 
 Hog. (aside to Swinehurst and Bloatbfnd.) He shan t 
 have it as junk. No manufacturer, of course, is going to 
 bid against us, but we will outbid the junk dealer. We 
 will buy the plant and close it up, but sometime in 
 the future it may come in handy. 
 
 Auc. How much am I offered for this splendid plant, 
 gentlemen? 
 
 Jones. I will give $25,000. 
 
 Auc. Wliat, $25,000 for a plant that cost a million, 
 and has many years earned twenty per cent, on its cost? 
 Its ridiculous. 
 
52 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Hog. I bid $50,000. 
 
 Jones. That's more than its worth as junk, and he 
 may have it for me. 
 
 Auc. Are there no other bids Once, twice, three times. 
 Knoclved out to Mr. Hogbloom for $50,000. 
 
 Ran. That is the end of me. I am stripped as naked 
 as I was when I came into the world. I suppose they are 
 now going to sell the homes of my workmen 
 
 Auc. I will now offer you, gentlemen, the home of 
 Bradlaw, one of Mr. Randolph's workmen, under a mort- 
 gage on it for $500. It is well worth $2,000. 
 
 First Citizen. Who is going to give anything like its 
 value for it? The trust is going to close up the plant 
 and nobody cares to live out here if the plant stops opera- 
 tions. 
 
 Mrs. Bradlaw, (to Auctioneer). For heaven's sake, sir, 
 don't sell our home? I and these little ones have nowhere 
 to go if you turn us of our home. 
 
 (She turns to Hogbloom and addresses him ) 
 
 Mrs. Bradlaw. Mr. Hogbloom, can't you stop this sale? 
 What is to become of me and these little ones if you turn 
 us out of our home? 
 
 Mrs. Ingham (in, tears her little children clinging to 
 her) . To Hogrl.om Can't you stop the sale of my 
 house, too, sir? These little children and I have nowhere 
 to go if you turn us out. 
 
 'Hog. Ladies, I am very sorry for you. But you must 
 know that progressive business can't be interfered with 
 by the misfortunes of individuals. Why, dividends on 
 stocks would cease altogether if we listened to such pleas 
 as you make. Auctioneer, proceed with the sale. 
 
 Ran. (aside to Ashton) . When the devil gets that 
 fellow, Hogbloom, he will begin burning him at the ends 
 of his toes, and he will burn him inch by inch with slow 
 fire until he gets to the top of his head, and then he will 
 not do to him one-half of what ought to be done to him. 
 
 Auc. Wbat am I offered for Mr. Bradlaw's house? It 
 cost all of $2,000. 
 
 Hog. I bid $100. 
 
 Auc. Are there no other bidders? Knocked out to Mr. 
 Hogbloom for $100. I will now offer Mr. Ingham's house. 
 It cost $1,500, has a mortgage on it for $350, and is well 
 
THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 53 
 
 worth every cent of what it cost. What am I offered for 
 it? 
 
 Hog. I bid $75. 
 
 Auc. Are you all done? Knocked out to Mr. Hogbloom 
 for $75. 
 
 Ran. (to AsiiTON). This is too sickening for me. I 
 can't stand it. Come, walk around to my house with me. 
 Its the last day I can invite you there. They are going 
 to sell it to-morrow 
 
 (Randolph and Asiiton go out.) 
 
 Hog. (to Auctioneer). Postpone further sales until to- 
 morrow. I have a business engagement that compels me 
 to leave. 
 
 Auc. Gentlemen, the further sale is postponed until 
 to-morrow. 
 
 (All go out.) 
 
 SCENE 11 — Mr. Randolph's parlor. Celeste Randolph 
 sitting there. Enter Randolph and Asiiton. 
 
 Ran. Well, my daughter; it is all over and we are beg- 
 gars in the street. 
 
 Cel. Don't take it to heart so, papa. I shall stick to 
 you, and together we shall get something to do that will 
 give us a shelter and bread. 
 
 Ran. You are mistaken, my dear. I don't take it seri- 
 ously to heart, as far as I am concerned. My only concern 
 is about you and my poor workmen. I will be able to 
 take care of myself, but the privations you will have to 
 submit to distress me greatly. 
 
 Ash. Mr. Randolph, I love your daughter better than I 
 love my own life, and she returns my love. We have been 
 engaged to be married for some time, but she refuses to 
 marry me now, thinking it is her duty to remain with 
 you in your misfortunes. I am a prosperous man, I can 
 give her a home, and our home shall be yours until you 
 can find something better. Do use your influence with 
 Celeste and make her see that it is her duty to marry me 
 at once. 
 
 Ran. My daughter, if you love this gentleman, you 
 certainly ought to marry him. 
 
54 
 
 THE CURSE OF THE DAY. 
 
 Cel. Papa, I do love him, but I think I ought to stand 
 by you. 
 
 Ran. My dear, that is the way to stand by me. I for- 
 bade you to marry Hogbloom, I now command you to 
 marry Ashton. 
 
 Cel. Well, if you and Mr. Ashton say so, I have notn- 
 Ing more to say. 
 
 {Curtain falls.) 
 
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