LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
 SANTA CRUZ 
 
JJMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 A Story 
 
 INCLAIR 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE JUNGLE," "THE JOURNAL OF ARTHUR STERLING," 
 
 "KING COAL," "THE PROFITS OF RELIGION," 
 
 ETC. 
 
 BONI AND LIVERIGHT 
 
 NEWOBK 1919 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1918. 1919, 
 BY UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 Copyright in Great Britain and dependencies, 
 
 and in Europe, including the Scandinavian countries. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Printed in the U. 8. A. 
 
Ts 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 err 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE .... 1 
 
 II JIMMIE HIGGINS HEARS A SPEECH ...... 15 
 
 III JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE ...".. 24 
 
 IV JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 35 
 
 V JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER . . . ""* . . 45 
 
 VI JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 56 
 
 VII JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 69 
 
 VIII JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS His FOOT IN IT 81 
 
 IX JIMMIE HIGGINS RETURNS TO NATURE 91 
 
 X JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER ..... 98 
 
 XI JIMMIE HIGGINS FACES THE WAR .... "". . 107 
 
 XII JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 115 
 
 XIII JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 125 
 
 XIV JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 137 
 
 XV JIMMIE HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK 151 
 
 XVI JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER 159 
 
 XVII JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH THE TEMPTER . . 169 
 
 XVIII JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 176 
 
 XIX JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 184 
 
 XX JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 193 
 
 XXI JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY 203 
 
 XXII JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR His UNCLE 211 
 
 XXIII JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 220 
 
 XXIV JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 235 
 
 XXV JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 244 
 
 XXVI JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS His SOUL 258 
 
 XXVII JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOR DEMOCRACY . . 273 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 
 
 I IMMIE," said Lizzie, "couldn't we go see the pictures?" 
 ** And Jimmie set down the saucer of hot coffee which he 
 was in the act of adjusting to his mouth, and stared at his 
 wife. He did not say anything; in three years and a half as 
 a married man he had learned that one does not always say 
 everything that comes into one's mind. But he meditated on 
 the abysses that lie between the masculine and feminine intel- 
 lects. That it should be possible for any one to wish to see a 
 movie idol leaping into second-story windows, or being pulled 
 from beneath flying express-trains, on this day of destiny, this 
 greatest crisis in history ! 
 
 "You know, Lizzie," he said, patiently, "I've got to help at 
 the Opera-house." 
 
 "But you've got all morning!" 
 
 "I know; but it'll take all day." 
 
 And Lizzie fell silent ; for she too had learned much in three 
 years and a half of married life. She had learned that work- 
 ingmen's wives seldom get all they would like in this world; 
 also that to have a propagandist for a husband is not the worst 
 fate that may befall. After all, he might have been giving his 
 time and money to drink, or to other women; he might have 
 been dying of a cough, like the man next door. If one could 
 not have a bit of pleasure on a Sunday afternoon well, one 
 might sigh, but not too loud. 
 
 1 
 
2 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Jimmie began telling all the things that had to be done that 
 Sunday morning and afternoon. They seemed to Lizzie exactly 
 like the things that were done on other occasions before meet- 
 ings. To be sure, this was bigger it was in the Opera-house, 
 and all the stores had cards in the windows, with a picture of 
 the Candidate who was to be the orator of the occasion. But 
 it was hard for Lizzie to understand the difference between this 
 Candidate and other candidates none of whom ever got elected ! 
 Lizzie would truly rather have stayed at home, for she did not 
 understand English very well when it was shouted from a plat- 
 form, and with a lot of long words ; but she knew that Jimmie 
 was trying to educate her, and being a woman, she was educated 
 to this extent she knew the way to hold onto her man. 
 
 Jimmie had just discovered a new solution of the problem 
 of getting the babies to meetings ; and Lizzie knew that he was 
 tremendously proud of this discovery. So long as there had 
 been only one baby, Jimmie had carried it. When there had 
 come a second, Lizzie had helped. But now there were three, 
 the total weight of them something over sixty pounds; and the 
 street-car line was some distance away, and also it hurt Jimmie 
 in his class-consciousness to pay twenty cents to a predatory 
 corporation. They had tried the plan of paying something to 
 a neighbour to stay with the babies ; but the first they tried was 
 a young girl who got tired and went away, leaving the little 
 ones to howl their heads off; and the second was a Polish lady 
 whom they found in a drunken stupor on their return. 
 
 But Jimmie was determined to go to meetings, and deter- 
 mined that Lizzie should go along. It was one of the curses 
 of the system, he said, that it deprived working-class women of 
 all chance for self -improvement. So he had paid a visit to the 
 "Industrial Store," a junk-shop maintained by the Salvation 
 Army, and for fifteen cents he had obtained a marvellous broad 
 baby-carriage for twins, all finished in shiny black enamel. 
 One side of it was busted, but Jimmie had fixed that with some 
 wire, and by careful packing had shown that it was possible 
 to stow the youngsters in it Jimmie Junior and Pete side by 
 side, and the new baby at the foot. 
 
 The one trouble was that Jimmie Junior couldn't keep his 
 feet still. He could never keep any part of him still, the little 
 jack-in-the-box. Here he was now, tearing about the kitchen, 
 pursuing the ever-receding tail of the newest addition to the 
 

 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 3 
 
 family, a half-starved cnr who had followed Jimmie in from 
 the street, and had been fed into a semblance of reality. From 
 this treasure a bare, round tail hung out behind in tantalising 
 fashion ; Jimmie Junior, always imagining he could catch it, was 
 toddling round and round and round the kitchen-table, clutch- 
 ing out in front of him, laughing so that after a while he sat 
 down from sheer exhaustion. 
 
 And Jimmie Senior watched enraptured. Say, but he was a 
 buster! Did you ever see a twenty-seven months old kid that 
 could get over the ground like that? Or make a louder noise? 
 This last because Jimmie Junior had tried to take a short cut 
 through the kitchen range and failed. Lizzie swooped down, 
 clasping him to her broad bosom, and pouring out words of 
 comfort in Bohemian. As Jimmie Senior did not understand 
 any of these words, he took advantage of the confusion to get 
 his coat and cap and hustle off to the Opera-house, full of fresh 
 determination. For, you see, whenever a Socialist looks at his 
 son, or even thinks of his son. he is hotter for his job of propa- 
 gandist. Let the world be changed soon, so that the little fel- 
 lows may be spared those sufferings and humiliations which have 
 fallen to the lot of their parents ! 
 
 ii 
 
 "Comrade Higgins, have you got a hammer?" It was 
 Comrade Schneider who spoke, and he did not take the trouble 
 to come down from the ladder, where he was holding up a 
 streamer of bunting, but waited comfortably for the hammer to 
 be fetched to him. And scarcely had the fetcher started to 
 climb before there came the voice of a woman from across the 
 stage: "Comrade Higgins, has the Ypsel banner come?" And 
 from the rear part of the hall came the rotund voice of fat 
 Comrade Eapinsky: "Comrade Higgins, will you bring up an 
 extra table for the literature?" And from the second tier box 
 Comrade Mary Allen spoke : "While you're downstairs, Comrade 
 Higgins, would you mind telephoning and making sure the 
 Eeception Committee knows about the change in the train- 
 time?" 
 
 So it went ; and Jimmie ran about the big hall with his face 
 red and perspiring; for this was mid-summer, and no breeze 
 came through the windows of the Leesville Opera-house, and 
 
4 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 when you got high up on the walls to tie the streamers of red 
 bunting, you felt as if you were being baked. But the streamers 
 had to be tied, and likewise the big red flag over the stage, and 
 the banner of the Karl Marx Verein, and the banner of the 
 Ypsels, or Young People's Socialist League of Leesville, and 
 the banner of the Machinists' Union, Local 4717, and of the 
 Carpenters' Union, District 529, and of the Workers' Co-opera- 
 tive Society. And because Comrade Higgins never questioned 
 anybody's right to give him orders, and always did everything 
 with a cheerful grin, people had got into the habit of regarding 
 him as the proper person for tedious and disagreeable tasks. 
 
 He had all the more on his hands at present, because the 
 members of this usually efficient local were half -distracted, like 
 a nest of ants that have been dug out with a shovel. The most 
 faithful ones showed a tendency to forget what they were doing, 
 and to gather in knots to talk about the news which had come 
 over the cables and had been published in that morning's paper. 
 Jimmie Higgins would have liked to hear what the rest had 
 to say; but somebody had to keep at work, for the local was 
 in the hole nearly three hundred dollars for to-night's affair, and 
 it must succeed, even though half the civilised world had gone 
 suddenly insane. So Jimmie continued to climb step-ladders 
 and tie bunting. 
 
 When it came to lunch-time, and the members of the Decora- 
 tions Committee were going out, it suddenly occurred to one of 
 them that the drayman who was to bring the literature might 
 arrive while there was nobody to receive it. So Comrade Hig- 
 gins was allowed to wait during the lunch hour. There was a 
 plausible excuse he was on the Literature Committee; indeed, 
 he was on every committee where hard work was involved the 
 committee to distribute leaflets announcing the meeting, the com- 
 mittee to interview the labour unions and urge them to sell 
 tickets, the committee to take up a collection at the meeting. 
 He was not on those committees which involved honour and 
 edification, such as, for example, the committee to meet the 
 'Candidate at the depot and escort him to the Opera-house. But 
 then it would never have occurred to Jimmie that he had any 
 place on such a committee ; for he was just an ignorant fellow, 
 a machinist, undersized and undernourished, with bad teeth and 
 roughened hands, and no gifts or graces of any sort to recom- 
 mend him; while on the Reception Committee were a lawyer 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 5 
 
 and a prosperous doctor and the secretary of the Carpet-weavers' 
 Union, all people who wore good clothes and had education, and 
 knew how to talk to a Candidate. 
 
 So Jimmie waited; and when the drayman came, he opened 
 up the packages of books and pamphlets and laid them out in 
 neat piles on the literature tables, and hung several of the more 
 attractive ones on the walls behind the tables; so, of course, 
 Comrade Mabel Smith, who was chairman of the Literature 
 Committee, was greatly pleased when she came back from lunch. 
 And then came the members of the German Liederkranz, to re- 
 hearse the programme they were to give ; and Comrade Higgins 
 would have liked first rate to sit and listen, but somebody dis- 
 covered the need of glue, and he chased out to find a drug-store 
 that was open on Sunday. 
 
 Later on there was a lull, and Jimmie realised that he was 
 hungry. He examined the contents of his pockets and found 
 that he had seventeen cents. It was a long way to his home, so 
 he would step around the corner and have a cup of coffee and 
 a couple of "sinkers" at "Tom's." He first conscientiously 
 asked if anybody needed anything, and Comrade Mabel Smith 
 told him to hurry back to help her put out the leaflets on the 
 seats, and Comrade Meissner would need help in arranging the 
 chairs on the stage. 
 
 in 
 
 When you went from the Leesville Opera-house and turned 
 West on Main Street, you passed Heinz's Cafe, which was a 
 "swell" eating-place, and not for Jimmie; and then the "Bijou 
 Nickelodeon/' with a mechanical piano in the entrance ; and the 
 "Bon Marche Shoe Store," which was always having a fire-sale 
 or a removal sale or a bankruptcy clearing-out; and then 
 Lipsky's "Picture Palace," with a brown and yellow cowboy 
 galloping away with a red and yellow maiden in his arms ; then 
 Harrod's "Fancy Grocery" on the corner. And in each of these 
 places there was a show-card in the window, with a picture of 
 the Candidate, and the announcement that on Sunday evening, 
 at eight o'clock, he would speak at the Leesville Opera-house on 
 "War, the Eeason and the Remedy." Jimmie Higgins looked 
 at the cards, and a dignified yet joyful pride stirred in his 
 bosom; for all of them were there because he, Jimmie, had 
 
6 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 interviewed the proprietors and obtained their more or less re- 
 luctant consent. 
 
 Jimmie knew that on this same Sunday, in cities all over 
 Germany, Austria, Belgium, France and England, the workers 
 were gathering by millions and tens of millions, to protest 
 against the red horror of war being let loose over their heads. 
 And in America too a call would go from the new world ta 
 the old, that the workers should rise and carry out their pledge 
 to prevent this crime against mankind. He, Jimmie Higgins, 
 had no voice that anybody would heed; but he had helped to 
 bring the people of his city to hear a man who had a voice, and 
 who would show the meaning of this world-crisis to the working- 
 people. 
 
 It was the party's Candidate for President. At this time 
 only congressional elections were pending, but this man had been 
 Candidate for President so often that every one thought of him 
 in that role. You might say that each of his campaigns lasted 
 four years; he travelled from one end of the land to the other, 
 and counted by the millions those who heard his burning, bit- 
 ter message. It had chanced that the day which the War-lords 
 and Money-lords of Europe had chosen to drive their slaves to 
 slaughter was the day on which the Candidate had been scheduled 
 to speak in the Leesville Opera-house. No wonder the Socialists 
 of the little inland city were stirred ! 
 
 Jimmie Higgins turned into "Tom's Buffeteria," and greeted 
 the proprietor, and seated himself on a stool in front of the 
 counter, and called for coffee, and helped himself to "sinker s" 
 which might have been called "life-preservers," they were blown 
 so full of air. He filled his mouth, at the same time looking up 
 to make sure that Tom had not removed the card announcing 
 the meeting; for Tom was a Catholic, and one of the reasons 
 that Jimmie went to his place was to involve him and his patrons 
 in arguments over exploitation, unearned increment and surplus 
 value. 
 
 But before a discussion could be started, it chanced that Jim- 
 mie glanced about. In the back part of the room were four 
 little tables, covered with oil-cloth, where "short orders" were 
 served; and at one of those tables a man was seated. Jimmie 
 took a glance at him, and started so that he almost spilled his 
 coffee. Impossible; and yet surely who could mistake that 
 face? The face of a medieval churchman, lean, ascetic, but 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 7 
 
 with a modern touch of kindliness, and a bald dome on top like 
 a moon rising over the prairie. Jinnnie started, then stared at 
 the picture of the Candidate which crowned the shelf of pies. 
 He turned to the man again; and the man glanced up, and his 
 eyes met Jimmie's, with their expression of amazement and awe. 
 The whole story was there, not to be misread especially by a 
 Candidate who travels about the country making speeches, and 
 being recognised every hour or so from his pictures which have 
 preceded him. A smile came to his face, and Jimmie set down 
 the coffee-cup from one trembling hand and the "sinker" from 
 the other, and rose from his stool. 
 
 IV 
 
 Jimmie would not have had the courage to advance, save 
 for the other man's smile a smile that was weary, but candid 
 and welcoming. "Howdy do, Comrade?" said the man. He 
 held out his hand, and the moment of this clasp was the nearest 
 to heaven that Jimmie Higgins had ever known. 
 
 When he was able to find his voice, it was only to exclaim, 
 "You wasn't due till five-forty-two J" 
 
 As if the Candidate had not known that! He explained 
 that he had missed his sleep the night before, and had come on 
 ahead so as to snatch a bit during the day. "I see," said 
 Jimmie ; and then, "I knowed you by your picture." 
 
 "Yes?" said the other, patiently. 
 
 And Jimmie groped round in his addled head for something 
 really worth while. "You'll want to see the Committee?" 
 
 "No," said the other, "I want to finish this first." And 
 he took a sip from a glass of milk, and a bite out of a sandwich, 
 and chewed. 
 
 So utterly rattled was Jimmie he sat there like a numb-skull, 
 unable to find a word, while the man finished his repast. 
 When it was over, Jimmie said again he could do no better 
 "You want to see the Committee ?" 
 
 "No," was the reply, "I want to sit here and perhaps talk 
 to you, Comrade Comrade ?" 
 
 "Higgins," said Jimmie. 
 
 "Comrade Higgins that is, if you have time." 
 
 "Oh, sure !" exclaimed Jimmie. "I got all the time there is. 
 But the Committee " 
 
B JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 "Never mind the Committee, Comrade. Do you know how 
 many Committees I have met on this trip ?" 
 
 Jimmie did not know; nor did he have the courage to ask. 
 
 "Probably you never thought how it is to be a Candidate/' 
 continued the other. "You go from place to place, and make 
 the same speech every night, and it seems as if you slept in the 
 same hotel every night, and almost as if you met the same Com- 
 mittee. But you have to remember that your speech is new to 
 each audience, and you have to make it as if you had never made 
 it before; also you have to remember that the Committee is 
 made up of devoted comrades who are giving everything for the 
 cause, so you don't tell them that they are just like every other 
 committee, or that you are tired to death, or maybe have a 
 headache " 
 
 Jimmie sat, gazing in awe-stricken silence. Not being a 
 man of reading, he had never heard of "the head that wears 
 a crown." This was his first glimpse into the soul of greatness. 
 
 The Candidate went on: "And then, too, Comrade, there's 
 the news from Europe. I want a little time. I can't bring 
 myself to face it !" 
 
 His voice had grown sombre, and to Jimmie, gazing at him, 
 it seemed that all the sorrows of the world were in his tired 
 grey eyes. "Perhaps I'd better go," said Jimmie. 
 
 "No, no," replied the other, with quick self-recovery. He 
 looked and saw that Jimmie had forgotten his meal. "Bring 
 your things over here," he said; and the other fetched his cup 
 and saucer and plate, and gulped the rest of his "sinkers" under 
 the Candidate's eyes. 
 
 "I oughtn't to talk," said the latter. "You see how hoarse 
 I am. But you talk. Tell me about the local, and how things 
 are going here." 
 
 So Jimmie summoned his courage. It was the one thing he 
 could really talk about, the thing of which his mind and soul 
 were full. Leesville was a typical small manufacturing city, 
 with a glass bottle works, a brewery, a carpet-factory, and the 
 big Empire Machine Shops, at which Jimmie himself spent 
 sixty-three hours of his life each week. The workers were asleep, 
 of course; but still, you couldn't complain, the movement was 
 growing. The local boasted of a hundred and twenty members, 
 though of course only about thirty of them could be counted on 
 for real work. That was the case everywhere, the Candidate put 
 
JIMMIE HIGOINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 9 
 
 in it was always a few who made the sacrifice and kept things 
 alive. 
 
 Then Jimmie went on to tell about to-night's meeting, the 
 preparations they had made, the troubles they had had. The 
 police had suddenly decided to enforce the law against deliver- 
 ing circulars from house to house; though they allowed Isaac's 
 "Emporium" to use this method of announcement. The Lees- 
 ville "Herald" and "Evening Courier" were enthusiastic for 
 the police action; if you couldn't give out circulars, obviously 
 you would have to advertise in these papers. The Candidate 
 smiled he knew about American police officials, and also about 
 American journalism. 
 
 Jimmie had been laid off for a couple of days at the shop, 
 and he told how he had put this time to good use, getting an- 
 nouncements of the meeting into the stores. There was an 
 old Scotchman in a real estate office just across the way. "Git 
 oot !" he said. "So I thought I'd better git oot !" said Jimmie. 
 And then, taking his life into his hands, he had gone into the 
 First National Bank. There was a gentleman walking across 
 the floor, and Jimmie went up to him and held out one of the 
 placards with the picture of the Candidate. "Would you be 
 so good as to put this in your window?" he inquired; and the 
 other looked at it coldly. Then he smiled he was a good sport, 
 apparently. "I don't think my customers would patronise your 
 business," he said ; but Jimmie went at him to take some tickets 
 and learn about Socialism and would you believe it, he had 
 actually shelled out a dollar! "I found out afterwards that it 
 was Ashton Chalmers, the president of the bank !" said Jimmie. 
 "I'd a' been scared, if I'd a' known." 
 
 He had not meant to talk about himself; he was just trying 
 to entertain a tired Candidate, to keep him from brooding over 
 a world going to war. But the Candidate, listening, found 
 tears trying to steal into his eyes. He watched the figure before 
 him a bowed, undernourished little man, with one shoulder 
 lower than the other, a straggly brown moustache stained with 
 coffee, and stumpy black teeth, and gnarled hands into which 
 the dirt and grease were ground so deeply that washing them 
 would obviously be a waste of time. His clothes were worn and 
 shapeless, his celluloid collar was cracked and his necktie was 
 almost a rag. You would never have looked at such a man 
 twice on the street and yet the Candidate saw in him one of 
 
10 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 those obscure heroes who are making a movement which is to 
 transform the world. 
 
 "Comrade Higgins," said the Candidate, after a bit, "let's 
 you and me run away." 
 
 Jimmie looked startled. "How?" 
 
 "I mean from the Committee, and from the meeting, and 
 from everything." And then, seeing the dismay in the other's 
 face: "I mean, let's take a walk in the country." 
 
 "Oh !" said Jimmie. 
 
 "I see it through the windows of the railroad-cars, but I 
 don't set foot on it for months at a time. And I was brought 
 up in the country. Were you ?" 
 
 "I was brought up everywhere," said the little machinist. 
 
 They got up, and paid each their ten cents to the proprietor 
 of the "Buffeteria." Jimmie could not resist the temptation to 
 introduce his hero, and show a pious Catholic that a Socialist 
 Candidate had neither hoofs nor horns. The Candidate was 
 used to being introduced for that purpose, and had certain spon- 
 taneous and cordial words which he had said not less than ten 
 thousand times before; with the result that the pious Catholic 
 gave his promise to come to the meeting that night. 
 
 They went out ; and because some member of the Committee 
 might be passing on Main Street, Jimmie took his hero by an 
 alley into a back street; and they walked past the glass-factory, 
 which to the outsider was a long board fence, and across the 
 Atlantic Western railroad tracks, and past the carpet-factory, a 
 huge four-story box made of bricks; after which the rows of 
 wooden shacks began to thin out, and there were vacant lots 
 and ash-heaps, and at last the beginning of farms. 
 
 The Candidate's legs were long, and Jimmie's, alas, were 
 short, so he had almost to run. The sun blazed down on them, 
 and sweat, starting from the Candidate's bald head, stole under 
 the band of his straw hat and down to his wilting collar; so he 
 took off his coat and hung it over his arm, and went on, faster 
 than ever. Jimmie raced beside him, afraid to speak, for he 
 divined that the Candidate was brooding over the world-calamity, 
 the millions of young men marching out to slaughter. On 
 the placards which Jimmie had been distributing in Leesville, 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 11* 
 
 there were two lines about the Candidate, written by America's 
 favourite poet: 
 
 As warm heart as ever beat 
 Betwixt here and judgment seat. 
 
 So they went on for perhaps an hour, by which time they 
 were really in the country. They came to a bridge which 
 crossed the river Lee, and there the Candidate suddenly stopped, 
 and stood looking at the water sliding below him, and at the 
 vista through which it wound, an avenue of green trees with 
 stretches of pasture and cattle grazing. "That looks fine," 
 he said. "Let's go down." So they climbed a fence, and made 
 their way along the river for a distance, until a turn of the 
 stream took them out of sight of the road. 
 
 There they sat on a shelving bank, and mopped the per- 
 spiration from their foreheads and necks, and gazed into the 
 rippling current. You couldn't exactly say it was crystal clear, 
 for when there is a town every ten miles or so along a stream, 
 with factories pouring various kinds of chemicals into it, the 
 job becomes too much for the restoring forces of Mother Nature. 
 But it would take a dirty stream indeed not to look inviting in 
 midsummer after a four mile walk. So presently the Candidate 
 turned to Jimmie, with a mischievous look upon his face. 
 "Comrade Higgins, were you ever in a swimmin' hole?" 
 
 "Sure I was!" said Jimmie. 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "Everywhere. I was on the road off an' on ten years till 
 I got married." 
 
 "Well," said the Candidate, still smiling, "what do you say ?" 
 
 "I say sure !" replied Jimmie. } 
 
 He was almost beside himself with awe, at this unbelievable 
 strange fortune, this real comradeship with the hero of his 
 dreams. To Jimmie this man had been a disembodied intel- 
 ligence, a dispenser of proletarian inspiration, a supernatural 
 being who went about the country standing upon platforms and 
 swaying the souls of multitudes. It had never occurred to 
 Jimmie that he might have a bare body, and might enjoy 
 splashing about in cool water like a boy playing "hookey" from 
 school. The saying is that familiarity breeds contempt, but for 
 Jimmie it bred rapture. 
 
12 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 VI 
 
 They walked home again, more slowly. The Candidate 
 asked Jimmie about his life, and Jimmie told the story of a 
 Socialist not one of the leaders, the "intellectuals," but of the 
 "rank and file." Jimmie's father was a workingman out of a 
 job, who had left his family before Jimmie had joined it; Jim- 
 mie's mother had died three years later, so he did not remember 
 her, nor could he recall a word of the foreign language he had 
 spoken at home, nor did he even know what the language was. 
 He had been taken in charge by the city, and farmed out to a 
 negro woman, who had eight miserable starvelings under her 
 care, feeding them on gruel and water, and not even giving 
 them a blanket in winter. You might not think that possible 
 
 "I know America/' put in the Candidate. 
 
 Jimmie went on. At nine he had been boarded with a wood- 
 saw man, who worked him sixteen hours a day and beat him 
 in addition; so Jimmie had skipped out, and for ten years had 
 lived the life of a street waif in the cities and a hobo on the 
 road. He had learned a bit about machinery, helping in a 
 garage, and then, in a rush-time, he had got a job in the Empire 
 Machine Shops. He had stayed in Leesville, because he had 
 got married; he had met his wife in a brothel, and she had 
 wanted to quit the life, and they had taken a chance together. 
 
 "I don't tell that to everybody," said Jimmie. "You know 
 they mightn't unnerstand. But I don't mind you knowin'." 
 
 "Thank you," replied the Candidate, and put his hand on 
 Jimmie's shoulder. "Tell me how you became a Socialist." 
 
 There was nothing special about that, was the answer. 
 There had been a fellow in the shop who was always "chewing 
 the rag"; Jimmie had laughed at him for his life had made 
 him suspicious of everybody, and if there was any sort of poli- 
 tician, it was just another scheme of somebody to wear a white 
 collar and live off the workers. But the fellow had kept peg- 
 ging away; and once Jimmie had been laid off for a couple of 
 months, and the family had near starved, and that had given 
 him time to think, and also the inclination. The fellow had 
 come along with some papers, and Jimmie had read them, and 
 it dawned upon him that here was a movement of his fellow- 
 workers to put an end to their torments. 
 
 "How long ago was that ?" asked the Candidate, and Jimmie 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE 13 
 
 answered three years. "And you haven't lost your enthusiasm?" 
 This with an intensity that surprised Jimmie. No, he an- 
 swered, he was not that kind. Whatever happened, he would 
 keep pegging away at the task of freeing labour. He would 
 not see the New Day, perhaps, but his children would see it ; and 
 a fellow would work like the devil to save his children. 
 
 So they came to the city ; and the Candidate pressed Jimmie's 
 arm. "Comrade," he said, "I want to tell you how much good 
 this little trip has done me. I owe you a debt of gratitude." 
 
 "Me ?" exclaimed Jimmie. 
 
 "You have given me fresh hope and courage, and at a time 
 when I felt beaten. I got into town this morning, and I'd. had 
 no sleep, and I tried to get some in the hotel and couldn't, be- 
 cause of the horror that's happening. I wrote a dozen telegrams 
 and sent them off, and then I was afraid to go back to the hotel- 
 room, because I knew I'd only lie awake all afternoon. But 
 now I remember that our movement is rooted in the hearts 
 of the people !" 
 
 Jimmie was trembling. But all he could say was : "I wisht 
 I could do it every Sunday." 
 
 "So do I," said the Candidate. 
 
 VII 
 
 They walked down Main Street, and some ways ahead they 
 saw a crowd gathered, filling the side-walk beyond the curb. 
 "What is that?" asked the Candidate, and Jimmie answered 
 that it was the office of the "Herald." There must be some 
 news. 
 
 The other hastened his steps ; and Jimmie, striding alongside, 
 fell silent again, knowing that the gigantic burden and woe 
 of the world was falling upon his hero's shoulders once more. 
 They came to the edge of the crowd, and saw a bulletin in front 
 of the newspaper office. But it was too far away for them to 
 read. "What is it?" they asked. 
 
 "It says the Germans are going to march into Belgium. And 
 they've shot a lot of Socialists in Germany." 
 
 "WhatF And the Candidate's hand clutched Jimmie's 
 arm. 
 
 "That's what it says/' 
 
 "My God !" exclaimed the man. And he began pushing his 
 
14 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 way into the crowd, with Jimmie in his wake. They got to 
 the bulletin, and stood reading the type-written words a bare 
 announcement that more than a hundred leading German 
 Socialists had been executed for efforts to prevent mobilisation. 
 They continued staring, until people pushing behind them caused 
 them to draw back. Outside the throng they stood, the Candi- 
 date gazing into space, and Jimmie gazing at the Candidate, 
 both of them dumb. It was a fact that they could not have 
 been more shocked if the news had referred to the members of 
 Local Leesville of the Socialist Party of America. 
 
 The pain in the Candidate's face was so evident that Jimmie 
 groped about in his head for something comforting to say. "At 
 least they done what they could/' he whispered. 
 
 The other suddenly burst forth: "They are heroes! They 
 have made the name Socialist sacred forever !" He rushed on, 
 as if he were making a speech so strong becomes a life-time 
 habit. "They have written their names at the very top of 
 humanity's roll of honour ! It doesn't make any difference what 
 happens after this, Comrade the movement has vindicated it- 
 self ! All the future will be changed because of this event !" 
 
 He began to walk down the street, talking more to himself 
 than to Jimmie. He was borne away on the wings of his vision ; 
 and his companion was so thrilled that he honestly did not know 
 where he was. Afterwards, when he looked back upon this 
 scene, it remained the most wonderful event of his life ; he told 
 the story, sooner or later, to every Socialist he met. 
 
 Presently the Candidate stopped. "Comrade/' he said, "I 
 must go to the hotel. I want to write some telegrams. You 
 explain to the Committee I'd rather not see any one till time 
 for the meeting. I'll find the way myself." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS HEARS A SPEECH 
 
 TN the Opera-house were gathered Comrade Mabel Smith and 
 * Comrade Meissner and Comrade Goldstein, the secretary of 
 the Ypsels, and the three members of the Eeception Committee 
 Comrade Norwood, the rising young lawyer, Comrade Dr. 
 Service, and Comrade Schultze of the Carpet-weavers' Union. 
 To them rushed the breathless Jimmie. "Have you heard the 
 news?" 
 
 "What is it ?" 
 
 "A hundred Socialist leaders shot in Germany!" 
 
 "Herr Gott !" cried Comrade Schultze, in horror ; and every 
 one turned instinctively, for they knew how this came home to 
 him he had a brother who was a Socialist editor in Leipzig, 
 and who was liable for the mobilisation. 
 
 "Where did you see it?" cried Schultze; and Jimmie told 
 what he knew. And then what a clamour broke forth ! Others 
 were called from the back part of the hall, and came running, 
 and there were questions and cries of dismay. Here, too, it 
 was as if the crime had been committed against Local Leesville 
 so completely did they feel themselves one with the victims. 
 In a town where there was a brewery, needless to say there were 
 German workers a-plenty; but even had this not been so, the 
 feeling would have been the same, for the Socialists of the world 
 were one, the soul of the movement was its internationalism. 
 The Candidate, discovering that Jimmie was a Socialist, had 
 asked and received no further introduction, but had been in- 
 stantly his friend; and so it would have been with a comrade 
 from Germany, Japan, or the heart of Africa he might not 
 have known another word of English, the word "Socialist" would 
 have sufficed. 
 
 15 
 
16 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 It was a long time before they thought of any other matter ; 
 but finally some one referred to the trouble which had fallen 
 upon the local the Candidate had not showed up. And Jinunie 
 exclaimed, "Why, he's here!" And instantly all turned upon 
 him. Where? When? How? 
 
 "He came this morning." 
 
 "And why didn't you let us know?" It was Comrade Dr. 
 Service of the Eeception Committee who spoke, and with a de- 
 cided sharpness in his tone. 
 
 "He didn't want anybody to know," said Jimmie. 
 
 "Did he want us to go to the train and think he had 
 failed us?" 
 
 Sure enough, it was after train-time ! Jimmie had entirely 
 forgotten both the train and the committee, and now he had 
 not the grace to hide his offence. All he could do was to tell 
 his story how he had spent the afternoon walking in the coun- 
 try with the Candidate, and how they had gone in swimming, 
 and how they had got the news from the bulletin-board, and how 
 the Candidate had acted and what he had said. Poor Jimmie 
 never doubted but that his own thrill was shared by all the 
 others ; and at the next regular meeting of the local, when Com- 
 rade Dr. Service sat down hard on some proposition which 
 Jimmie had ventured to make, the little machinist had not the 
 least idea what he had done to deserve the snub. He was 
 lacking in worldly sense, he did not understand that a prosper- 
 ous physician, who comes into the movement out of pure human- 
 itarianism, contributing his prestige and his wealth to the cer- 
 tain detriment of his social and business interests, is entitled 
 to a certain deference from the Jimmie Higginses, and even 
 from a Candidate! 
 
 II 
 
 You might have thought that Jimmie would be tired; but 
 this was a day on which the flesh had no claims. First he 
 helped Comrade Mabel in depositing upon every seat a leaflet 
 containing a letter from the local candidate for Congress ; then 
 he rushed away to catch a street-car, and spent his last nickel 
 to get to his home and keep his engagement with Lizzie. He 
 would not make with her the mistake he had made with the 
 Committee, you bet ! 
 
JIMMIE HIOaiNS HEAES A SPEECH 17 
 
 He found that Lizzie had faithfully carried out her part 
 of the bargain. The three babies were done up in bright- 
 coloured calico dresses; she had spent the morning in washing 
 and ironing these garments also her own dress, which was 
 half red and half green, and of generous, almost crinoline pro- 
 portions. Lizzie herself was built on that scale, with broad 
 hips and bosom, big brown eyes and heavy dark hair. She was 
 a fine strong woman when she had shed her bedraggled house 
 gown, and Jimmie was proud of his capability as a chooser of 
 wives. It was no small feat to find a good woman, and to 
 recognise her, where Jimmie had found Lizzie. She was five 
 years older than he, a Bohemian, having been brought to 
 America when she was a baby. Her former name you could 
 hardly call it her "maiden" name, considering the circumstances 
 was Elizabeth Huszar, which she pronounced so that for a 
 long time Jimmie had understood it to be Eleeza Betooser. 
 
 Jimmie snatched a bite of bread and drank a cup of metallic 
 tasting tea, and packed the family into the baby-carriage, and 
 trudged the mile and a half to the centre of the city. When 
 they arrived, Lizzie took the biggest child, and Jimmie the 
 other two, and so they trudged into the Opera-house. On this 
 hot night it was like holding three stoves in your arms, and if 
 the babies woke up and began to cry, the parents would have 
 the painful choice of missing something, or else facing the 
 disgusted looks of every one about them. In Belgium, at the 
 "People's House," the Socialists maintained a creche, but the 
 American movement had not yet discovered that useful insti- 
 tution. 
 
 Already the hall was half full, and a stream of people pour- 
 ing in. Jimmie got himself and family seated, and then turned 
 his eager eyes proudly to survey the scene. The would-be-con- 
 gressman's circulars which he had placed in the seats were now 
 being read by the sitters; the banners he had so laboriously 
 hung were resplendent on the walls; there was a pitcher of ice 
 water on the speaker's table, and a bouquet of flowers and a gavel 
 for the chairman ; the seats in the rear of the platform for the 
 Liederkranz were neatly ranged, most of them already occupied 
 by solid German figures topped by rosy German faces: to each 
 detail of which achievements Jimmie had lent a hand. He 
 had a pride of possession in this great buzzing throng, and in 
 the debt they owed to him. They had no idea of it, of course; 
 
'18 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the boobs, they thought that a meeting like this just grew out 
 of nothing! They paid their ten cents twenty-five cents for 
 reserved seats and imagined that covered everything, with per- 
 haps even a rake-off for somebody ! They would grumble, won- 
 dering why the Socialists persisted in charging admission for 
 their meetings why they could not let people in free as the 
 Democrats and Republicans did. They would go to Democratic 
 and Republican meetings, and enjoy the brass-band and the fire- 
 works, pyrotechnical and oratorical never dreaming it was all 
 a snare paid for by their exploiters ! 
 
 Well, they would learn about it to-night! Jimmie thought 
 of the Candidate, and how he would impress this man and that. 
 For Jimmie knew scores who had got tickets, and he peered 
 about after this one and that, and gave them a happy nod from 
 behind his barricade of babies. Then, craning his neck to look 
 behind him, suddenly Jimmie gave a start. Coming down the 
 aisle was Ashton Chalmers, president of the First National Bank 
 of Leesville; and with him could it be possible? old man 
 Granitch, owner of the huge Empire Machine Shops where 
 Jimmie worked! The little machinist found himself shaking 
 with excitement as these two tall forms strode past him down 
 the aisle. He gave Lizzie a nudge with his elbow and whispered 
 into her ear; and all around was a buzz of whispers for, of 
 course, everybody knew these two mighty men, the heads of 
 the "invisible government" of Leesville. They had come to find 
 out what their subjects were thinking! Well, they would get 
 it straight ! 
 
 m 
 
 The big hall was full, and the aisles began to jam, and then 
 the police closed the doors something which Jimmie took as 
 part of the universal capitalist conspiracy. The audience began 
 to chafe; until at last the chairman walked out upon the stage, 
 followed by several important persons who took front seats. 
 The singers stood up, and the leader waved his wand, and forth 
 came the Marseillaise: a French revolutionary hymn, sung in 
 English by a German organisation there was Internationalism 
 for you! With full realisation of the solemnity of this world- 
 crisis, they sang as if they hoped to be heard in Europe. 
 And then rose the Chairman Comrade Dr. Service. He was 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HEARS A SPEECH 19 
 
 a fine, big figure of a man, with grey moustache and beard 
 trimmed to a point; his swelling chest was covered by clean 
 white linen and tight-fitting broad-cloth, and he made a most 
 imposing chairman, reflecting credit on the movement. He 
 cleared his throat, and told them that they had come that even- 
 ing to listen to one of America's greatest orators, and that there- 
 fore he, the Chairman, would not make a speech; after which 
 he proceeded to make a speech. He told them what a grave 
 hour this was, and how the orator would tell them its meaning ; 
 after which he proceeded to tell most of the things which the 
 orator would tell. This was a weakness of Comrade Dr. Service 
 but one hesitated to point it out to him, because of his black 
 broad-cloth suit and his imposing appearance, and the money 
 he had put up to pay for the hall. 
 
 At last, however, he called on the Liederkranz again, and a 
 quartette sang a German song and then an encore. And then 
 came Comrade Gerrity, the hustling young insurance-agent who 
 was organiser for the local, and whose task it was to make a 
 "collection speech." He had humorous ways of extracting 
 money "Here I am again!" he began, and everybody smiled, 
 knowing his bag of tricks. While he was telling his newest 
 funny story, Jimmie was unloading the littlest infant into 
 Lizzie's spare arm, and laying the other on the seat with its 
 head against her knee, and getting himself out into the aisle, hat 
 in hand and ready for business; and as soon as the organiser 
 ceased and the Liederkranz resumed, Jimmie set to work gather- 
 ing the coin. His territory was the reserved-seat section up in 
 front, where sat the two mighty magnates. Jimmie's knees went 
 weak, but he did his duty, and was tickled to see each of the 
 pair drop a coin into the hat, to be used in overthrowing their 
 power in Leesville ! 
 
 IV 
 
 The hats were taken to the box-office and emptied, and the 
 collection-takers and the Liederkranz singers resumed their seats. 
 An expectant hush fell and then at last there strode out on 
 the stage the Candidate. What a storm broke out! Men 
 cheered and clapped and shouted. He took his seat modestly; 
 but as the noise continued, he was justified in assuming that it 
 was meant for him, and he rose and bowed ; as it still continued. 
 
20 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 lie bowed again, and then again. It had been the expectation 
 of Comrade Dr. Service to come forward and say that, of course, 
 it was not necessary for any one to introduce the speaker of 
 the evening; but the audience, as if it had read the worthy 
 doctor's intention, kept on applauding, until the Candidate him- 
 self advanced, and raised his hand, and began his speech. 
 
 He did not stop for any oratorical preliminaries. This, he 
 said and his voice trembled with emotion was the solemnest 
 hour that men had ever faced on earth. That day on the bulle- 
 tin-board of their local newspaper he had read tidings which 
 had moved him as he had never before been moved in his life, 
 which had almost deprived him of the power to walk upon a 
 stage and address an audience. Perhaps they had not heard 
 the news; he told it to them, and there sprang from the audi- 
 ence a cry of indignation. 
 
 Yes, they might well protest, said the speaker; nowhere on 
 all the bloody pages of history could you find a crime more re- 
 volting than this ! The masters of Europe had gone mad in 
 their lust for power; they had called down the vengeance of 
 mankind upon their crowned and coronetted heads. Here to- 
 night he would tell them and the speaker's hoarse and raucous 
 voice mounted to a shout of rage he would tell them that in 
 signing the death-warrant of those heroic martyrs, they had 
 sealed the doom of their own order, they had torn out the foun- 
 dation-stones from the structure of capitalist society! The 
 speaker's voice seemed to lift the audience from its seats, and 
 the last words of the sentence were drowned in a tumult of ap- 
 plause. 
 
 Silence fell again, and the man went on. He had peculiar 
 mannerisms on the platform. His lanky form was never still 
 for an instant. He hurried from one end of the stage to the 
 other ; he would crouch and bend as if he were going to spring 
 upon the audience, a long, skinny finger would be shaken before 
 their faces, or pointed as if to drive his words into their hearts. 
 His speech was a torrent of epigram, sarcasm, invective. He 
 was bitter; if you knew nothing about the man or his cause, 
 you would find this repellent and shocking. You had to know 
 what his life had been an unceasing conflict with oppression; 
 he had got his Socialist education in jail, where he had been 
 sent for trying to organise the wage-slaves of a gigantic corpora- 
 tion. His rage was the rage of a tender-hearted poet, a lover 
 
JIMMIE HIGKHNS HEARS A SPEECH 21 
 
 of children and of Nature, driven mad by the sight of torment 
 wantonly inflicted. And if ever he had seemed to you an ex- 
 tremist/ too angry to be excused, here to-night he had his 
 vindication, here to-night you saw him as a prophet. For 
 now the master-class had torn the mask from its face, and 
 revealed to the whole world what were its moral standards ! At 
 last men saw their rulers face to face! 
 
 They had plunged mankind into a pit of lunacy. "They 
 call it war/' cried the speaker; "but I call it murder." And 
 he went on to picture to them what was happening in Europe 
 at that hour he brought the awful nightmare before their eyes, 
 he showed them homes blown to pieces, cities given to the flames, 
 the bodies of men pierced by bullets or torn to fragments by 
 shells. He pictured a bayonet plunged into the abdomen of a 
 man ; he made you see the ghastly deed, and feel its shuddering 
 wickedness. Men and w6men and children sat spell-bound; and 
 for once no man could say aloud or feel in his heart that the 
 pictures of a Socialist agitator were overdrawn no, not even 
 Ashton Chalmers, president of the First National Bank of Lees- 
 ville, or old Abel Granitch, proprietor of the Empire Machine 
 Shops ! 
 
 And what was the cause of this blackest of calamities ? The 
 speaker went on to show that the determining motive was not 
 racial jealousy, but commercial greed. The fountain-head of 
 the war was world-capitalism, clamouring for markets, seeking 
 to get rid of its surplus products, to keep busy its hordes of 
 wage-slaves at home. He analysed the various factors; and 
 now, with the shadow of the European storm over their heads 
 now at last men and women would listen, they would realise that 
 the matter concerned them. He warned them let them not 
 think that they were safe from the hoofs of this war-monster, 
 just because they were three thousand miles away! Capitalism 
 was a world phenomenon, and all the forces of parasitism and 
 exploitation which had swept Europe into this tragedy were 
 active here in America. The money-masters, the profit-seekers, 
 would leap to take advantage of the collapse over the seas ; there 
 would be jealousies, disputes let the audience understand, once 
 for all, that if world-capitalism did not make this a world-war, 
 
22 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 it would be only because the workers of America took warning, 
 and made their preparations to frustrate the conspiracy. 
 
 This was what he had come for, this was the heart of his 
 message. Many of those who listened were refugees from the 
 old world, having fled its oppressions and enslavements. He 
 pleaded with them now, as a man whose heart was torn by more 
 suffering than he could bear let there be one part of the fair 
 garden of earth into which the demons of destruction might not 
 break their way ! Let them take warning in time, let them or- 
 ganise and establish their own machinery of information and 
 propaganda so that when the crisis came, when the money- 
 masters of America sounded the war-drums, there might be 
 not the destruction and desolation which these masters willed, 
 but the joy and freedom of the Co-operative Commonwealth ! 
 
 "How many years we Socialists have warned you !" he cried. 
 "But you have doubted us, you have believed what your ex- 
 ploiters have told you! And now, in this hour of crisis, you 
 look at Europe and discover who are the real friends of human- 
 ity, of civilisation. What voice comes over the seas, protest- 
 ing against war? The Socialist voice, and the Socialist voice 
 alone ! And to-night, once more, you hear it in this hall ! You 
 men and women of America, and you exiles from all corners 
 of the world make this pledge with me make it now, before 
 it is too late, and stand by it when the hour of crisis comes! 
 Swear it by the blood of our martyred heroes, those slaughtered 
 German Socialists swear that come what will, and when and 
 how it will, that no power on earth or in hell beneath the earth 
 shall draw you into this fratricidal war ! Make this resolution, 
 send this message to all the nations of the earth that the men 
 of all nations and all races are your brothers, and that never 
 will you consent to shed their blood. If the money-masters and 
 the exploiters want war, let them have it, but let it be among 
 themselves! Let them take the bombs and shells they have 
 made and go out against one another ! Let them blow their own 
 class to pieces but let them not seek to lure the working-people 
 into their quarrels!" 
 
 Again and again, in answer to such exhortations, the audi- 
 ence broke out into shouts of applause. Men raised their hands 
 in solemn pledge; and the Socialists among them went home 
 from the meeting with a new gravity in their faces, a new con- 
 secration in their hearts. They had made a vow, and they 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HEARS A SPEECH 23 
 
 would keep it yes, even though it meant sharing the fate of 
 their heroic German comrades ! 
 
 And then in the morning they opened their papers, looking 
 eagerly for more details about the fate of the heroic German 
 comrades, and they found none. Day after day, morning and 
 afternoon, they looked for more details, and found none. On 
 the contrary, to their unutterable bewilderment, they learned 
 that the leaders of the German Social-democracy had voted for 
 the war-budgets, and that the rank and file of the movement 
 were hammering out the goose-step on the roads of Belgium and 
 France! They could not bring themselves to believe it; even 
 yet they have not brought themselves to realise that the story 
 which thrilled them so on that fatal Sunday afternoon was 
 only a cunning lie sent out by the German war-lords, in the 
 hope of causing the Socialists of Belgium and France and Eng- 
 land to revolt, and so give the victory to Germany ! 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 
 
 HPHE grey flood of frightf illness rolled over Belgium; and 
 * every morning, and again in the afternoon, the front page 
 of the Leesville newspaper was like the explosion of a bomb. 
 Twenty-five thousand Germans killed in one assault on Liege; 
 a quarter of a million Kussians massacred or drowned in the 
 swamps of the Masurian lakes; so it went, until the minds of 
 men reeled. They saw empires and civilisations crumbling be- 
 fore their eyes, all those certainties upon which their lives had 
 been built vanishing as a mist at sunrise. 
 
 Hitherto, Jimmie Higgins had always refused to take a 
 daily paper. No capitalist lies for him; he would save his 
 pennies for the Socialist weeklies ! But now he had to have 
 the news, and tired as he was after the day's work, he would 
 sit on his front porch with his ragged feet against a post, spell- 
 ing out the despatches. Then he would stroll down to the 
 cigar-stand of Comrade Stankewitz, a wizened-up little Rou- 
 manian Jew who had lived in Europe and had a map, and 
 would show Jimmie which was Russia, and why Germany 
 marched across Belgium, and why England had to interfere. It 
 was good to have a friend who was a man of travel and a 
 linguist especially when the fighting became centred about 
 places such as Przemysl and Przasnyaz ! 
 
 Then every Friday night would be the meeting of the local. 
 Jimmie would be the first to arrive, eager to hear every word 
 the better informed comrades had to say, and thus to complete 
 the education which society had so cruelly neglected. 
 
 Before the war was many weeks old, Jimmie's head was in 
 a state of utter bewilderment; never would he have thought it 
 possible for men to hold so many conflicting opinions, and to 
 
 24 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 25 
 
 hold them with such passionate intensity! It seemed as if the 
 world-conflict were being fought out in miniature in Leesville. 
 
 At the third meeting after the war began, the prosperous Dr. 
 Service arose, and in his impressive oratorical voice moved that 
 the local should send a telegram to the National Executive Com- 
 mittee of the party, requesting it to protest against the invasion 
 of Belgium; also a telegram to the President of the United 
 States, requesting him to take the same action. And then 
 what pandemonium broke loose! Comrade Schneider, the 
 brewery-worker, demanded to know whether Local Leesville had 
 ever requested the National Executive Committee to protest 
 against the invasion of Ireland. Had the Socialist party ever 
 requested the President of the United States to protect Egypt 
 and India from oppression? 
 
 Comrade Dr. Service, who had remained on his feet, began 
 a passionate denunciation of the outrages perpetrated by the 
 German army in Belgium ; at which Comrade Schneider's florid 
 face turned purple. He demanded whether all men did not 
 know that France had first invaded Belgium, and that the Bel-j 
 gians had welcomed the French ? Weren't all the Belgian forts 
 turned toward Germany? Of course! answered the doctor. 
 But what of that? Was it a crime for a man to know who 
 was going to attack him? 
 
 The purple-faced brewer, without heeding this question, de- 
 manded : Did not all the World know that the French had begun 
 the war with an aeroplane bombardment of the German cities? 
 The Comrade Doctor, his face also purpling, replied that all the 
 world knew this for a tale sent out by the German propaganda 
 machine. How did all the world know it? roared Schneider. 
 By a cable-censorship controlled by British gold? 
 
 Jimmie was much excited by this dispute. The only trouble 
 was that he found himself in agreement with both sides, and 
 with an impulse to applaud both sides. And also he applauded 
 the next speaker, young Emil Forster, a pale, slender, and, fair- 
 haired youth, a designer in the carpet-factory. Emil was one 
 who seldom raised his voice in the meetings, but when he did, 
 he was heard with attention, for he was a student and a thinker ; 
 he played the flute, and his father, also a member of the local, 
 played the clarinet, so the pair were invaluable on "social even- 
 ings." In his gentle, dispassionate voice he explained how it 
 was not easy for people in America to understand the dilemma 
 
26 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 of the German Socialists in the present crisis. We must re- 
 member that the Germans were fighting, not merely England 
 and France, but Eussia; and Russia was a huge, half -civilised 
 land, under perhaps the most cruel government in the world. 
 How would Americans feel if up in Canada there were three 
 hundred millions of people, ignorant, enslaved, and being drilled 
 in huge armies ? 
 
 All right, retorted Dr. Service. But then why did not 
 the Germans fight Eussia, and let France and Belgium alone? 
 
 Because, answered Emil, the French would not permit that. 
 We in America thought of France as a republic, but we must 
 remember that it was a capitalist republic, a nation ruled by 
 bankers; and these bankers had formed an alliance with Eussia, 
 the sole possible aim of which was the destruction of Germany. 
 France had loaned something like four billions of dollars to 
 Eussia. 
 
 And then Schneider leaped up. Yes, and it was that money 
 which had provided the cannon and shells that were now being 
 used in laying waste East Prussia, the land of Schneider's birth ! 
 
 II 
 
 The temper of both sides was rising higher and higher, and 
 the neutrals made efforts to calm the dispute. Comrade 
 Stankewitz, Jimmie's cigar-store friend, cried out in his shrill, 
 eager voice: Vy did ve vant to git mixed up vit them European 
 fights? Didn't ve know vat bankers and capitalists vere? Vat 
 difference did it make to any vorkingman vether he vas robbed 
 from Paris or Berlin? "Sure, I know/' said Stankewitz, "I 
 vorked in both them cities, and I vas every bit so hungry under 
 Eothschild as I vas under the Kaiser." 
 
 Then Comrade Gerrity, organiser of the local, took his turn. 
 Whatever they did, said Gerrity, they must keep their neutrality 
 in this war; the one hope of the world just now was in the 
 Socialist movement that it would preserve ,the international 
 spirit, and point a war-torn world back to peace. Especially 
 just now in Local Leesville they must keep their heads, for they 
 were beginning the most important move in their history, the 
 establishment of a weekly paper. Nothing must get in the way 
 of that! 
 
 Yes, said Comrade Service, but they would have to determine 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 27 
 
 the policy of the paper, would they not? Were they going to 
 protest against injustice at home, and pay no attention to the 
 most flagrant act of international injustice in the history of the 
 world? Was a workingman's paper to say nothing against the 
 enslavement of the workingmen of Europe by the Kaiser and his 
 militarist crew? He, Dr. Service, would wash his hands of 
 such a paper. 
 
 And then the members of the local gazed at one another in, 
 dismay. Every man and woman of them knew that the pros- 
 perous doctor had headed the list of subscribers for the soon-to- 
 be-born Leesville "Worker" with the sum of five hundred dol- 
 lars. The thought of losing this munificent contribution, 
 brought consternation even to the Germans ! 
 
 But there was one member of the local whom no menace ever 
 daunted. He rose up now lean, sallow almost to greenness, 
 with black hair falling into his eyes, and a cough that racked 
 him at every other sentence. Bill Murray was his name ; "Wild 
 Bill/' the papers called him. The red card he carried had 
 been initialled by the secretaries of some thirty locals all over the 
 country. He had lost a couple of toes under a tractor-plough in 
 Kansas, and half a hand in a tin-plate mill in Alleghany County ; 
 he had been clubbed insensible in a strike in Chicago, and tarred 
 and feathered in a free speech fight in San Diego. And now 
 he told the members of Local Leesville what he thought of those 
 tea-party revolutionists who pandered to the respectability of a 
 church-ridden community. "Wild Bill" had watched the dis- 
 cussions over "Section Six/' the provision in the constitution of 
 the party against sabotage and violence; the very same persons 
 who had been enthusiastic for that bit of middle-class fakery 
 were now trying to line up the local for the defence of the British 
 sea-power ! What the hell difference did it make to any work- 
 ingman whether or. not the Kaiser got a railroad to Bagdad? 
 Of course, if a man had been to school in Britain, and had a 
 British wife, and felt himself a British gentleman you could 
 feel the shudder that went through the gathering, for every one 
 knew that this was Dr. Service all right, let that man take the 
 first ship across the ocean and enlist; but let him not try to 
 turn an American Socialist local into a recruiting-agency for 
 British landlords and aristocrats. 
 
 This brought to his feet Comrade Norwood, the young lawyer 
 who had helped to put through "Section Six" in the National 
 
28 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Convention of the party. If there were people so keen against 
 this Section, why couldn't they get out of the party and form 
 an organisation of their own? 
 
 "Because/' answered Murray, "we prefer sabotage to strik- 
 ing !" 
 
 "In other words," continued Norwood, "you stay in the local, 
 and hy a campaign of sneering and personalities you drive your 
 opponents out !" 
 
 "This is the first meeting for some months that we have had 
 the pleasure of seeing Comrade Norwood," said "Wild Bill," 
 with venomous placidity. "Perhaps he knew that we were to 
 he asked to raise a regiment for Kitchener !" 
 
 And then again Comrade Stankewitz was on his feet, with 
 distress in his thin, eager face. "Comrades, all this vill not 
 get us anyvere ! There is but vun question ve have to answer, 
 are ve internationalists, or are ve not ?" 
 
 "It seems to me," continued Norwood, "the question is, are 
 we anti-nationalists ?" 
 
 "All right !" shrilled the little Jew. "I vill leave it so I 
 am an anti-nationalist! Such must all Socialists be!" 
 
 "But I don't understand it so," declared the young lawyer. 
 "It is easy for some who belong to a race which has not had 
 a country for two thousand years " 
 
 "And who's dealing in personalities now?" sneered "Wild 
 BiH." 
 
 Ill 
 
 So matters went in Local Leesville. The upshot of the 
 debate was that Comrade Dr. Service declared that he washed 
 his hands of the Socialist Party from that time on. And the 
 Comrade Doctor buttoned his handsome black coat over his 
 stately chest and stalked out of the room. The greater part of 
 the remainder of that meeting was devoted to a discussion of 
 him and his personality and his influence in the local. He was 
 no Socialist at all, declared Schneider, he was an English aris- 
 tocrat, or the next thing to it his wife had two brothers in the 
 British Expeditionary Force, and a nephew already enlisted in 
 the Territorials, and a visiting cousin on the point of setting 
 out for Canada, as the quickest way of getting into the mix-up. 
 But in spite of all these damaging circumstances, the local was 
 

 JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 29 
 
 not disposed to give up its most generous supporter, and Com- 
 rade Gerrity, the organiser, and Comrade Goldstein of the Ypsels 
 were constituted a committee to go and plead with him and try 
 to bring him back into the fold. 
 
 As for Jimmie Higgins, his problem was not so complicated. 
 He had no relatives anywhere that he knew of; and if he had 
 any "country", the country had failed to make him aware of the 
 fact. The 'first thing the "country" had done for him was to 
 put him into the hands of a negro woman who fed him gruel 
 and water and gave him no blanket in winter. To Jimmie this 
 country was an aggregation of owners and bosses, who made you 
 sweat hard for your wages, and sent the police to club you if 
 you made any kick. A soldier Jimmie thought of as a fellow 
 who came to help the police when they got hard pushed. This 
 soldier walked with his chest out and his nose in the air, and 
 Jimmie referred to him as a "tin willie", and summed him up 
 as a traitor to the working class. 
 
 And so it was easy for our little machinist to agree with the 
 Koumanian Jewish cigar-seller in calling himself an "anti-na- 
 tionalist". It was easy for him to laugh and applaud when 
 "Wild Bill" demanded what the hell difference it made to any 
 workingman whether or not the Kaiser got a railroad to Bag- 
 dad. He did not thrill in the least over the story of the British 
 army falling back step by step across France, and holding ten 
 times their number of invaders. The papers called this "hero- 
 ism" ; but to Jimmie it was a lot of poor boobs who had had a 
 flag waved in their eyes, and had sold themselves for a shilling 
 to the landlords of their country. In one of the Socialist papers 
 that Jimmie read, there appeared every week a series of comic 
 pictures in which the workingman was figured as a guileless fool 
 by the name of "Henry Dubb". Poor Henry always believed 
 what he was told, and at the end of each adventure he got a 
 thump on the top of his nut which caused stars to sprout over 
 the page. And of all the many adventures of Henry Dubb, the 
 most absurd were when he got himself into a uniform. Jimmie 
 would cut these pictures out and pass them round in the shop, 
 and among his neighbours in the row of tenement-shacks where 
 he lived. 
 
 Nor did it make much difference in Jimmie's feelings when 
 he read of German atrocities. To begin with, he did not believe 
 in them ; they were just a part of the poison-gas of war. When 
 
30 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 men were willing to stab one another with bayonets, and to blow 
 one another to pieces with bombs, they would be willing to lie 
 about one another, you might be sure ; the governments would lie 
 deliberately, as one of the ways of making the soldiers fight 
 harder. What? argued Jimmie: tell him that Germans were a 
 lot of savages ? When he lived in a city with hundreds of them, 
 and met them all the time at the local? 
 
 Here, for instance, was the Forster family ; where would you 
 find a kinder lot of people ? They were much above Jimmie in 
 social standing they owned their own home, and had whole 
 shelves full of books, and a pile of music as high as yourself ; but 
 recently Jimmie had stopped on a Socialist errand, and they had 
 invited him in to supper, and there was a thin, worn, sweet-faced 
 little woman, and four growing daughters nice, gentle, quiet 
 girls and two sons younger than Emil; they had a pot-roast of 
 beef, and a big dish of steaming potatoes, and another of sauer- 
 kraut, and some queer pudding that Jimmie had never heard 
 of; and then they had music they were fairly dippy on music, 
 that family, they would play all night if you would listen, old 
 Hermann Forster with his stout, black-bearded face turned up 
 as if he were seeing heaven. And you wanted Jimmie to believe 
 that a man like that would carry a baby on a bayonet, or rape 
 a girl and then cut off her hands ! 
 
 Or there was Comrade Meissner, a neighbour of Jimmie's, 
 a friendly little chatter-box of a man who was foreman in charge 
 of a dozen women from as many different races of the earth, 
 packing bottles in the glass-works. The tears would come into 
 Meissner's pale blue eyes when he told how he was made to drive 
 these women, sick, or in the family way, or whatever it might be. 
 And remember, it was an American superintendent and an 
 American owner who gave Meissner his orders not a German! 
 The little man could not quit his job, because he had a brood 
 of children and a wife with something the matter with her no- 
 body could tell what it was, but she took all kinds of patent 
 medicines, which kept the family poor. Sometimes Lizzie Hig- 
 gins would go over to see her, and the two would sit and ex- 
 change ideas about ailments and the prices of food; and mean- 
 time Meissner would come over to where Jimmie was minding 
 the Jimmie babies, and the two would puff their cobs and dis- 
 cuss the disputes between the "politicians" and the "direct ac- 
 Jionists" in the local. And you wanted Jimmie to believe that 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 31 
 
 men like Meissner were standing old Belgian women against the 
 walls of churches and shooting them full of bullets ! 
 
 IV 
 
 But as the weeks passed, the evidence of atrocities began to 
 pile in, and so Jimmie Higgins was driven to a second line of 
 defence. Well, maybe so, but then all the armies were alike. 
 Somebody told Jimmie the saying of a famous general, that war 
 was hell; and Jimmie took to this it was exactly what he 
 wanted to believe ! War was a return to savagery, and the worse 
 it became, the better Jimmie's argument went. He was not 
 interested in men's efforts to improve war, by agreeing that they 
 would kill in this way but not in that way, they would kill this 
 kind of people but not that kind. 
 
 These ideas Jimmie got from his fellow members in the local, 
 and from the Socialist papers which came each week, and from 
 the many speakers he heard. These speakers were men and 
 women of burning sincerity, and with a definite and entirely 
 logical point of view. Whether they talked about war, crime, 
 prostitution, political corruption, or any other social evil, what 
 they wanted was to tear down the old ramshackle structure, and 
 to put in its place something new and intelligent. You might 
 possibly bring them to admit slight differences between capitalist 
 governments ; but when it came to a practical issue, to an action, 
 you found that to these people all governments were alike and 
 never so much alike as in war-time ! 
 
 NOT was there ever such need for Socialist protest! Very 
 quickly it became apparent that it was not going to be an easy 
 matter for America to keep out of this world-vortex. Because 
 American workingmen did not get a living wage, and could not 
 buy what they produced, there was a surplus product which had 
 to be sold abroad; so the business of American manufacturers 
 depended upon foreign markets and here suddenly were all 
 the principal trading nations of the world plunging in to buy 
 all the American products they could, and to keep their enemies 
 from buying any at all ! 
 
 A woman speaker came to Leesville, a shrewd little body with 
 a sharp tongue, who had these disputes figured out, and gave 
 them in a dialogue, as in a play. Kaiser Bill says, "I want cot- 
 ton/' John Bull says, "You shan't have it." Uncle Sam says, 
 
32 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 "But he has a right to have it. Get out of the way, John Bull." 
 But John Bull says, "I will hold up your ships and take them 
 into my ports/' Uncle Sam says, "No, no! Don't do that!" 
 But John Bull does it. And then the Kaiser says, "What sort 
 of a fellow are you, to let John Bull steal your ships ? Are you 
 a coward, or are you secretly a friend of this old villain ?" And 
 Uncle Sam says, "John Bull, give me my German mail, and my 
 German newspapers, at least." But John Bull answers, "You've 
 got a lot of German spies in your country that's why I can't 
 let you have your mail. You can't have German papers because 
 the Kaiser fills them full of lies about me." And the Kaiser 
 says, "If John Bull won't let me have my cotton and my meat 
 and all the rest of it, why don't you stop sending anything to, 
 him ?" He waits a while, and then he says : "If you won't stop 
 sending things to that old villain, I'll sink the ships, that's all." 
 And Uncle Sam cries, "But that's against the law!" "Whose 
 law ?" says the Kaiser. "What sort of a law is it that works only 
 one way?" "But there are Americans on those ships!" cries 
 Uncle Sam. "Well, keep them off the ships!" answers the 
 [Kaiser. "Keep them off till John Bull obeys the law." 
 
 Put in this way, the situation was easy for any Jimmie Hig- 
 gins to understand; and month by month, as the debate con- 
 tinued, Jimmie's own point of view became clearer. He was not 
 interested in sending cotton to England, and still less in send- 
 ing meat. He thought he was lucky if he had a bit of meat 
 twice a week himself, and it was plain enough to him that if the 
 fellows who owned the meat were not allowed to ship it abroad, 
 they might sell it in America at a price that a workingman could 
 pay. Nor was that just greediness on Jimmie's part; he was 
 perfectly willing to go without meat where an ideal was involved 
 look at the time and money and energy he gave to Socialism ! 
 The point was that by sending goods to Europe, you helped to 
 keep up the fighting; whereas, if you quit, the fools must come 
 to their senses. So the Jimmie Higginses worked out their cam- 
 paign-slogan : "Starve the War and Feed America!" 
 
 In the third month of the war, disturbing rumours began to 
 run about Leesville. Old Abel Granitch had taken on a contract 
 with the Belgian government, and the Empire Machine Shops 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE 33 
 
 were going to make shells. Nothing appeared about this in the 
 local papers, but everybody claimed to have first-hand knowledge, 
 and although no two people told the same story, there must be 
 some basis of truth in them all. And then one day, to Jimmie's' 
 consternation, he heard from Lizzie that the agent of the land- 
 lord had called and served notice that they had three days to 
 vacate the premises. Old man Granitch had bought the land, 
 and the Shops were to build out that way. Jimmie could hardly 
 credit his ears, for he was six city blocks from the nearest part 
 of the Shops; but it was true, so every one declared; all that 
 land had been bought up, and half a thousand families, children 
 and old people and sick people, men on their death-beds and 
 women in child-birth all had three days in which to move them- 
 selves to new quarters. 
 
 Let any one imagine the confusion, the babel of tongues, the 
 women on their porches calling to one another, asking and giving 
 advice ! The denunciations and the scoldings and the threats 
 to resort to law ! The raids upon landlords, and how the prices 
 went up! Jimmie hurried off to Comrade Meissner, who had 
 bought a home and was paying instalments on it; Meissner, 
 being a Socialist, did not try to gouge him, but was glad to have 
 help in making his payments. There were no partitions in the 
 garret which Jimmie rented, but they would hang curtains and 
 make out somehow, and Lizzie would use Mrs. Meissner's stove 
 until they could get something fixed upstairs. And then to the 
 corner grocery, to borrow a hand-cart and get started at moving 
 the furniture; for to-morrow everybody would be moving, and 
 you would not be able to get anything on wheels for love or 
 money. Until after midnight Jimmie and Meissner worked at 
 transporting babies and bedding and sauce-pans and chairs and 
 chicken-coops piled on the hand-cart. 
 
 And next morning at the shop, more excitement! It was 
 four years now that Jimmie had been in the employ of old man 
 Granitch, and in all that time he had done but one thing ; stand- 
 ing in a vast room amid a confusion of whirling belts and wheels, 
 a roar and screech and grumble and whir that completely an- 
 nulled one of the five senses. There came in front of him, 
 mechanically propelled, a tray full of small oblong blocks of 
 steel, which he fed, one with each hand, into two places in a 
 machine; the machine took these blocks, and rounded off one 
 end, and ground the rest a little smaller, and put a thread on it, 
 
81 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 and it dropped into a tray on the other side, a bolt. Because 
 Jimmie had to watch the machine, and keep the oil-cups full, 
 his was classed as semi-skilled labour, and was paid nineteen and 
 a half cents an hour. Some time ago an expert had studied the 
 process, and figured that with labour at that price it was one- 
 eighth of a cent per hour cheaper to have the work done by 
 hand than to install a machine to do it; and so for four years 
 Jimmie had his job, standing on one spot from seven to twelve, 
 and again from twelve-thirty to six, and carrying home every 
 Saturday night .the sum of twelve dollars and twenty-nine cents. 
 You might have thought that the huge machine-works would 
 have made it twelve-thirty for good measure; but if so, you do 
 not understand large scale production. 
 
 And now, all of an instant and without warning, Jimmie's 
 precisely ordered and habitual world came to an end. He was 
 at his post when the whistle blew, but the machinery did not 
 move. And presently came the Irish foreman with the curt 
 announcement that the machinery would never move again, at 
 least not on that spot; it was to be cleared out of the way, and 
 new machinery set up, and they were to fall to forthwith with 
 wrenches and hammers and crow-bars to make a new world ! 
 
 So for a week they did; and meantime, every night as he 
 went home, Jimmie saw people's homes being wrecked roofs 
 falling in clouds of dust, and gangs of men loading the debris 
 into huge motor-trucks. Before long they had got acetylene 
 torches, and were working all night gangs of labourers who 
 lived in tents on vacant lots outside the city and kept their 
 canvas cots warm with double shifts of sleepers. Jimmie Hig- 
 gins realised the dreadful truth, that in spite of all the agitation 
 of Socialists, the war had actually come to Leesyille ! 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 
 
 TT was some time before Jimmie understood the nature of the 
 * new machinery he was helping to set up. It was nobody's 
 business to explain, for he was only a pair of hands and a strong 
 back ; he was not supposed to be a brain while as for a soul or ; 
 a conscience, nobody was supposed to be that. Russian agents 
 had come to Leesville with seventeen millions of the money 
 which the Paris bankers had put up; and so over-night whole 
 blocks of homes were swept out of existence, and a huge new 
 steel structure was rising, and on the spot where for four years 
 Jimmie had made certain motions of the hands, they were pre- 
 paring to manufacture new machinery for the quantity produc- 
 tion of shell-casings. 
 
 When Jimmie had definitely learned what was in process, he 
 was brought face to face with a grave moral problem. Could he, 
 as an international Socialist, spend his time making shells to kill 
 his German comrades? Could he spend his time making the 
 machinery to make the shells? Would he take the bribe of old 
 man Granitch, a workingman's share of the hideous loot an. 
 increase of four cents an hour, with the prospect of another four 
 when the works got started? Jimmie had to meet this issue, 
 just when it happened that one of his babies was sick, and he 
 was cudgelling his head to think how he could ever squeeze out 
 of his scanty wage the money to pay the doctor ! 
 
 The answer was easy to Comrade Schneider, the stout and 
 sturdy brewer, who stood up in the local and spoke with bitter 
 scorn of those Socialists who stayed on in the pay of that old 
 hell-devil Granitch. Schneider wanted a strike in the Empire 
 Machine Shops, and he wanted it that very night! But then 
 rose Comrade Mabel Smith, whose brother was a bookkeeper for 
 
 35 
 
36 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 the concern. It was all very well for Schneider to talk, but sup- 
 pose some one were to demand that the brewery-workers should 
 strike and refuse to make beer for munition-workers ? That was 
 a mere quibble, argued Schneider; but the other denied this, 
 declaring that it was an illustration of what the worker was up 
 against, with no control of his own destiny, no voice as to what 
 use should be made of his product. A man might say that he 
 would have nothing to do with munition-work, and go out into 
 the fields as a farmer to raise grain to be shipped to the 
 armies ! The solidarity of capitalist society was such that no- 
 where could a man find work that would not in some way be 
 helping to kill his fellow-workers in other lands. 
 
 Jimmie Higgins talked solemnly to Lizzie of moving to Hub- 
 bardtown tempted thereto by the signs he saw in an agency 
 which had been set up in a vacant store on Main Street. The 
 Hubbard Engine Company was trying to steal old man Gran- 
 itch's workers, and was offering thirty-two cents an hour for 
 semi-skilled labour ! Jimmie made inquiry and learned that the 
 company was extending its plant for gas-engines; for what pur- 
 pose was not told, but men suspected that the engines were to go 
 into motor-boats and be used for the sinking of submarines. So 
 Jimmie decided that Comrade Mabel Smith was right ; he might 
 as well stay where he was. He would take as much money as he 
 could get and use his new-found prosperity to make trouble for 
 the war-profiteers. It was the first time in his life that Jimmie 
 had ever been free from money-fear. He could now get a job 
 anywhere at good wages, and so he did not care a hang what 
 the boss might say. He would talk to his fellow-workers, and 
 explain the war to them : a war of the capitalists at present, but 
 destined perhaps to turn into another kind of war, which the 
 capitalists would not find to their taste ! 
 
 II 
 
 It was wonderful, incredible, the thing which had befallen 
 (teesville. Full of hatred for the system as Jimmie Higgins 
 was, he could not but be thrilled by what he saw. Thousands of 
 men pouring into the once commonplace little city men of a 
 score of races and creeds, men old and young, white and black 
 even a few yellow ones ! It was a boom like San Francisco in 
 ? 49 ; the money which the Paris bankers had paid to the Russian 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 37 
 
 government, and which the Russian government had paid to old 
 man Granitch, spread out in a golden flood over the city. The 
 speculators raised the price of land, the house-owners raised 
 rents, the hotels doubled their prices, and even so, had to put 
 people to bed on pool tables ! Even Tom Callahan of the "Buf- 
 f eteria" had to hire two assistants, and build an extension, and 
 move his kitchen into the back yard. 
 
 At night the hordes of strangers roamed the streets, and 
 Lipsky's "Picture Palace" was packed to the doors, and the "Bon 
 Marche Shoe Store" had a new bankruptcy sale every week, and 
 the swinging doors of the saloons were never still for hours on 
 end. Of course, where so many men were gathered, there came 
 women swarms of women of as many races as the men. Lees- 
 ville had some two score churches, and had kept hitherto a care- 
 ful pretence of decency; but now all barriers went down, the 
 police-force of the city was overwhelmed by the new population 
 or was it by the golden flood from Paris by way of Russia ? Any- 
 way* you saw sights on Main Street which confirmed your dis- 
 trust of war. 
 
 Never had there been such an opportunity for Socialist prop- 
 aganda! All these hordes of men, collected from the ends of 
 the earth, torn loose from home ties, from religion, from old 
 habits of every sort, thrown together promiscuously, living in 
 any old way, ready for any old thing that might come along ! In 
 former days these men had taken what was handed out to them 
 by their newspaper editors and preachers and politicians; they 
 had engaged in commonplace and respectable activities, had 
 lived tame and unadventurous lives. But now they were making 
 munitions ; and you might say what you pleased, but there was 
 a certain psychological condition incidental to the making of 
 munitions. An employer could look pious and talk about law 
 and order, so long as he was setting his men to hoeing weeds or 
 shingling roofs or grading track ; but what could he say to his 
 men when he was making shells to be used in blowing men to 
 pieces ? 
 
 So came the Socialist and the Anarchist and the Syndicalist 
 and the Industrial Unionist. Look at these masters, look at this 
 civilisation they have produced! In the world's oldest centres 
 of culture ten or twenty millions of wage-slaves have been hurled 
 together and then the Socialist or Anarchist or Syndicalist or 
 Industrial Unionist would describe in detail the bloody and 
 
38 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 bestial operations which these ten or twenty millions of men were 
 performing. And each day's papers would bring fresh details 
 for them to cite famine and pestilence, fire and slaughter, 
 poison gas, incendiary bombs, torpedoed passenger-ships. Look 
 at these pious hypocrites, the masters, with their refinement, 
 their culture, their religion ! These are the people you are asked 
 to follow, it is for such as these that you have been chained to 
 the machines all these weary, toil-crowded years ! 
 
 in 
 
 On every street corner, in every meeting-room, in every spot 
 where the workers gathered at the noon hour, you would hear 
 such arguments; and you would find men listening to them > 
 men who perhaps had never listened to such arguments before. 
 They would nod, and their faces would become grim yes, the 
 people up on top must be a rotten lot ! Here in America, sup- 
 posed to be a land of liberty and all that here they were just 
 the same, they were crowding to the trough to drink the blood 
 that was poured out in Europe. Of course, they covered their 
 greed with a camouflage of sympathy for the Allies; but did 
 anybody believe that old man Granitch loved the Eussian gov- 
 ernment? Certainly nobody in Leesville did; they knew that 
 he was "getting his/' and their hearts hardened with a grim 
 resolve to "get theirs." 
 
 At first they thought they were succeeding. Wages went up, 
 almost for the asking; never did the unskilled man have so much 
 money in his pocket, while the man who could pretend to any 
 skill at all found himself in the plutocratic class. But quickly 
 men discovered the worm in this luscious war-fruit; prices were 
 going up almost as fast as wages in some places even faster. 
 The sums you had to pay to the landlord surpassed belief; a 
 single workingman would be asked two or three dollars a week 
 for twelve hours' use of a mattress and blanket, which in the 
 old days he might have got for fifty cents. Food was scarce and 
 of poor quality; before long you found yourself being asked to 
 pay six cents for a hunk of pie or a cup of coffee and then seven 
 cents, and then ten. If you kicked, the proprietor would tell 
 you a long tale about what he had to pay for rent and labour 
 and supplies ; and you could not deny that he was probably right. 
 About the only thing that did not go up was a postage-stamp; 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 39 
 
 and the Socialist would point to this and explain that the Post 
 Office was run by Uncle Sam, instead of by Abel Granitch ! 
 
 Every rise in price was a fresh stick of fuel for the Socialist 
 machine, and gave new power to their propaganda of "Starve 
 the War and Feed America!" The Socialist saw millions of 
 tons of goods being loaded onto steamships and sent to Europe 
 to be destroyed in war; he saw the workers of Europe becoming 
 enslaved by a bonded debt to a class of parasites in America, he 
 saw America being drawn closer and closer to the abyss of the 
 strife. The Socialist loved no part of this process. He clamoured 
 for an embargo not merely on munitions, but on food and 
 everything, until the war-lords of Europe came to their senses. 
 He urged the workers to strike, and thus force the politicians to 
 declare the embargo. 
 
 Especially, of course, he urged this if he were a German or 
 an Austrian, a Hungarian or a Bohemian. The latter were sub- 
 ject races, but they could not in these early days see beyond the 
 fact that their fathers and brothers and cousins were being 
 killed by the shells that were made in the Empire Machine 
 Shops. With them stood also the Jews, who hated the Russian 
 government so bitterly that nothing else mattered; also the 
 Irish, whose first idea in life was to pay back John Bull for his 
 sins of several centuries, and whose second idea was to take part 
 in any sort of shivaree that was going. It was quite bewilder- 
 ing to Jimmie Higgins ; he had wrestled with Catholics of sev- 
 eral nations and got nothing but hard words for his pains, but 
 now all of a sudden Tom Callahan of the "Buffeteria" and Pat 
 Grogan of the grocery on the corner made the discovery that 
 maybe he was not such a fool after all ! 
 
 IV 
 
 As a result of this ferment among the workers, the local had 
 doubled its membership, and was holding soap-box meetings on 
 a corner off Main Street on two evenings every week. The plans 
 for the weekly paper, however, still hung fire. Comrade Dr. 
 Service had lost his two brothers-in-law one in the battle of 
 Mons, and the other in the first frightful gas-attack at Ypres, 
 where whole regiments of men were caught unprepared, and died 
 in awful torments. Also two of his wife's cousins had paid the 
 price one was blind, and the other a prisoner at Ruhleben, the 
 
40 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 worst fate of all. So Dr. Service made one last indignant speech 
 in the local, and took his five hundred dollars to start a chapter 
 of the Red Cross! 
 
 But now the Germans and the war-haters in the local were 
 asking themselves, was Socialism to languish in the city of the 
 Empire Machine Shops, just because one rich man with an Eng- 
 lish wife had proved a renegade? Such a question answered 
 itself! The work of collecting subscription lists was taken up 
 more vigorously than ever; and already more than half the lost 
 five hundred had been made up, when one evening John Meissner 
 came home with a most amazing story. 
 
 It was his custom to stop at SandkuhPs for one glass of beer 
 on his way home in the evening ; and when anybody in the saloon 
 got to arguing about the war, he would take his chance to put in 
 a little propaganda. This time he had made a regular speech, 
 declaring that the workers would soon put an end to the muni- 
 tion-business ; and a fellow had got to talking with him, asking 
 him all sorts of questions about himself, and about the local. 
 How many members did it have? How many of them felt as 
 Meissner did? What were they doing about it? Pretty soon 
 the man had drawn Meissner to a table in the back part of the 
 place, asking about the proposed paper, and what its policy was 
 to be ; also about the unions in the city, and their policy, and the 
 personalities of the leaders. 
 
 The man had said he was a Socialist, but Meissner did not 
 believe him. Meissner thought he must be some kind of union 
 organiser. There had been talk of various unions making an 
 effort to break into the domain of old man Granitch; and, of 
 course, there was always the I. W. W. trying to break in every- 
 where with its programme of the "one big union." 
 
 Meissner went on to tell how this mysterious stranger had 
 stated to him that it would be possible to get plenty of money to 
 back the proposition of a strike in the Empire Shops. The new 
 plant was just ready to start up, and fresh swarms of men were 
 coming in ; what was wanted was some live fellows to get in with 
 them and root for an eight hour day and a minimum wage scale 
 of sixty cents an hour. Men who were willing to do that could 
 get good money, and plenty of it; if the Leesville "Worker" 
 would advocate such a policy, there was no reason why it should 
 not start up the very next week, and publish a big edition and 
 flood the town. The one essential was that arrangements should 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 41 
 
 be made secretly. Meissner must trust no one save dyed-in-the- 
 wool "reds," who would be willing to hustle, and not say where 
 the pay came from. As earnest of his intentions, the stranger 
 pulled out a roll of bills, and casually drew off half a dozen and 
 slipped them into Meissner's hands. They were for ten dollars 
 each more money than a petty boss at the glass-works had ever 
 got into his hands at one time in all his life ! 
 
 Meissner exhibited the roll, and Jimmie stared with wide- 
 open eyes. Here indeed was a new development of the war 
 ten dollar bills for Socialist propaganda to be picked up in the 
 back rooms of saloons ! What was this fellow's name ? And 
 where did he hang out? Meissner offered to take Jimmie to 
 meet him, and so the two bolted their suppers and set out at 
 top speed. 
 
 Jerry Coleman had mentioned several saloons where he 
 was known, and in one of these they found him, a smooth- 
 faced, smooth-spoken young fellow whom Jimmie would have 
 taken for a detective or "spotter" having had dealings with 
 such in his days "on the road." The man wore good clothes, 
 and his finger-nails were cared for, something which, as we 
 know, is seldom permitted to workingmen. But he did not put 
 on airs, and he bade them call him by his first name. He talked 
 to Jimmie a while, enough to make sure of his man, and then 
 he peeled off some more bills, and told Jimmie to find more 
 fellows who could be trusted. It wouldn't do for any one person 
 to have too much money, for that would excite suspicion; but 
 if they would go to work and spend that much for dodgers to 
 be distributed among the munition-workers, and for street- 
 meetings, and for the proposed radical paper well, there was 
 plenty more money in the place where this had come from. 
 
 Where was that place? Jimmie asked; and Jerry Coleman 
 looked wise and winked. Then, after further consideration, he 
 decided it might be well to tell them, provided they would pledge 
 themselves not to mention it to others without his permission. 
 This pledge they gave, and Jerry stated that he was a national 
 organiser for the American Federation of Labour, which had 
 resolved to unionise these munition-plants, and to establish the 
 eight hour day. But it was of the utmost importance that 
 
42 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the bosses should not get wind of the matter; -it must not be 
 revealed to any one save those whom Coleman saw fit to trust. 
 He was trusting Jimmie and Meissner, and they might know 
 that the great labour organisation was behind them, and would 
 see them through, regardless of expense. Of course, it would 
 be expected that they would use the money honestly. 
 
 "Gee I" exclaimed Jimmie. "What do you take us for ? A 
 bunch of crooks?" 
 
 No, said the other, he was not such a poor judge of character. 
 And Jimmie remarked grimly that anybody who was looking 
 for easy money did not go into the business of Socialist agita- 
 tion. If there was anything a Socialist could boast of, it was 
 that their workers and elected officials never touched any graft. 
 Mr. Coleman that is, Jerry would be handed a receipt for 
 every dollar they spent. 
 
 It chanced that that same night there was a meeting of the 
 Propaganda Committee of the local, which consisted of half 
 a dozen of the most active members. Jimmie and Meissner 
 hurried to this place, with their new-found wealth burning a 
 hole in their pockets. They informed the committee that they 
 had been collecting money for the propaganda fund, and pro- 
 duced before the eyes of the astounded comrades the sum of one 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 It happened that the chairman of the committee had just 
 received from the National Office of the party in Chicago a 
 sample of a new leaflet entitled "Feed America First"; this 
 leaflet "could be had in quantities for a very low price, a dol- 
 lar or two per thousand; as a result of Jimmie's contribution, 
 a telegram was sent for ten thousand of the leaflets to be shipped 
 by express. And then there was a proposition from the state 
 office, for Comrade Seaman, author of a book against war, to 
 speak every night for two weeks in Leesville. The local had 
 voted to turn down this proposition for lack of funds ; but now, 
 with the new contributions, the propaganda committee felt equal 
 to the fifty dollars involved. And then there was the idea of 
 Comrade Gerrity, the organiser, who was conducting street 
 meetings every Wednesday and Saturday nights; if he could 
 have an assistant, at fifteen a week, the soap-boxing could go 
 on every night. John Meissner here put in he was sure that 
 contributions could be got for that purpose, provided the decision 
 was made without delay. So the decision was made. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH 43 
 
 VI 
 
 The meeting was adjourned, and then Meissner and Jimmie 
 went into conference with Gerrity, the organiser, and Schneider, 
 the brewer, and Comrade Mary Allen, all three of whom hap- 
 pened to be on the committee entrusted with the affairs of the 
 "Worker." Jimmie explained that they had met a union or- 
 ganiser they could not tell about him, but the committee would 
 have a chance to meet him who would put up the balance of 
 the money needed, provided that the paper would be willing to 
 call at once for a strike of the Empire employes. Could that 
 promise be made ? And Comrade Mary Allen laughed, indicat- 
 ing her scorn for anybody who could cherish a doubt on that 
 question ! Comrade Mary was a Quaker ; she loved all mankind 
 with religious fervour and it is astonishing how bitter people 
 can become in the cause of universal love. Her sharp, pale face 
 flushed, and her thin lips set, as she answered that the "Worker" 
 would most surely fight the war-profiteers, so long as she was 
 on the managing committee! 
 
 It was finally decided that Comrade Mary should call on 
 Jerry Coleman in the morning, and satisfy herself that he really 
 meant business; if so, she would get the full committee to- 
 gether on the following evening. The committee had authority 
 to go ahead, as soon as the necessary fund was made up, so if 
 Coleman was, all right, there was no reason why the first issue 
 of the paper should not appear next week. Comrade Jack 
 Smith, a reporter on the "Herald," the capitalist paper of Lees- 
 ville, was to resign and become editor of the "Worker," and he 
 already had his editorials written had been showing them about 
 in the local for the past month ! 
 
 Jimmie and Meissner set out for home, happy in the feeling 
 that they had accomplished more for Socialism on that one night 
 than in all the rest of their lives. But then, as they walked, 
 there came suddenly a clamour of bells on the night air ; a fire ! 
 They knew the signals, and counted the strokes, and made the 
 discovery that it was in the neighbourhood of their own home ! 
 An engine went by on the gallop, with sparks streaming out 
 behind, and they broke into a run. Before they had gone a 
 couple of blocks, they saw a glare in the sky, and their hearts 
 were in their throats ; poor Meissner panted that he had neglected 
 to pay his last month's insurance ! 
 
44 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 But as they ran, in the ever-growing throng of people, they 
 realised that the fire was too near for their own home; also, 
 it was a bigger blaze than could have been made by any number 
 of shacks. And presently there were shouts in the crowd, "It's 
 the Empire ! The Old Shops !" There came a hook and ladder 
 truck, rushing by with shrieking siren, and then the fire-chief 
 in his automobile with a fiercely clanging bell; they turned the 
 corner, and far down the street before them was the building 
 in which for four years Jimmie had tended the bolt-making 
 machine. They saw that one whole end of it was a towering,, 
 leaping, sweeping pillar of flames ! 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JIMMIB HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS regarded with the utmost resentment the 
 determination of the war to come to Leesville, in spite of 
 all his labours to keep it out. Take the most preposterous thing 
 you could imagine the most idiotic thing on the face of the 
 earth take German spies ! When Jimmie heard people talking 
 about German spies, he laughed in their faces, he told them 
 they were a bunch of boobs, they belonged in the nursery; for 
 Jimmie classed German spies with goblins, witches and sea- 
 serpents. And here suddenly the bewildered little man found 
 himself in the midst of a German spy mania, the like of which 
 he could never have dreamed ! 
 
 Everybody seemed to take it for granted that the Empire 
 Machine Shops had been burned by German agents ;. they just 
 knew it, and by the time the fire was out they had a hundred 
 various stories to support their conviction. The fire had leaped 
 from place to place in a series of explosions ; the watchman, who 
 had passed through the building only two minutes before, had 
 rushed back and seen blazing gasoline, and had almost lost his 
 life in the sweep of the flames. And next morning the Lees- 
 ville "Herald" was out with letters half a foot high, telling these 
 tales and insisting that the plant had been full of German agents, 
 disguised as workingmen. 
 
 Before the day was by the police had arrested a dozen per- 
 fectly harmless German and Austrian labourers; at least that 
 was the way it seemed to Jimmie, because of the fact that two 
 of the men were members of the Socialist local. Somebody told 
 Mrs. Meissner that all the Germans in Leesville were to be 
 arrested, and the poor woman was trembling with terror. She 
 wanted her husband to run away, but Jimmie persuaded them 
 that this would be the worst possible course; so Meissner stayed 
 
 45 
 
46 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 in the house, and Jimmie kept his mouth shut for three whole 
 days an extraordinary feat for him, and a trial more severe 
 than being in jail. 
 
 He had lost his job forever, he thought. But in this again 
 he misjudged the forces which had taken his life in their grip 
 the power of the gold which had come to Leesville by way of 
 Kussia. The day after the fire he received word to report for 
 work again ; old man Granitch was so anxious to keep his work- 
 ers out of the clutches of the Hubbard Engine Company that 
 he put them all, skilled and unskilled, at the job of clearing 
 away the debris of the fire ! And five days later came the first 
 carloads of new material, brought on motor-trucks, and the 
 rebuilding of the Empire Shops began. Would you believe it 
 some of the machinery which had not been damaged too much 
 in the fire was fixed up, and at the end of a couple of weeks 
 was starting up again, covered by a temporary canvas shelter, 
 and with the walls of the new building rising round it. 
 
 That was the kind of thing which made America the marvel 
 of the world. It had made old man Granitch young again, peo- 
 ple said ; he worked twenty hours a day in his shirt-sleeves, and 
 the increase in his profanity was appalling. Even Lacey 
 Granitch, his dashing son, quitted the bright lights of Broad- 
 way and came home to help the old man keep his contracts. 
 The enthusiasm for these contracts became as it were the re- 
 ligion of Leesville ; it spread even to the ranks of labour, so that 
 Jimmie found himself like a man in a surf, struggling to keep 
 his feet against an undertow. 
 
 n 
 
 The plans for the "Worker" were delayed, for the reason 
 that when Comrade Mary Allen, the Quaker, went to look for 
 Jerry Coleman the day after the fire, that dispenser of ten dollar 
 bills had mysteriously disappeared. It was a week before he 
 showed up again; and meantime fresh events had taken place, 
 both in the local and outside. To begin with the latter, as 
 presumably the more important : an English passenger liner, the 
 pride of the Atlantic fleet, loaded to the last cabin with Ameri- 
 can millionaires, was torpedoed without warning by a German 
 submarine. More than a thousand men, women and children 
 went down, and the deed sent a shudder of horror through the 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 47 
 
 civilised world. At the meeting of Local Leesville, which hap- 
 pened to take place the evening afterward, it proved a difficult 
 matter to get business started. 
 
 The members stood about and argued. What could you say 
 about a government that ordered a crime like that ? What could 
 you say about a naval officer who would carry out such an order ? 
 Thus Comrade Norwood, the young lawyer; and Schneider, the 
 brewer, answered that the German government had done every- 
 thing that any reasonable man could ask. It had published a 
 notice in the New York papers, to the effect that the vessel was 
 subject to attack, and that any one who travelled on her would 
 do so at his peril. If women and children would ride on muni- 
 tion-ships 
 
 "Munition-ships?" cried Norwood; and then Schneider 
 pointed to a news-despatch, to the effect that the Lusitania had 
 had on board a shipment of cartridge-cases. 
 
 "A fine lot of munitions I" jeered the lawyer. 
 Well, was the reply, what were cartridge-cases for, if not to 
 kill Germans? The Germans had been attacked by the whole 
 world, and they had to defend themselves. When you looked 
 at Comrade Schneider, you saw a man who felt himself attacked 
 by the whole world ; his face was red up to the roots of his hair, 
 and he was ready to defend himself with any weapon he could 
 get hold of. 
 
 Comrade Koeln, a big glass-blower, broke into the discus- 
 sion. The German government was authority for the statement 
 that the Lusitania had been armed with guns. And when 
 Norwood hooted at this, every German in the room was up 
 in arms. What did he have to disprove it? The word of the 
 British government ! Was not "perfidious Albion" a bye-word ! 
 
 "The thing that beats me," declared the young lawyer, "is 
 the way you Germans stand up for the Kaiser now, when before 
 the war you couldn't find enough bad things to say about him." 
 
 "What beats me," countered Schneider, "is how you Ameri- 
 cans stand up for King George. Every newspaper in Wall 
 Street howling for America to go into the war yust because 
 some millionaires got killed !" 
 
 "You don't seem to realise that the greater number of the 
 men who lost their lives on that ship were workingmen !" 
 
 "Ho! Ho!" hooted Comrade Stankewitz. "Vail Street 
 loves so the vorkingmen !" 
 
48 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Comrade Mary Allen, who loved all men, took up the argu- 
 ment. If those workingmen had been killed in a mine disaster, 
 caused by criminal carelessness and greed for profits; if they 
 had died of some industrial disease which might easily have been 
 prevented; if they had been burned in a factory without fire- 
 escapes nobody in Wall Street would have wanted to go to war. 
 And, of course, every Socialist considered this was true; every 
 Socialist saw quite clearly that the enormity of the Lusitama 
 sinking lay in the fact that it had reached and injured the privi- 
 leged people, the people who counted, who got their names in 
 the papers and were not supposed to be inconvenienced, even by 
 war. So it was possible for Jimmie Higgins, even though 
 shocked by what the Germans had done, to be irritated by the 
 fuss which the Wall Street newspapers made. 
 
 Young Emil Forster spoke, and they listened to him, as they 
 always did. It was a quarrel, he said and as usual in quarrels, 
 both sides had their rights and wrongs. You had to balance a 
 few English and American babies against the millions of Ger- 
 man babies which the British government intended to starve. 
 It was British sea-power maintaining itself and of course con- 
 trolling most of the channels of publicity. It appealed to what 
 it called "law" that is to say, the customs it had found con- 
 renient in the past. British cruisers were able to visit and search 
 vessels, and to take off their crews; but submarines could not 
 do that, so what the British clamour about 'law" amounted to 
 was an attempt to keep Germany from using her only weapon. 
 After all, ask yourself honestly if it was any worse to drown peo- 
 ple quickly than to starve them slowly. 
 
 And then came "Wild Bill." This wrangling over German 
 and British gave him a pain in the guts. Couldn't they see, 
 the big stiffs, that they were playing the masters' game ? Quar- 
 relling among themselves, when they ought to be waking up 
 the workers, getting ready for the real fight. And wizened-up 
 little Stankewitz broke in again that vas vy he hated var, it 
 divided the vorkers. There vas nothing you could say for 
 var. But "Wild Bill" smiled his crooked smile. There were 
 several things you could say. War gave the workers guns, and 
 taught them to use them; how would it be if some day they 
 turned these guns about and fought their own battles? 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 49 
 
 in 
 
 Comrade Gerrity now took the chair and made an effort to 
 get things started. The minutes of the last meeting were read, 
 new members were voted on, and then Comrade Mary Allen rose 
 to report for the "Worker" committee. The fund had been com- 
 pleted, the first number of the paper was to appear next week, 
 and it was now up to every member of the local to get up on 
 his toes and hustle as never in his life before. Comrade Mary, 
 with her thin, eager face of a religious zealot, made every one 
 share her fervour. 
 
 All save Lawyer Norwood. Since the retirement of Dr. 
 Service he was the chief pro-ally trouble-maker, and he now 
 made a little speech. He had been agreeably surprised to learn 
 that the money had been raised so quickly ; but then certain un- 
 comfortable doubts having occurred to him, he had made in- 
 quiries and found there was some mystery about the matter. It 
 was stated that the new paper was to demand a general strike 
 in the Empire ; and of course everybody knew there were power- 
 ful and sinister forces now interested in promoting strikes in 
 munition-factories. 
 
 "Wild Bill" was on his feet in an instant. Had the com- 
 rade any objection to munition-workers demanding the eight 
 hour day? 
 
 "No," said Norward, "of course not ; but if we are going into 
 a fight with other people, we surely ought to know who they 
 are and what their purpose is. I have been informed there 
 seems to be a little hesitation in talking about it that a lot of 
 money has been put up by one man, and nobody knows who 
 that man is." 
 
 "He's an organiser for the A. P. of L. !" The voice was 
 Jimmie's. In his excitement the solemn pledge of secrecy was 
 entirely forgotten ! 
 
 "Indeed!" said Norward. "What is his name?" 
 
 Nobody answered. 
 
 "Has he shown his credentials?" Again silence. 
 
 "Of course I don't need to tell men as familiar with union 
 affairs as the comrades here that every bona-fide organiser for 
 a union carries credentials. If he does not produce them, it is 
 at least occasion for writing to the organisation and finding out 
 about him. Has anybody done that?" 
 
50 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Again there was silence. 
 
 "I don't want to make charges," said Norwood 
 
 "Oh, no !" put in "Wild Bill." "You only want to make 
 insinuations !" 
 
 "What I want to do is merely to make sure that the local 
 knows what it is doing. It is no secret anywhere in Leesville 
 that money is being spent to cause trouble in the Empire. No 
 doubt this money has passed through a great many hands since 
 it left the Kaiser's, but we may be sure that his hands are guid- 
 ing it to its final end/' 
 
 And then what an uproar ! "Shame ! Shame !" cried some ; 
 and others cried, "Bring your proofs!" The "wild" members 
 shouted, "Put him out !" They had long wanted to get rid of 
 Norwood, and this looked to be their chance. 
 
 But the young lawyer stood his ground and gave them shot 
 for shot. They wanted proofs, did they? Suppose they had 
 learned of a capitalist conspiracy to wreck the unions in the 
 city ; and suppose that the Leesville "Herald" had been clamour- 
 ing for "proofs" what would they have thought? 
 
 "In other words," shouted Schneider, "you know it's true, 
 yust because it's Yermany !" 
 
 "I know it's true," said Norwood, "because it would help 
 Germany to win the war. One doesn't have to have any other 
 evidence if a certain thing will help Germany to win the war, 
 one knows that thing is being done. All you Germans know 
 that, and what's more, you're proud of it; it's your efficiency, 
 that you boast." 
 
 Again there was a cry of "Shame! Shame!" But the cry 
 came from Comrade Mary, the Quaker lady, and it was evident 
 that she had expected a chorus, and was disconcerted at being 
 alone. 
 
 Young Norwood, who knew his Germans, laughed scornfully. 
 " Just now your government is selling bonds in America, sup- 
 posed to be for the benefit of the families of the dead and 
 wounded. Some of those bonds have been taken in this city, 
 as I happen to know. Does anybody really believe the money 
 will reach the families of the dead and wounded ?" 
 
 This time the Germans answered. "I belief it!" roared 
 Comrade Koeln. "And I ! And I !" shouted others. 
 
 "That money is staying right here in Leesville !" proclaimed 
 the lawyer. "It is preparing a strike in the Empire!" 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 51 
 
 A dozen men wanted the floor at once. Schneider, the 
 brewer, got it, for the reason that he could outbellow any one 
 else. "What does the comrade want?" he demanded. "Is he 
 not for the eight hour day?" 
 
 "Has he got any of old man Granitch's money?" shrilled 
 "Wild Bill." "Or maybe he doesn't know that Granitch is 
 spending money to get smart young lawyers to help keep his 
 munition-slaves at work ?" 
 
 IV 
 
 Norwood, having thrown the fat into the fire, sat down for 
 a while and let it blaze. When the Germans taunted him with 
 being afraid to say what he really meant that the local should 
 oppose the demand for the eight hour day he merely laughed 
 at them. He had wanted to make them show themselves up, and 
 he had done it. Not merely were they willing to do the work 
 of the Kaiser they were willing to take the Kaiser's pay for 
 doing it! 
 
 "Take his pay?" cried "Wild Bill." "I'd take the devil's 
 pay to carry on Socialist propaganda !" 
 
 Old Hermann Forster rose and spoke, in his gentle, senti- 
 mental voice. If it were true that the Kaiser was paying money 
 for such ends, he would surely find he had bought very little. 
 There were Socialists in Germany, one must remember 
 
 And then came a shrill laugh. Those tame German Social- 
 ists ! It was Comrade Claudel, a Belgian jeweller, who spoke. 
 Would any rabbit be afraid of such revolutionists as them ? Eat- 
 ing out of the Kaiser's hand having their papers distributed 
 in the trenches for government propaganda ! Talk to a Belgian 
 about German Socialists ! 
 
 So you saw the European national lines splitting Local 
 Leesville in two : on the one side the Germans and the Austrians, 
 the Eussian Jews, the Irish and the religious pacifists; on the 
 other side two English glass-blowers, a French waiter, and sev- 
 eral Americans who, because of college-education or other snob- 
 bish weakness, were suspected of tenderness for John Bull. Be- 
 tween these extreme factions stood the bulk of the membership,, 
 listening bewildered, trying to grope their way through the 
 labyrinth. 
 
 It was no easy job for these plain fellows, the Jimmie Hig- 
 
52 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 genses. When they tried to think the matter out, they were 
 almost brought to despair. There were so many sides to the 
 question the last fellow you met always had a better argument 
 than any one you had heard before! You sympathised with 
 Belgium and Prance, of course; but could you help hating the 
 British ruling classes? They were your hereditary enemies 
 your school-book enemies, so to speak. And they were the ones 
 you knew most about; since every American jack-ass that got 
 rich quick and wanted to set himself up above his fellows would 
 proceed to get English clothes and English servants and Eng- 
 lish bad manners. To the average plain American, the word 
 English stood for privilege, for ruling class culture, the things 
 established, the things against which he was in rebellion; Ger- 
 many was the I. W. W. among the nations the fellow who had 
 never got a chance and was now hitting out for it. Moreover, 
 the Germans were efficient; they took the trouble to put their 
 case before you, they cared what you thought about them; 
 whereas the Englishman, damn him, turned up his snobbish 
 nose, not caring a whoop what you or anybody might think. 
 
 Moreover, in this controversy the force of inertia was on the 
 German side, and inertia is a powerful force in any organisa- 
 tion. What the Germans wanted of American Socialists was 
 simply that they should go on doing what they had been doing 
 all their lives. And the Socialist machine had been set up 
 for the purpose of going on, regardless of all the powers on 
 earth, in the heavens above the earth, or in hell beneath. Ask 
 Jimmie Higgins to stop demanding higher wages and the eight 
 hour day! Wouldn't anybody in his senses know what Jimmie 
 would answer to that proposition ? Go chase yourself ! 
 
 But, on the other hand, it must be admitted that Jimmie was 
 staggered by the idea that he might be getting into the pay 
 of the Kaiser. It was true that the traditions of the Socialist 
 movement were German traditions, but they were German anti- 
 Government traditions: Jimmie regarded the Kaiser as the 
 devil incarnate, and the bare idea of doing anything the Kaiser 
 wanted done was enough to make him stop short. He could 
 see also what a bad thing it would be for the movement to 
 have any person believe that it was taking the Kaiser's money. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 53 
 
 Suppose, for example, that a report of this evening's discussion 
 should reach the "Herald" ! And with the public inflamed to 
 madness over the Lusitama affair ! 
 
 After the discussion had proceeded for an hour or so, Nor- 
 wood made a motion to the effect that the "Worker" committee 
 should be instructed to investigate thoroughly the sources of 
 all funds contributed,, and to reject any that did not come from 
 Socialists, or those in sympathy with Socialism. The common- 
 sense of the meeting asserted itself, and even the Germans voted 
 for this motion. Sure, let them go ahead and investigate ! The 
 Socialist movement was clean, it had always been clean, it had 
 nothing to conceal from anyone. 
 
 But then came another controversy. Claudel moved that 
 Norwood should be made a member of the committee; and 
 this, of course, was bitterly opposed by the radicals. It was 
 an insult to the integrity of the committee. Then, too, sug- 
 gested Baggs, an Englishman, perhaps Norwood might really 
 find out something! The Jimmie Higginses voted down the 
 motion not because they feared any disclosures, but because 
 they felt that a quiet, sensible fellow like Gerrity, their organ- 
 iser, might be trusted to protect the good faith of the movement, 
 and without antagonising anybody or making a fuss. 
 
 The investigation took place, and the result of it was that 
 the money which Jerry Coleman had contributed for the 
 "Worker" was quietly returned to him. But the difference was 
 at once made up by the Germans in the local, who regarded the 
 whole thing as a put-up job, an effort to block the agitation for 
 a strike. These comrades took no stock whatever in the talk 
 about "German gold"; but on the other hand they were keenly 
 on the alert for the influence of Russian gold, which they knew 
 was being openly distributed by old Abel Granitch. And so they 
 put their hands down into their pockets and dug out their 
 scanty wages, so that the demand for social justice might be 
 kept alive in Leesville. 
 
 The upshot of the whole episode was that the local rejected 
 the Kaiser's pay, but went on doing what the Kaiser wanted 
 without pay. This could hardly be considered a satisfactory 
 solution, but it was the best that Jimmie Higgins was able 
 to work out at this time. 
 
54 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 The first issue of the "Worker" appeared, with Jack Smith's 
 editorial spread over the front page, calling upon the workers 
 of the Empire to take this occasion to organise and demand 
 their rights. "Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, 
 eight hours for play!" proclaimed Comrade Jack; and the 
 "Herald" and the "Courier," stung to a frenzy by the appear- 
 ance of a poacher on their journalistic preserves, answered with 
 broadsides about "German propaganda." The "Herald" got the 
 story of what had happened in the local; also it printed a pic- 
 ture of "Wild Bill," and an interview with that terror of the 
 West, who declared that he was for war on the capitalist class 
 with the aid of any and every ally that came along even to 
 the extent of emery powder in ball-bearings and copper nails 
 driven into fruit trees. 
 
 The "Herald" charged that the attitude of the Socialists 
 toward "tainted wealth" was all a sham. What had happened 
 was simply that the German members of the local were getting 
 German money, and making it "Socialist money" by the simple 
 device of passing it through their consecrated hands. As this 
 had been hinted by Norwood in the local, the German comrades 
 now charged that Norwood had betrayed the movement to the 
 capitalist press. And so came another bitter controversy in 
 the local. The young lawyer laughed at the charge. Did they 
 really believe they could take German money in Leesville, and 
 not have the fact become known ? 
 
 "Then you think we are taking German money?" roared 
 Schneider; and he clamoured furiously for an answer. The 
 other would not answer directly, but he told them a little parable. 
 He saw a tree, sending down its roots into the ground, spreading 
 everywhere, each tiny rootlet constructed for the purpose of 
 absorbing water. And on the top of the ground was a man with 
 a supply of water, which he poured out ; he poured and poured 
 without stint, and the water seeped down toward the rootlets, 
 and every rootlet was reaching for water, pushing toward the 
 places where water was likely to be. "And now," said Nor- 
 wood, "you ask me do I believe that tree has been getting any 
 of that water?" 
 
 And here, of course, was the basis of a bitter quarrel. The 
 hot-heads would not listen to subtle distinctions; they declared 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER 55 
 
 that Norwood was accusing the movement of corruption, he was 
 making out his anti-war opponents to be villains ! He was pro- 
 viding the capitalist press with ammunition. For shame! for 
 shame! "He's a stool-pigeon!" shrieked "Wild Bill." "Put 
 him out, the Judas !" 
 
 The average member of the local, the perfectly sincere fel- 
 low like Jimmie Higgins, who was wearing himself out, half 
 starving himself, in the effort to bring enlightenment to his 
 class, listened to these controversies with bewildered distress. 
 He saw them as echoes of the terrible national hatreds which 
 were rending Europe, and he resented having these old world 
 disputes thrust into American industrial life. Why could he 
 not go on with his duty of leading the American workers into 
 the co-operative commonwealth? 
 
 Because, answered the Germans, old man Granitch wanted 
 to keep the American workers as munition-slaves; and to this 
 idea the overwhelming percentage of the membership agreed. 
 They were not pacifists, non-resistants ; they were perfectly will- 
 ing to fight the battles of the working-class ; what they objected 
 to was having to fight the battles of the master-class. They 
 wanted to go on, as they had always gone, opposing the master- 
 class and paying no heed to talk about German agents. Jimmie 
 Higgins believed and in this belief he was perfectly correct 
 that even had there been no German agents, the capitalist papers 
 of Leesville would have invented them, as a means of discredit- 
 ing the agitators in this crisis. Jimmie Higgins had lived all his 
 life in a country in which his masters starved and oppressed him, 
 and when he tried to help himself, met him with every weapon 
 of treachery and slander. So Jimmie had made up his mind 
 that one capitalist country was the same as another capitalist 
 country, and that he would not be frightened into submission 
 by tales about goblins and witches and sea-serpents and German 
 spies. 
 
CHAPTEE VI 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 
 
 1C 1 VERY evening now the party held its "soap-box" meetings 
 ^ on a corner just off Main Street. Jimmie, having volun- 
 teered as one of the assistants, would bolt his supper in the 
 evening and hurry off to the spot. He was not one of the 
 speakers, of course he would have been terrified at the idea 
 of making a speech; but he was one of those whose labours 
 made the speaking possible, and who reaped the harvest for 
 the movement. 
 
 The apparatus of the meeting was kept in the shop of a 
 friendly carpenter nearby. The carpenter had made a "soap- 
 box" that was a wonder a platform mounted upon four slender 
 legs, detachable, so that one man could carry the whole business 
 and set it up. Thus the speaker was lifted a couple of feet 
 above the heads of the crowd, and provided with a hand-rail upon 
 which he might lean, and even pound, if He did not pound too 
 hard. A kerosene torch burned some distance from his head, 
 illuminating his features, and it was Jimmie's business to see that 
 this torch was properly cleaned and filled, and to hold it erect on 
 a pole part of the time. The rest of the time he peddled litera- 
 ture among the crowd copies of the Leesville "Worker," and 
 five and ten cent pamphlets supplied by the National Office. 
 
 He would come home at night, worn out from these labours 
 after his daily toil ; he would fall asleep at Lizzie's side, and have 
 to be routed out by her when the alarm-clock went off next 
 morning. She would get him a cup of hot coffee, and after he 
 had drunk this, he would be himself again, and would chatter 
 about the adventures of the night before. There was always 
 something happening, a fellow starting a controversy, a drunken 
 man, or perhaps a couple of thugs in the pay of old man Gran- 
 itch, trying to break up the meeting. 
 
 Lizzie would do her best to show that sympathy with her 
 
 56 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 57 
 
 husband's activities which is expected from a dutiful wife. 
 But all the time there was grief in her soul the eternal grief 
 of the feminine temperament, which is cautious and conserra- 
 tive, in conflict with the masculine, which is adventurous and 
 destructive. Here was Jimmie, earning twice what he had ever 
 earned before, having a chance to feed his children properly and 
 to put by a little margin for the first time in his harassed life; 
 but instead of making the most of the opportunity, he was going 
 out on the streets every night, doing everything in his power to 
 destroy the golden occasion which fate had brought to him! 
 Like the fellow who climbs a tree to saw off a limb, and sits on 
 the limb and saws between himself and the tree ! 
 
 In spite of her best efforts, Lizzie's broad, kindly face would 
 sometimes become hard with disappointment, and a big tear 
 would roll down each of her sturdy cheeks. Jim-mi A would be 
 sorry for her, and would patiently try to explain his actions. 
 Should a man think only of his own wife and children, and for- 
 get entirely all the other wives and children of the working- 
 class? That was why the workers had been slaves all through 
 the ages, because each thought of himself, and never of his 
 fellows. No, you must think of your class ! You must act as 
 a class on the alert to seize every advantage, to teach solidarity 
 and stimulate class-consciousness! Jimmie would use these 
 long words, which he had heard at meetings; but then, seeing 
 that Lizzie did not understand them, he would go back and say 
 it over again in words of one syllable. They had old man 
 Granitch in a hole just now, and they must teach him a lesson, 
 and at the same time teach the workers their power. Lizzie 
 would sigh, and shake her head; for to her, old man Granitch 
 was not a human being, but a natural phenomenon, like winter, 
 or hunger. He, or some other like him, had been the master 
 of her fathers for generations untold, and to try to break or 
 even to limit his power was like commanding the tide or the 
 sun. 
 
 Events moved quickly to their culmination, justifying the 
 worst of Lizzie's fears. The shops were seething with discon- 
 tent, and agitators seemed fairly to spring out of the ground; 
 some of them paid by Jerry Coleman, no doubt, others taking 
 
58 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 their pay in the form of gratification of those grudges with 
 which the profit-system had filled their hearts. Noon-meetings 
 would start up, quite spontaneously, without any prearrange- 
 ment ; and presently Jimmie learned that men were going about 
 taking the names of all who would agree to strike. 
 
 The matter was brought to a head by the Empire managers, 
 who, of course, were kept informed by their spies. They dis- 
 charged more than a score of the trouble-makers ; and when this 
 news spread at noon-time, the whole place burst into a flame of 
 wrath. "Strike ! strike !" was the cry. Jimmie was one of many 
 who started a procession through the yards, shouting, singing, 
 hurling menaces at the bosses, challenging all who proposed 
 to return to work. Less than one-tenth of the working force 
 made any attempt to do so, and for that afternoon the plant of 
 the Empire Machine Shops, which was supposed to be turning 
 out shell-casings for the Russian government, was turning out 
 labour-union, Socialist, and I. W. W. oratory. 
 
 Jimmie Higgins was beside himself with excitement. He 
 danced about and waved his cap, he shouted himself hoarse, he 
 almost yielded to the impulse to jump upon a pile of lumber 
 and make a speech himself. Presently came Comrades Gerrity 
 and Mary Allen, who had got wind of the trouble, and had 
 loaded a whole edition of the "Worker" into a Ford ; so Jimmie 
 turned newsboy, selling these papers, hundreds of them, until 
 his pockets were bursting with the weight of pennies and 
 nickels. And then he was pressed into service running errands 
 for those who were arranging to organise the workers; he car- 
 ried bundles of membership-cards and application-blanks, fol- 
 lowing a man with a bull voice and a megaphone, who shouted 
 in several languages the location of union headquarters, and the 
 halls where various foreign language meetings would be held 
 that evening. Evidently some one had foreseen the breaking of 
 this trouble, and had been at pains to plan ahead. 
 
 Late in the afternoon Jimmie was witness of an exciting 
 incident. In one of the shops a number of the men had per- 
 sisted in returning to work, and an immense throng of strikers 
 had gathered to wait for them. They were afraid to come out, 
 but stayed in the building after the quitting-whistle, while 
 those outside jeered and hooted, and the bosses telephoned fran- 
 tically for aid. The greater part of the Leesville police-force 
 was on hand, and in addition, the company had its own guards 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 59 
 
 and private detectives. But they were needed all over the place. 
 You saw them at the various entrances, menacing, but not quite 
 so sure of themselves as usual; their hands had a tendency to 
 slip back to the bulge on their right hips. 
 
 Jimmie and another fellow had got themselves an empty 
 box and were standing on it, leaning against the wall of the 
 building and shouting "Ya! Ya!" at every "scab" head that 
 showed itself. They saw an automobile come in at the gate, its 
 horn honking savagely, causing the crowd to leap to one side or 
 the other. The automobile was packed with men, sitting on 
 one another's knees, or hanging to the running boards outside. 
 There came a second car, loaded in the same fashion. They were 
 guards, sent all the way from Hubbardtown; for of course the 
 Hubbard Engine Company would help out its rivals in an 
 emergency such as this. That was the solidarity of capitalism, 
 concerning which the Socialists never wearied of preaching. 
 
 The men leaped from the cars, and spread themselves fan- 
 wise in front of the door. They had nightsticks in their hands, 
 and grim resolution in their faces; they cried, "Stand back! 
 Stand back I' 9 The crowd hooted, but gave slightly, and a few 
 minutes later the doors of the building opened, and the first of 
 the timid workers emerged. There was a howl, and then from 
 somewhere in the throng a stone was thrown. "Arrest that man \" 
 shouted a voice, and Jimmie's attention was attracted to the 
 owner of this voice a young man who had arrived in the first 
 automobile, and was now standing up in the seat, from which 
 position he could dominate the throng. "Arrest that man I" he 
 shouted again, pointing his finger ; and three of the guards leaped 
 into the crowd at the spot indicated. The man who had thrown 
 the missile started to run, but he could not go fast in the crowd, 
 and in a moment, as it seemed, the guards had him by the 
 collar. He tried to jerk away, and they struck him over the 
 head, and laid about them to keep the rest of the throng at bay. 
 "Take him inside!" the young man in the car kept shouting. 
 And one of the guards twisted his hand in the collar of the 
 wretched stone-thrower, until he grew purple in the face, and so 
 half dragged and half ran him into the building. 
 
 in 
 
 The young man in the car turned toward the crowd which 
 was blocking the way to the exit. "Get those men out of the 
 
60 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 way !" lie yelled to the guards. "Drive them along God damn 
 them, they've got no business in here." And so on, with a 
 string of dynamic profanity, which stung both guards and 
 policemen into action, and made them ply their clubs upon 
 the crowd. 
 
 "Do you know who that is?" asked JimnuVs companion on 
 the box. "That's Lacey Granitch." 
 
 Jimmie started, experiencing a thrill to the soles of his 
 ragged shoes. Lacey Granitch ! In the four years that the little 
 machinist had worked for the Empire, he had never caught a 
 glimpse of the young lord of Leesville something which may 
 easily be believed, for the young lord considered Leesville "a 
 hole of a town," and honoured it with his presence only once or 
 twice a year. But his spirit brooded over it; he was to Leesville 
 a mythological figure, either of wonder and awe, or of horror, 
 according to the temperament of the contemplator. One day 
 "Wild Bill" had arisen in the local, and held aloft a page from 
 the "magazine supplement" of one of the metropolitan "yellows." 
 There was an account of how Lacey Granitch had broken the 
 hearts of seven chorus-girls by running away with an eighth. 
 He fairly "ate 'em alive," according to the account; in order 
 to give an idea of the atmosphere in which the young hero 
 abode, the whirl of delight which was his life, the artist of the 
 Sunday supplement had woven round the border of the page 
 a maze of feminine ankles and calves in a delirium of lingerie; 
 while at the top was a supper-table with champagne-corks pop- 
 ping, and a lady clad in inadequate veils dancing amid the 
 dishes. 
 
 This had happened while the local was in the midst of an 
 acrimonious controversy over "Section Six." Should the Social- 
 ist party bar from its membership those who advocated sabotage, 
 violence and crime? Young Norwood was pleading for orderly 
 methods of social reconstruction; and here stood "Wild Bill," 
 ripping to shreds the reputation of the young plutocrat of the 
 Empire Shops. "That's what you geezers are sweating for! 
 That's why you've got to be good, and not throw monkey- 
 wrenches in the machinery so the seven broken-hearted chorus- 
 girls can drown their sorrows in champagne!" 
 
 And now here was the hero of all these romantic escapades, 
 forsaking the white lights of Broadway, and coming home to 
 help the old man keep his contracts. He stood in the seat of the 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 61 
 
 automobile, glancing this way and that, swiftly, like a hunter 
 on the alert for dangerous game. His dark eyes roamed here 
 and there, his proud face was pale with anger, his tall, perfectly 
 groomed figure was eloquent of mastership, of command. He 
 was imperious as a young Caesar, terrible in his vengeance ; and 
 poor Jimmie, watching him, was torn between two contradic- 
 tory emotions. He hated him hated him with a deadly and 
 abiding hatred. But also he admired him, marvelled at him, 
 cringed before him. Lacey was a wanton, a cursing tyrant, a 
 brutal snob; but also he was the master, the conqueror, the 
 proud, free, rich young aristocrat, for whom all the rest of 
 humanity existed. And Jimmie Higgins was a poor little worm 
 of a proletarian, with nothing but his labour-power to sell, try- 
 ing by sheer force of his will to lift himself out of his slave- 
 psychology ! 
 
 There is an old adage that "a cat may look at a king." But 
 this can only have been meant to apply to house-cats, cats of the 
 palace, accustomed to the etiquette of courts; it cannot have 
 been meant for proletarian cats of the gutter, the Jimmie 
 Higgins variety of red revolutionary yowlers. Jimmie and his 
 companion stood on their perch, shouting "Ya ! Ya I" and sud- 
 denly the crowd melted away in front of them, exposing them 
 to the angry finger of the young master. "Get along now ! Beat 
 it ! Quick !" And Jimmie, poor little ragged, stunted Jimmie, 
 with bad teeth and toil-deformed hands, wilted before this blast 
 of aristocratic wrath, and made haste to hide himself in the 
 throng. But it was with blazing soul that he went; every 
 instant he imagined himself turning back, defying the angry 
 finger, shouting down the imperious voice, even smashing it back 
 into the throat from which it came! 
 
 IV 
 
 Jimmie did not even stop for supper. The greater part of 
 the night he worked at helping to organise the strikers, and 
 all next day he spent arranging Socialist meetings. He 
 worked like a man possessed, lifted above the limitations of 
 the flesh. For everywhere that day he carried with him the 
 image of the proud, free, rich young aristocrat, with his dark 
 eyes roaming swiftly, his tall, perfectly groomed figure eloquent 
 of mastership, his voice ringing with challenge. Jimmie was 
 
62 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 for the time utterly possessed by hatred; and he saw about him 
 thousands of others sharing the mood and shouting it aloud. 
 Every speaker who could be found was turned loose to talk 
 till he was hoarse, and in the evening there were to be half a 
 dozen street meetings. That was always the way when there 
 were strikes ; then the working-man had time to listen and also 
 the desire! 
 
 So came the final crisis, when the little machinist had to show 
 the stuff he was made of. He was holding aloft the torch at 
 the regular meeting-place on the corner of Main and Third 
 Streets, and Comrade Gerrity was explaining the strike and the 
 ballot as two edges of the sword of labour, when four policemen 
 came suddenly round the corner and pushed their way through 
 the crowd. "You'll have to stop this I" declared one. 
 
 "Stop?" cried Gerrity. "What do you mean?" 
 
 "There's to be no more street-speaking during the strike," 
 
 "Who says so?" 
 
 "Orders from the Chief." 
 
 "But we've got a permit." 
 
 "All permits revoked. Cut it out." 
 
 "But this is an outrage !" 
 
 "We don't want any argument, young man -" 
 
 "But we're within our rights here." 
 
 "Forget it, young feller !" 
 
 Gerrity turned swiftly to the throng. 
 
 "Fellow-citizens," he cried, "we are here in the exercise of 
 our rights as American citizens! We are conducting a peace- 
 able and orderly political meeting, and we know our rights and 
 propose to maintain them. We " 
 
 "Come down off that box, young feller!" commanded the 
 officer; and the crowd hooted and booed. 
 
 "Fellow-citizens !" began Gerrity again ; but that was as far 
 as he got, for the policeman seized him by the arm and pulled ; 
 and Gerrity knew the ways of American policemen too well to 
 resist. He came down but still talking. "Fellow-citizens " 
 
 "Are you goin' to shut up?" demanded the other, and as 
 Gerrity still went on orating, he announced: "You are under 
 arrest." 
 
 There were half a dozen Socialists with the party, and this 
 was a challenge to the self-respect of every one of them. In an 
 instant Comrade Mabel Smith had leaped onto the stand. "Fel- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 63 
 
 low-workers!" she cried. "Is this America, or is it Russia?" 
 "That'll do, lady/' said the policeman, as considerately as he 
 dared; for Comrade Mabel wore a big picture-hat, and many 
 other signs of youth and beauty. 
 
 "I have a right to speak here, and I mean to speak," she de- 
 clared. 
 
 "We don't want to have to arrest you, lady " 
 
 "You either have to arrest me, or else allow me to speak." 
 "I'm sorry, lady, but it's orders. You are arrested." 
 Then came the turn of Comrade Stankewitz. "Vorkingmen, 
 it is for the rights of the vorkers ve are here." And so they 
 jerked him off. 
 
 And then "Wild Bill." This hundred per cent, middle-of- 
 the-road proletarian had been hanging on the outskirts of the 
 meeting, having been forbidden by the local to take part in the 
 speaking, because of the intemperate nature of his utterances; 
 but now, of course, all rules went down, and Bill leaped onto 
 the shaking platform. "Are we slaves?" he yelled. "Are we 
 dogs ?" And it would seem that the police thought so, for they 
 yanked him off the platform, and one of them seized him by 
 the wrist and twisted so that his oration ended in a shriek of 
 pain. 
 
 Then came Johnny Edge, a shy youth with an armful of 
 literature, which he hung onto in spite of police violence; and 
 then then there was one more ! 
 
 Poor Jimmie ! He did not in the least want to get arrested, 
 and he was terrified at the idea of making even so short a speech 
 as was here the order of the night. But of course, his honour 
 was at stake, there was no way out. He handed his torch to a 
 by-stander, and mounted the scaffold. "Is this a free coun- 
 try ?" he cried. "Do we have free speech ?" And Jimmie's first 
 effort at oratory ended in a jerk at his coat-tail, which all but 
 upset the frail platform upon which he stood. 
 
 There were four policemen, with six prisoners, and a throng, 
 about them howling with indignation, perhaps ready to become 
 violent who could say? The guardians of order had been 
 prepared, however. One of them stepped to the corner and blew 
 his whistle, and a minute later came the shriek of a siren, and 
 round the corner came swinging the city's big patrol-wagon, the 
 "Black Maria." The crowd gave way, and one by one the 
 prisoners were thrust in. One of them, "Wild Bill," feeling 
 
64 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 himself for a moment released from the grip of his captors, 
 raised his voice, shouting through the wire grating of the 
 
 wagon : "I denounce this outrage ! I am a free American " 
 
 And suddenly Jimmie, who was next in the wagon, felt himself 
 flung to one side, and a policeman leaped by him, and planted 
 his fist with terrific violence full in the orator's mouth. "Wild 
 Bill" went down like a bullock under the slaughter-man's axe, 
 and the patrol-wagon started up, the cry of its siren drowning 
 the protests of the crowd. 
 
 Poor Bill ! He lay across the seat, and Jimmie, who had to 
 (sit next to him, caught him in his arms and held him. He was 
 quivering, with awful motions like a spasm. He made no 
 eound, and Jimmie was terrified, thinking that he was dying. 
 Before long Jimmie felt a hot wetness stealing over his hands, 
 first slimy, then turning sticky. He had to sit there, almost 
 fainting with horror; he dared not say anything, for maybe 
 the policeman would strike him also. He sat, clutching in his 
 arms the shaking body, and whispering under his breath, "Poor 
 Bill! Poor Bill !" 
 
 They came to the station-house, and Bill was carried out and 
 laid on a bench, and the others were stood up before the desk 
 and had their pedigrees taken. Gerrity demanded indignantly 
 to be allowed to telephone, and this demand was granted. He 
 routed lawyer Norwood from a party, and set him to finding 
 bail; and meantime the prisoners were led to cells. 
 
 They had been there only a couple of minutes when there 
 came floating through the row of steel cages the voice of a 
 woman singing. It was Comrade Mabel Smith, in that clear 
 sweet voice they had so often listened to on "social evenings" 
 in the local. She was singing the Internationale : 
 
 Arise, ye prisoners of starvation, 
 Arise, ye wretched of the earth! 
 
 The sound thrilled them to the very bones, and they joined 
 in the chorus with a shout. Then, of course, came the jailer: 
 "Shut up!" And then again: "Shut up!" And then a third 
 time: "Will ye shut up?" And then came a bucket of water ? 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 65 
 
 hurled through the cell bars. It hit Jimmie squarely in the 
 mouth, and in the words of the poet, "the subsequent proceedings 
 interested him no more \" 
 
 About midnight came Lawyer Norwood and Dr. Service. 
 Both of these men had protested against the street-speaking at 
 this time; but of course, when it came to comrades in trouble, 
 they could not resist the appeal to their sympathies. Such is 
 the difficulty of entirely respectable and decorous "parlour" 
 Socialists, in their dealings with the wayward children of the 
 movement, the "impossibilists" and "direct actionists" and other 
 sowers of proletarian wild oats. Dr. Service produced a wad 
 of bills and bailed out all the prisoners, and delivered himself 
 of impressive indignation to the police-sergeant, while waiting 
 for an ambulance to carry "Wild Bill" to the hospital. Jimmie 
 Higgins, who had always hitherto shouted with the "wild" ones, 
 realised suddenly how pleasant it is to have a friend who wears 
 black broadcloth, and carries himself like the drum-major of 
 a band, and is reputed to be worth a couple of hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Jimmie went home; and there was Lizzie, pacing the floor 
 and wringing her hands in anxiety for there had been no way 
 to get word to her what had happened. She flung herself into 
 his arms, and then recoiled in fright when she discovered that 
 he was wet. He told her the story ; and would you believe it 
 Lizzie, being a woman, and only in the A-B-C stage of revolu- 
 tionary education, actually did not know that it was a glorious 
 and heroic adventure to be arrested ! She thought it a disgrace, 
 and tried to persuade him to keep the dreadful secret from the 
 neighbourhood ! And when she found that he was not through 
 yet, but had to go to court in the morning and be tried, she 
 wept copiously, and woke up Jimmie Junior, and started him to 
 bawling. She was only to be pacified when Jimmie Senior 
 agreed to take off his wet clothes at once, and drink a cup or 
 two of boiling hot tea, and let himself be covered up with blan- 
 kets, so that he might not die of pneumonia before he could 
 get to court. 
 
 Next morning there was a crowded court-room and a stern 
 and solemn judge frowning over his spectacles, and Lawyer 
 Norwood making an impassioned defence of the fundamental 
 American right of free speech. It was so very thrilling that 
 Jimmie could hardly be kept from applauding his own lawyer 1 
 
66 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 And then Comrade Dr. Service arose, and in his most impres- 
 sive voice gave the professional information that "Wild Bill's" 
 nose had been broken, and three of his front teeth knocked out, 
 and that he was in the hospital and unable to come to court; 
 and all the other prisoners were called upon to testify what 
 "Wild Bill" had done to bring this fate upon him. The police- 
 man who had struck the blow testified that the prisoner had 
 resisted arrest ; a second policeman testified, "I seen the prisoner 
 hit him first, your Honour," which caused Comrade Mabel 
 Smith to cry out, "Oh, the ungrammatical prevaricator!" 
 
 The upshot of the trial was that each of the defendants 
 was fined ten dollars. Comrade Gerrity led off with an indig- 
 nant refusal to pay the fine; the rest of them followed suit 
 even Comrade Mabel ! This caused evident distress of mind to 
 the judge, for Comrade Mabel with her indignant pink cheeks 
 and her big picture-hat looked more than ever the lady, and it 
 is a fact known even to judges that American jails have not 
 been constructed for ladies. The matter was settled by Lawyer 
 Norwood paying her fine, in spite of her protests, and her 
 demand to be sent to jail. 
 
 VT 
 
 The five men were led away, over the "Bridge of Sighs," as 
 it was called, to the city jail, where they had their pedigrees 
 taken again, and their pictures and their finger-prints which 
 for the first time impressed upon their minds the fact that they 
 were dangerous criminals. Their clothes were taken away, and 
 shirts and trousers given them, whose faded blue colour seemed 
 to have been impregnated with the misery of scores of previous 
 wearers. They were led through steel-barred doors, and along 
 dark, steel-barred passages to one of the "tanks." A "tank," 
 you discovered, was one floor of this four-storied packing box; 
 on each side of it were a row of a dozen barred cells, each with 
 four bunks, so that the total maximum population which might 
 be crowded into the central space of the "tank" was ninety-six ; 
 however, this only happened on Monday mornings, when the 
 "drunks" had all been brought in, and before the courts had had 
 time to sort them out. 
 
 After you had lain down on your bunk for a few minutes, or 
 had leaned against the wall of the "tank," you felt an annoy- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL 67 
 
 ing stinging sensation somewhere on you. You began to rub 
 and scratch; before long you would be rubbing and scratching 
 in a dozen different places, and then you would observe your 
 neighbour watching you with a grin. "Seam-squirrels?" he 
 would say ; and he would bid you take off your coat, and engage 
 in the popular hunting game of the institution. Jimmie re- 
 membered having heard a speaker refer to the city jail as the 
 "Leesville Louse-ranch" ; he had thought that a good joke at the 
 time, but now it seemed otherwise to him. 
 
 It was splendid to stand up in court and to take your stand 
 as a martyr ; but now Jimmie discovered, as many an unfortunate 
 has discovered before him, that being a martyr is not the sport 
 it is cracked up to be. There were no heroics now, no singing. 
 If you even so much as hummed, they took you out and shut 
 you up in a dark hole called the "cooler" ! Nor could you read, 
 for there was no light in your cell, and perpetual twilight in the 
 central gathering place of the "tank." Apparently the only 
 things the authorities of Leesville wished you to do were to 
 hunt "seam-squirrels," to smoke cigarettes, to "shoot craps," and 
 to make the acquaintance of a variety of interesting young 
 criminals, so that when you were ready to resume your outside 
 life you might decide whether you wanted to be a hold-up man, 
 a safe-cracker, a forger, or a second-story operator. 
 
 Jimmie Higgins, of course, brought a different psychology 
 from that of the average jail-inmate. Jimmie could do his 
 kind of work just as well in jail as anywhere else ; and barring 
 the torment of vermin, the diet of bread and thin coffee and ill- 
 smelling greasy soup, and the worry about his helpless family 
 outside, he really had a happy time making the acquaintance 
 of hoboes and pickpockets, and explaining to them the revolu- 
 tionary philosophy. A man who went in to remedy social in- 
 justice all by himself could never get very far. It was only when 
 he realised himself as a member of a class, and stood as a class 
 and acted as a class, that he could accomplish a permanent result. 
 Some of the workers had discovered this, and had set out to edu- 
 cate their fellows. They brought the wondrous message, even to 
 those in jail; holding out to them the vision of a world made 
 over in justice and kindness, the co-operative commonwealth 
 of labour, in which every man should get what he produced, and 
 no man could exploit his fellows. 
 
68 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 VII 
 
 Three days passed, and then one afternoon Jimmie was 
 summoned to see a visitor. He could guess who the visitor was, 
 and he went with his heart in his throat, and looked through the 
 dark mesh of wire, and saw Lizzie standing stout, motherly 
 Lizzie, now very pale, and breathing hard, and with tears running 
 in little streamlets down her cheeks. Poor Lizzie, with her 
 three babies at home, and her plain, ordinary, non-revolutionary 
 psychology, which made going to jail a humiliation instead of a 
 test of manhood, a badge of distinction ! Jimmie felt a clutch 
 in his own throat, and an impulse to tear down the beastly wire 
 mesh and clasp the dear motherly soul in his arms. But all he 
 could do was to screw his face into a dubious smile. Sure, he 
 was having the time of his life in this jail ! He wouldn't have 
 missed it for anything ! He had made a Socialist out of "Dead- 
 eye Mike/' and had got Pete Curley, a fancy "con" man, to 
 promise to read "War, What For?" 
 
 There was only one thing which had been troubling him, and 
 that was, how his family was making out. They had had prac- 
 tically nothing in the house, he knew, and poor Meissner could 
 not feed four extra mouths. But Lizzie, also screwing her face 
 into a smile, assured him that everything was all right at home, 
 there was no need to worry. In the first place, Comrade Dr. 
 Service had sent her a piece of paper with his name written on 
 it ; it appeared that this was called a check, and the groceryman 
 had exchanged it for a five dollar bill. And in the next place 
 there was a domestic secret which Lizzie had to confide she had 
 put by some money, without letting Jimmie know it. 
 
 "But how?" cried Jimmie, in wonder for he had thought 
 he knew all about his household and its expenses. 
 
 So Lizzie explained the trick she had played. Jimmie had 
 committed an extravagance, treating her to a new dress out of 
 his increased earnings : a gorgeous contrivance of several colours, 
 looking like silk, even if it wasn't. Lizzie had stated that the 
 cost was fifteen dollars, and he, the dub, had believed it ! The 
 truth was she had bought the dress in a second-hand shop for 
 three dollars, and had put twelve dollars away for the time of 
 the strike ! 
 
 And Jimmie went back to his "tank," shaking his head and 
 philosophising : "Gee ! Can you beat these women ?" 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 JIMMIB HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 
 
 THHE strike was over when Jimmie came out of jail; it had 
 * been settled by the double-barrelled device of raising the 
 wages of the men and putting their leaders behind bars. Jimmie 
 presented himself at his old place of working, and the boss told 
 him to go to hell; so Jimmie went to Hubbardtown, and stood 
 in the long line of men waiting at the gate of the engine com- 
 pany. Jimmie knew about black-lists, so when his time came 
 to be questioned, he said his name was Joe Aronsky, and he had 
 last worked in a machine-shop in Pittsburg; he had come to 
 Hubbardtown because he had heard of high pay and good treat- 
 ment. While he was answering these questions, he noticed a 
 man sitting in the corner of the room studying his face, and 
 he saw the boss turn and glance in that direction. The man 
 shook his head, and the boss said : "Nothin' doinV So Jimmie 
 understood that the Hubbard Engine Company was taking 
 measures to keep its shops clear of the agitators from Leesville. 
 He spent a couple of days trying other places in his home 
 town, but all in vain they had him spotted. At the brewery 
 they were slower than elsewhere they took him on for two 
 hours. Then they found out his record, and "fired" him; and 
 Jimmie "kidded" the boss, saying that they were too late he 
 had already given a Socialist leaflet to every man in the room ! 
 On Jefferson Street, an out of the way part of the town, was 
 a bicycle-shop kept by an old German named Kumme. One of 
 the comrades told Jimmie that he wanted a helper, and Jimmie 
 went there and got a job at two dollars a day. That was poor 
 pay at present prices, but Jimmie liked the place, because his 
 boss was a near-Socialist, a pacifist for all countries except 
 Germany. He got round it by saying that every nation had 
 
 69 
 
70 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 a right to defend itself; and Germany was the nation which 
 had been attacked in this war. A good part of the energies of 
 the old man went into proving this to his customers; if there 
 were any customers who did not like it, they could go elsewhere. 
 
 Those who came were largely Germans, and so Jimmie was 
 kept fully supplied with arguments against the munitions-indus- 
 try, which they called a trade in murder, and in favour of the 
 programme of "Feed America First." Among those who fre- 
 quented the place was Jerry Coleman, who was still on the job, 
 and as well supplied with ten dollar bills as ever. He had now 
 revealed himself as an organiser for a new propaganda society, 
 called "Labour's National Peace Council." Inasmuch as Labour 
 and Peace were the phrases upon which Jimmie lived, he saw no 
 reason why he should not back this organisation. Coleman 
 assured Jimmie he hated the Kaiser, but that the German "peo- 
 ple" must be defended. So Jimmie became, without having the 
 least idea of it, one of the agencies whereby the Kaiser was sub- 
 sidising social discontent in America. 
 
 But Jimmie was more careful now in his agitations. He 
 had brought such distress into his home by his jail sentence, 
 that he had been forced to make promises to Lizzie. Her 
 anxiety for her children could no longer be kept to herself; 
 and this caused a certain amount of friction between them, and 
 sent Jimmie out grumbling at his lot in life. What was the 
 use of trying to educate a woman, who could see no farther than 
 her own kitchen-stove ? When you wanted to be a world-saviour, 
 to walk tip-toe on the misty mountain-tops of heroism, she 
 dragged you down and chained you to the commonplace, taking 
 all the zest and fervour out of your soul! The memories of 
 "seam-squirrels" and of thin and ill-smelling and greasy soup 
 had slipped somewhat into the background of Jimmie's mind, 
 and he lived again the sublime hour when he had confronted the 
 court and stood for the fundamental rights of an American 
 citizen. He wanted to have that act of daring appreciated at 
 its true value. Poor, blind, home-keeping Lizzie, who could not 
 fufil these deeper needs of her husband's soul ! 
 
 Jimmie had been, so far in his married life, as well domes- 
 ticated as could be expected of a proletarian propagandist. He 
 had yearned to own a home of his own, and meantime had 
 manifested his repressed wish by getting a big packing-box and 
 some broken shingles, and building a model play-house for 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 71 
 
 Jimmie Junior in the back yard. He had even found time on 
 his tired and crowded Sundays to start a garden in mid-summer, 
 the season when the local was least active. But now, of course, 
 the war had come to obsess his mind, driving him to terror for 
 the future of humanity, tempting him to martyrdoms and do- 
 mestic irritations. 
 
 II 
 
 It was at this critical period in Jimmie's life that there 
 appeared in Leesville a vivid young person by the name of 
 Evelyn Baskerville. Evelyn was no tired kitchen slave with 
 her fluffy brown hair, her pert little dimples, her trim figure, 
 her jaunty hat with a turkey-feather stuck on one side of her 
 head. Evelyn was a stenographer, and proclaimed herself an 
 advanced feminist ; at her first visit she set the local upside down. 
 It happened to be "social evening," when all the men smoked, 
 and this "free" young thing took a cigarette from her escort 
 and puffed it all over the place. This, of course, would not 
 have made a stir in great centres of culture such as London 
 and Greenwich Village; but in Leesville it was the first time 
 that the equality of women had been interpreted to mean that 
 the women should adopt the vices of the men. 
 
 Then Evelyn had produced from her handbag some leaflets 
 on Birth Control, and proposed that the local should undertake 
 their distribution. This was a new subject in Leesville, and 
 while the members supposed it was all right, they found it 
 embarrassing to have the matter explained too fully in open 
 meeting. Evelyn wanted a "birth strike," as the surest means 
 of ending the war; she wanted the "Worker 5 ' to take up this 
 programme, and did not conceal her contempt for reactionaries 
 in the movement who still wanted to pretend that babies were 
 brought by storks. The delicate subject was finally "tabled," 
 and when the meeting adjourned and the members walked home, 
 every one was talking about Miss Baskerville the men mostly 
 talking with the men, and the women with the women. 
 
 Pretty soon it became evident that the vivid and dashing 
 young person was setting her cap for Comrade Gerrity, the 
 organiser. As Gerrity was an eligible young bachelor, that was 
 all right. But then, a little later, it began to be suspected that 
 she had designs upon Comrade Claudel, the Belgian jeweller. 
 
72 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Doubtless she had a right to make her choice between them ; but 
 some of the women were of the opinion that she took too long 
 to choose; and finally one or two malicious ones began to say 
 that she had no intention of choosing she wanted both. 
 
 And then fell a thunderbolt into Jimmie's life. It was just 
 after his arrest, when fame still clung to him; and after the 
 meeting Comrade Baskerville came up and engaged him in con- 
 versation. How did it feel to be a jailbird? When he told 
 her that it felt fine, she bade him not be too proud she had 
 served thirty days for picketing in a shirt-waist strike ! As she 
 looked at him, her pretty brown eyes sparkled with mischief, 
 and her wicked little dimples lost no curtain-calls. Poor, hum- 
 ble Jimmie was stirred to his shoe-tips, for he had never before 
 received the attentions of such a fascinating creature unless 
 perchance it had been to sell her a newspaper, or to beg the price 
 of a sandwich in his hobo days. Here was one of the wonderful 
 things about the Socialist movement, that it broke down the 
 barriers of class, and gave you exciting glimpses of higher worlds 
 of culture and charm ! 
 
 Comrade Baskerville continued to flash her dimples and her 
 wit at Jimmie, despite the fact that Comrade Gerrity and Com- 
 rade Claudel and several other moths were hovering about the 
 candle-flame, and all the women in the local watching out of 
 the corners of their eyes. Finally, to Jimmie's unutterable 
 consternation, the vivid young goddess of Liberty inquired, 
 "Wouldn't you like to walk home with me, Comrade Higgins ?" 
 He stammered, "Yes"; and they went out, the young goddess 
 plying him with questions about conditions in the jail, and 
 displaying most convincing erudition on the subject of the eco- 
 nomic aspects of criminology at the same time seeming entirely 
 oblivious to the hoverings of the other moths, and the disgust of 
 the unemancipated ladies of Local Leesville. 
 
 in 
 
 They walked down the street together, and first Comrade 
 Baskerville shivered with horror at the "seam-squirrels/' and 
 then exclaimed with delight over the conversion of "Dead-eye 
 Mike" to Socialism, and then made merry over the singing of the 
 Internationale in the police-station. Had she discovered a 
 "character" in this seemingly insignificant little machinist ? At 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 73 
 
 any rate, she plied him with questions about his past life and 
 his ideas. When he told her of his starved and neglected child- 
 hood, she murmured sympathetically, and it seemed to the 
 fascinated Jimmie that here was a woman who understood in- 
 stinctively all the cravings of his soul. She laid her hand on 
 his arm, and it was as if an angel were touching him strange 
 little thrills ran like currents of electricity all over him. 
 
 Yes, Comrade Baskerville could appreciate his sufferings, 
 because she had suffered too. She had had a step-mother, and 
 had run away from home at an early age, and fought her own 
 way. That was why she stood so firmly for woman's emancipa- 
 tion she knew the slavery of her sex through bitter experience. 
 There were many men who believed in sex-equality as a matter 
 of words, but had no real conception of it in action; as for 
 the women well, you might see right here in the local the 
 most narrow, bourgeois ideas dominating their minds. Jimmie 
 did not know what ideas Comrade Baskerville meant, but he 
 knew that her voice was musical and full of quick changes that 
 made him shiver. 
 
 He was supposed to be taking her home ; but he had no idea 
 where she lived, and apparently she had no idea either, for they 
 just wandered on and on, talking about all the wonderful new 
 ideas that were stirring the minds of men and women. Did 
 Comrade Higgins believe in trial marriages? Comrade Hig- 
 gins had never heard of this wild idea before, but he listened, 
 and bravely concealed his dismay. What about the children? 
 The eager feminist answered there need not be any children. 
 Unwanted children were a crime! She proposed to get the 
 working-class women together and instruct them in the tech- 
 nique of these delicate matters; and meantime, lacking the 
 women, she was willing to explain it to any inwardly embar- 
 rassed and quaking man who would lend his ear. 
 
 Suddenly she stopped and cried, "Where are we?" And 
 there came a peal of merry laughter, as she discovered they 
 had gone far astray. They turned and set off in the right 
 direction, and meantime the lecture on advance feminism con- 
 tinued. Poor Jimmie was in a panic tumbled this way and 
 that. He had considered himself a radical, because he believed 
 in expropriating the expropriators; but these plans for over- 
 throwing the conventions and disbanding the home these left 
 him aghast. And trilled into his ear by a vivid and amazing 
 
74 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 young thing with a soft hand upon his arm and a faint intoxi- 
 cating perfume all about her ! Why was she telling these things 
 to him? What did she mean? What? What? 
 
 IV 
 
 They came to the house where she lived. It was late at 
 night, and the street was deserted. It was up to Jimmie to say 
 good night, but somehow he did not know how to say it. Com- 
 rade Evelyn gave him her hand, and for some reason did not 
 take it away again. Of course it would not have been polite 
 for Jimmie to have pushed it away. So he held it, and looked 
 at the shadowy form before him, and felt his knees shaking. 
 "Comrade Higgins/' said the brave, girlish voice, "we shall be 
 friends, shall we not?" And of course, Jimmie answered that 
 they would always ! And the girlish voice replied, "I am glad!" 
 And then suddenly it whispered, "Good night 1" and the shadowy 
 form turned and flitted into the house. 
 
 Jimmie walked away with the strangest tumult in his soul. 
 It was something which the poets had been occupied for cen- 
 turies in trying to portray, but Jimmie Higgins had no acquain- 
 tance with the poets, and so it was a brand new thing to him, 
 he was left to experience the shock of it and to resolve the 
 problems of it all alone. To be rolled and tossed about like a 
 man in a blanket at a college hazing ! To be a prey to bewilder- 
 ment and fear, hope and longing, despair and rebellion, delicious 
 excitement, angry self -contempt and tormenting doubt ! Truly 
 did that poet divine who first conceived the symbol of the 
 mischievous little god, who steals upon an unsuspecting man 
 and shoots him through the heart with a sharp and tormenting 
 arrow ! 
 
 The worst of it was, Jimmie couldn't tell Lizzie about it. 
 The first time in four years that he had had a trouble he could 
 not tell Lizzie ! He even felt ashamed, as he came home and 
 crawled into bed as if he had done some dreadful wrong to 
 Lizzie; and yet, he would have been puzzled to tell just what 
 the wrong was, or how he could have avoided it. It was not 
 he who had made the young feminist so delicious and sweet and 
 frank and amazing. It was not he who had made the little god, 
 and brewed the poison for the arrow's tip. No, it was some 
 power greater than himself that had prepared this situation, 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 75 
 
 some power cruel and implacable, which plots against domestic 
 tranquillity; perhaps it was some hireling of capitalism, which 
 will not permit a propagandist of social justice to do his work 
 in peace of soul ! 
 
 Jimmie tried to hide what was going on; and of course 
 poor, na'ive soul he had never learned to hide anything in his 
 life, and now was too late to begin. The next time the local 
 met, the women were saying that they were disappointed in 
 Comrade Higgins; they had thought he was really devoted to 
 the cause, but they saw now he was like all the rest of the men 
 his head had been turned by one smile on a pretty face. Instead 
 of attending to his work, he was following that Baskerville 
 creature about, gazing at her yearningly, like a moon-calf, mak- 
 ing a ninny of himself before the whole room. And he with a 
 wife and three babies at home, waiting for him and thinking he 
 was hustling for the cause. When the meeting adjourned, and 
 the Baskerville creature accepted the invitation of Comrade 
 Gerrity to escort her home, the dismay of Comrade Higgins 
 was so evident as to be ludicrous to the whole room. 
 
 In the interest of common decency it was necessary for the 
 women of the local to take action on this matter. At least, a 
 couple of them thought so, and quite independently and without 
 prearrangement they called on Lizzie next day and told her that 
 she should come more frequently to meetings, and keep herself 
 acquainted with the new ideas of advanced feminism. And so 
 when Jimmie came home that night, he found his wife dissolved 
 in tears, and there was a most harrowing scene. 
 
 For poor Elizabeth Huszar, pronounced Eleeza Betooser, had 
 had no chance whatever to familiarise herself with the new ideas 
 of advanced feminism. Her notions of "free unions" had been 
 derived from a quite different world, whose ideas were not new, 
 but on the contrary very, very old, and were "advanced" only 
 on the road to perdition. She judged Jimmie's behaviour ac- 
 cording to thoroughly old standards, and she was broken-hearted, 
 overwhelmed with grief and shame. He was like all the rest 
 of men and when she had fondly thought he was different! 
 He despised her and spit upon her a woman he had picked up in 
 a brothel. 
 
76 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Poor Jimmie was stunned. He was conscious of no disre- 
 spect for Lizzie, it had not occurred to him to think that she 
 might take the matter that way. But so she had taken it, 
 beyond doubt, and with intensity that frightened him. He 
 would not have believed that so many tears could stream from 
 one woman's eyes nor that his good, broad-faced, honest wife 
 could be so abject in her misery. "Oh, I knowed it, I knowed 
 it all along it would be that way! I hadn't never ought to 
 married you you know I told you so I" 
 
 "But, Lizzie!" pleaded the husband. "You're mistaken. 
 That hadn't nothin' to do with it." 
 
 She turned upon him wildly, her fingers stuck out as if she 
 would claw him. "You mean to tell me if you hadn't 'a married 
 a woman off the street, you'd 'a gone chasin' a fluffy-haired girl ? 
 If you'd 'a had a decent wife, that you knowed had some 
 rights " 
 
 "Lizzie !" he protested, in consternation. "Listen here " 
 
 But she was not to be stopped. "Everybody said I was a 
 fool; but I went an' done it, 'cause you swore you'd never hold 
 it up to me ! An' I went an' had them children" Lizzie swept 
 her arm at the children, as if to wipe them off the earth, to which 
 they had come by a cruel mistake. Jimmie Junior, who was 
 old enough to know that something serious was happening, and 
 whose instinct was all against being wiped off the earth, began 
 to howl wildly; and that set off the little ones soon they were 
 all three of them going at the top of their lungs. "Boo-hoo- 
 hoo!" 
 
 It was truly a terrible climax to a romance. Jimmie, 
 almost distracted, seized the hand of his injured spouse. "It'b 
 all nonsense!" he cried. "What they been tellin' you? I ain't 
 done a thing, Lizzie ! I only walked home with her one night." 
 
 But Lizzie answered that one night was plenty enough^, 
 she knew that from intimate and hateful experience. "And I 
 know them fluffy-headed kind that frizzes their hair. What does 
 she want to walk home at night with married men fer? And 
 talkin' about the things she does " 
 
 "She don't mean no harm, Lizzie she's tryin' to help 
 workin' women. It's what's called birth control she wants 
 to teach women " 
 
 "If she wants to teach women, why don't she talk to the 
 women? What's she all the time talkin' to men fer? You 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 77 
 
 think you can tell me tales like that me, that's been what I 
 have ?" And Lizzie went off into another fit, worse than ever. 
 
 VI 
 
 Jimmie found that it was with romance as with martyrdom 
 there was a lot of trouble about it which the romancers did 
 not mention. He really felt quite dreadful, for he had a deep 
 regard for this mother of his little ones, and he would not 
 have made her suffer for anything. And she was right, too, 
 he had to admit her shots went deep home. "How'd you feel, 
 if you was to find out I'd been walkin' home with some man ?" 
 When it was put to him that way, he realised that he would 
 have felt very badly indeed. 
 
 A flood of old emotions came back to him. He went in 
 memory with his group of roystering friends to the house of 
 evil where he had first met Elizabeth Huszar, pronounced 
 Eleeza Betooser. She had taken him to her room, and instead 
 of making herself agreeable in the usual way, had burst into 
 tears. She had been ill-treated, and was wretchedly lonely 
 and unhappy. Jimmie asked why she did not quit the life, 
 and she answered that she had tried more than once, but she 
 could not earn a living wage; and anyhow, because she was 
 big and handsome, the bosses would never let her alone, and 
 what was the difference, if you couldn't keep away from the 
 men? 
 
 They sat on the bed and talked, and Jimmie told her a 
 little about his life, and she told about hers a pitiful and 
 moving story. She had been brought to America as an infant; 
 her father had been killed in an accident, and her mother 
 had supported several children by scrub-work. Lizzie had 
 grown up in a slum of the far east side of New York, and she 
 could not remember a time when she had not been sexually 
 preyed upon; lewd little boys had taught her tricks, and men 
 would buy her with candy or food. And yet there had been 
 something in her struggling for decency; of her own volition 
 she had tried to go to school, in spite of her rags; and then, 
 when she was thirteen, she had answered an advertisement for 
 work as a nurse-maid. That story had made an especial im- 
 pression upon Jimmie it was truly a most pitiful episode. 
 
 Her place of employment had been a "swell" apartment, 
 
78 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 with a hall-boy and an elevator the most wonderful place 
 that Lizzie had ever beheld; it was like living in heaven, and 
 she had tried so hard to do what she was told, and be worthy 
 of her beautiful mistress and the lovely baby. But she had 
 been there only two days when the mistress had discovered 
 vermin on the baby, and had come to Lizzie and insisted 
 on examining her head. And of course she had found some- 
 thing. "Them's only nits!" Lizzie had said; she had never 
 heard of anybody who did not have "nits" in their hair. But 
 the beautiful lady had called her a vile creature, and ordered 
 her to pack up her things and get out of the house at once. 
 And so Lizzie had had to wait until she became an inmate of a 
 brothel before anybody took the trouble to teach her how to get 
 the "nits" out of her hair, and how to bathe, and to clean her 
 finger-nails and otherwise be physically decent. 
 
 Jimmie recalled all that, and he fell on his knees before 
 his wife, and caught her two hands by main force, and swore 
 to her that he had not done any wrong; he went on to tell 
 her exactly what wrong he had done, which was the best way to 
 convince her that he had not done any worse. He vowed again 
 and again that he would never, never dally with Cupid again 
 he would see Comrade Baskerville at once and tell her it was 
 "all off." 
 
 And so Lizzie looked up through her tears. "No," she 
 said, "you don't need to see her at all !" 
 
 "What shall I do, then?" 
 
 "Just let her alone don't tell her nothin'. She'll know 
 it's off all right." 
 
 VII 
 
 But when you have a dead romance, you cannot leave it to 
 rot on the highway; you are driven irresistibly to bury it 
 decently. In spite of his solemn promises, Jimmie found 
 himself thinking all the time about Comrade Baskerville, and 
 how he would act when he met her next time all the noble 
 and dignified speeches he would make to her. He must manage 
 to be alone with her; for of course he could not say such 
 things with the jealous old hags of the local staring at him. 
 The best thing, he decided, would be to tell her the frank and 
 honest truth ; to tell her about Lizzie, and how good and worthy 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID 79 
 
 she had been, and how deeply he realised his duty to her. 
 And then tears would come into Comrade Baskerville's lovely 
 eyes, and she would tell him that she honoured his high sense 
 of marital responsibility. They must renounce; but of course 
 they would be dear and true friends always, always. Jimmie 
 was holding her hands, in his fancy, as he said these affecting 
 words : Always ! Always ! He knew that he would have to let go 
 of the hands, but he was reluctant to do so, and he had not 
 quite got to the point of doing it when, walking down Jeffer- 
 son Street on his way home from work behold, in front of him 
 a trim, eager little figure, tripping gaily, with a jaunty hat 
 with a turkey-feather stuck on one side ! Jimmie knew the 
 figure a block away, and as he saw it coming nearer, his heart 
 leaped up and hit him in the bottom part of his neck, and all 
 his beautiful speeches flew helter-skelter out of his head. 
 
 She saw him, and the vivid, welcoming smile came upon her 
 face. She came up to him, and their hands clasped. "Why!" 
 she cried. "What a pleasant meeting!" 
 
 Jimmie gulped twice, and then began, "Comrade Basker- 
 
 ville " And then he gulped again, and began, "Comrade 
 
 Baskerville " 
 
 She stopped him. "I'm not Comrade Baskerville/' she de- 
 clared. 
 
 He could not get the meaning of these unexpected words. 
 "What?" he asked. 
 
 "Haven't you heard the news?" she said, and beamed on 
 him. "I'm Comrade Mrs. Gerrity." 
 
 He stared at her, utterly bewildered. "I've been that for 
 twenty-four whole hours! Congratulate me!" 
 
 Little by little the meaning of the words began to dawn 
 in Jimmie's stupid head. "Comrade Mrs. Gerrity!" he echoed. 
 "But but I thought you didn't believe in marriage." 
 
 There came the most bewitching smile, a smile decorated 
 with two rows of pearly white teeth. "Don't you understand, 
 Comrade Higgins? No woman believes in marriage until she 
 meets the right man." 
 
 This was much too subtle. Jimmie was still gaping open- 
 mouthed. "But then, I thought I thought " he stopped 
 
 again; for in truth, he had not known quite what he thought, 
 and anyway, it seemed futile to try to formulate it now. 
 
 But of course, she knew, without his telling her; she knew 
 
80 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the meaning of his look of dismay, and of his stammering words. 
 Being a kind little creature, she laid her hand on his arm. 
 "Comrade Higgins," she said, "don't think I'm too mean!" 
 
 "Mean?" he cried. "Why, no! What? How " 
 
 "Try to imagine you were a girl, Comrade Higgins. You 
 can't propose to a man, can you?" 
 
 "Why, no that is " 
 
 "That is, not if you want him to accept! You have to 
 make him do it. And maybe he's shy, and don't do it, and 
 you have to put the idea in his head for him. Or maybe he's 
 not sure he wants you, and you have to make him realise 
 how very desirable you are! Maybe you have to scare him, 
 making him think you're going to run off with somebody else ! 
 Don't you see how it is with a girl?" 
 
 Jimmie was still badly dazed, but he saw enough to enable 
 him to stammer, "Yes." And Comrade Baskerville that is, 
 Comrade Mrs. Gerrity gave him her hand again. "Comrade 
 Higgins," she said, "you're a dear, sweet fellow, and you won't 
 be too angry with me, will you? We'll be friends, won't we, 
 Comrade Higgins?" 
 
 And Jimmie clasped the soft, warm hand, and gazed into the 
 shining brown eyes, and he made a part of the wonderful speech 
 which he had been planning as he walked. He said : "Always ! 
 Always!" 
 

 CHAPTEK VIII 
 
 JIMMIB HIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT 
 
 THE world struggle continued with constantly increasing 
 ferocity. All summer long the Germans hammered at the 
 French and British lines; while the British hammered at the 
 gates of Constantinople, and the Italians at the gates of Trieste. 
 The Germans sent their giant airships to drop loads of bombs 
 on London, and their submarines to sink passenger-steamers 
 and hospital-ships. Each fresh outrage against international 
 law became the occasion of more letters of protest from the 
 United States, and of more controversies in the newspapers, and 
 in Congress, and in Kumme's bicycle-shop on Jefferson Street, 
 Leesville. 
 
 In this last place, to be sure, the discussions were rathe* 
 one-sided. Practically all who came there regarded the muni- 
 tions industry as an accursed thing, and made no secret of their 
 glee at the misfortunes which befell it; at shipyards which 
 caught fire and burned up, at railroad-bridges and ships at sea 
 destroyed by mysterious explosions. Kumme, a wizened-up, 
 grizzle-haired old fellow with a stubby nose and a bullet-head, 
 would fall to cursing in a mingling of English and German 
 when any one so much as mentioned the fleets of ships that 
 went across the water, loaded with shells to kill German sol- 
 diers; he would point a skinny finger at whoever would listen 
 to him, declaring that the Germans in this country were not 
 slaves, and would protect their Fatherland from the perfidious: 
 British and their Wall Street hirelings. Kumme took a news- 
 paper printed in German, and a couple of weeklies published in 
 English for the promotion of the German cause; he would 
 mark passages in these papers and read them aloud every- 
 thing that the mind of man could recall or invent that was 
 
 81 
 
82 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 discreditable to Britain, to France and Italy, to Wall street, 
 and to the nation which allowed Wall Street to bamboozle and 
 exploit it. There were many Americans who had "muck- 
 raked" their own country in the interests of social reform, 
 and had praised the social system of Germany. These argu- 
 ments the German propagandists now found useful, and Jim- 
 mie would take them to the Socialist local and pass them about. 
 From the meeting of the local he and Meissner would go to the 
 saloon where they had rendezvous with Jerry Coleman, who 
 would distribute more ten dollar bills to be used in the printing 
 of anti-war literature. 
 
 Old Kumme had a nephew by the name of Heinrich, who 
 paid him a visit now and then. He was a tall, fine-looking 
 fellow, who spoke much better English than his uncle, and 
 wore better clothes. Finally he came to stay, and Kumme 
 announced that he was to help in the shop. They didn't need 
 any help that Jimmie could see, and certainly not from a 
 feflow like Heinrich, who couldn't tell a spoke from a handle- 
 bar; but it was none of Jimmie's business, so Heinrich put on 
 working clothes, and spent a couple of weeks sitting behind 
 the counter conversing in low tones with men who came to see 
 him. After a while he took to going out again, and finally 
 announced that he had secured a job in the Empire. 
 
 II 
 
 And then to the hangers-on in the shop there was another 
 addition an Irish workingman named Reilly. The Irishman 
 was a peculiar problem in the war the thorn in the Allied 
 conscience, the weak spot in their armour, the broken link 
 in their chain of arguments; and so every German was happy 
 when an Irishman entered the room. This fellow Reilly came 
 to have a punctured tire mended, and stopped to tell what he 
 thought about the world-situation. Old man Kumme slapped 
 him over the back, and shook him by the hand, and told him 
 he was the right sort, and to come again. So Reilly took to 
 hanging about; he would pull from his pocket a paper called 
 "Hibernia," and Kumme would produce from under the 
 counter a paper called "Germania," and the two would de- 
 nounce "perfidious Albion" by the hour. Jimmie, bending 
 over the straightening of a sprocket, would look up and grin, 
 and exclaim, "You bet!" 
 
JIMMIE BIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT 83 
 
 It was winter-time, and darkness came early, and Jimmie 
 was doing his work by electric light in the back of the shop, 
 when Reilly came and mysteriously drew him into a corner. 
 Did he really mean what he said about hatred of war, and will- 
 ingness to fight against it? The Empire Shops were now turn- 
 ing out thousands of shell-casings every day, to be used in 
 the murder of men. It was useless to try to start a strike, 
 there were so many spies at work, and they fired every man 
 who opened his mouth; if an outsider tried it they would send 
 him to jail for of course old Granitch had the city government 
 in his vest-pocket. 
 
 All this was an old story to Jimmie ; but now the Irishman 
 went on to a new proposition. There was a way to stop the 
 work of the Empire, a way that had been tried in other places, 
 and had worked. Reilly knew where to get some T.N.T. an 
 explosive many times more powerful than dynamite. They 
 could make bombs out of the steel tubing of bicycles, and 
 Jimmie, knowing the Empire Shops as he did, could find a 
 way to get in and arrange matters. There was big money in 
 it the fellows who did that job might live on Easy Street 
 the rest of their lives. 
 
 Jimmie was stunned. He had been perfectly sincere in 
 classifying German spies with sea-serpents; and here was a 
 sea-serpent right before his eyes, raising his head through the 
 floor of Kumme's bicycle-shop ! 
 
 Jimmie answered that he had never had anything to do with 
 that sort of thing. That wasn't the way to stop war; that was 
 only making more war. The other began to argue with him, 
 showing that it wouldn't hurt anybody; the explosion would 
 take place at night, and all that would be damaged would be 
 Abel Granitch's purse. But Jimmie was obdurate; fortunately 
 one thing that had been incessantly pounded into his head at 
 the local was that the movement could not use conspiracy, 
 it must work by open propaganda, winning the minds and 
 consciences of men. 
 
 First the Irishman became angry, and called him a coward 
 and a molly-coddle. Then he became suspicious, and wanted 
 to know if Jimmie would sell him out to the Empire. Jimmie 
 laughed at this ; he had no love for Abel Granitch the damned 
 old skunk might do his own spying. Jimmie would simply 
 have nothing to do with the matter, one way or the other. 
 
84 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 And so the project was dropped; but the little machinist was 
 moved to keep his eyes open after that, and he made note of 
 how many Germans, all strangers, were making the shop a 
 meeting place; also the quick intimacy which had developed 
 between the Irishman and Heinrich, Kumme's nephew who 
 held himself so straight and had no back to his head. 
 
 Matters came to a climax with startling suddenness the 
 explosion of a bomb, though not the kind which Jimmie was 
 expecting. It was an evening in February, just as he was 
 about to close up, when he saw the door of the shop open, and 
 four men walk in. They came with a peculiar, business-like 
 air, two of them to the puzzled Jimmie, and the other two to 
 Kumme. One turned back the lapel of his coat, showing a large 
 gold star, and announcing, "I am an agent of the government, 
 and you are under arrest." And at the same time the other seized 
 Jimmie's arms and slipped a pair of handcuffs over his wrists. 
 He passed his hands over his prisoner, a ceremony known as 
 "frisking 75 ; and at the same time the other men had seized 
 Kumme. Jimmie saw two more men enter at the rear door of 
 the shop, but they had nothing to do, for both Jimmie and 
 Kumme had been too much startled to make any move to 
 escape. 
 
 They were led out to an automobile, shoved in and whirled 
 away. No questions were answered, so after a bit they stopped 
 asking questions and sat still, reflecting upon all the sins they 
 had ever committed in their lives, and upon the chances of 
 these sins being known to the police. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Jimmie thought he was going to jail, of course ; but instead 
 they took him to the Post Office building, to an upstairs room. 
 Kumme was taken to another room, and Jimmie did not see 
 him again ; all that Jimmie had time to know or to think about 
 was a stern-faced young man who sat at a desk and put him on 
 a griddle. "It is my duty to inform you that everything you 
 state may be used against you/' said this young man ; and then, 
 without giving Jimmie a chance to grasp the meaning of these 
 words, he began firing questions at him. All through the 
 ordeal the two detectives stood by his side, and in a corner 
 of the room, at another desk, a stenographer was busily recording 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT 85 
 
 what he said. Jimmie knew there were such things as stenog- 
 raphers for had he not come near falling in love with one 
 only a short time before? 
 
 "Your name?" said the stern-faced young man; and then, 
 "Where do you live ?" And then, "Tell me all you know about 
 this bomb-conspiracy/' 
 
 "But I don't know nothin' !" cried Jimmie. 
 
 "You are in the hands of the Federal government," replied 
 the young man, "and your only chance will be to make a clean 
 breast. If you will help us, you may get off." 
 
 "But I don't know nothin' I" cried Jimmie, again. 
 
 "You have heard talk about dynamiting the Empire Shops ?" 
 
 "Y-yes, sir." 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 "A man " Jimmie got that far, and then he recollected 
 
 the promise he had given. "I I can't tell !" he said. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "It wouldn't be right." 
 
 "Do you believe in dynamiting buildings?" 
 
 "No, sir !" Jimmie put into this reply a note of tense sin- 
 cerity; and so the other began to argue with him. Atrocious 
 crimes had been committed all over the country, and the govern- 
 ment wished to put a stop to them; surely it was the duty of a 
 decent citizen to give what help he could. Jimmie listened until 
 a sweat of anxiety stood out on his forehead; but he could not 
 bring himself to "peach" on a fellow-workingman. No, not if 
 he were sent to jail for ten or twenty years, as the stern-faced 
 young man told him might happen. 
 
 "You told Eeilly you wouldn't have anything to do with 
 bombs ?" asked the young man ; and Jimmie answered, "Sure, I 
 did!" And his poor head was so addled that he didn't even 
 realise that in his reply he had told what he had been vow- 
 ing he would never tell! 
 
 The questioner seemed to know all about everything, so it 
 was easy for him to lead Jimmie to tell how he had heard 
 Kumme cursing the Empire Shops, and the country, and the 
 President; how he had seen Kumme whispering to Eeilly, and 
 to Germans whose names he had not learned, and how he had 
 seen Heinrigh, Kumme's nephew, cutting up lengths of steel 
 tubing. Then the questioner asked about Jerry Coleman. 
 How much money had Jimmie got, and just what had he done 
 
86 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 with it? Jimmie refused to name other people; but when the 
 young man made the insinuation that Jimmie might have kept 
 some of the money for himself, the little machinist exclaimed 
 with passionate intensity not one dollar had he kept, nor his 
 friend Meissner either; they had given statements to Jerry 
 Coleman, and this though many a time they had been hard up 
 for their rent. The police could ask Comrade Gerrity and Com- 
 rade Mary Allen, and the other members of the local. 
 
 So the questioner led Jimmie on to talk about the Germans 
 in the movement. Schneider, the brewer, for example he was 
 one of those who cursed the Allies most vehemently, and he had 
 been in this bomb-conspiracy. Jimmie was 'indignant; Com- 
 rade Schneider was as good a Socialist as you could find, and 
 Socialists had nothing to do with bombs! But young Emil 
 Forster he had been making explosives in his spare hours, 
 had he not? At which Jimmie became still more outraged. 
 He knew young Emil well; the boy was a carpet-designer and 
 musician, and if anybody had told such tales about him, they 
 were lying, that was all. The questioner went on for an hour 
 or so, tormenting poor Jimmie with such doubts and fears; 
 until finally he dropped a little of his sternness of manner, 
 and told Jimmie that he had merely been trying him out, to 
 see what he knew about various men whose pro-German feel- 
 ings had brought them under suspicion. No, the government 
 had no evidence of crime against Schneider or Forster, or any 
 of the bona-fide Socialists. They were just plain fools, letting 
 themselves be used as tools of German plotters, who were 
 spending money like water to make trouble in munitions 
 factories all over the country. 
 
 IV 
 
 The questioner, who explained himself as a "special agent" 
 of the Department of Justice, went on to read Jimmie a lecture. 
 A sincere man like himself ought to be ashamed to let himself 
 be taken in by German conspirators, who were trying to break 
 up American industry, to lead American labour by the nose. 
 
 "But they want to stop the making of munitions!" cried 
 Jimmie. 
 
 "But that's only so that Germany can make more muni- 
 tions I" 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT 87 
 
 "But I'm opposed to their being made in Germany, too!" 
 
 "What can you do to stop it in Germany?" 
 
 "I'm an international Socialist. When I oppose war in my 
 own country, I help the Socialists to oppose it in other coun- 
 tries. I ain't a-going to stop not so long as I've got any 
 breath left in me !" And here was Comrade Jimmie, delivering 
 a sermon on pacifism to the "special agent" of the government/ 
 who held his fate in his hands! But no one was going to 
 defend war to Jimmie Higgins and not be answered even 
 though Jimmie might go to jail for the rest of his life! 
 
 The young man laughed more genially than Jimmie would 
 have thought possible at the start of this grilling. "Higgins/' 
 he said, "you're a good-natured idiot. You can thank your lucky. 
 stars that one of the men you trusted happened to be a govern- 
 ment detective. If we didn't know the truth about you, you 
 might have had a hard time clearing yourself." 
 
 Jimmie's jaw had fallen. "A government detective! Who 
 is the government detective?" 
 
 "Reilly," said the young man. 
 
 "Reilly? But it was him that tempted me!" 
 
 "Well, congratulate yourself that you resisted temptation!" 
 
 "But maybe he tempted Heinrich too !" 
 
 "No Heinrich didn't have to be tempted. It was on 
 account of Heinrich that we began the investigation. He has 
 been making explosives and planting them all over the country. 
 His name isn't Heinrich, and he isn't a nephew of Kumme; 
 his name is von Holtz, and he's a Prussian officer, a personal 
 friend of the Kaiser." 
 
 Jimmie was speechless. For the love of Mike! He had 
 been sitting in the back part of old Kumme's bicycle-shop, 
 filling his pipe from the tobacco-pouch of a personal friend of 
 the Kaiser! He had called this personal friend of the Kaiser 
 a dub and a jack-ass, informing him that a real mechanic 
 could put a ball-bearing together while he, the personal friend 
 of the Kaiser, was spitting on his hands. Could you beat it? 
 
 Mr. Harrod, the "special agent," informed Jimmie that he 
 would have to testify as to what he knew; and Jimmie was so 
 indignant at the way he had been taken in that he was willing 
 to do so. He would have to give bond to appear, added the 
 other ; did he know any one who would vouch for him ? Jimmie 
 racked his harassed brain. Comrade Dr. Service might con- 
 
88 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 sent, if he were quite sure that Jimmie had not really meant 
 to help the Germans. Mr. Harrod kindly consented to give this 
 assurance, and called up Dr. Service, whom he seemed to know, 
 and told him the circumstances: Dr. Service finally said that 
 he would put up a couple of thousand dollars to guarantee 
 Jimmie's appearance before the grand jury and at the trial. 
 Mr. Harrod added that if Dr. Service would promise to come 
 in the morning and attend to the matter, the government would 
 take his word and let the witness go for the night. The doctor 
 promised, and Jimmie was told that he was free till ten o'clock 
 next morning. He went out, like a sky-lark escaping from a 
 cage! 
 
 He had been warned not to talk to any one, so he told 
 Lizzie that he had been kept late to make repairs on a motor- 
 cycle. And next morning he got up at the usual hour, to 
 avoid exciting suspicion, and went and stared at the shop, 
 which was locked up, with a policeman on guard. He bought 
 a copy of the Leesville "Herald," and read the thrilling story 
 of the German plot which had been unearthed in Leesville. 
 There were half a dozen conspirators under arrest, and more 
 than a dozen bombs had been found, all destined to be set off 
 in the Empire Shops. Franz Heinrich von Holtz, who had 
 blown up a bridge in Canada and put an infernal machine on 
 board a big Atlantic liner, had been nailed at last ! 
 
 Half an hour before time, Jimmie was waiting at the Post 
 Office building, and when Comrade Dr. Service arrived, they 
 went in and signed the bond. Coming out again, the grim and 
 forbidding doctor ordered Jimmie into his car, and oh, what a 
 dressing-down he did give him! He had Jimmie where he 
 wanted him right over his knees and before he let him up 
 he surely did make him burn ! The little machinist had been 
 so cock-sure of himself ; going ahead to end the war, by stopping 
 the shipping of munitions, and paying no heed to warnings 
 from men older and wiser than himself ! And now see what he 
 had got himself in for arrested with a gang of fire-bugs and 
 desperadoes, under the control and in the pay of a personal 
 friend of the Kaiser! 
 
 Ppor Jimmie couldn't put up much of a defence: he was 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT 89 
 
 cowed, for once. He could only say that he had had no evil 
 intention he had merely been agitating against the trade in 
 munitions a wicked thing 
 
 "Wicked?" broke in the Comrade Doctor. "The thing upon 
 which the freedom of mankind depends I" 
 
 "W-what?" exclaimed Jimmie; for these words sounded to 
 him like sheer lunacy. 
 
 The other explained. "A nation that means to destroy its 
 neighbours sets to work and puts all its energies into making 
 guns and shells. The free peoples of the world won't follow 
 suit you can't persuade them to do it, because they don't believe 
 in war, they can't realise that their neighbours intend to make 
 war. So, when they are attacked, their only chance for life 
 is to go out into the open market and buy the means of defence. 
 And you propose to deprive them of that right to betray them, 
 to throw them under the hoofs of the war-monster! You, 
 who call yourself a believer in justice, make yourself a tool of 
 such a conspiracy! You take German money " 
 
 "I never took no German money !" cried Jimmie, wildly. 
 
 "Didn't Kumme pay you money?" 
 
 "But I worked in his shop I done my ten hours a day 
 right straight !" 
 
 "And this fellow Jerry Coleman? Hasn't he given you 
 money ?" 
 
 "But that was for propaganda he was agent for Labour's 
 National Peace Council " 
 
 And the Comrade Doctor fairly snorted. "How could you 
 be such an ass ? Don't you read the news ? But no of course 
 you don't you only read German dope!" And the Comrade 
 Doctor drew out his pocket-book, which was bursting with 
 clippings, and selected one from a New York paper, telling 
 how the government was proceeding against the officials of an 
 organisation called "Labour's National Peace Council" for 
 conspiring to cause strikes and violence. The founder of the 
 organisation was a person known as "the Wolf of Wall Street" ; 
 the funds had been furnished by a Prussian army officer, an 
 attache of the German legation, who had used his official 
 immunity to incite conspiracy and wholesale destruction of 
 property in a friendly country. What had Jimmie to say to 
 that? 
 
 And poor Jimmie for once had nothing to say. He sat, 
 
90 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 completely crushed. Not merely the money which he had got 
 from Kumme on Saturday night, but also the ten dollar bills 
 which Jerry Coleman had been slipping into his hand they 
 too had come from the Kaiser! Was the whole radical move- 
 ment to be taken over by the Kaiser, and Jimmie Higgins put 
 out of his job? 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS RETURNS TO NATURE 
 
 KUMME'S bicycle-shop went out of business, and its contents 
 were sold at auction. Jimmie Higgins watched the process 
 wistfully, reflecting how, if he had not wasted his substance 
 on Socialist tracts, if he had saved a bit of his wages like any 
 normal human being, he might have bought this little business 
 and got a start in life. But alas, such hopes were not for 
 Jimmie ! He must remain in the condition which the President 
 of his country described as "industrial serfdom"; he must 
 continue to work for some other man's profit, to be at the 
 mercy of some other man's whim. 
 
 He found himself a job in the railroad-shops; but in a 
 couple of weeks came an organiser, trying to start a union in 
 the place. Jimmie, of course, joined; how could he refuse? 
 And so the next time he went to get his pay he found a green 
 slip in his envelope, informing him that the Atlantic Western 
 Eailroad Company would no longer require his services. No 
 explanation was given, and none sought for Jimmie was old 
 in the ways of American wage-slavery, euphemistically referred 
 to as "industrial serfdom." 
 
 He got another start as helper to a truckman. It was the 
 hardest work he had yet done all the harder because the boss 
 was a dull fellow who would not talk about politics or the war. 
 So Jimmie was discontented; perhaps the spring-time was 
 getting into his blood ; at any rate, he hunted through his Sun- 
 day paper, and came on an advertisement of a farmer who 
 wanted a "hand." It was six miles out in the country, and 
 Jimmie, remembering his walk with the Candidate, treated him- 
 self to a Sunday afternoon excursion. He knew nothing about 
 farm- work, and said so; but the munition-factories had drained 
 
 91 
 
92 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 so much labour from the land that the farmer was glad to get 
 anybody. He had a "tenant-house" on his place, and on Mon- 
 day morning Jimmie hired his former boss the truckman 
 to move his few sticks of furniture; he bade farewell to his 
 little friend Meissner, and next day was learning to milk cows 
 and steer a plough. 
 
 So Jimmie came back to the bosom of his ancient Mother. 
 But alas, he came, not to find joy and health, not as a free 
 man, to win his own way and make a new life for himself; he 
 came as a soil-slave, to drudge from dawn to dark for a hire 
 that barely kept him going. The farmer was the owner of 
 Jimmie' s time, and Jimmie disliked him heartily, because he 
 was surly-tempered and stingy, abusing his horses and nagging 
 at his hired man. Jimmie's education in farm-economics was 
 not thorough enough to enable him to realise that John Cutter 
 was as much of a slave as himself bound by a mortgage to 
 Ashton Chalmers, President of the First National Bank of 
 Leesville. John drudged from dawn to dark, just as Jimmie 
 did, and in addition had all the worry and fear; his wife was a 
 sallow and hollow-chested drudge, who took as many bottles of 
 patent-medicine as poor Mrs. Meissner. 
 
 But Jimmie kept fairly cheerful because he was learning 
 new things, and because he saw how good it was for the babies, 
 who were getting fresh air and better food than they had ever 
 had in their little lives before. All summer long he ploughed 
 and harrowed and hoed, he tended horses and cows and pigs 
 and chickens, and drove to town with farm-truck to be sold. 
 He would be too tired at night even to read his Socialist papers ; 
 for six months he let the world go its way unhindered its way 
 of desperate strife and colossal anguish. It was the time when 
 the German hordes hurled themselves against the fortifications 
 of Verdun. For five horrible months they came on, wave upon 
 endless wave; the people of France set their teeth and swore, 
 "They shall not pass !" and the rest of civilisation waited, hold- 
 ing its breath. 
 
 II 
 
 The only chance Jimmie had to talk about these matters 
 was of a Saturday night when he strolled up to the store at a 
 near-by cross-roads. The men he met here were of a new type 
 to him as different from factory people as if they came from 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS EETUENS TO NATURE 93 
 
 another planet. Jimmie had been taught to laugh at them as 
 "hayseeds" ; intellectually he regarded them as relics of a 
 vanished age, so of course he could not listen to their talk very 
 long without "butting in." He began with the declaration 
 that the Allies were as bad as the Germans. He got away with 
 that, because they had all been taught to hate the "Britishers" in 
 their schoolbooks, and they didn't "know very much about 
 Frenchmen and "Eye-talians." But when Jimmie went on to 
 say that the American government was as bad as the German 
 government that all governments were 'run by capitalists, 
 and all went to war for foreign markets and such plunder 
 then what a hornets' nest he brought about his ears! "You 
 mean to say American armies would do what them Proosians 
 done in Belgium?" And when Jimmie answered Yes, an 
 indignant citizen rose from his seat on a cracker-box, and 
 tapped him on the shoulder and said : "Look here, young feller, 
 you better run along home. You'll git yerself a coat of tar 
 and feathers if you talk too much round these parts." 
 
 So Jimmie shut up for a while; and when he went out 
 with his armful of purchases, an aged, white-whiskered patri- 
 arch who had been listening got up and followed him out. 
 "I'm goin' your way," he said. "Git in with me." Jimmie 
 climbed into the buggy; and while the bony old mare ambled 
 along through the summer-night the driver asked questions 
 about Jimmie's life. Where had he been brought up? How 
 had it been possible for a man to live all his life in America, 
 and know so little about his native land? 
 
 Peter Drew was this old farmer's name, and he had been 
 in the first battle of Bull Eun, and had fought with the Army 
 of Northern Virginia all the way to Eichmond. So he knew 
 how American armies behave ; he could tell Jimmie about a mil- 
 lion free men who had rushed to arms to save their nation's in- 
 tegrity, and had made a clean job of it, and then gone quietly 
 back to their work at farm and forge. Jimmie had heard 
 Comrade Mary Allen, the Quaker, make the statement that 
 "Force never settled anything." He repeated this now, and the 
 other replied that an American ought to be the last person in 
 the world to make such a statement, for his country had pro- 
 vided the best illustration in history of the importance of a 
 good job of spanking. It was force that had settled the slavery 
 question and settled it so that now you might travel in the 
 
94 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 South and have a hard time to find a man that would want 
 to unsettle it. 
 
 But Jimmie knew nothing about all that; he knew nothing 
 about anything in America. The old man said it frightened 
 him to realise that the country had let a man grow up in it 
 with so little understanding of its soul. All that precious 
 tradition, utterly dead so far as Jimmie was concerned! All 
 those heroes who had died to make free the land in which he 
 lived, and to keep it free and he did not know their names, 
 he did not even know the names of the great battles they had 
 fought ! The old man's voice trembled and he laid his hand on 
 Jimmie's knee. 
 
 The little Socialist tried to explain that he had dreams of 
 his own. He was fighting for international freedom his 
 patriotism was higher and wider than any one country. And 
 that was all right, said the other, but why kick down the ladder 
 by which you had climbed and especially when you had per- 
 haps not entirely finished climbing? Why not know the better 
 side of your own country, and appeal to it? Peter Drew went 
 on to tell of a speech he had heard Abraham Lincoln make, 
 and to quote things Lincoln had said ; could Jimmie doubt that 
 Lincoln would have opposed the rule of the country by Wall 
 Street? And when a country had been shaped and guided by 
 such men as Lincoln, why trample its face and besmirch its 
 good name just because there were in it some evil men con- 
 tending against its ideals of freedom and democracy ? 
 
 This old soldier lived about a mile from Jimmie, and asked 
 his new friend to come and see him. So the next afternoon, 
 which was Sunday, Lizzie put on a newly starched dress, and 
 Jimmie packed the two littlest infants in the double perambu- 
 lator, and took Jimmie Junior's chubby hand, and they trudged 
 down the road to the farm-house which the old man's father 
 had built. Mrs. Drew was a sweet-faced, rather tired looking 
 old lady, but her pale eyes seemed to smile with hospitality, 
 and she brought out a basket of ripe peaches, and sat and 
 chatted sympathetically with Lizzie about the care of babies, 
 while Jimmie and the old man sat under the shade of an elm 
 tree by the kitchen-door and discussed American history. Jim- 
 mie listened to stories of battle and imprisonment, of monster 
 heroisms and self-immolations. Up to this time he had been 
 looking at war from the outside, as it were; but now he got a 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS RETURNS TO NATURE 95 
 
 glimpse of the soul of it, he began to understand how a man 
 might be willing to leave his home and his loved ones, and 
 march out to fight and suffer and die to save his country in 
 which he believed. 
 
 And here was another new idea : this old fellow had been a 
 soldier, had fought through four years of incessant battles, and 
 yet he had not lost his goodness. He was kind, gentle, generous ; 
 he gave dignity to the phrases at which Jimmie had been taught 
 to mock. It was impossible not to respect such a man; and so 
 little by little Jimmie was made to reflect that there might be 
 such a thing as the soul of America, about which Peter Drew 
 was all the time talking. Perhaps there was really more to 
 the country than Wall Street speculators and grafting politicians, 
 policemen with clubs and militiamen with bayonets to stick 
 into the bodies of workingmen who tried to improve their lot 
 in life! 
 
 ill 
 
 In the course of the summer Jimmie had to take several 
 days off and go into Leesville to attend the trial of the Ger- 
 man plotters. He had to take the witness-stand and tell all he 
 know about Kumme and Heinrich and the other men who had 
 frequented the bicycle-shop. 'It was a very serious experience, 
 and before it was over Jimmie was heartily glad that he had 
 rejected the invitation to help blow up the Empire Machine 
 Shops. The trial ended with a sentence of six months for Jim- 
 mie's old employer, and of two years each for Heinrich and his 
 pals. The law allowed no more to the intense disgust of the 
 Leesville "Herald." The "Herald" was in favour of a life- 
 sentence for any one who interfered with the industry upon 
 which the prosperity of the city depended. 
 
 Among those who came to the trial was Comrade Smith, 
 editor of the "Worker," and Jimmie sat with him in Tom's 
 "Buffeteria," and heard an account of the latest developments 
 in the Empire Shops. The movement of discontent had been 
 entirely crushed ; the great establishment was going at full blast, 
 both day and night. They were taking on hundreds of new 
 hands, mostly women and girls, speeding them faster and faster, 
 turning out tens of thousands of shell-casings every day. And 
 still they were not satisfied; new buildings were going up, the 
 
96 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 concern was spreading like a huge blot over the landscape. 
 There was talk of an explosives factory neartiy, so that shells 
 might be filled as fast as they were made. 
 
 The "boom" conditions continued in Leesville; speculators 
 were reaping harvests, it seemed as if the masters of the city 
 were all on a spree. Comrade Smith advised Jimmie to stay 
 where he was, for it was getting to be harder and harder for 
 the workers in Leesville to get anything to eat. But out on 
 the heights along the river front, the part of the city called 
 "Nob Hill/' new palaces were rising. And it was that way 
 all over the Eastern part of the country, said the young editor; 
 the rich no longer knew what to do with their millions. 
 
 On the day the trial ended, Jimmie stayed in town to attend 
 a meeting of the local and pay his back dues. So he met all 
 his old friends, and heard "Wild Bill" get up and deliver one 
 of his tirades. Bill had in his hand a newspaper clipping tell- 
 ing of the amazing madness that had struck Wall Street. 
 Munition-stocks were soaring to prices beyond belief; "war- 
 babies," men called them, with unthinkably cynical wit. On 
 the "Great White Way," to which they rushed to celebrate these 
 new Arabian Nights, there was such an orgy of dissipation 
 as the world had never seen. "And this is what we have to 
 slave for!" yelled "Wild Bill" looking wilder than ever since 
 the police had broken his nose and knocked out his three front 
 teeth. "This is why we are chained to our jobs shut up in 
 jail if we so much as open our mouths ! Piling up millions 
 for old man Granitch, so that young Lacey can marry chorus- 
 girls and divorce them or steal away another man's wife, as 
 they say he's doing just now !" 
 
 Then young Emil Forster spoke, explaining to Jimmie the 
 inner significance of terrific world-events. Eussia was in the 
 midst of a gigantic offensive, which was meant to overwhelm 
 Austria; England at the same time was hurling in her new 
 armies on the Somme; for these two giant movements they 
 wanted shells millions and millions of shells from America, 
 which alone could make enough of them. The railroads were 
 clogged with them, they were piled mountain-high at the term- 
 inals and ports; whole fleets of steamers were loading up with 
 them, and proceeding to England and France, and to Kussia 
 by way of Archangel. And of course the German submarines 
 were out to stop them; the whole world was like a powder- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS RETURNS TO NATURE 97 
 
 magazine over the issue. The President, by his series of notes, 
 had forced Germany to agree not to sink passenger-vessels ; but 
 this promise was not easy to keep accidents kept happening, 
 and the temper of the peoples was rising, America was being 
 drawn nearer every hour to the vortex of this dreadful strife. 
 Such was the picture which Jimmie carried back to the farm; 
 you could hardly wonder if he missed that peace and joy 
 which men are supposed to imbibe at the bosom of their Mother 
 Nature ! 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGLES MEETS THE OWNEE 
 
 TT was late at night when Jimmie left the Socialist local, 
 * and took the trolley out into the country. He had to walk 
 nearly two miles from where he got off, and a thunder-storm 
 had come up ; he got out and started to trudge through the dark- 
 ness and the floods of rain. Several times he slipped off the 
 road into the ditch, and once he fell prone, and got up and 
 washed the mud from his eyes and nose with the stream of 
 fresh water pouring about his head. While he was thus occu- 
 pied he heard the sound of a horn, and saw a glare of light 
 rushing up. He jumped into the ditch again, and a big 
 automobile went by at a fast pace, spattering showers of mud 
 all over him. He plodded on, swearing to himself. Some of 
 them munition-millionaires, no doubt tearing over the country 
 at night, honking their horns like they owned the roads, and 
 covering poor walking people with their splashings! 
 
 And so on, until Jimmie came round a turn of the road, 
 and saw the white glare of light again, this time standing still. 
 It seemed to be pointing up into the trees; and when he got 
 nearer he made out the reason it had run off the road into 
 the ditch, and then up the other slope, and there rolled over 
 onto its side. 
 
 "Hello I' 9 said a voice, as Jimmie came slopping up. 
 
 "Hello!" he answered. 
 
 "How far is it to the nearest house ?" 
 
 "Maybe half a mile." 
 
 "Who lives there?" 
 
 "I do." 
 
 "Have you got a horse and buggy ?" 
 
 "There's one at the big house, just a piece beyond." 
 
 98 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER 99 
 
 "Do you suppose we could get enough men to turn this car 
 over?" 
 
 "I dunno ; there ain't many about here." 
 
 "Damn!" muttered the man to himself. Then, after a 
 moment, "Well, there's no use staying here." This to his 
 companion, whom Jimmie made out to be a woman. She was 
 standing still, with the cold rain pouring over her. The man 
 put his arm about her, and said to Jimmie, "Lead the way, 
 please." So Jimmie set out, slopping through the mud as be- 
 fore. 
 
 Nothing more was said until they reached the "tenant- 
 house" where the Jimmies lived. But meantime the little 
 Socialist's mind was busy; it seemed to him that the man's 
 voice was familiar, and he was trying to recall where and how 
 he had heard it before. They came to the house, which was 
 dark, and the couple stood on the porch while Jimmie went in 
 and groped for a match and lighted the single smoky oil-lamp 
 on which the household depended. Carrying it in his hand, he 
 went to the door and invited the couple in. They came ; and so 
 Jimmie got a glimpse of the face of the man, and almost 
 dropped the lamp right there where he stood. It was Lacey 
 Granitch ! 
 
 II 
 
 The young lord of Leesville was too much occupied with his 
 own affairs to notice the look on the face of the yokel before 
 him ; or perhaps he was so used to being recognised, and to being 
 stared at by yokels. He looked about the room and saw a stove. 
 "Can you get us a fire, so this lady can get dry?" 
 
 "Y-yes," said Jimmie. "I-I suppose so." But he made 
 no move; he stood rooted to the spot. 
 
 "Lacey," put in the woman, "don't stop for that. Get the 
 car started, or get another." And Jimmie looked at her; she 
 was rather small, and very beautiful quite the most beautiful 
 human creature that Jimmie had ever looked at. One could see 
 that she was expensively dressed, even though everything she 
 had on was soaked with rain. 
 
 "Nonsense!" exclaimed Lacey. "You can't travel till you 
 get dry you'd be ill." And he turned upon Jimmie. "Get a 
 fire, won't you ?" he exclaimed. "A big fire. I'll make it worth 
 
100 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 while to you for whatever you do. Only don't stand there 
 gaping all night/' he added impatiently. 
 
 Jimmie leaped to obey; partly because he had been in the 
 habit of leaping to obey all his life but also partly because 
 he was sorry for the beautiful wet lady, and because, if he stood 
 and stared any longer, Lacey Granitch might recognise him. 
 The moment when Jimmie had been singled out in the herd of 
 strikers and cursed by the young master of the Empire Machine 
 Shops was one of the most vivid memories of Jimmie's re- 
 bellious life, and it did not occur to him that the incident 
 might not have equally impressed the other participant. 
 
 In a few minutes the stove was hot ; and urged by her escort, 
 the lady took off her driving-coat and hat, and hung them over 
 a chair. Everything underneath was wet, and the man urged 
 her to take off her skirt and waist. "What does he matter?" 
 he argued, referring to Jimmie; but the lady would not do it. 
 She stood by the stove, shivering slightly, and pleading with 
 her escort to make haste, to find some way to get the car 
 running again. They might be followed 
 
 "Oh, nonsense, Helen !" cried Lacey. "You are torment- 
 ing yourself with nightmares. Be sensible, and get dry." He 
 piled the wood into the stove, and ordered Jimmie to get an- 
 other armful; and Jimmie obeyed with his hands and feet 
 but meantime his rebellious little brain was taking in every 
 detail of the situation, putting this and that together. 
 
 The talking had waked up Lizzie, so Jimmie rushed into 
 the next room and whispered, "Lacey Granitch is here!" If 
 he had told her that the Angel Gabriel was there, or Jehovah 
 with all his thunders and his retinue of seraphim, poor Lizzie 
 could not have been more stunned. Jimmie ordered her to get 
 up, and get on her dress and shoes, and get a cup of coffee 
 for the lady; the dazed woman obeyed though she would rather 
 have crawled under the bed than face the celestial personages 
 who had taken possession of her home. 
 
 in 
 
 Lacey ordered Jimmie to accompany him, to find some help 
 to get the car into travelling condition. They went out together, 
 and on the porch, before they braved the rain again, young 
 Granitch stopped and spoke: "See here, my man; I want you 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER 101 
 
 io help me get a gang together, and I want you to keep quiet, 
 please say nothing about who was in the car. If any other 
 people come along and ask questions, keep your mouth shut, and 
 I'll make it worth while to you well worth while. Do you 
 understand ?" 
 
 Every instinct in Jimmie Higgins was ready to answer, 
 "Yes, sir/' That was what he had always answered to such 
 commands he, and his father, and his father's fathers before 
 him. But something else within him resisted this instinct 
 the new revolutionary psychology which he had so painfully 
 acquired, and which made continual war upon his old-time 
 docilities. It seemed that this was the moment, if ever in his 
 life, to show the stuff he was made of. He clenched his hands, 
 and everything in him turned to iron. "Who is that lady?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 Lacey Granitch was so taken aback that he started visibly. 
 "What do you mean ?" 
 
 "I mean is she your wife? Or is she some other man's 
 wife?" 
 
 "Why you damned " And the young lord of Leesville 
 
 stopped, speechless. Jimmie fell back a couple of steps, as a 
 matter of precaution, but he did not weaken in his rigid resolve. 
 
 "I know you, Mr. Granitch," he said; "and I know what 
 you're doing. You might as well know you ain't foolin' no- 
 body." 
 
 "What the hell is it to you?" cried the other; but then he 
 stopped again, and Jimmie heard him breathing hard. Evi- 
 dently he made an effort to keep his self-control ; when he spoke 
 again, his voice was quieter. "Listen, my good fellow," he said. 
 "You have a chance to make a good deal of money to-night " 
 
 "I don't want your money !" broke in Jimmie. "I wouldn't 
 touch your filthy money, that you get by murdering men !" 
 
 "My God !" said Lacey Granitch ; and then, weakly : "What 
 have you got against me ?" 
 
 "What have I got? I was workin' in the Empire, an' I 
 went on strike for my rights, an' you cursed me like I was a dog, 
 an' you sent the police an' had me arrested, an' they smashed 
 Wild Bill's nose, an' sent me up for ten days when I hadn't 
 done nothin' " 
 
 "Oh! So that's it, is it?" 
 
 "Yes, that's it; but I wouldn't mind that so much if it 
 
102 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 wasn't for them shells you're makin' to kill men over in Europe. 
 And you spendin' the money drinkin' champagtie with chorus- 
 girls, an' running off with other men's wives!" 
 
 "You " and Lacey uttered a foul oath, and leaped at 
 
 Jimmie; but Jimmie had expected that, he was looking out for 
 himself. There was no railing to the little porch on which he 
 stood, and he leaped off to the ground and away. Because he 
 knew the lay of the land, he could run faster in the darkness 
 than his pursuer. 
 
 He sped down the path and out into the road and there 
 was the headlight of an automobile, almost upon him. The 
 vehicle came to an instant stop, and a startled voice cried, 
 "Hey, there!" 
 
 "Hey, there !" answered Jimmie, and stopped in the light ; 
 for he did not believe that his enemy would dare pursue him 
 there. 
 
 The voice from the car spoke again. "There's an automobile 
 off the road a ways back here. Do you know anything about 
 who the people are that were driving it?" 
 
 "Sure I do !" answered Jimmie promptly. 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 "They're up in that house Lacey Granitch an' a lady 
 named Helen " 
 
 And instantly the door of the car was flung open. A man 
 leaped out, and another man, and another; they kept coming 
 Jimmie would not have believed that an automobile could have 
 held so many people. Not one of them said a word, but all 
 started on the run for Jimmie's house as if they were charging 
 in a battle. 
 
 IV 
 
 Jimmie followed behind. He heard sounds of a scuffle on 
 the lawn, and screams from inside. At first the little farm- 
 hand could not make up his mind what to do, but finally he 
 ran to the house ; and there in the front room he saw the beauti- 
 ful lady, with her wet hair streaming down her back, and the 
 tears streaming down her face, sunk on her knees before the 
 man who had hailed Jimmie from the automobile. She had 
 caught his coat with her two hands, and clung to it with such 
 desperation that when he tried to draw away he dragged her 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER 103 
 
 along the floor. "Paul!" she was screaming. "What are you 
 going to do?" 
 
 "Be quiet! Be quiet!" commanded the man. He was 
 young, tall and superhumanly handsome ; his face had the white 
 light of a passionate resolve, his lips were set like those of a 
 man who is marching to his death in battle. "Answer me!" 
 cried the woman again and again; until finally he said: "I 
 shan't kill him; but I mean to teach him his lesson." 
 
 "Paul, Paul, have mercy!" sobbed the woman; she went on 
 pleading hysterically, in the most dreadful distress that Jimmie 
 had ever seen or heard. "It wasn't his fault, Paul, it was 
 mine ! I did it all ! Oh, for Christ's sake ! You are driving 
 me mad!" She moaned, she implored, she sobbed till she 
 choked herself; and when the man tried to tear her hands 
 loose she fought with him, he could not get free of her. 
 
 "You're not going to move me, Helen," he declared. "You 
 might as well get that clear." 
 
 "But I tell you it was my fault, Paul! I ran away with 
 him!" 
 
 "'All right," answered the man, grimly. "I'll fix him so 
 no other man's wife will ever run away with him." 
 
 Her clamour continued more wildly than ever, until two 
 other men came into the room. "Joe," said Paul, to one of 
 them, "take her down to the car arid keep her there. Don't 
 let her call for help if anybody comes along, keep her quiet, 
 keep your hand tight over her mouth." 
 
 "Paul, you're a fiend !" shrieked the woman. "I'll kill you 
 for this!" 
 
 "You're welcome to," answered the man. "I shouldn't 
 care but I'm going to do this job before I die." And he tore 
 the woman's hands away from him, and by his stern anger he 
 gave the other two men the necessary resolution. They carried 
 her, half fainting, out of the room. 
 
 All this time Jimmie Higgins had been standing like one 
 turned to stone; and Lizzie had shrunk into a far corner of the 
 room, all but paralysed with terror. Now the man turned to 
 them. "My good people," he said, "we want to borrow your 
 room for a half hour or so. We'll pay you well for it enough 
 to buy the whole house if you want to." 
 
 "W-w-what are you goin' to do?" stammered Jimmie. 
 
 "We're going to teach a little fundamental morality to a 
 
104 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 young man whose education has been neglected," replied the 
 other. That somehow did not tell Jimmie very much, but he 
 forbore to speak again, for never in all his life had he seen a 
 man who conveyed to him the impression of such resistless 
 force as this man. He was truly a superhuman creature, terri- 
 fying, panoplied in lightnings of wrath. 
 
 The door of the house opened again, and Lacey Granitch 
 came in, with a man on each side holding him by the arms, 
 and a pair of handcuffs on his wrist. Of all the dreadful 
 spectacles that Jimmie had seen that dreadful night, the worst 
 was the face of the young master of the Empire Machine Shops. 
 It was green absolutely and literally green. His knees trembled 
 so that he seemed about to sink to the floor, and his dark eyes 
 were those of an animal in a trap. 
 
 There came another man behind him carrying two black 
 cases in his hands. He opened one, and took out some instru- 
 ment with wires attached, and hung part of it to a hook on the 
 wall; he pressed % switch, and a soft white radiance flooded the 
 room. The man who was in command, the one whom the lady 
 had called "Paul," now turned to Jimmie and his wife. "You 
 may take your lamp/' he said. "Go into the other room and 
 stay there till we call you, please." 
 
 "W-w-what are you goin' to do ?" Jimmie found courage to 
 stammer again. But the other merely bade him to go into the 
 other room and stay, and it would be all right, and he would be 
 well paid for his time and trouble. There was no use trying 
 to interfere; no use trying to get away, for the house would be 
 watched. 
 
 Jimmie Junior had been wakened by the uproar, and was 
 whimpering; so Lizzie hurried to quiet him, and Jimmie set 
 the little smoky lamp on the dresser, and went and sat on the 
 bed beside her, holding her hand in his. Both their hands were 
 shaking in a way that was amazing. 
 
 Every sound from the other room was plainly audible. 
 Lacey was pleading, and "Paul" commanded him to hold his 
 tongue. There was a scuffle, and then terrified moans, which 
 died away. There began to steal into the Higgins bed-room 
 a most ghastly odour; they could not imagine what it was. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER 105 
 
 And then they began to hear wild clamour from Lacey Granitch, 
 as if he were suffering in hell. It was awful beyond words; 
 the perspiration came out in beads on the faces of the listeners, 
 and Jimmie was just about making up his mind that it was 
 his duty to rush in and protest, or perhaps to climb out of the 
 window and make an effort to steal away and summon help, 
 when the door opened and the man called "Paul" came in, 
 closing the door behind him. 
 
 "If s all right/' said he. "People always make a fuss 
 when they're given an anaesthetic, so don't let it frighten you." 
 And he stood here waiting, rigid, grim, while the sounds went 
 on. Finally they died away and silence fell a long, long 
 silence. He opened the door and went back into the other 
 room, and the two Jimmies were left holding each other's shak- 
 ing hands. 
 
 Now and then they heard a man speak in a low voice, or 
 some one move across the room; and always that ghastly, over- 
 powering odour kept creeping in, making them think they would 
 die of suffocation, and their three babies also. The suspense 
 and horror had become almost unbearable when finally they 
 began to hear Lacey Granitch again, moaning, sobbing most 
 harrowing sounds. "My God! My God!" whispered Lizzie. 
 "What are they doing?" And when Jimmie did not answer, 
 she whispered again. "We ought to stop them! We ought to 
 get help!" 
 
 But then once more the door opened, and "Paul" came in. 
 "It's all right now," he said. "He's coming out." Neither of 
 the Jimmies had the least idea what "coming out" meant, but 
 they were reassured to know that the masterful person at least 
 was satisfied. They waited; they heard Lacey vomiting, as it 
 seemed ancl then they heard him cursing, in between his feeble 
 gasps. He called the men the same foul name that he had 
 called Jimmie; and that somehow made the whole affair seem 
 better it brought one down to earth again ! 
 
 "Paul" went out and stayed for a while, and when he came 
 back, he said, "We're going now; and understand, there's 
 nothing for you to worry about. We shall leave the patient 
 here, and as soon as we get to a telephone, we'll notify the 
 hospital to send an ambulance. So all you have to do is to wait, 
 and keep quiet and don't worry. And here's something for 
 the use of your house " The man put out his hand with a 
 
106 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 roll of bills, which Jimmie mechanically took "and if any- 
 body asks you about what happened to-night, just say you didn't 
 see anything and don't know anything whatever about it. I'm 
 sorry to have troubled you, but it couldn't be helped. And 
 now, good night." 
 
 And so the masterful young man went out, and they heard 
 him and his companions tramping down the porch-steps. They 
 listened, until they heard the automobile start up and disappear 
 in the darkness. Then from the next room they heard a moan. 
 
 Trembling with terror, Jimmie got up and stole to the door, 
 and opened it a tiny crack. The room was in utter darkness. 
 "Get me some water !" the voice of Lacey groaned ; and Jimmie 
 tiptoed back, and got the little smoky lamp, and came to the 
 door again. He peered in, and saw that Lacey was lying on the 
 floor with a sheet over him everything but his head, which was 
 resting on a pillow. His face was yellow and twisted with 
 pain. "Water ! Water !" he sobbed ; and Jimmie rushed to get 
 a glass and fill it from the pail. When he brought it, Lacey 
 first tried to drink, and then began to vomit; then he lay, 
 sobbing softly to himself. He saw Jimmie staring at him, and 
 his eyes filled with sudden hate and he whispered, "This is 
 what you got me in for, you damned little skunk!" 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 JIMM1E HIGGINS FACES THE WAR 
 
 'T'HE ambulance arrived, and the two attendants who came 
 * with it brought in a stretcher and carried young Granitch 
 away. Jimmie opened the windows to get rid of the odour of 
 ether, and meantime he and Lizzie sat for hours, discussing 
 every aspect of the dreadful scene they had witnessed, and 
 speculating as to its meaning. When Jimmie investigated the 
 roll of bills which had been slipped into his hand, he found 
 that there were ten of them, new, crisp, and bright yellow, 
 each having the figure twenty printed upon it. It was more 
 money than these two humble little people had ever had or 
 expected to have in all their lives. It was literally blood-money, 
 they felt, but it would be hard to see who would be benefited 
 if they rejected it. Certainly the deed which had been done 
 that night could not be undone not for all the money that 
 old Granitch had heaped up in his vaults. 
 
 Jimmie kept quiet, as he had been bidden, and apparently 
 no one told about his part in the affair no reporters came out to 
 his country home to ask for interviews. But when he went to 
 the cross-roads store a couple of nights later he found that the 
 story was all over nobody was talking or thinking about any- 
 thing else. The news, in fact, had gone by telegraph all over 
 the world, and wherever people read it they shuddered with 
 horror, and the Socialists had a choice illustration of the effect 
 of excessive wealth upon morals. 
 
 There were half a dozen versions of the story, Jimmie 
 found; some declared that the outraged husband had caught 
 young Granitch in his home and had fetched a surgeon there; 
 others that he had taken him to a hospital; others that the 
 operation had been performed in a road-house nearby. But none 
 
 107 
 
108 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 mentioned the tenant-house on the farm of John Cutter, and 
 Jimmie wrapped himself in his pride of superior knowledge, 
 and let the loungers in the country store chatter on. He would 
 go back each night for new gossip; and first he heard that old 
 man Granitch was meaning to have all the conspirators arrested 
 and sent to jail; but then it was said that young Lacey had left 
 the hospital and vanished, no one knew where. And they 
 never knew; never again did he appear to curse the strikers 
 at the Empire, nor to break the hearts of chorus-girls on the 
 Great White Way ! His grim old father's hair turned grey in a 
 few weeks; and while he went on to fill his contracts with the 
 Kussian government, all men knew that his heart was eaten 
 out with grief and rage and shame. 
 
 Jimmie and his wife held numerous confabulations over those 
 twenty dollar bills. What should they do with their fortune? 
 The "Worker," always in need of funds, was just now issuing 
 bonds in small denominations, and Jimmie could not imagine 
 any better financial investment than a working-class paper; 
 but Lizzie, alas, could not be made to see it. And then his eye 
 was caught by an advertisement of an oil-company, published 
 in a Socialist paper, which lifted it above suspicion. But again 
 Lizzie blocked the way. She begged her visionary husband 
 to turn the money over to her; she argued that half of it be- 
 longed to her anyhow had she not done her part to earn it? 
 "What part?" Jimmie asked; and she answered that she had 
 kept quiet and what more had he done? 
 
 Eleeza Betooser wanted that treasure to insure safety for 
 the children through whatever troubles might come to their 
 propagandist father. And finally the propagandist father gave 
 way, and the woman proceeded to secure the money in the an- 
 cient way of her sex. She took the ten . crisp bills and sewed 
 them in a layer of cloth, and wound the cloth about the ankle 
 of her right leg, and sewed it there, and put a stocking over it 
 to hide it. And that apparatus would stay there day or night, 
 winter or summer, it would never part from its owner. She 
 would be a walking bank, a bank that she knew was safe from 
 panic or crisis; the feeling of the two hundred dollars about 
 her ankle would be communicated to every part of Lizzie 
 warming her heart, delighting her brain, and stimulating her 
 liver and digestion. 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS FACES THE WAR 109 
 
 II 
 
 And soon the chances of life caused Jimmie to be glad of 
 the innate conservatism of the feminine nature. The giant 
 British offensive was drowned in mud and blood on the Somme, 
 and the Kussian offensive went to pieces before Lemberg; and 
 meantime John Cutter stowed his barrels of apples in the cellar, 
 and got the last of his corn-crop husked, and drove his load of 
 pumpkins to market; and then one Saturday night, after the 
 cows had come in, wet and steaming with November rain, he 
 informed his hired man that he would not need his services 
 after that month, he would no longer be able to afford "help." 
 Jimmie stared at him in consternation for he had thought 
 that he had a permanent job, having learned the work, and hav- 
 ing heard no serious complaints. 
 
 "But," explained Cutter, "the work's all done. Do you ex- 
 pect me to pay you to sit round? I'll be glad to take you on 
 next spring, of course." 
 
 "And what'll I do in the meantime?" Jimmie glared, and 
 all his hatred of the villainous profit-system welled up in his 
 heart. So much food he had helped to raise and store away 
 and not a pound of it his! "Say," he remarked, "I know 
 what you want! Some kind of a trained bear, that'll work all 
 summer, and go to sleep in winter an' not eat nothin' !" 
 
 The little Socialist was all the crosser, because he knew that 
 his boss had just made a lucky stroke they were running a 
 spur of the railroad out to the vast explosives plant they were 
 constructing in the country, and Cutter had got the price of 
 his mortgage for a narrow strip of land that was nothing but 
 wood-lot. Jimmie had seen the trade made, and had put in a 
 useful word as to the value of that "timber," but now he had no 
 share in the deal. He must be content with an offer of the 
 tenant-house for five dollars a month through the winter, and 
 a job with the railroad-company, grading track. 
 
 There came rain and snow and blizzards, but the railroad 
 construction stopped for nothing. It went on in three shifts, 
 day and night; for half the world was clamouring for the 
 means to blow itself up, and the other half must work like the 
 devil to furnish the means. At least that was the way the 
 matter presented itself to Jimmie Higgins, who took it as a 
 personal affront the way this diabolical war kept pursuing him. 
 
110 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 He had fled into the country from it, bringing his little family 
 to a tenant-house on an obscure, worn-out farm, several miles 
 from the nearest town; but here all of a sudden came a gang 
 of Dagoes with picks and shovels. They lifted up and set to one 
 side the chicken-house where Lizzie kept her eleven hens and 
 one rooster, and the pig-sty where one little shoat gobbled up 
 their table-scraps; and two days later came a huge machine, 
 driven by steam, creeping on a track, picking up rails and ties 
 from a car behind it, swinging them round and laying them 
 in front of it, and then rolling ahead over the bed it had made. 
 So the railroad just literally walked out into the country, and 
 before long whole train-loads of cement and sand and corru- 
 gated iron walls and roofing came rattling and banging past 
 the Higgins back-door. Day and night this continued; and a 
 little ways beyond they knew that a two mile square of scrubby 
 waste was being laid out with roads and tracks and little squat 
 buildings, set far apart from each other. In a few months the 
 frightened family would lie awake at night and listen to trains 
 rattling past, coming out from the explosives plant, piled to the 
 tops with loads of trinitrotoluol, and such unpronounceable in- 
 struments of murder and destruction. And this was the fate 
 which capitalism had handed out to an ardent anti-militarist, 
 a propagandist of international fraternity ! 
 
 in 
 
 Jimmie Higgins went into the Socialist local now and then, 
 to pay his dues and to refresh his soul on pacifist speeches. 
 Just before Christmas the President of the United States wrote 
 a letter to all the warring nations, pleading with them to end the 
 strife; intimating that all the belligerents were on a par as to 
 badness, and stating explicitly that America had nothing to do 
 with their struggle. This, of course, brought intense satis- 
 faction to the members of Local Leesville of the Socialist party; 
 it was what they had been proclaiming for two years and four 
 months! They had never expected to have a capitalist presi- 
 dent in agreement with them, but when the opportunity came, 
 they made the most of it; clamouring that the capitalist presi- 
 dent should go farther should back up his words by actions. 
 If the warring nations would not make peace, let America at 
 least clear her skirts by declaring an embargo, refusing to 
 furnish them with the means of self-destruction! 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS FACES THE WAR 111 
 
 But for some reason incomprehensible to Jimmie Higgins, 
 the capitalist president would not take this further step; and 
 time moved on, and at the end of January fell a thunder-bolt, 
 in the shape of a declaration from the German government that 
 beginning next day it rescinded its agreement to visit and search 
 steamers, and declared war to the death against all vessels sailing 
 in barred zones. Jimmie went to a meeting of the local a few 
 days after that, and found the gathering seething with excite- 
 ment. The President had appeared before Congress that day 
 and made a speech calling for war; and the Germans and 
 Austrians in the local were wild with indignation, shaking their 
 fists and clamouring against the unthinkable outrage of an 
 attack upon the Fatherland. There was a new edition of the 
 "Worker" just out, filled with bitter protests, and the Germans 
 and the pacifists wanted to pledge the local to a movement for 
 a general strike of labour throughout the country. Street- 
 meetings had been resumed for of course, since the strike in 
 the Empire had been settled, the police had had no pretext to 
 prevent them. The extremists now wanted anti-war speakers 
 on every corner, and anti-war leaflets shoved under every door- 
 step; they were willing to put up the money and .to pledge 
 their time for these activities. 
 
 Lawyer Norwood rose and revealed the split that was now 
 full-grown in the party. For the United States to lie down 
 before that insolent declaration of the German government 
 would be to imperil everything which a lover of liberty held dear. 
 It would mean that Britain would be starved out of the war, 
 and British sea-power shattered that British sea-power upon 
 which free government had based itself throughout the world. 
 Norwood was unable to get any further, for the tempest of jeer- 
 ing and ridicule that overwhelmed him. "Freedom in Ireland I" 
 shrieked Comrade Mary Allen. "And in India! And in 
 Egypt !" bellowed Comrade Koeln, the glass-blower, whose 
 mighty lungs had been twenty years preparing for this emer- 
 gency. 
 
 It was hard to stop the laughter it seemed so funny that 
 a man who called himself a Socialist should be defending Brit- 
 ish battleships ! But Comrade Gerrity, the chairman, pounded 
 with his gavel, and insisted that the meeting should give fair 
 play, that every speaker should be heard in his turn. So Nor- 
 wood went on. He understood that no government in this 
 
112 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 world was perfect, but some were better than others, and it 
 was a fact of history, whether or not they chose to admit it, 
 that such freedom as had already been secured in the world 
 in Britain and Canada and Australia and New Zealand and 
 the United States had rested under the protection of British 
 battle-ships. If those battle-ships went down, it would mean 
 that every one of those free communities would begin building 
 up a military force many times as strong as they had now. 
 If the United States did not maintain the established customs 
 of sea-commerce in the present crisis, it would mean one thing 
 and one only that America would spend the next thirty years 
 devoting her energies to preparing for a life-and-death strug- 
 gle with German Imperialism. If we were not to fight later, 
 we must fight now 
 
 "All right, you fight!" shouted Comrade Schneider, the 
 brewer, his purple face more purple than ever before in the 
 history of Local Leesville. 
 
 "I'm going to fight all right," answered the young lawyer. 
 "This is my last speech here or anywhere else I'm leaving 
 for an officers' training-camp to-morrow. I have come here to 
 do my duty, to warn you comrades even though I know it 
 will be in vain. The time for debate has passed the country 
 is going into war " 
 
 "I'm not going into war !" roared Schneider. 
 
 "Be careful," answered the other. "You may find yourself 
 in before you know it." 
 
 And the big brewer laughed to shake the plaster off the 
 walls. "I'd like to see them send, me ! To fight for the British 
 sea-power ! Ho ! Ho ! Ho !" 
 
 IV 
 
 It was a stormy speech young Norwood made, but he per- 
 sisted to the end, so that, as he said, his conscience might be 
 clear, he might know that he had done what he could to protect 
 the movement from its greatest blunder. He warned them that 
 the temper of the country was rising; you could see it rising 
 hour by hour, and things which had been tolerated in the past 
 would be tolerated no longer. Democracy would protect its life 
 it would show that in a crisis it was as strong as militarism 
 
 "Yes, and turn itself into militarism to do it !" cried Comrade 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS FACES THE WAR 113 
 
 Mary Allen. The Quaker lady was almost beside herself; she, 
 more even than the Germans, saw in what was transpiring the 
 violation of her most sacred convictions. America, her own 
 country, was giving itself to war, making ready to turn its 
 resources to the wholesale mutilation of men ! Comrade Mary's 
 thin face was white; her lips were tight with resolve, but her 
 feelings betrayed themselves by the quivering of her nostrils. 
 And oh, what a speech she made! Such torrents of furious 
 hatred in the cause of universal love! Comrade Mary quoted 
 a Socialist writer who had said that just as gladiatorial com- 
 bats had continued until Christian monks were willing to throw 
 themselves into the arena, so war would continue until Social- 
 ists were willing to throw themselves beneath the hoofs of the 
 cavalry. And in this Quaker spinster you saw one Socialist 
 who was ready to go out that very night and throw herself 
 beneath the hoofs of cavalry, infantry, or artillery, or even of 
 a police-automobile. 
 
 And that was the sentiment of the meeting as a whole. 
 If America entered the European strife, it would be because 
 the Socialist organisation had exhausted its means of protest 
 in vain. They would call meetings, they would distribute 
 literature, they would voice their convictions on the streets and 
 in the shops and wherever the people might be reached. They 
 would have no part in this wicked strife, either now or later; 
 they would continue in the future, as in the past, to denounce 
 and to expose the capitalist politicians and the capitalist news- 
 papers who caused war and thrived upon war. And in pro- 
 portion to the intensity of their feelings would be their bitter- 
 ness and contempt for the few renegades who in this hour of 
 crisis, this test of manhood and integrity, were deserting the 
 movement and going to enrol themselves in officers' training- 
 camps ! 
 
 And so when Jim-mi ft went home that night he carried with 
 him an armful of revolutionary literature, which during the 
 noon-hour he proceeded to distribute among the workers on the 
 construct ion- job, which -was now inside the preserves of the 
 explosives company. So naturally in the course of the after- 
 noon he was summoned before the boss and fired ; they escorted 
 him to the limits of the property, and told him that if he ever 
 returned he would be shot on sight. And then at night he 
 went up to the cross-roads store and tried to give out his litera- 
 
114 JIMMIB HIGQINS 
 
 ture there, and got into a controversy with some of the cracker- 
 box loungers, one of whom jumped up and shook his fist in 
 Jimmied face, shouting, "Get out of here, you dirty little louse 1 
 If you don't stop talking your treason round here, we'll come 
 down some night and ride you out of the country on a rail!" 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 
 
 HPHE country, it seemed, was hell-bent for war ; and Jimmie 
 * Higgins was hell-bent for martyrdom. If the great mad- 
 ness were to take possession of America, it would not be without 
 his having done what he could to prevent. He would stand in 
 the path of the war-chariot; he would throw himself beneath 
 the hoofs of the cavalry, and block the road with his dead body. 
 To which vivid programme there was only one obstacle or, to be 
 precise, four obstacles, one large and three small, the large one 
 being Eleeza Betooser. 
 
 Poor Lizzie of course had no real comprehension of the 
 world-forces against which her husband was contending; to 
 Lizzie, life consisted of three babies, whom it was her duty 
 to feed and protect, and a husband, who was her instrument 
 for carrying out this duty. The world outside of these was 
 to her a vague and shadowy place, full of vague and shadowy 
 terrors. Somewhere up in the sky was a holy virgin who would 
 help when properly appealed to, but Lizzie was handicapped 
 in appealing to this virgin by the fact that her husband despised 
 the holy one, and would cast insulting doubts upon her virtue. 
 JJSFow the shadowy terrors of this vast outside world were 
 moving to ends of their own, and her poor, puny husband per- 
 sisted in putting himself in their way. He had got turned 
 out of his job, for the fourth or fifth time since Lizzie had 
 known him, and he was in imminent danger of getting into 
 jail, or into a coat of tar and feathers. As the controversy 
 grew hotter and the peril greater, Lizzie came to a condition 
 which might have been diagnosed as chronic impending hysteria. 
 Her eyes were red from secret weeping, and at the slightest 
 provocation she would burst into floods of tears and throw her- 
 self into her husband's arms. This would start off Jimmie 
 Junior, and the little ones, who always took their cue from him. 
 
 115 
 
116 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 And Jimmie Senior would stand perplexed an,d helpless. Here 
 was a new aspect of the heroic life, not dealt with in the books. 
 He wondered had there ever in history been such a thing as a 
 married martyr? If so, what had this martyr done with his 
 family ? 
 
 Jimmie would try to explain to his distressed spouse. It 
 was a question of saving a hundred million people from the 
 horrors of war ; what did one man matter, in comparison with 
 that? But alas, the argument did not carry at all, the simple 
 truth being that the one man mattered more to Lizzie than all 
 the other ninety-nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine 
 thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine. And besides, what 
 could the one man do ? One poor, obscure, helpless workingman 
 out of a job 
 
 "But it's the organisation!" he cried. "It's all of us to- 
 gether it's the party! We promised to stand together, so we 
 got to do it ! If I drop out, I'm a coward, a traitor ! We must 
 make the workers understand " 
 
 "But you can't!" cried Lizzie. 
 
 "But we're doin' it ! Come see !" 
 
 "And what can they do ?" 
 
 Which of course started Jimmie off on a propaganda speech. 
 What could the workers do? Say rather, what could they not 
 do! How could any war be fought without the workers? If 
 only they would stand together, if they would rise against their 
 capitalist oppressors 
 
 "But they won't!" sobbed the woman. "They got no use 
 for you at all! You go an' get fired or you get your face 
 beat in, like poor Bill Murray " 
 
 "But is that any worse than goin' to war?" 
 
 "You ain't got to go to war!" 
 
 "Who says I ain't ? I got to go, if the country goes. They'll 
 drag me off an' make me ! If I refuse they'll shoot me ! Ain't 
 they doin' that in England an' France an' Koosia an' all them 
 countries ?" 
 
 "But will they do it here?" cried Lizzie, aghast. 
 
 "Sure they will! That's exactly what they're gettin' ready 
 for what we're fightin' to stop them from! You don't know 
 what's goin' on in this country listen here !" 
 
 And Jimmie hauled out the last issue of the "Worker," 
 which quoted speeches made in Congress, calling for conscrip- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 117 
 
 tion, declaring that such a measure was an essential war-step. 
 "Don't you see what they're up to ? An' if we're goin' to stop 
 them, we gotta act now, before it's too late. Hadn't I just as 
 good go to jail here in Leesville as be shipped over to Europe to 
 be shot or maybe drowned by a submarine on the way?" 
 
 And thus a new terror was introduced into Lizzie's life 
 robbing her of sleep for many a night thereafter, planting in 
 her mother-heart for the first time the idea that she might be 
 concerned in the world-war. "What'd become of the babies?" 
 she wailed; and Jimmie answered: Whose business was it to 
 bother about working-class babies, under the hellish capitalist 
 system ? 
 
 II 
 
 So Jimmie had his way for a bit he went into Leesville 
 and helped distribute literature, and held the torch at street- 
 meetings, where some people hooted at them and others defended 
 them, and the police had to interfere to prevent a riot. It was at 
 this time that a militant majority was trying to drive through 
 the Senate a declaration of war against Germany, and a hand- 
 ful of pacifists blocked the way in the closing hours of the 
 session, thus causing a delay of several weeks. How you re- 
 garded this action depended upon your point of view. The 
 President denounced them as "wilful men," and the Wall Street 
 newspapers apparently wanted them lynched; whereas Jimmie 
 and his fellows in the local hailed them as heroes and friends 
 of mankind. The Socialists argued that the President had 
 been re-elected, only four months before, by pacifist votes, and 
 upon a pacifist platform ; and now he was sweeping the country 
 into war, and denouncing those who stood upon his former 
 convictions ! 
 
 On top of this came another event which set Jimmie almost 
 beside himself with excitement. For three days all news from 
 Petrograd was cut off; and then came a report, electrifying 
 the world the Tsar had been overthrown, the Eussian people 
 were free ! Jimmie could hardly believe his eyes ; he went in. 
 to the meeting of the local three nights later, to find the com- 
 rades celebrating as if the world were theirs. Here was the 
 thing they had been preaching, day in and day out, all these 
 weary years, amid ridicule, hatred and persecution; here waa 
 
118 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 the Social Revolution, knocking at the gates of the world! It 
 would spread to Austria and Germany, to Italy, France, Eng- 
 land and so to Leesville ! Everywhere the people would come 
 into their own, and war and tyranny would vanish like a hate- 
 ful nightmare! 
 
 Speaker after speaker got up to proclaim this glorious future ; 
 they sang the Marseillaise and the Internationale, and the 
 Russians who were present clasped one another in their arms, 
 with tears running down their cheeks. It was voted that they 
 must hold a mass-meeting immediately, to explain this epoch- 
 making event to the people of the city; also they must stand 
 more firmly than ever by their programme of opposition to 
 war. Now, with Social Revolution knocking at the gates of 
 the world, what was the use of America's going in for militarism ? 
 
 So Jimmie set to work with redoubled fervour, giving all 
 his time to agitation. He had apparently no chance of getting 
 a job, and for the moment he gave up trying. The keeper of 
 the cross-roads store, being down on him because of his ideas, 
 refused him any more credit; and so poor Lizzie was driven to 
 do what she had vowed never to do take off the stocking from 
 her right leg, and unsew the bandage from her ankle, and 
 extract one of the ten precious twenty dollar bills. Their 
 bright yellow was considerably faded now, their beautiful crisp- 
 ness gone entirely; but the store-keeper made no kick on that 
 account he returned the change, and incidentally took occasion 
 to give her a friendly warning concerning her husband's reck- 
 less talk. There was trouble coming to him, and his wife had 
 better shut him up before it was too late. So poor Lizzie ceased 
 being a pacifist, and went home to have more hysterics on her 
 husband's bosom. 
 
 in 
 
 Being unable to hold him back, she sent word by the mail- 
 carrier to old Peter Drew to come up and help ; the old farmer 
 hitched up his bony mare and drove to see them, and for a 
 couple of hours talked America while Jimmie talked Rus- 
 sia. Was America to lie down before the Kaiser? Jimmie 
 would answer that they were going to bring down the Kaiser 
 in the same way they had brought down the Tsar. The 
 workers of Russia having shown the way, nevermore would the 
 workers of any nation bow to the yoke of slavery. Yes, even 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 119 
 
 in the so-called republics, such as France, which was ruled by 
 bankers, and America, which was ruled by Wall Street even 
 here, the workers would read the lesson of revolt ! 
 
 "But in America the people can get anything they want!" 
 cried the bewildered old man. "They only have to rote " 
 
 "Votef snarled Jimmie. "An' have their votes thrown out 
 by some rotten political gang, like they got here in Leesville? 
 Don't talk to me about votin' they told me Fd moved into a 
 new district an' lost my vote lost it because I lost my job! 
 So it's old man Granitch has the say whether I can vote or 
 not! You'll find the same thing true of two-thirds of the 
 men in the Empire Shops half the unskilled men in the coun- 
 try got no votes, because they got no home, no nothinV 
 
 "But," argued the old soldier, "how will you run your new 
 working-class government, if not by votes?" 
 
 "Sure, we'll run it by votes," Jimmie answered "but first 
 we'll turn out the capitalists; they won't have the money to 
 buy political machines ; they won't own the newspapers an' print 
 lies about us. Look at this Leesville 'Herald' right now just 
 plain downright lies they print we can't get any truth at all 
 to the people." 
 
 And so it went. It was of no use for the old man to plead 
 for the "country"; to Jimmie the "country" had let itself be 
 lost, suppressed, taken over by the capitalists, the "plutes." 
 Jimmie's sense of loyalty was not to his country, but to his 
 class, which had been exploited, hounded, driven from pillar 
 to post. In past times the government had allowed itself to 
 be used by corporations; so now it was in vain that the Presi- 
 dent made appeals for justice and democracy, using the beautiful 
 language of idealism. Jimmie did not believe that he meant 
 it; or anyhow, Wall Street would see that nothing came of 
 his promises. The "plutes" would take his words and twist 
 them into whatever sense they wished ; and meantime they went 
 on pouring out abuse on Jimmie Higgins throwing the same 
 old mud into his eyes, blinding him with the same old hatred. 
 So there was no way for an old soldier and patriot to break 
 through the armour of Jimmie's prejudice. 
 
 IV 
 
 Next day was to be the great mass-meeting in celebration of 
 the Eussian revolution; and would you believe it, Lizzie was 
 
120 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 hoping to persuade Jimmie to stay away; she had brought Mr. 
 Drew to help persuade him ! Poor Lizzie had visions of every- 
 body in the hall being carted off to jail, of Jimmie getting up 
 and shouting something, causing the police to fall on him and 
 beat in his skull with their clubs. It was in vain he declared 
 that he was going to do nothing more romantic than sell litera- 
 ture and act as usher. She clasped him in her arms, weeping 
 copiously, and when he was still obdurate, she declared that 
 she would go with him. She would try to persuade Mrs. Drew 
 to take care of the babies for one night. 
 
 Old Peter Drew answered that he would be interested to 
 attend the meeting himself. How would it do for him to come 
 for Lizzie and the little ones, and leave the latter at his home, 
 and then drive with Lizzie to the meeting? They could meet 
 Jimmie at the Opera-house, where he would be spending the 
 day decorating. Then after the meeting they could all drive 
 back together. Fine! said Jimmie, who had visions of the 
 old soldier becoming infected with revolutionary fever. 
 
 But alas, it did not work out that way. To Jimmie's con- 
 sternation the old man turned up at the Opera-house in a faded 
 blue uniform with brass buttons all over it ! Everybody stared, 
 of course; and they stared all the harder because they saw this 
 military personage in company with Comrade Higgins. The 
 old boy gazed about at the swarms of people, many of them 
 with red buttons, the women with red ribbons or sashes; he 
 gazed at the decorations the huge flag and the long red stream- 
 ers, the banner of the Karl Marx Verein, and the banner of the 
 Ypsels, or Young Peoples' Socialist League of Leesville, and 
 the banner of the Machinists' Union, Local 4717, and of the 
 Carpenters' Union, District 529, and of the Workers' Co-opera- 
 tive Society. He turned to Jimmie and said, "Where's the 
 American flag?" 
 
 The Liederkranz sang the Marseillaise, and after the audi- 
 ence had cheered and waved red handkerchiefs and shouted 
 itself hoarse, Comrade Gerrity, the chairman, made a little 
 speech. For many years all Socialists had been accustomed to 
 employ a metaphor by which to describe conditions in their 
 country, and now they would no longer be able to use it, for 
 Kussia was free, and America would follow her example when 
 she had the sense. He introduced Comrade Pavel Michaelo- 
 vitch, who had come all the way from New York to tell them 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 121 
 
 the meaning of the greatest event of history. Comrade Pavel, 
 a slender, frail, scholarly-looking man with a black beard and 
 black-rimmed spectacles, said a few words in Russian, and 
 then he talked for an hour in broken English, explaining how 
 the Russians had won their way to freedom, and now would use 
 it to set free the rest of the proletariat. And then came Com- 
 rade Schultze, of the Carpet Weavers' Union, assuring them 
 that there was no need to go to war with Germany, because 
 the German workers had been shown the way to freedom, and 
 would follow very soon; Schultze knew, because his brother was 
 editor of a Socialist paper in Leipzig, and he had inside in- 
 formation as to what was going on in the Fatherland. 
 
 Then Comrade Smith, the editor of the "Worker," was intro- 
 duced, and the trouble began. The young editor wasted no 
 time in preliminaries ; he was an international revolutionist, and 
 no capitalist government was going to draft him for its bloody 
 knaveries. Never would he be led out to murder his fellow- 
 workers, whether in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria or Turkey; 
 the masters of Wall Street would find that when they set out to 
 drive American freemen to the slaughter-pen, they had made 
 the mistake of their greedy lives. "Understand me," declared 
 Comrade Smith though there seemed so far to have been 
 nothing in which any one could possibly have misunderstood 
 him "understand me, I am no pacifist, I am not opposed to 
 war it is merely that I purpose to choose the war in which I 
 fight. If they try to put a gun into my hands, I shall not 
 refuse to take it not much, for I and my fellow wage-slaves 
 have long wished for guns ! But I shall use my own judgment 
 as to where I aim that gun whether at enemies in front of me, 
 or at enemies behind me whether at my brothers, the working- 
 men of Germany, or at my oppressors, the exploiters of Wall 
 Street, their newspaper lackeys and military martinets!" 
 
 The sentences of this speech came like the blows of a ham- 
 mer, and they struck forth a clamour of applause from the 
 audience. But suddenly the cheering crowd became aware that 
 something out of the ordinary was happening. An aged, white- 
 whiskered man clad in a faded blue uniform had risen from 
 his seat in the middle of the hall and was shouting and waving 
 his arms. People near him were trying to pull him down into 
 his seat, but he would not be squelched, he went on shouting; 
 and the audience in part fell silent out of curiosity. "Shame ! 
 
122 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Shame!" they heard him cry. "Shame upon you!" And he 
 pointed a trembling finger at the orator, declaring, "You are 
 talking treason, young man !" 
 
 "Sit down!" shrieked the crowd. "Shut up!" 
 
 But the old man turned upon them. "Are there no Ameri- 
 cans at all in this audience? Will you listen to this shameless 
 traitor without one word?" 
 
 People caught him by the coat-tails, men shook their fists 
 at him; at the other side of the hall "Wild Bill" leaped up on 
 a chair, shrieking: "Cut his throat, the old geezer!" 
 
 Two policemen came running down the aisle, and the "old 
 geezer" appealed to them: "What are you here for, if not to 
 protect the flag and the honour of America?" But the police- 
 men insisted that he stop interrupting the meeting, and so the 
 old man turned and stalked out from the hall. But he did not 
 go until he had turned once more and shaken his fist at the 
 crowd, yelling in his cracked voice, "Traitors ! Traitors !" 
 
 Poor Jimmie remained in his seat, overwhelmed. That he, 
 the most devoted of workers for Socialism, should have been 
 the cause of such a disgraceful scene bringing to this revolu- 
 tionary meeting a man in the uniform of a killer of the work- 
 ing-class ! He could not stay and face the comrades ; before the 
 speaking had finished he gave Lizzie a nudge, and the two got 
 up and stole out, dodging every one they knew. 
 
 Outside they stood in perplexity. They thought, of course/ 
 that the old man would have driven away without them; they 
 pictured the long walk from the trolley-line in the darkness and 
 mud and with Lizzie dressed in her only Sunday-go-to-meeting ! 
 But when they went to the place where Mr. Drew had left his 
 buggy, to their surprise they found him patiently waiting for 
 them. Seeing them hesitate, he said, "Come ! Get in !" They 
 were much embarrassed, but obeyed, and the old mare started 
 her amble towards home. 
 
 They rode for a long time in silence. Finally Jimmie 
 could not stand it, and began, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Drew. You 
 
 don't understand " But the old man cut him off : "There's 
 
 no use you and me tryin' to talk, young man." So they rode 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT 123 
 
 the rest of the way without a sound except that once Jimmie 
 imagined he heard Lizzie sobbing to herself. 
 
 Jimmie really felt terribly about it, for he had for this old 
 soldier a deep respect, even an affection. Mr. Drew had made 
 his impression not so much by his arguments, which Jimmie 
 considered sixty years out of date, as by his personality. Here 
 was one patriot who was straight ! What a pity that he could 
 not understand the revolutionary point of view! What a pity 
 that he had to be made angry ! It was one more of the horrors 
 of war, which tore friends apart, and set them to disputing 
 and hating one another. 
 
 At least, that was the way it seemed to Jimmie that night, 
 while he was still full of the speeches he had heard. But at 
 other times doubts assailed him for of course a man cannot 
 defy and combat a whole community without sometimes being 
 led to wonder whether the community may not have some right 
 on its side. Jimmie would hear of things the Germans had 
 done in the war; they were such dirty fighters, they went out 
 of their way to do such utterly revolting and useless, almost 
 insane things! They made it so needlessly hard for any one 
 who tried to defend them to think of them even as human 
 beings. Jimmie would argue that he did not mean to help the 
 Germans; he would resent bitterly the charges of the Leesville 
 newspapers that he was a German agent and a traitor; but he 
 could not get away from the uncomfortable fact that the things 
 he was doing did have a tendency to further German, interests, 
 at least for a time. 
 
 When that was pointed out to him by some patriot in a con- 
 troversy, his answer would be that he was appealing to the 
 German Socialists to revolt against their military leaders; but 
 then the patriot would begin to find fault with the German 
 Socialists, declaring that they were much better Germans than 
 Socialists, and citing utterances and actions to prove it. One 
 German Socialist had stood up in the Eeichstag and declared 
 that the Germans had two ways of fighting their armies over- 
 came their enemies in the field, while their Socialists under- 
 mined the morale of the workers in enemy countries. When 
 that passage was read to Jimmie, he answered that it was a 
 lie ; no such speech had ever been made by a Socialist. He had 
 no way of proving it was a lie, of course; he just knew it! 
 But then, when he went away and thought it over, he began to 
 
124 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 wonder ; suppose it were true ! Suppose the ' German workers 
 had been so drilled and schooled in childhood that even those 
 who called themselves revolutionists were patriots at heart! 
 Jimmie would begin to piece this and that together things 
 he had heard or read. Certainly these German Socialists were 
 not displaying any great boldness in fighting their government ! 
 
 The answer was that they could not oppose their govern- 
 ment, because they would be put in jail. But that was a pretty 
 poor answer; it was their business to go to jail if not, what 
 right had they to expect Jimmie Higgins to go here in America ? 
 Jimmie presented this problem to Comrade Meissner, who an- 
 swered that if Jimmie would go first, then doubtless the Ger- 
 man comrades would follow. But Jimmie could not see why 
 he should be first; and when they tried to clear up the reason, 
 it developed that down in his heart Jimmie had begun to believe 
 that Germany was more to blame for the war than America, 
 And not merely would Comrade Meissner not admit that, but 
 he became excited and vehement, trying to convince Jimmie that 
 the other capitalist governments of the world were the cause of 
 the war Germany was only defending herself against them! 
 So there they were, involved in a controversy, just like any two 
 non-revolutionary people ! Eepeating over the same arguments 
 which had gone on in the local between Norwood, the lawyer, 
 and Schneider, the brewer; only this time Jimmie was taking 
 the side of Norwood ! Jimmie found himself face to face with 
 the disconcerting fact that his devoted friend Meissner was a 
 German and therefore in some subtle way different from 
 him, unable to see things as he did ! 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 
 
 WAR or no war, the soil had to be ploughed and seed sown; 
 so John Cutter came to his tenant and proposed that he 
 should resume his job as farm-hand. Only he must agree to 
 shut up about the war, for while Cutter himself was not a 
 rabid patriot, he would take no chances of having his tenant- 
 house burned down some night. So there was another discus- 
 sion in the Higgins family. Lizzie remembered how during the 
 previous summer Jimmie had worked from dawn till dark, and 
 been too tired even to read Socialist papers, to say nothing of 
 carrying on propaganda: which seemed to the distracted wife 
 of a propagandist the most desirable condition possible! Poor 
 Eleeza Betooser twice again she had been compelled to take 
 down the stocking from her right leg, and unsew the bandage 
 round her ankle, and extract another of those precious yellow 
 twenty dollar bills; there were only seven of them left now, 
 and each of them was more valuable to Lizzie than her eye- 
 teeth. 
 
 Jimmie finally agreed that he would gag himself, so far as 
 concerned this country-side. What was the use of trying to 
 teach anything to these barnyard boobs? They wanted war 
 let them go to war, and be blown to bits or poisoned in the 
 trenches! If Jimmie had propaganding to do, he would do it 
 in the city, where the workingmen had brains., and knew who 
 their enemies were. So once more Jimmie harnessed up John 
 Cutter's horses to the plough, and went out into John Cutter's 
 field to raise another crop of corn for a man whom he hated. 
 All day he guided the plough or the harrow, and at night he fed 
 and cared for the horses and the cows, and then he came home 
 and ate his supper, listening to the rattling of the long freight- 
 
 125 
 
126 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 train that went through his back yard, carrying materials for 
 the making of TNT. 
 
 For the great explosives plant was now working day and 
 night, keeping the war in Jimmie's thoughts all the time, 
 whether he would cr not. In the midnight hours the trains of 
 finished materials went out, making Jimmie's windows rattle 
 with their rumble and clatter, and bearing his fancies away to 
 the battle-line across the seas, where men were soon to be blown 
 to pieces with the contents of these cars. One night something 
 went wrong on the track, and the train stopped in his back yard, 
 and in the morning he saw the cars, painted black, with the 
 word "Danger" in flaming red letters. On top of the cars 
 walked a man with a club in his hand and a bulge on his hip, 
 keeping guard. 
 
 It appeared that some one had torn up a rail in the night, 
 evidently for the purpose of wrecking the train; so there came 
 a detective to Jimmie, while he was working in the field, to 
 cross-question him. They had Jimmie's record, and suspected 
 him of knowing more than he would tell. "Aw, go to hell!" 
 exclaimed the irate Socialist. "D'you suppose, if I'd wanted 
 to smash anything, I'd 'a done it on the place where I work?" 
 And then, when he went home to dinner, he found that they 
 had been after Lizzie, and had frightened her out of her wits. 
 They had threatened to turn them out of their home; Jimmie 
 saw himself hounded here and there by this accursed war 
 until it finished by seizing him and dragging him to the 
 trenches ! 
 
 II 
 
 The new Congress had met, and declared a state of war 
 with Germany, and the whole country was rushing into arms. 
 Men were enlisting by hundreds of thousands; but that was 
 not enough for the militarists they wanted a conscription-law, 
 so that every man might be compelled to go. If they were so 
 sure of themselves and their wonderful war, why weren't they 
 satisfied to let those fight it who wanted to ? So argued the 
 rebellious Jimmie and his anti-militarist associates. But no! 
 the militarists knew perfectly well that the bulk of the people 
 did not want to fight, so they proposed to make them fight. 
 Every energy of the Socialist movement was now concentrated 
 on the blocking of this conscription scheme. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TEOUBLE 127 
 
 Local Leesville hired the Opera-house again, organising a 
 mass-meeting of protest, and the capitalist papers of the city 
 began clamouring against this meeting. Was the patriotism 
 and loyalty of Leesville to be affronted by another gathering of 
 sedition and treason? The "Herald" told all over again the 
 story of the gallant old civil war veteran who had risen in his 
 seat and shouted his protest against the incitements of "Jack" 
 Smith, the notorious "red" editor. The "Herald" printed a 
 second time the picture of the gallant old veteran in his faded 
 blue uniform, and the list of battles in which he had fought, 
 from the first Bull Run to the last siege of Richmond. Some 
 farmer passing by handed a copy of this paper to Lizzie, adding 
 that if there was any more treason-talk in this locality there 
 was going to be a lynching-bee. So Jimmie found his wife in 
 tears "again. She was absolutely determined that he should not 
 go to that meeting. For three days she wept and argued with 
 him, and for a part of three nights. 
 
 It would have been comical if it had not been so tragic. Jim- 
 mie would use the old argument, that if he did not succeed in 
 stopping the war, he would be dragged into the trenches and 
 killed. So, of course, Lizzie would become a pacifist at once. 
 What right had the war to take Jimmie from her? The little 
 Jimmies had a right to their father ! All children had a right 
 to their fathers! But then, after Lizzie had expressed these 
 tearful convictions, Jimmie would say, All right, then he must 
 go to that meeting, he must do what he could to prevent the 
 war. And poor Lizzie would find herself suddenly confronting 
 the terrors of the police with their clubs and the patriots with 
 their buckets of tar and bags of feathers! No, Jimmie must 
 not carry on any propaganda, Jimmie must not go to the meet- 
 ing ! Poor Jimmie would try to pin her down : which way did 
 she want him killed, by the Germans, or by the police and the 
 mobs? But Lizzie did not want him killed either way! She 
 wanted him to go on living! 
 
 Jimmie would try to arrange a compromise for the present. 
 He would go to the meeting, but he would promise not to say 
 a word. But that did not console Lizzie she knew that if 
 anything happened, her man would get into it. No, if he were 
 determined to go, she would go too even if they had to load 
 the three babies into the perambulator, and push them two or 
 three miles to the trolley ! If Jimmie tried to make a speech, 
 
128 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 she would hang onto his coat-tails, she would clasp her hands 
 over his mouth, she would throw herself between him and the 
 clubs of the policemen! 
 
 So matters stood, when on the afternoon before the meeting 
 there came a heavy rain, and the road to the trolley was ren- 
 dered impossible for a triple-loaded baby-carriage. So there 
 were more hysterics in the family; Jimmie took his wife's hand 
 in his and solemnly swore to her that she might trust him to 
 go to this meeting, he would not do anything that could by any 
 possibility get him into trouble. He would not try to make 
 a speech, he would not get up and shout no matter what hap- 
 pened, he would not say a word! He would merely sell 
 pamphlets, and show people to their seats, as he had done at a 
 hundred meetings before. To make sure of his immunity, he 
 would even leave off the red badge which he was accustomed 
 to display on Socialist occasions! By these pledges repeated 
 over and over, he finally succeeded in pacifying his weeping 
 spouse, and gently removed her clutch on his coat-tails, and 
 departed, waving his hand to her and the kids. 
 
 The last thing he saw through the rain was Jimmie Junior, 
 flourishing a red handkerchief which Lizzie at the last moment 
 had extracted from her husband's pocket. The last sound he 
 heard was Jimmie Junior's voice, shouting : 'Tou be good now ! 
 You shut up !" Jimmie went off, thinking about this little tike ; 
 he was five years old, and growing so that you could notice the 
 difference over night. He had big black eyes like his mother, 
 and a grin full of all the mischief in the world. The things 
 he knew and the questions he asked ! Jimmie and Lizzie never 
 got tired of talking about them ; Jimmie recalled them one 
 by one, as he trudged through the mud and, as always, he set 
 his lips and clenched his hands, and took up anew the task of 
 making the world a fit place for a workingman's child to grow 
 up in! 
 
 Ill 
 
 The principal orator of the evening was a young college 
 professor who had been turned out of his job for taking the 
 side of the working-class in his public utterances, and who was 
 therefore a hero to Jimmie Higgins. This young man had the 
 facts of the war at his finger tips; he made you see it as a 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 129 
 
 gigantic conspiracy of capitalists the world over to complete 
 their grip on the raw materials of wealth, and on the bodies and 
 souls of the workers. He bitterly denounced those who had 
 forced the country into the war; he denounced the Wall Street 
 speculators and financiers who had made their billions already, 
 and would be making their tens of billions. He denounced the 
 plan to force men to fight who did not wish to fight, and his 
 every sentence was followed by a burst of applause from the 
 throng which packed the Opera-house. If you judged by this 
 meeting, you would conclude that America was on the verge 
 of a revolution against the war. 
 
 The young professor sat down, wiping the perspiration from 
 his pale forehead; and then the Liederkranz sang again only 
 it was not called the Liederkranz now, it had become known as 
 the "Workers' Singing Society," out of deference to local preju- 
 dice. Then arose Comrade Smith, editor of the "Worker/' and 
 announced that after the collection the orator would answer 
 questions; then Comrade Smith launched into a speech of his 
 own, to the effect that something definite ought to be done by 
 the workers of Leesville to make clear their opposition to being 
 dragged into war. For his part he wished to say that he would 
 not yield one inch to the war-clamour he was on record as 
 refusing to be drafted in any capitalist war, and he was ready 
 to join with others to agree that they would not be drafted. The 
 time was short if anything were to be done, they must act 
 at once 
 
 And then suddenly came an interruption this time not from 
 an old soldier, but from a sergeant of police who had been stand- 
 ing at one side of the stage, and who now stepped forward, 
 announcing, "This meeting is closed." 
 
 "What ?" shouted the orator. 
 
 "This meeting is closed," repeated the other. "And you, 
 young man, are under arrest." 
 
 There was a howl from the audience, and suddenly from 
 the pit in front of the stage, whence ordinarily the orchestra 
 dispensed sweet music, there leaped a line of blue-uniformed 
 men, distributing themselves between the public and the speaker. 
 At the same time down the centre aisle came a dozen soldiers 
 marching, with guns in their hands and bayonets fixed. 
 
 "This is an outrage!" shouted Comrade Smith. 
 
 "Not another word!" commanded the police official; and 
 
130 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 two policemen who had followed him grabbed the orator by each 
 arm and started to lead him off the stage. 
 
 Comrade Gerrity leaped to the front of the platform. "I 
 denounce this proceeding!" he shouted. "We are holding an 
 orderly meeting here " 
 
 A policeman laid hold of him. "You are under arrest." 
 
 Then came Comrade Mabel Smith, sister of the editor of the 
 "Worker." "For shame! For shame!" she cried. And then, 
 to a policeman, "No, I will not be silent! I protest in the 
 
 name of free speech ! I declare " And when the policeman 
 
 seized her by the arm, she continued to shout at the top of 
 her lungs, driving the crowd to frenzy. 
 
 There were disturbances all over the audience. Mrs. Ger- 
 rity, wife of the organiser, sprang up in her seat and began to 
 protest. It happened that Jimmie Higgins was in the aisle 
 not far from her, and his heart leaped with strange, half-for- 
 gotten emotions as he saw this trim little figure, with the jaunty 
 hat and the turkey-feather stuck on one side. Comrade Evelyn 
 Baskerville, of Greenwich Village, she of the fluffy brown hair 
 and the pert little dimples and the bold and terrifying ideas, 
 she who had so ploughed up the soul of Jimmie Higgins and 
 almost broken up the Higgins home here she was, employing 
 a new variety of coquetry, by which she compelled three soldiers 
 with rifles and bayonets to devote their exclusive attention to 
 her! 
 
 And then Comrade Mary Allen, the Quaker lady, who be- 
 lieved in moral force applied through the ear-drums. She stood 
 in the aisle with her armful of pamphlets and her red sash 
 over her shoulder, proclaiming, "In the name of liberty and 
 fair play I protest against this outrage! I will not see my 
 country dragged into war without asserting my right of protest ! 
 I stand here, in what is supposed to be a Christian city; I 
 
 speak in the name of the Prince of Peace " and so on, quite 
 
 a little speech, while several embarrassed young men in khaki 
 were trying to find out how to hold their rifles and a shouting 
 Quakeress at the same time. 
 
 And then Comrade Schneider, the brewer. He had been 
 up on the stage with the singers, and now got somehow to the 
 front. "Haf we got no rights in America left?" he shouted. 
 "Do we in this audience " 
 
 "Shut up, you Hun!" roared some one in the front of the 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 131 
 
 crowd, and three policemen at once leaped for Comrade 
 Schneider, and grabbed him by the collar, twisting so hard 
 that the German's face, always purple when he was excited, 
 took on a dark and deadly hue. 
 
 Poor Jimmie Higgins! He stood there with his armful of 
 "War, What For?" trembling with excitement, itching in 
 every nerve and sinew to leap into this conflict, to make his 
 voice heard above the uproar, to play his part as a man or 
 even as a Comrade Mabel Smith, or a Comrade Mary Allen, or 
 a Comrade Mrs. Gerrity, nee Baskerville. But he was helpless, 
 speechless bound hand and foot by those solemn pledges he 
 had given to Eleeza Betooser, the mother of babies. 
 
 He looked about, and near him in the aisle he saw another 
 man, also bound hand and foot bound by the memory of the 
 smash in the face which had broken his nose and knocked out 
 three of his front teeth! "Wild Bill" saw a policeman watch- 
 ing him now, eager for another pretext to leap on him and pound 
 him; so he was silent, like Jimmie. The two of them had to 
 stand there and see the fundamental constitutional rights of 
 American citizens set at naught, to see liberty trampled in the 
 dust beneath the boots of a brutal soldiery, to see justice 
 strangled and raped in the innermost shrine of her temple. 
 At least, that was what you had seen if you read the Leesville 
 "Worker" ; if on the other hand you read the "Herald" which 
 nine out of ten people did then you learned that the forces 
 of decency and order had at last prevailed in Leesville, the 
 propaganda of the Hun was stifled forever, the mouthers of 
 sedition had felt the heavy hand of public indignation. 
 
 IV 
 
 Outside, a crowd gathered to jeer while the prisoners were 
 loaded into the patrol- wagon ; but the police drove them away, 
 keeping everybody moving, and breaking up several attempts at 
 street-oratory. Jimmie found himself with half a dozen other 
 comrades, wandering aimlessly down Main Street, talking over 
 and over what had happened, each explaining why and how he 
 had not shared the crown of martyrdom. Some had shouted as 
 loud as the rest, but had been missed by the police; some had 
 thought it wiser to run away and live to shout another day; 
 some wanted to start that very night to print a leaflet and call 
 
132 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 another mass-meeting. They adjourned to Tom's "Buffeteria" 
 to talk things over; they took possession of a couple of tables, 
 and got their due quotas of coffee and sandwiches, or pie and 
 milk, and had just got fairly started on the question of raising 
 bail without the help of Comrade Dr. Service when suddenly 
 something happened which drove all thoughts of the meeting 
 out of their minds. 
 
 It was like a gigantic blow, striking the whole world at 
 once ; a cosmic convulsion, quite indescribable. The air became 
 suddenly a living thing, which leaped against your face; the 
 windows of the little eating-place flew inward in a shower of 
 glass, and the walls and tables shook as if with palsy. The 
 sound of it all was a vast, all-pervasive sound, at once far off 
 and near, tailing away in the clatter and crash of innumerable 
 panes of glass falling from innumerable windows. Then came 
 silence, a sinister, frightful silence, it seemed; men stared at 
 one another, crying, "My God! What's that?" The answer 
 seemed to dawn upon every one at once: "The powder-plant!" 
 
 Yes, that must be it, beyond doubt. For months they had 
 been talking about it and thinking about it, speculating as to 
 the probabilities and the consequences. And now it had hap- 
 pened. Suddenly one of the company gave a cry, and they 
 turned and stared at his white face, and realised the terror that 
 clutched his heart. Comrade Higgins, whose home was so near 
 the place of peril ! 
 
 "Gee, fellers, I gotta go!" he gasped; and several of the 
 comrades jumped up and ran with him into the street. If 
 there was a single pane of glass left intact in Leesville, you 
 would not have thought it as you trod those side-walks. 
 
 If Jimmie had been trained in efficiency, and accustomed to 
 spending money more freely, he might perhaps have found out 
 something by the telephone or by inquiry at the newspaper- 
 offices; but the one thing he thought of was to take the trolley 
 and get to his home. The comrades ran with him, speculating 
 with eager excitement, trying to reassure him it could be 
 nothing worse than some glass and some dishes smashed. Some 
 had thought of going all the way with him, but they remembered 
 they would be too late for the last trolley back, and they had 
 their jobs in the morning. So they put him on the car and 
 bade him good-bye. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 133 
 
 The trolley was packed with people going out to see what 
 had happened, so Jimmie had plenty of company and conversa- 
 tion on the way. But when he came to his stop, he got off 
 and walked alone, for the others were going to the explosives 
 plant, and they rode a mile or so farther on the car. 
 
 Never would Jimmie forget that journey that walk of 
 nightmares. The road was pitch-dark, and before he had gone 
 more than half the distance, he stumbled over something, and 
 fell head-foremost. He got up, and groped, and discovered that 
 it was a tree, lying prone across the road. He searched his 
 mind, and remembered a great dead tree that stood at that 
 spot. Could the explosion have knocked it down? 
 
 He went on, feeling his way more cautiously, yet goaded to 
 greater speed by his fears. A little way farther was a farm- 
 house, and he went into the yard and shouted, but got no reply. 
 The yard was covered with shingles, apparently blown from the 
 roof. He went on, more frightened than ever. 
 
 He came to a turn in the road which he knew was less than 
 half a mile from his home; and here there were several horses 
 and wagons tied, but no one to answer his calls. The road 
 passed through a wood; but apparently there was no road any 
 more the trees had been picked up bodily and thrown across 
 it. Jimmie had to grope this way and that, and he ran a piece 
 of broken branch into his cheek, and by that time was almost 
 ready to cry with fright. He knew that his home was two miles 
 from the explosives plant, and he could not conceive how an 
 explosion could have done such damage at such a distance. 
 
 He saw a lantern ahead, bobbing this way and that, and he 
 shouted louder than ever, and finally succeeded in persuading 
 the bearer of the lantern to wait for him. It proved to be a 
 farmer who lived some ways back ; he knew no more than Jimmie 
 did, and they made their way together. Beyond the woods, the 
 road was littered with loose dirt, bushes, bits of fence and 
 rubbish, burned black. "It must have been near here," de- 
 clared the man, and added words which caused Jimmie's heart 
 almost to stand still, "It must have been on the railroad-track I" 
 
 They came to a little rise, from which in day-time the line 
 of the railroad was visible. They saw lanterns, many of them, 
 moving here and there like a swarm of fire-flies. "Come this 
 
134 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 way/' Jimmie begged of the farmer., and ran toward his home. 
 The road was buried under masses of earth, as if thousands of 
 steam-shovels had emptied their contents on it. When they 
 came to where the fence of Jimmie's house ought to have been, 
 they found no fence, but a slide of loose earth that had never 
 been there before. Where the apple-tree had been there was 
 nothing ; where the lawn had been there was a pitch down a hill, 
 and where the house had been was a huge valley, seeming in the 
 darkness a bottomless abyss ! 
 
 VI 
 
 Jimmie was distracted. He grabbed the lantern from the 
 other man, and ran this way and that, looking for some of the 
 familiar land-marks of his home the chicken-house, the pig- 
 sty, the back fence with the broken elm tree in the corner, the 
 railroad beyond. He could not believe that he had come to the 
 place at all he could not credit the reality of such night-mare 
 sights as his eyes reported to him. He rushed about, stumbling 
 over mountains of upheaved brown dirt, sliding down into 
 craters that were filled with a strange penetrating odour which 
 caused his eyes to smart; and then clambering out again and 
 running after men with lanterns, shouting questions at them 
 and not waiting for an answer. It seemed to him that if he 
 ran just a little farther he must surely find the house and the 
 other things he was looking for; but he found nothing but 
 more craters and more mountains of dirt; and little by little 
 the horrible truth became clear to him, that all the way down 
 the railroad-track, as far as he could see or run, this gigantic 
 trough extended, a valley of raw dirt with mountains on each 
 side, crowned here and there with wheels and axles and iron 
 trucks of blown-up freight-cars, and filled in the bottom with 
 the deadly fumes of trinitrotoluol ! 
 
 Jimmie cried out to the men and women with lanterns, ask- 
 ing had they seen his wife and babies. But no one had seen 
 them no one had notified them of the impending explosion ! 
 Jimmie was sobbing, calling out distractedly; he ran out to the 
 road, and after much searching found a charred tree-stump 
 which gave him his precise bearings, so that he knew where 
 the house should have been, and could assure himself that it 
 was precisely where that frightful slope started down into the 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE 135 
 
 abyss. He slid around on this slope, calling aloud, as if he 
 expected the spirits of his loved ones might have remained 
 there, defying all the power of suddenly expanding gases. He 
 ran back across the road and called, as if they might have fled 
 that way. 
 
 At last he ran into Mr. Drew; old Mr. Drew, who a couple 
 of weeks before had taken Eleeza Betooser and her three little 
 ones driving in his buggy! That memory was the nearest 
 Jimmie could get to them, and so he clutched the old soldier's 
 arm, and held on to it, weeping like a little child. 
 
 The old man tried to draw him away, to get him to his home. 
 But Jimmie must stay on the spot, he was held by a spell of 
 horror. He wandered about, dragging Mr. Drew with him, 
 pleading with people to no purpose; now and then he would 
 break out with curses against war-makers, and especially those 
 who made explosives and transported them in freight-trains 
 through other men's back yards. For once people heard him 
 without threats of lynching. 
 
 So on through this night of anguish. Jimmie lost old man 
 Drew in the darkness, and was all alone when the dawn came, 
 and he could see the sweep of desolation about him, and the 
 awe-stricken faces of the spectators. Soon afterwards came the 
 climax. He saw a crowd gathered, and as he came up, this 
 crowd parted for him. Nobody seemed to want to speak, but 
 they all watched, as if curious to see what he would do. One 
 of the men bore a burden, wrapped in a horse-blanket; Jimmie 
 gazed, and after a moment's hesitation the man threw back 
 part of the blanket, and there before Jimmie's eyes was a most 
 horrible sight a human leg, a large white leg, the lower half 
 covered with a black stocking tied at the top with a bit of 
 tape. It was such a leg as you see in the windows of stores 
 where they sell pretty things for ladies; only this leg was soft, 
 mangled at the top, smeared with blood, and partly charred 
 black. One glance was enough for Jimmie, and he put his 
 hands over his eyes and turned and ran out to the road and 
 away, away anywhere from this pla^, of nightmares ! 
 
 VII 
 
 Jimmie's whole world was wiped out, ended. He had no 
 place to go, no care what became of him. He stumbled on 
 
136 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 till he came to the trolley-track, and got on the first car which 
 came along. It was pure chance that it happened to be going 
 back to Leesville, for Jimmie had no longer any interest in 
 that city. When the car came to the barn, he got out and 
 wandered aimlessly, until he happened to pass a saloon where 
 he had been accustomed to meet Jerry Coleman, distributor of 
 ten dollar bills. Jimmie went in and ordered a drink of 
 whiskey; he did not tell the saloon-keeper what had happened, 
 but took the drink to a table and sat down by himself. When 
 he had finished, he ordered another, because it helped him not 
 to think ; he sat there at the table, drinking steadily for an hour 
 or more. And so upon his confused mind there dawned a 
 strange, a ghastly idea, climax of all that night of horror. 
 Which leg of Lizzie was it the man had been carrying wrapped 
 in a horse-blanket? The right leg or the left? If it was the 
 left leg, why, nothing; but if it was the right, why then, under 
 the stocking was sewed a bandage, and in that bandage was 
 wrapped a package containing seven faded yellow twenty dollar 
 bills ! 
 
 And what would they do about it? Would they bury the 
 leg without investigation? Or would the man who had -found 
 it happen to undress it? And what was Jimmie to do? A 
 hundred and forty dollars was not to be sneezed at by a work- 
 ing-man it was more money than he had ever had in his life 
 before, or might ever have again. But could he go to the 
 man and say, "Did you find any money on my wife's leg?" 
 Could he say, "Please give me my wife's leg, so that I can 
 undress it and unsew the bandage, and get the money that I was 
 paid for keeping quiet about the surgical operation on Lacey 
 Granitch, that was done in my house before it was blown to 
 pieces by the explosion/' 
 
 Jimmie thought it all over while he took a couple more 
 drinks, and finally settled it to himself : "Aw hell ! What do I 
 want witl). mpnej ? J ain't a-goin' to live no more !" 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 
 
 JCMMIE HIGGINS was wandering down the street, when he 
 ran into "Wild Bill," who was, of course, greatly surprised 
 to see his friend in a drunken condition. When he heard the 
 reason, he revealed an unexpected side of his nature. If you 
 judged "Wild Bill" by his oratory, you thought him a creature 
 poisoned through and through, a soul turned rancid with envy, 
 hatred and malice and all uncharitableness. But now the tears 
 came into his eyes, and he put his arm over Jimmie's shoulder. 
 "Say, old pal, that's bum luck! By God, Fm sorry!" And 
 Jimmie, who wanted nothing so much as somebody to be sorry 
 with, clasped Bill in his arms, and burst into tears, and told 
 over and over again how he had gone to what had been his 
 home, and found only a huge crater blown out by the explosion, 
 and how he had gone about calling his wife and babies, until 
 at last they had brought him one leg of his wife. 
 
 "Wild Bill" listened, until he knew the story through, and 
 then he said, "See here, old pal, let's you and me quit this 
 town." 
 
 "Quit ?" said Jimmie, stupidly. 
 
 "Every time I open the front of my face now, the police 
 jump in it. Leesville's a hell of a town, I say. Let's get out." 
 
 "Where'll we go?" 
 
 "Anywhere what's the diff? It's coming summer. Let's 
 slam the gates." 
 
 Jimmie was willing why not? They went back to the 
 lodging-house where Bill lived, and he tied up his worldly 
 goods in a gunny-sack the greater part of the load consisting 
 of a diary in which he had recorded his adventures as leader 
 of an unemployed army which had started to march from Cali- 
 fornia to Washington, D. C., some four years previously. They 
 
 137 
 
138 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 took the trolley, and getting off in the country, walked along the 
 banks of the river, Jimmie still sobbing, and Bill in the grip of 
 one of his fearful coughing spells. They sat down beside the 
 stream, not so far from where Jimmie had gone in swimming 
 with the Candidate; he gave a touching account of this adven- 
 ture, but fell asleep in the middle of it, and Bill wandered off 
 and begged some food at a farm-house, using his cough as a 
 convenient lever for moving the heart of the house-wife. When 
 night came, they sought the railroad and got on board a south- 
 ward-moving freight ; so Jimmie Higgins went back to the hobo 
 life, at which he had spent a considerable part of his youth. 
 
 But there was a difference now ; he was no longer a blind 
 and helpless victim of a false economic system, but a revolution- 
 ist, fully class-conscious, trained in a grim school. The country 
 was going to war, and Jimmie was going to war on the country. 
 The two agitators got off the train at a mining-village, and 
 got a job as "surface-men," and proceeded to preach their gospel 
 of revolt to the workers in a lousy company boarding-house. 
 When they were found out, they "jumped" another freight, and 
 repeated the performance in another part of the district. 
 
 The companies were too vigilant for there to be any chance 
 of a strike; but "Wild Bill" whispered to the young workers 
 that he knew a trick worth two of that he would teach them 
 the art of "striking on the job" ! This idea of course had great 
 charm for embittered men ; enabling them to pay back the boss, 
 while at the same time continuing on his pay-roll. Bill had 
 read whole books in which the theory and practice of "sabotage" 
 were worked out, and he could tell any sort of workman tricks 
 to make his employer sweat under the collar. If you worked 
 in a machine-shop, you dropped emery-powder into the bear- 
 ings; if you worked on a farm, you drove copper nails into the 
 fruit-trees, which caused them to die ; if you packed apples, you 
 stuck your thumb-nail into one, which made sure that the whole 
 box would be rotten when it arrived ; if you worked in a saw-mill, 
 you drove a spike into a log ; if you worked in a restaurant, you 
 served double portions to ruin the boss, and spit in each por- 
 tion, to make sure the customer did not derive any benefit. 
 All these things you did in a fervour of exaltation, a mood of 
 frenzied martyrdom, because of the blaze of hate which had been 
 fanned in your soul by a social system based upon oppression 
 and knavery. 
 
JIMMIE BIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 139 
 
 II 
 
 To Jimmie, living the obscure and comparatively peaceful 
 life of a Socialist propagandist, the question of "sabotage, vio- 
 lence and crime" had been a more or less academic one, about 
 which the comrades debated acrimoniously, and against which 
 they voted by a large majority. But now Jimmie was out among 
 the "wobblies," the "blanket-stiffs" the unskilled workers who 
 had literally nothing but their muscle-power to sell; here he 
 was in the front-line trenches of the class war. These men 
 wandered about from one job to another, at the mercy of the 
 seasons and the fluctuations of industry. They were deprived 
 of votes, and therefore of their status as citizens; they were de- 
 prived of a chance to organise, and therefore of their status as 
 human beings. They were lodged in filthy bunk-houses, fed 
 upon rotten food, and beaten or jailed at the least word of 
 revolt. So they fought their oppressors with any and every 
 weapon they could lay hands on. 
 
 In the turpentine-country, in a forest, Jimmie and his pal 
 came to a "jungle," a place where the "wobblies" congregated, 
 living off the country. Here around the camp-fires Jimmie met 
 the guerrillas of the class-struggle, and learned the songs of 
 revolt which they sang some of them parodies on Christian 
 hymns which would have caused the orthodox and respectable 
 to faint with horror. Here they rested up, and exchanged data 
 on the progress of their fight, and argued over tactics, and 
 cussed the Socialists and the other "politicians" and "labour- 
 fakirs," and sang the praises of the "one big union/' and the 
 "mass strike," and "direct action" against the masters of indus- 
 try. They told stories of their sufferings and their exploits, and 
 Jimmie sat and listened. Sometimes his eyes were wide with 
 consternation, for he had never met men so desperate as these. 
 
 For example, "Strawberry" Curran named for his red hair 
 and innumerable freckles an Irish boy with the face of a choir- 
 singer, and eyes that must have been taken straight out of the 
 blue vault of heaven. This lad told about a "free speech fight" 
 in a far Western city, and how the chief of police had led the 
 clubbing, and how they had got back at him. "We bumped 
 him off all right," said "Strawberry" ; it was a favourite phrase 
 of his whenever anybody got in his way, he "bumped him off." 
 And then "Flathead Joe," who came from the Indian country, 
 
140 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 was moved to emulation, and told how he had put dynamite 
 under the supports of a mine-breaker, and the whole works had 
 slid down a slope into a canyon a mile below. And then a 
 lame fellow, "Chuck" Peterson, told about the imprisonment of 
 two strike-leaders in the hop-country of California, and of the 
 epidemic of fires and destructions that had plagued that region 
 for several years since. 
 
 All such things these men talked about quite casually, as 
 soldiers would talk about the events of the last campaign. This 
 class-war had been going on for ages, and had its own ethics 
 and its own traditions; those who took part in it had their 
 heroisms and sublimities, precisely like any other soldiers. They 
 would have been glad to come into the open and fight, but 
 the other side had all the guns. Every time the "wobblies" 
 succeeded in organising the workers and calling a big strike, 
 all the agencies of capitalist repression were called in they 
 were beaten by capitalist policemen, shot by capitalist sheriffs, 
 starved and frozen in capitalist jails, and so their strike was 
 crushed and their forces scattered. After many such experi- 
 ences, it was inevitable that the hot-headed ones should take to 
 secret vengeance, should become conspirators against capitalist 
 society. And society, forgetting all the provocations it had 
 given, called the "wobblies" criminals, and let it go at that. 
 But they were a strange kind of criminal, serving a far-off 
 dream. They had their humours and their humanities, their 
 literature and music and art. Among them were men of educa- 
 tion, graduates of universities both in America and abroad; 
 you might hear one of the group about these camp-fires telling 
 about slave-revolts in ancient Egypt and Greece; or quoting 
 Strindberg and Stirner, or reciting a scene from Synge, or nar- 
 rating how he had astounded the family of some lonely farm- 
 house by playing KachmaninofFs "Prelude" on a badly out-of- 
 tune piano. 
 
 Also you met among them men who had kept their gentle- 
 ness, their sweetness of soul ; men of marvellous patience, whose 
 dream of human brotherhood no persecution, no outrage had 
 been able to turn sour. They clung to their vision of a world 
 redeemed, made over by the outcast and lowly ; a vision that was 
 brought to the world by a certain Jewish carpenter, and has 
 haunted mankind for nineteen hundred years. The difference 
 was that these men knew precisely how they meant to do it ; they 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 141 
 
 had a definite philosophy, a definite programme, which they car- 
 ried as a gospel to the wage-slaves of the world. And they knew 
 that this glad message would never die not all the jails and 
 clubs and machine-guns in the country could kill it, not obloquy 
 and ridicule, not hunger and cold and disease. No ! for the work- 
 ers were hearing and understanding, they were learning the all- 
 precious lesson of Solidarity. They were forming the "one big 
 union," preparing the time when they would take over industry 
 and administer it through their own workers' councils, instead 
 of through the medium of parliaments and legislatures. That 
 was the great idea upon which the Industrial Workers of the 
 World was based ; it was this they meant by "direct action," not 
 the sinister thing which the capitalist newspapers made out of 
 the phrase. 
 
 in 
 
 The country was going into its own war, which it considered 
 of importance, and it called upon Jimmie Higgins and the rest 
 of his associates to register for military service. In the month 
 of June ten million men came forward in obedience to this 
 call but Jimmie, needless to say, was not among them. Jim- 
 mie and his crowd thought it was the greatest joke of the age. 
 If the country wanted them, let it come and get them! And 
 sure enough, the country came a sheriff and some thirty 
 farmers and turpentine-workers sworn in as deputies and armed 
 with shot-guns and rifles. Should their sons go over seas to 
 be killed in battle, while these desperadoes continued to camp 
 out on the country, living on hogs and chickens which honest 
 men had worked to raise? They had wanted to break up this 
 "jungle" for some time; now they could do it in the name of 
 patriotism ! They surrounded the camp, and shot one man who 
 tried to slip out in the darkness, and searched the rest for 
 weapons, and then loaded them into half a dozen automobiles 
 and took them to the nearest lockup. 
 
 So here was Jimmie, confronting a village draft-board. 
 How old was he? The truth was that Jimmie did not know 
 definitely, but his guess was about twenty-six. The draft-limit 
 being thirty, he swore that he was thirty-two. And what were 
 they going to do about it? They didn't know where he had 
 been born, and they couldn't make him tell because he didn't 
 know it himself ! His face was lined with many cares, and he 
 
142 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 had a few grey hairs from that night of horror when his loved 
 ones had been wiped out of existence. These farmers knew how 
 to tell the age of a horse, but not how to tell the age of a man ! 
 
 "We'll draft ye anyhow !" vowed the chairman of the board, 
 who was the local justice of the peace, an old fellow with a 'beard 
 like a billy-goat. 
 
 "All right/' said Jimmie, "but you'll get nothin' out o' me." 
 
 "What d' ye mean ?" 
 
 "I mean I wouldn't fight; I'm a conscientious objector to 
 war." 
 
 "They'll shoot ye P 
 
 "Shoot away !" 
 
 "They'll send you to jail for life." 
 
 "What the hell do I care?" 
 
 It was difficult to know what to do with a person like that. 
 If they did put him in jail, they would only be feeding him at 
 the expense of the community, and that would not help to beat 
 the Germans. They could see from the flash in his eyes that 
 he would not be an easy man to break. Local interest asserted 
 itself, and the old fellow with the wagging beard demanded : "If 
 we let ye go, will ye get out o' this county ?" 
 
 "What the hell do I care about your old county?" replied 
 Jimmie. 
 
 So they turned him loose, and "Wild Bill" also, because it 
 was evident at a glance that he was not long for this world 
 and its wars. The two of them broke into an empty freight-car, 
 and went thundering over the rails all night; and lying in the 
 darkness, Jimmie was awakened by a terrified cry from his com- 
 panion, and put out his hand and laid it in a mess that was hot 
 and wet. 
 
 "Oh, my God !" gasped Bill. "I'm done for I" 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Hemorrhage." 
 
 The terrified Jimmie did not even know what that was. 
 There was nothing he could do but sit there, holding his friend's 
 trembling hand and listening to his moans. When the train 
 stopped, Jimmie sprang out and rushed to one of the brakemen, 
 who came with his lantern, and saw "Wild Bill" lying in a pool 
 of blood, already so far gone that he could not lift his head. 
 "Jesus!" exclaimed the brakeman. "He's a goner, all right." 
 The "goner" was trying to say something, and Jimmie leaned 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE KOAD 143 
 
 his ear down to him. "Good-bye, old pal/' whispered Bill. 
 That was all, but it caused Jimmie to burst out sobbing. 
 
 The engine whistled. "What the hell you stiffs doin' on this 
 train?" demanded the brakeman but not so harshly as the 
 words would indicate. He lifted the dying man no very seri- 
 ous burden and laid him on the platform of the station. 
 "Sorry/' he said, "but we're behind schedule/' He waved his 
 lantern, and the creaking cars began to move, and the train 
 drew away, leaving Jimmie sitting by the corpse of his pal. 
 The world seemed a lonely place that long night. 
 
 In the morning the station-agent came, and notified the 
 nearest authorities, and in the course of the day came a wagon 
 to fetch the body. What was the use of Jimmie's waiting? 
 One "Potter's field" was the same as another, and there would 
 be nothing inspiring about the funeral. The man who drove 
 the wagon looked at Jimmie suspiciously and asked his age; 
 they were scarce of labour in that country, he said the rule 
 was "Work or fight." Jimmie foresaw another session with 
 a draft-board, so he leaped onto another freight train, taking 
 with him as a legacy "Wild Bill's" diary of the unemployed 
 army. 
 
 IV 
 
 It was harvest-time, and Jimmie went West to the wheat 
 country. It was hard work, but the pay made your eyes bulge. 
 Jimmie realised that war was not such a bad thing for the 
 ones that stayed at home ! If you didn't like one farmer's way 
 of speaking to you, or the kind of biscuits his wife offered you, 
 you could move on to the next, and he would take you in at 
 four bits more per day. It was the nearest approach to a work- 
 ingman's paradise that Jimmie had ever encountered. There 
 was really only one drawback the pestiferous draft-boards 
 that never stopped snooping round. They were forever hauling 
 you up and threatening and questioning you putting you 
 through the same scene over and over. Why couldn't the boobs 
 give you a card, showing that you had been through the mill, 
 and let that settle it? But no, they wouldn't give you a 
 card they preferred to go on jacking you up because you had 
 no card I It was all a trick, thought Jimmie, to wear him out 
 and force him into their army by hook or by crook. But here 
 was one time when they would not get away with it! 
 
144 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 However, Jimmie Higgins was not nearly, so dangerous a 
 character, now that "Wild Bill" was gone out of his life. It 
 was really not his nature to cherish hate, or to set out deliber- 
 ately to revenge himself. Jimmie was a Socialist in the true 
 sense of the word lie felt himself a part of society, and that 
 peace and plenty and kindness which he desired for himself he 
 desired for all mankind. He was not dreaming of a time when 
 he could turn the capitalists out of power and treat them as they 
 were now treating him; he meant the world to be just as good 
 a place for the capitalists as for the workers all would share 
 alike, and Jimmie was ready to wipe out the old scores and 
 start fair any day. His propaganda regained its former ideal- 
 istic hue, and it was only when somebody tried to drag him into 
 the slaughter-pen that he developed teeth and claws. 
 
 So he became fairly happy again happier than he had 
 thought he could ever be. It was in vain he told himself that 
 he had nothing to live for; he had the greatest thing in the 
 world to live for, the vision of a just and sane and happy world. 
 So long as anybody could be found to listen while he talked 
 about it and explained how it might be achieved, life was worth 
 while, life was real. It was only now and then that his bitter 
 heart-ache returned to plague him when he wakened in the 
 night with his arms clasped about the memory of the soft, 
 warm, kindly body of Eleesa Betooser; or when he came to a 
 farm-house where there were children, whose prattle reminded 
 him of the little fellow who had been his prime reason for 
 wanting a just and sane and happy world. Jimmie found that 
 he could not bear to work in one farm-house where there were 
 children; and when he told the farmer's wife the reason, he 
 and the woman declared a temporary truce to the class-war, 
 and celebrated it with half a large apple-pie. 
 
 The Socialists held a National convention at St. Louis, and 
 drew up their declaration concerning the war. They called it 
 the most unjustifiable war in history, "a crime against the 
 people of the United States"; they called on the workers of 
 the country to oppose it, and pledged themselves "to the support 
 of all mass movements in opposition to conscription/' This 
 was, of course, a serious step to take at such a time; the com- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 145 
 
 rades realised it, and there were solemn gatherings to discuss 
 the referendum, and not a little disagreement as to the wisdom 
 of the declaration. In the town of Hopeland, near which Jimmie 
 was working, there was a local, and he had got himself trans- 
 ferred from Leesville, and paid up his back dues, and had his 
 precious red card stamped up to date. And now he would go 
 in and listen to debates, just as exciting and just as bewilder- 
 ing as those he had heard at the outbreak of the war. 
 
 There were some who pointed out the precise meaning of 
 those words, "all mass movements in opposition to conscription/' 
 The leading dry-goods merchant of the town, who was a Social- 
 ist, declared that the words meant insurrection and mob violence, 
 and the resolution would be adjudged a call to treason. At which 
 there leaped to his feet a Russian Jewish tailor, Rabin by name ; 
 his first name was Scholem, which means Peace, and he cried 
 in great excitement: "Vot business have ve Socialists vit such 
 vords? Ve might leaf dem to de enemy, vot?" You might 
 have thought you were in Leesville, listening to Comrade 
 Stankewitz. The only difference was that there were not many 
 Germans in this town, and those few confined their discussions 
 to Ireland and India. 
 
 Jimmie would hear the arguments, back and forth and back 
 again, and his mind would be in greater confusion than ever. 
 He hated war, as much as ever; but on the other hand, he was 
 learning to hate the Germans too. The American government, 
 going into war, had been forced to assert itself, and the stores 
 and billboards were covered with proclamations and picture- 
 posters, and the newspapers were full of recitals of the crimes 
 which Germany had committed against humanity. Jimmie 
 might refuse to read this "Wall Street dope," as he called it, 
 but the workingmen with whom he was associating read it, 
 and would fire it at him whenever they got into a controversy. 
 Also the daily events in the news despatches the sinking of 
 hospital-ships filled with wounded, the shelling of life-boats, the 
 dragging away into slavery in coal-mines of Belgian children 
 thirteen and fourteen years old! How could any man fail to 
 hate and to fear a government which committed such atrocities ? 
 How could he remain untroubled at the thought that he might 
 be assisting such a government to victory? 
 
 Jimmie was honest, he was trying to face the facts as he 
 saw them; and when he stopped to think, when he remembered 
 
146 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the things he had done in company with "Wild Bill" and 
 "Strawberry" Cumin and "Flathead Joe" and "Chuck" Peter- 
 son, he could not deny that he had been, however uninten- 
 tionally, helping the Kaiser to win the war. In his arguments 
 with others, Jimmie dared not tell all he knew about such mat- 
 ters; so, when he argued with himself, his conscience was 
 troubled, and doubt gnawed at his soul. Suppose it were true, 
 as Comrade Dr. Service had tried to prove to him, that a vic- 
 tory for the Kaiser would mean that America would have to 
 spend the next twenty or thirty years getting ready for the 
 next war? Might it not then be better to forego revolutionary 
 agitation for a while, until the Kaiser had been put out of busi- 
 ness? 
 
 There were not a few Socialists who argued this way 
 men who had been active in the movement and had possessed 
 Jimmie's regard before the war. Now they denounced the St. 
 Louis resolution the "majority report" as it was called. When 
 this report was carried in referendum by a vote of something 
 like eight to one, these comrades withdrew from the party, and 
 some of them bitterly attacked their former friends. Such 
 utterances were taken up by the capitalist press ; and this made 
 Jimmie Higgins indignant. A fine lot of Socialists, to quit the 
 ship in the hour of peril ! Eenegades, Jimmie called them, and 
 compared them with Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold and 
 such like celebrities of past ages. They, being exactly, the same 
 sort of folks as Jimmie, answered by calling Jimmie a pro- 
 German and a traitor ; which did not make it easier to persuade 
 Jimmie to listen to their arguments. So both sides became 
 blinded with anger, forgetting about the facts in the case, and 
 thinking only of punishing a hated antagonist. 
 
 VI 
 
 All over the country now men were sending their sons to 
 the training-camps, and putting their money into "liberty- 
 bonds." So they were in no mood to listen to argument they 
 would fly into a rage at the least hint that the cause in which 
 they were making sacrifices was not a perfectly just and right- 
 eous cause. There was an organisation called the "People's 
 Council for Peace and Democracy," which attempted to hold 
 a national convention; the gathering was broken up by mobs, 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 147 
 
 and the delegates went wandering over the country, trying in 
 vain to get together. The mayor of Chicago gave them permis- 
 sion to meet in that city, but the governor of the state sent 
 troops to prevent! You see, the people of the country had 
 learned all about the organization for which Jerry Coleman had 
 been working "Labour's National Peace Council"; and here 
 was another organization, bearing practically the same name, 
 and carrying on an agitation which seemed the same to the 
 average man. The distinction between hired treason and super- 
 idealism was far too subtle for the people to draw in a time of 
 such peril. 
 
 It was becoming more and more the fashion to arrest Social- 
 ists and to suppress their papers; the government authorities 
 in many places declared the "majority report" unmailable, and 
 indicted state and national secretaries for having sent it out 
 in the ordinary routine of their business. Jimmie received a 
 letter from Comrade Meissner in Leesville, telling him that 
 Comrade "Jack" Smith had been given two years in the peni- 
 tentiary for his speech in the Opera-house, and the other would- 
 be speakers had been fined five hundred dollars each. Several 
 issues of the "Worker" had been barred from the mails, and 
 now the police had raided the offices and forced the suspension 
 of the publication. All over the country that sort of thing 
 was happening, so now if you argued with Jimmie in favour of 
 the war, his answer was that America was more Prussian than 
 Prussia, and what was the use of fighting for Democracy abroad, 
 if you had to sacrifice every particle of Democracy at home 
 in order to win the fight? 
 
 Jimmie really believed this he believed it with most des- 
 perate and passionate intensity. He looked forward to a war 
 won for the benefit of oppression at home ; he foresaw the system 
 of militarism and suppression riveted forever on the people of 
 America. Jimmie would admit that the President himself 
 might be sincere in the fine words he used about democracy; 
 but the great Wall Street interests which had run the country 
 for so many decades they had their secret purposes, for which 
 the war-frenzy served as a convenient cloak. They were going 
 to make universal military service the rule in America; they 
 were going to see to it that every school-child learned the mili- 
 tary lessons of obedience and subordination. Also they were 
 going to put the radical papers out of business and put a stop 
 
148 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 to all radical propaganda. Those Socialists, who had been 
 trapped into supporting the President's war-programme would 
 wake up some morning with a fearful dark-brown taste in their 
 mouths ! 
 
 ISTo, said Jimmie Higgins, the way to fight war was to resist 
 the subterfuges, however cunning and plausible, by which men 
 sought to persuade you to support war. The way to fight war- 
 was the way of the Eussians. The propaganda of proletarian 
 revolt, the glorious example which the Eussian workers had set, 
 would do more to break down the power of the Kaiser than all 
 the guns and shells in the world. But the militarists did not 
 want it broken that way Jimmie suspected that many of them 
 would rather have the war won by the Kaiser than have it won 
 by the Socialists. The governments refused to give passports 
 to Socialists who wanted to meet in some neutral country and 
 work out the basis of a settlement upon which all the peoples 
 of the world might get together; and Jimmie took the banning 
 of this Socialist conference as the supreme crime of world- 
 capitalism, it was evidence that world-capitalism knew its true 
 enemy, and meant to use the war as an excuse to hold that 
 enemy down. 
 
 vn 
 
 Day by day Jimmie was coming to place more of his hopes 
 in Bussia. His little friend Eabin, the tailor, took a Eussian 
 paper published in New York, the "Novy Mir," and would 
 translate its news and editorials. Local Hopeland, thus in- 
 spired, voted a message of fraternal sympathy to the Eussian 
 workers. In Petrograd and Moscow there was going on, it 
 appeared, a struggle between the pro-ally Socialists and the 
 Internationalists, the true, out-and-out, middle-of-the-road, 
 thick-and-thin proletarians. The former were called Menshe- 
 viki, the latter were called Bolsheviki, and of course Jimmie 
 was all for the latter. Did he not know the "stool-pigeon 
 Socialists" at home, who were letting themselves be used by 
 capitalism ? 
 
 The big issues were two first, the land, which the peasants 
 wanted to take from the landlords ; and second, the foreign 
 debt. The Eussian Tsar had borrowed four billion dollars from 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD 149 
 
 France and a billion or two from England, to be used in en- 
 slaving the Russian workers and driving several millions of 
 them to death on the battle-field. Now should the Russian 1 
 workers consider themselves bound by this debt? When any- 
 body asked Jimmie Higgins that question, he responded with 
 a thunderous No, and he regarded as hirelings or dupes of 
 Wall Street all those Socialists who supported Kerensky in 
 Russia. 
 
 When the American government, wishing to appeal to the 
 Russian people for loyalty in the war, sent over a commission to 
 them, and placed at its head one of the most notorious corpora- 
 tion lawyers in America, a man whose life, the Jimmies said, 
 had been sold to service in the anti-liberal cause, Jimmie Hig- 
 gins' shrill voice became a yell of ridicule and rage. Of course 
 Jimmie's organisation saw to it that the Bolsheviki were in- 
 formed in advance as to the character of this commission 
 something which was unnecessary, as it happened, because im- 
 mediately after the overthrow of the Tsar there had begun a 
 pilgrimage of Russian Socialists from New York and San 
 Francisco, men who had seen the seamy side of American capi- 
 talism in the slums of our great cities, and who lost no time in 
 providing the Russian radicals with full information concerning 
 Wall Street ! 
 
 It chanced that in San Francisco a well-known labour leader 
 had been charged with planting a bomb to break up a "pre- 
 paredness" parade. He had been convicted upon what was 
 proven to be perjured testimony, and the labour unions of the 
 country had been conducting a campaign to save his life 
 which campaign the capitalist newspapers had been carefully 
 overlooking, according to their invariable custom. But now the 
 returned exiles in Petrograd took up the matter, and organised 
 a parade to the American embassy, with a demand for the free- 
 ing of this "Muni." The report, of course, came back to 
 America to the immense bewilderment of the American people, 
 who had never heard of this "Muni" before. To Jimmie Hig- 
 gins it seemed just the funniest joke on earth that a big labour- 
 struggle should be on in San Francisco, and Americans should 
 get their first news about it from Petrograd ! Look ! he would 
 cry how much real democracy there is in America, how much 
 care for the working-classes ! 
 
 So all that summer and fall, while Jimmie Higgins slaved 
 
150 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 in the fields, getting in his country's wheat-crop, and then his 
 country's corn crop, there was a song of joy and awakening ex- 
 citement in his soul. Far over the seas men of his own kind 
 were getting the reins of power into their hands, for the 
 first time in the history of the world. It could not be long 
 before here in America the workers would learn this wonderful 
 lesson, would thrill to the idea that freedom and plenty might 
 really be their portion ! 
 

 CHAPTER XV 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK 
 
 WINTER was coming, and the farm-workers moved to the 
 cities; but this year they did not go as bums and out-o'- 
 works they went, each man a little king. Jimmie wandered 
 into the city of Ironton, and got himself a job in a big auto- 
 mobile shop at eight dollars a day, and set to work agitating 
 for ten dollars. It was not that he had any need of the extra 
 two dollars, of course, but merely because his first principle in 
 life was to make trouble for the profit-system. The capitalist 
 papers of this middle- Western metropolis were furiously de- 
 nouncing workingmen who struck "against their country" in 
 war-time; Jimmie, on the other hand, denounced those who 
 used "country" as camouflage for "boss," and made the war a 
 pretext to deprive labour of its most precious right. 
 
 There was a Socialist local in Ironton, still active and deter- 
 mined, in spite of the fact that its office had been raided by 
 the police, and most of the party's papers and magazines barred 
 from the mails. You could always get leaflets printed, how- 
 ever; and if you could no longer denounce the war directly, you 
 could jeer at England's exhibition of "democracy" in Ireland, 
 you could point to the profits of the profiteers, and demand con- 
 scription of wealth along with conscription of manhood. Some 
 American Socialists became almost as subtle as that German 
 rebel of pre-war days, who, desiring to lampoon the Kaiser, wrote 
 an account of the life of the Roman emperor Agricola, reciting 
 his vanities and insane extravagances. 
 
 Late in the fall came an event which should have troubled 
 Jimmie Higgins more deeply than it did. Along the Izonzo 
 river the Italian armies were facing the Austrians, their heredi- 
 tary enemies; they were at the end of a long, exhaustive, and 
 
 151 
 
152 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 for the most part unsuccessful campaign, and the Italian Social- 
 ists at home were carrying on precisely such a warfare against 
 their own government as Jimmie Higgins was carrying on in 
 America. They were helped by the Catholic intriguers, who 
 hated the Italian government because it had destroyed the tem- 
 poral power of the Pope; they were helped by the subtle and 
 persistent efforts of Austrian agents in their country, who spread 
 rumours among Italian troops of the friendly intentions of the 
 Austrians, and of the imminence of a truce. These agents went 
 so far as to fake copies of the leading Italian newspapers, with 
 accounts of starvation and riots in the home-cities, and the 
 shooting down of women and children. These papers were 
 given out in the Italian trenches, before a certain mountain- 
 sector where the Austrian troops had been fraternising with the 
 Italians; and then, during the night, the Austrian troops were 
 withdrawn, and picked German "shock-troops" substituted, which 
 attacked at dawn and drove through the Italian lines, sweeping 
 back the army along a hundred mile front, capturing some 
 quarter of a million prisoners and a couple of thousand cannon 
 practically all the Italians had. 
 
 That Jimmie Higgins did not pay more attention to this 
 terrifying incident was in part because he read it in the capi- 
 talist papers and did not believe it ; but mainly because his whole 
 attention just now was centred on Russia, where the prole- 
 tariat was about to make its bid for power. Now you would 
 see how wars were to be ended and peace restored to a distracted 
 world ! 
 
 The moderate Socialist government of Kerensky was plead- 
 ing with the capitalist masters of the Allied nations for a 
 statement of their peace terms, so that the workers of Russia 
 might know what they were fighting for. The Russian workers 
 wanted a declaration in favour of no annexations, no indemni- 
 ties, and disarmament; on such terms they would help fight 
 the war, in spite of all the starvation and suffering in distracted 
 Russia. But the Allied statesmen would not make any such 
 declaration, and the Russian workers, backed by all the Social- 
 ists of the world, declared that the reason was that these Allied 
 statesmen were waging an imperialist war they did not intend 
 to stop fighting until they had taken vast territories from the 
 German powers, and exacted a ransom that would cripple Ger- 
 many for a generation, The Russian workers refused point- 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK 153 
 
 blank to fight for such aims, and so in November came the 
 second revolution, the uprising of the Bolsheviki. 
 
 Almost their first action when they took possession of the 
 palaces and government archives was to publish to the world 
 the secret treaties which the rulers of England, France and 
 Italy had made with Kussia. These treaties formed a com- 
 plete justification for the attitude of the Eussian revolutionists 
 they showed that the Allied imperialists had planned most 
 shameless plundering ; England was to have the German colonies 
 and Mesopotamia, France was to have German territory to the 
 Rhine, Italy was to have the Adriatic coast, and to divide 
 Palestine and Syria with England and France. 
 
 And here was the most significant fact to Jimmie Higgins 
 these enormously important revelations, the most important 
 since the beginning of the war, were practically suppressed by 
 the capitalist newspapers of America! First these papers 
 printed a brief item the Bolsheviki had given out what they 
 claimed were secret treaties, but the genuineness of these docu- 
 ments was gravely doubted. Then they published evasive and 
 lying denials from the British, French and Italian diplomats; 
 and then they shut up ! Not another word did you read about 
 those secret treaties; except for one or two American news- 
 papers with traditions of honour, the full text of those treaties 
 was given in the Socialist press alone ! And now, cried Jimmie 
 Higgins, to the workingmen in his shop, what do you think of 
 those wonderful Allies of ours? What do you think of those 
 Wall Street newspapers of ours? Could any workingman who 
 had such facts put before him fail to realise that Jimmie Hig- 
 gins had a case, and a most important work in the world to do, 
 in spite of all his unreason and his narrowness? 
 
 II 
 
 Jimmie was now in the seventh heaven, walking as if on 
 air. A proletarian government at last, the first in history ! A 
 government of workingmen like himself, running their own 
 affairs, without the help of politicians or bankers! Coming 
 out before the world and telling the truth about matters of 
 state, in language that common men could understand! Dis- 
 banding the armies, and sending the workers home! Turning 
 the masters out of the factories, and putting shop-committees 
 
154 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 in control ! Taking away the advertising from the crooked 
 capitalist papers, and so putting them out of business! Our 
 little friend would rush to the corner every morning to get the 
 paper and see what had happened next; he would go down the 
 street, so excited that he forgot his breakfast. 
 
 Jimmie had made a new acquaintance in Ironton ; the little 
 tailor, Eabin, whose name was Scholem, which means Peace, 
 had given him a letter to his brother, whose name was Deror, 
 which means Freedom. Each afternoon when the automobile 
 factory let out, Jimmie would get an evening paper and take it 
 to Deror's tailor-shop, and the two would spell out the news. 
 By God, look at this ! Did you ever hear the like ? The man 
 in charge of .the Bolshevik foreign office was a Marxian Jew 
 who had helped edit the "Novy Mir," the revolutionary paper 
 which Scholem had read to Jimmie! He had been a waiter in 
 the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, and now he was giving out the 
 secret treaties, and issuing propaganda manifestos to the inter- 
 national proletariat! 
 
 The American capitalist press was full of lies about the new 
 revolution, of course; but Jimmie could read pretty well be- 
 tween the lines of the capitalist press, and the few Socialist 
 papers that were still in business, and which he read at the 
 headquarters of the local, gave him the rest of what he wanted. 
 To Jimmie, of course, everything the Bolsheviki did was right; 
 if it wasn't right, it was a lie. The little machinist knew that 
 the Bolsheviki had repudiated the four billion dollar debt which 
 the government of the Tsar had contracted with the bankers 
 of France; and Jimmie knew perfectly well what was the lying 
 power of four billion dollars ! 
 
 The American papers were shocked because the Russian 
 Socialists were deserting the cause of democracy, and giving 
 Germany a chance to win the war. The American papers called 
 them German agents, but Jimmie did not take any stock in 
 such talk as this. Jimmie was familiar with the "frame up," as 
 it is operated against the workers in America. He saw that the 
 first thing the Bolshevik leaders did was to make an appeal 
 to the revolutionary workers of Germany. The Russian prole- 
 tariat had shown the way now let the German proletariat fol- 
 low! Literature was printed and shipped wholesale into Ger- 
 many, leaflets were dropped by aviators among the German 
 troops; and when Jimmie and Deror read that the German 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK 155 
 
 generals had protested to the Russians against such practices, 
 they laughed aloud with delight. Well might the war-lords 
 squeal; they knew what was coming to them! And when in 
 January Jimmie and Deror read of the revolting of a brigade 
 of German troops, and a strike of several hundred thousand 
 workingmen throughout Germany, they thought the end was at 
 hand. The little tailor got up in Local Ironton and made a 
 motion that it take to itself the name "Bolshevik" which 
 motion was carried with a whoop. And these American Bol- 
 sheviki went on to consult with the labour-unions, suggesting 
 that they should form "shop-committees," and prepare for the 
 taking over of industry a la Russe ! 
 
 in 
 
 But something went suddenly wrong with the newly built 
 revolutionary steam-roller. The German military chiefs seized 
 their strike-leaders at home and threw them into jail, or shipped 
 them off to the front trenches to be slaughtered. By terrorism, 
 shrewdly mixed with cajolery, they broke the strike, and sent 
 the grumbling slaves back to their treadmill. And then the 
 German armies began to march into Russia ! 
 
 It was the crisis to which Jimmie Higgins had been looking 
 forward ever since the war began. Tolstoi had taught that if 
 one nation refused to fight, it would be impossible for another 
 nation to invade it; and while Jimmie Higgins was no mystic 
 or religious non-resistant, he agreed in this with the great 
 Russian. No workers in an enemy army could possibly be 
 brought to fire upon their peace-proclaiming brothers ! 
 
 And here at last was the test of the theory; here were Ger- 
 man Socialists ordered to march against Russian Socialists 
 ordered to fire upon the red flag! Would they do what their 
 masters, the war-lords, commanded? Or would they listen to 
 the clamorous appeals of the international proletariat, and turn 
 their guns against their own officers ? 
 
 All the world saw what happened; it saw the glorious revo- 
 lutionary machine, in which Jimmie Higgins had put all his 
 trust, run into a ditch and land its passengers in the mud. 
 The German armies marched, and the Socialists in the Ger- 
 man armies did exactly what the non-Socialists did they fired 
 upon the red flag, as they would have fired upon the flag of 
 
156 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the Tsar. They obeyed the orders of theiT officers, like true 
 and loyal Germans; they drove back the Bolshevik! in con- 
 fusion, taking their guns and supplies, and destroying their 
 cities ; they led off the Eussian women and children into slavery, 
 precisely as if they were Belgian or French women and chil- 
 dren, destined by the German Gott as the legitimate prey of 
 Kultur. They sacked Biga and Eeval, they overran all the 
 Eastern portions of Eussia Courland, Livonia, Esthonia; they 
 moved into the rich grain country of Southern Bussia, the 
 Ukraine ; they landed from their ships and took Finland, wiping 
 out the liberties of that splendid people. They were at the gates 
 of Petrograd, and the Bolshevik government was forced to 
 flee to Moscow. Of all which military feats the German Social- 
 ist papers spoke with stern pride! 
 
 IV 
 
 Poor Jimmie Higgins! It was like the blow of a mighty 
 fist in his face; he was literally stunned it was weeks before 
 he could grasp the full meaning of what was happening, the 
 debacle of all his hopes. And it was the same with Ironton's 
 Bolshevik local; all the "pep" was gone out of its proceedings. 
 To be sure, some noisy ones went on shouting for revolution 
 the very next day men who had been talking formulas for 
 twenty or thirty years, and had no more notion of a fact than 
 they had of a pseudopodium. But the sensible men of the group 
 knew that their "St. Louis resolution" was being shot to death 
 over there in the trenches before Petrograd. 
 
 It was interesting especially to see Babin. The common 
 belief of Americans was that a Jew could not be induced to 
 fight; they told a story about one who cried out to his son, 
 asking why he was letting another boy pummel him, and the 
 son whispered in reply, "Keep still, I got a nickel under my 
 foot!" All through the war the Jewish Socialists in America 
 had been, next to the Germans, the most ardent pacifists; but 
 now here was a social revolution managed by Jews, here was a 
 Eussian government which gave the Jews their rights for the 
 first time in history! So the little Jewish tailor stood up be- 
 fore these American Bolsheviki, and with tears running down 
 his cheeks declared : "Comrades, I am already tru vit speeches ; 
 I am going into dis var ! I vill put myself vit de Polish Social- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK 157 
 
 ists, vit de Bohemian Socialists I fight de Kaiser to de death! 
 So vill fight every Jewish Socialist in de vorld!" And this 
 was no mere braggadocio Comrade Rabin actually proceeded 
 to shut up his tailor-shop, and went away to join the "red 
 brigade" which was being organised by the Jewish revolutionists 
 of New York! 
 
 If the German war-lords had set out deliberately to ham- 
 string the American Socialists, to make it impossible for them 
 to go on demanding peace, they could not have acted differently. 
 They dragged the helpless Bolsheviki into a peace-conference 
 at Brest-Litovsk, and forced them to cede away all the territories 
 that Germany had taken, and on top of that to pay an enor- 
 mous indemnity. They planned to compel the new Russian 
 government to become a vassal to the Central powers, working 
 to help them enslave the rest of the world. The German armies 
 went through the conquered territories, stripping them bare, 
 robbing the peasants of every particle of food, beating them, 
 shooting them, burning their homes if they resisted. They gave 
 to the world such a demonstration of what a German peace 
 would mean, that everywhere free men set their teeth and 
 gripped their hands, and swore to root this infamous thing from 
 out civilisation. Even Jimmie Higgins! 
 
 Yes, even Jimmie! He made up his mind that he would 
 work as hard as ever he could, and produce as many automo- 
 bile-trucks as he could. But alas, a man cannot be hounded 
 and oppressed all his life, cannot have hatred and rebellion 
 ground into the deeps of his soul, and then forget it over-night 
 because of certain intellectual ideas, certain new items that he 
 reads in his paper. What happened to Jimmie was that his 
 mind was literally torn in half ; he found himself, every twenty- 
 four hours of his life, of two absolutely contradictory and 
 diametrically opposite points of view. He would vow destruc- 
 tion to the hated German armies ; and then he would turn about 
 and vow destruction to the men at home who were managing the 
 job of destroying the German armies ! 
 
 For these men were Jimmie's life long enemies, and were 
 no more able to forget their prejudices over-night than was 
 Jimmie. For example, the lying capitalist paper which Jimmie 
 
158 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 had to read every morning ! When Jimmie had read a patriotic 
 editorial in the "Ironton Daily Sun," it had become utterly 
 impossible for him to help win the war that day! Or the 
 politicians, seeking to use the war-cry of democracy abroad to 
 crush all traces of democracy at home; to "get" the radicals 
 whom they hated and feared, and by means of taxes on neces- 
 sities and a bonded debt to put the costs of the war onto the 
 poor ! Or the capitalists, making f ervid speeches about patriot- 
 ism, but refusing to give up the whip-hand over their wage- 
 slaves ! 
 
 Jimmie Higgins was working in a factory, making auto- 
 mobile-trucks for the armies in France; and the owners of the 
 factory would not let the men have a union, and so there 
 was a strike. The bosses made an agreement to take every- 
 body back and permit a union, and then proceeded treacher- 
 ously to violate the agreement, getting rid of the most active 
 organisers on this or that transparent pretext. Jimmie Higgins, 
 trying to help with the skill of his hands to make the world 
 safe for democracy, was turned out of his job and left to wander 
 in the streets, because a big profit-seeking corporation did not 
 believe in democracy, and refused to permit its workers any 
 voice in determining the conditions of their labour ! The Gov- 
 ernment was trying to deal with emergencies such as this, to put 
 an end to the epidemic of strikes which was hindering the war- 
 work everywhere; but the government had not yet got its 
 machinery going, and meantime Jimmie's little feeble sprout 
 of patriotism got a severe chill. 
 
 Jimmie got drunk, and wasted a part of his money on a 
 wpman of the street. Then, being ashamed of himself, and still 
 plagued by the memory of his dead wife and babies, he straight- 
 ened up and resolved to start life anew. He found himself 
 thinking about Leesville; it was the only place in the world 
 where he had ever been really happy, and now since Deror 
 Rabin had gone East, it was the only place where he had friends. 
 How were the Meissners making out? How was Comrade Mrs. 
 Gerrity, nee Baskerville? What was Local Leesville thinking 
 about Kussia and about the war ? Jimmie took a sudden resolve 
 to go and find out. He priced a ticket, and found that he had 
 enough money and to spare. He would take the journey and 
 take it in state, as a citizen and a war-worker, not as a hobo 
 jn a box-car ! 
 
CHAPTEK XVI 
 
 HIGGINS M'EETS THE TEMPTER 
 
 WHEN Jimmie Higgins stepped off the train at Leesville, 
 it was a blustery morning in early March, with snow still 
 on the ground and flurries of it in the air. In front of the 
 station was a public square, with a number of people gathered, 
 and Jimmie strolled over to see what was going on. What he 
 saw was a score of young men, some in khaki uniforms, some in 
 ordinary trousers and sweaters, being drilled. Jimmie, being 
 in the mood of a gentleman of leisure, stopped to watch the 
 show. 
 
 It was the thing he had been talking and thinking about 
 for nearly three years : this monstrous perversion of the human 
 soul called Militarism, this force which seized hold of men and 
 made them into automatons, moving machines which obeyed 
 orders in a mass, and went out and did deeds of which none of 
 them taken separately would have been capable, even in their 
 dreams. Here was a bunch of average nice Leesville boys, 
 employes of the shops nearby, "soda-jerkers" and "counter- 
 jumpers," clerks who had deftly fitted shoes onto the feet of 
 pretty ladies. Now they were submitting themselves to this 
 deforming discipline, undergoing this devilish transmogrifica- 
 tion ! 
 
 Jimmie's eye ran down the line: there was a street-car 
 conductor he knew, there was a machinist from the Empire, 
 also there was a son of Ashton Chalmers, president of the First 
 National Bank of Leesville. And suddenly Jimmie gave a 
 start. Impossible! It could not be! But it was! Young 
 Emil Forster ! Emil a Socialist, Emil a German, Emil a student 
 and thinker, who had penetrated the hypocritical disguises of 
 this capitalist war, and had fearlessly proclaimed the truth 
 every Friday night at the local here he was with a suit of 
 
 159 
 
160 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 khaki on his rather frail figure, a rifle in his hand and a look 
 of grim resolve on his face, going through the evolutions of 
 squad-drill: left, right, left, right, left, right column left, 
 march one, two, three, four left, right, left, right, squad 
 right about, march left, right, left, right squad left oblique, 
 march and so on. If you are to form any picture of the 
 scene you must imagine the swift tramp of many feet in unison 
 thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump; you must 
 imagine the marchers, with their solemnly set faces, and the 
 orders thundered out by a red-faced young man of desperate 
 aspect, the word march coming each time with a punch that 
 hit you over the heart. This red-faced young man was the 
 very incarnation of the military despot as Jimmie had pic- 
 tured him; watching with hawk-like eye, scolding, pounding, 
 driving, with no slightest regard for the feelings of the slaves 
 he commanded, or for any of the decencies of civilised inter- 
 course. 
 
 "Hold those half steps, Casey! Keep your eye on the end 
 man you'll have him splitting his legs if you don't wait for 
 him. Column left, march one, two, three, four now you're 
 all right off with you that's better! Put a little pep into 
 your feet, Chalmers, for God's sake if you go marching into 
 Berlin like that they'll think it's the hospital squad ! By the 
 right flank, column fours, march watch your distance there, 
 eml man ! How many times do you want me to tell you that ?" 
 And so on and on tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp while a 
 small boy standing beside Jimmie, evidently a truant from 
 school, chanted over and over: "Left left the soldier got 
 drunk and he packed up his trunk and he left left ! And do 
 you not think he was right right?" 
 
 ii 
 
 Now if you have ever stood about and watched outdoor 
 exercise or games, on a day in March with snow on the ground 
 and a keen wind blowing, you know how it is you have to 
 stamp your feet to keep warm; and if in your neighbourhood 
 there are twenty left feet smiting the ground in unison, and 
 then twenty right feet smiting the ground in unison, it is 
 absolutely inevitable that your stamping should keep time to the 
 smiting; also the rhythm of your stamping will be communi- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER 161 
 
 cated upwards into your body your thoughts will keep time 
 with the marching squad tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp left, 
 right, left, right ! The psychologists tell us that one who goes 
 through the actions appropriate to an emotion will begin to feel 
 that emotion ; and so it was with Jimmie Higgins. By a process 
 so subtle that he never suspected it Jimmie was being made into 
 a militarist ! Jimmie's hands were clenched, Jimmie's jaw was 
 set, Jimmie's feet were tramping, tramping on the road to Ber- 
 lin, to teach the Prussian war-lords what it meant to defy the 
 free men of a great republic ! 
 
 But then something would happen to blast these budding 
 excitements in Jimmie's soul. The red-faced fellow would break 
 into the rhythm of the march. "For the love of Mike, Pete 
 Casey, can't you remember those half -steps ? Squad, halt ! Now 
 look here, what's the matter with you? Step out and let me 
 show you once more." And poor Casey, a meek-faced little man 
 with sloping shoulders, who had been running the elevator in 
 the Chalmers Building up to a week ago, would patiently prac- 
 tise marching without moving, so that the rest of the line could 
 wheel round him as a pivot. The petty tyrant who scolded at 
 him was determined to have his own way ; and Jimmie, who had 
 had to do with many such tyrants in his long years of industrial 
 servitude, was glad when this particular one got mixed up in 
 his orders, and ran his squad into the fountain in the middle 
 of the drill-ground, and some of them marched over the para- 
 pet, sliding down into the ice-covered basin below. The spec- 
 tators roared, and so did the marchers, and the red-faced young 
 man had to join in, and to come down off his high horse. 
 
 The conflict of impulses went on in Jimmie's soul. These 
 marching men were the "boobs" at whom he had been mocking 
 for something over two years. They did not look like "boobs," 
 he had to admit; on the contrary, they looked quite capable of 
 deciding what they wanted to do. And they had decided; they 
 had quit their jobs several weeks in advance of the time when 
 they would be called for the draft, and had set to work to learn 
 the rudiments of the military art, in the hope of thus getting 
 more quickly to France. Among them were bankers and mer- 
 chants and real estate dealers, side by side with soda-jerkers 
 and counter-jumpers and elevator-men and all taking their 
 orders from an ex-blacksmith's helper, who had run away to 
 fight in the Philippines. 
 
162 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Jimmie got this last bit of information fr.om a fellow who 
 stood watching; so he realised that here was the thing he 
 had been reading about in the papers the new army of the 
 people, that was going forth to make the world safe for democ- 
 racy ! Jimmie had read such words, and thought them just 
 camouflage, a trap for the "boobs." But here, a sight of won- 
 der before his eyes, a son of Ashton Chalmers, president of the 
 First National Bank of Leesville, being ordered about and 
 hauled over the coals by an ex-blacksmith's helper, who happened 
 to know how to shout with the accents of a pile-driver : "Shoul- 
 der humps! Order humps! Present humps!" 
 
 The squad spread itself out for exercise grasping their 
 heavy rifles and swinging them this way and that with desperate 
 violence. "Swing over head and return, ready, exercise one, 
 two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight eight, seven, six, five, 
 four, three, two, one." It was no joke making those swings 
 in such quick time; the poor little elevator-man Casey was left 
 hopelessly behind, he could only make half the swing, and then 
 couldn't get back to place on the count; he \rould look about, 
 grinning sheepishly, and then fall into time and try again. 
 Everybody's face was set, everybody's breath was coming harder 
 and harder, everybody^ complexion was becoming apoplectic. 
 
 "Swing to the right !" shouted the blacksmith-tyrant. 
 "Beady, exercise one, two" and so on. And then he would 
 yell: "No, Chalmers, don't punch out with your arms swing 
 up your gun ! Swing it up from the bottom ! That's the way ! 
 Poke 'em! Poke 'em! Put the punch into *em!" And over 
 Jimmie stole a cold horror. There was nothing on the end of 
 those guns but a little black hole, but Jimmie knew what was 
 supposed to be there what would some day be there; the ex- 
 ercise meant that these affable young Leesville store-clerks 
 were getting ready to drive a sharp, gleaming blade into the 
 bowels of human beings! "Poke 'em! Poke *em!" shouted 
 the ex-blacksmith, and with desperate force they swung the 
 heavy rifles, throwing their bodies to one side and leaping out 
 with one foot. Horrible ! Horrible ! 
 
 in 
 
 Man is a gregarious animal, and it is a fundamental law 
 of his being that when a group of his fellows are doing a cer- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER 163 
 
 tain thing, and doing it with energy and fervor, any one who 
 does not do it, who does not share the mood of energy and fer- 
 vour, shall be the object of ridicule and anger, shall feel within 
 his own heart confusion and distress. This is true, even if the 
 group is doing nothing more worth-while than making itself 
 drunk. How much more shall it be when it is engaged in mak- 
 ing the world safe for democracy ! 
 
 The only way the man can save himself is by holding before 
 his mind the belief that he is right, and that some day this will 
 be recognised; in other words, by appealing to some other 
 group of men, who in some future time will applaud him. 
 If he is sure of this future applause, he can manage to stand 
 the jeers for the moment. But how when he begins to doubt 
 when his mind is haunted by the possibility that the men of the 
 future may agree with those of the present, who are learning 
 to march in unison, and to poke bayonets into the bodies of 
 Huns? 
 
 One of the things which brought this destructive doubt to 
 Jimmie's soul was the sight of Emil Forster, learning to march 
 and to poke. Emil had been one of his heroes, Emil knew a 
 hundred times as much as he and Emil was going to the war ! 
 The squad marched away to the city hall across the square, 
 and deposited its rifles in a room in the basement, and then 
 Emil came out, and Jimmie went up to him. The young car- 
 pet-designer of course was delighted to meet his old friend, 
 and asked him to go to lunch. As they walked along the street 
 together Jimmie asked what it meant, and Emil answered: 
 "It meane that I have made up my mind/' 
 
 "You're going to fight tlie German people?" 
 
 "Strange as you'll think it, I'm going to fight them for 
 their own good. Bebel wrote in his memoirs that the way to 
 get democratic progress in autocratic countries is through 
 military defeat ; and it seems up to America to provide this de- 
 feat for Germany ." 
 
 "But you were preaching just the opposite!" 
 
 "I know; it makes me feel foolish sometimes. But things 
 have changed, and there's no sense shutting your eyes to facts." 
 
 Jimmie waited. 
 
 "Eussia, more especially," continued Emil, answering the 
 unspoken question. "What's the use of getting Socialism, if 
 you're just throwing yourself down for a military machine to 
 
164 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 run over you? You're playing the fool, that's all and YOU 
 have to see it. What hope is there for Russia now?" 
 
 "There's the German Socialists." 
 
 "Well, they just didn't have the power, that's all. What's 
 more, we have to face the fact that a lot of them aren't really 
 revolutionists they're politicians, and haven't dared to stand 
 out against the crowd. Anyhow, whatever the reason is, they 
 didn't save their own country, and they didn't save Russia. 
 They certainly can't expect us to give them a third chance it 
 costs too much." 
 
 "But then," argued Jimmie, "ain't we doin' just what we 
 blame them for doin' turnin' patriots, supportin' a capitalist 
 government ?" 
 
 "When you're supporting a government," replied Emil, "it 
 makes a lot of difference what use it's making of your support. 
 We all know the faults of our government, but we know too 
 that the people can change it when enough of them get ready, 
 and that makes a real difference. I've come to realise that if 
 we give the Kaiser a beating, the German people will kick him 
 out, and then we can talk sense to them." 
 
 IV 
 
 They walked along for a bit in silence, Jimmie trying to 
 assimilate these ideas. They were new not in the sense that he 
 had not heard them before, but in the sense that he had not heard 
 them from a German. "How does your father feel ?" he asked, 
 at last. 
 
 "He hasn't changed," replied the other. "And that makes it 
 pretty hard it's all we can do to keep from quarrelling. He's 
 old, and new ideas don't come to him easily. Yet you'd think 
 he'd be the first to see it his father was one of the old revolu- 
 tionists, he was put in jail in Dresden. I don't suppose you 
 know much about the history of Germany." 
 
 "No," said Jimmie. 
 
 "Well, in those days the German people tried to get free, 
 and they were put down by the troops, and the real revolu- 
 tionists were driven into exile. Some of them came over here 
 like my grandfather. But you see, their children have for- 
 gotten about their wrongs they look back on Germany now, 
 and think of it sentimentally, as it's pictured in the stories and 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER 165 
 
 eongs a sort of Christmas-tree Germany. They don't know 
 about the Germany that's grown up the Germany of iron and 
 coal k: #s, that combines all the cruelty of feudalism with mod- 
 ern efficiency and science the Beast with the Brains of an 
 Engineer!" ' 
 
 They walked on, Emil lost in thought. "You know," he broke 
 out, suddenly, "this war has been a revelation to me the most 
 horrible you could imagine. It's as if you loved a woman, and 
 saw her go insane before your eyes, or turn into some sort of 
 degenerate. For I believed in the Christmas-tree Germany; 
 I loved it, and I argued for it, I just couldn't bring myself to 
 believe what I read in the papers. Now I look back, and it 
 seems like a trap that the German war-lords had set for my mind 
 reaching way over here into America, and making me think 
 what they wanted me to! Perhaps I've gone to the other ex- 
 treme I find I distrust everything that's German. Father 
 accused me of it last night; he was singing an old German 
 song that says that when you hear men singing you may lie 
 down in peace, for bad men have no songs. And I reminded 
 him that the nation which taught that idea had marched into 
 Belgium singing!" 
 
 "Gee !" exclaimed Jimmie. He could imagine how old Her- 
 mann Forster had taken that remark ! 
 
 The young carpet-designer smiled, rather sadly. "He says 
 it's because I've put on khaki. But the truth is, I'd been full 
 of these thoughts, and all at once they came to a head. I was 
 drafted, and I had to make up my mind one way or the other. 
 I decided I'd fight and then, when I'd decided, I wanted to 
 get into it right away." Emil paused, and looked at his friend 
 and asked, "What about you?" 
 
 Jimmie, of course, was a draft-evader, one of the hated 
 "slackers." Ordinarily, he would have told Emil, and the two 
 of them would have grinned. But now Emil was in khaki, 
 Emil was a patriot; perhaps it would not be wise to trust him 
 entirely! "They haven't got me yet," said Jimmie; and then, 
 "I ain't so sure as I used to be, but I ain't ready to be a soldier 
 I dunno's I could stand bein' bossed like that fellow does it." 
 
 Emil laughed. "Don't you suppose I want to learn?" 
 
 "But does he need to call you names ?" 
 
 "That's part of the game nobody minds that. He's putting 
 the pep into us and we want it in." 
 
166 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Jimmie found that such a new point of yiew that he didn't 
 know what to reply. 
 
 "You see," the other went on, "if you really want to fight, 
 you go in for it ; it's quite remarkable how your feelings change. 
 You imagine yourself in the presence of the enemy, and you 
 know your success depends on discipline; if there's a leader, 
 and especially if you feel that he knows his business, you're 
 glad to have him to teach you, to make the whole machine do 
 what you want it to. I know it sounds funny from me, but 
 I've learned to love discipline." And Emil laughed, a nervous 
 laugh. "This army means business, let me tell you; and it's 
 got right down to it. They've been fighting three years and 
 a half over in Europe, and they send their best men over to 
 show us, and we dig in and learn I tell you, we work as if the 
 devil was after us !" 
 
 It sounded so strange to hear things like this from the lips 
 of Emil Porster ! Jimmie could hardly make them real to him- 
 self the world was slipping from under his feet. The Socialist 
 movement was being seduced won over by the militarists ! 
 He didn't quite dare to say this; but he hinted, cautiously, 
 "Ain't you afraid maybe we'll get used to fightin' to discipline 
 and all that? May be they'll trick us the plutes." 
 
 "I know," said the other. "I've thought of that, and Fve 
 no doubt they'll try it they want universal training for that 
 very purpose. We have to fight them, that's all; we have to 
 fight right now to make clear why we're going into this war. 
 We have to hold it before the people that this is a war to 
 bring democracy to the whole world. If we can fix that in 
 people's minds, the imperialists won't have a look in." 
 
 "If you could do it, of course " began Jimmie, hesitat- 
 ingly- 
 
 "But we are doing it!" cried Emil. "We're doing it day 
 by day. Look at this strike here in Leesville." 
 
 "What strike?" 
 
 "Didn't you know there'd been another walk-out in the 
 Empire Shops?" 
 
 "No, I didn't." 
 
 "The men went out, and the government sent an arbitration 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER 167 
 
 commission, and forced both sides to accept an award. They 
 broke old Granitch down made him recognise the union and 
 grant the basic eight hour day." 
 
 "My God I" exclaimed Jimmie. It was the thing for which 
 he had stood up in the Empire yards and been cursed by 
 young Lacey Granitch ; it was the thing for which he had been 
 sent to jail and devoured by lice! And now the government 
 had helped the men to win their demand! It was the first 
 time literally the first in Jimmie's whole life that he had 
 been led to think of the government as something else than an 
 enemy and a slave-driver. 
 
 "How did Granitch take it ?" he asked. 
 
 "Oh, awful ! He threatened to quit, and let the government 
 run, his plant; but when he found the government was per- 
 fectly willing, he dropped his bluff. And look here here's 
 something else." Emil reached into an inside pocket of his 
 orercoat and pulled out a newspaper clipping. "Ashton Chal- 
 mers went to a banquet at some bankers' convention the other 
 day and made a speech to them. Read this." 
 
 Jimmie, walking along, read some words that Emil had 
 underscored in pencil: "Whether we will or no, we have to 
 recognise that the old order is dead. We face a new era, when 
 labour is coming into its own. If we do not want to be left 
 behind as derelicts, we shall have to get busy and do our part 
 to bring in this new era, which otherwise will come with blood- 
 shed and destruction." 
 
 "For the love of Mike I" said Jimmie. 
 
 "It just about knocked Leesville out," said Emil. "You 
 ought to have seen the papers that reported the speech! It 
 iras as if God in his heaven had gone crazy, and the clergymen 
 in the churches had to tell the news !" 
 
 To the little machinist there flashed a sudden idea. He 
 caught his friend by the arm. "Emil!" he exclaimed. "Do 
 you remember that time when Ashton Chalmers and old Gran- 
 itch came to our meeting at the Opera-House ?" 
 
 "Sure thing!" said Emil. 
 
 "Maybe that done it !" 
 
 "Nothing more likely." 
 
 "And it was me that sold him the tickets!" 
 
 Jimmie was thrilled to the bottoms of his shoes. Such is 
 the reward that comes now and then to the soul of a propa- 
 
168 JIMMIE 
 
 gandist; he struggles on amid ridicule and. despair and then 
 suddenly, like a gleam of light, comes evidence that some- 
 where, somehow, he has reached another mind, he has made a 
 real impression. Ashton Chalmers had listened to the Social- 
 ist orator, and he had gone away and read and investigated; 
 he had realised the force of this great world movement for 
 economic justice, he had broken the bonds and barriers of his 
 class, and told the truth about what he saw coming. When 
 Jimmie read the wonderful words which the bank president 
 had spoken, he was nearer to an impulse to fight Germany than 
 at any previous moment of his life ! 
 
CHAPTEK XVII 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH THE TEMPTER 
 
 OF course, not all the Socialists of Leesville had got the "mili- 
 tary bug" like Emil Forster. Late in the afternoon, Jimmie 
 ran into Comrade Schneider, on his way home from work at the 
 brewery, and he was the same old Schneider the same florid 
 Teuton countenance, the same solid Teuton voice, the same 
 indignant Teuton point of view. All Jimmie had to do was 
 to mention the name of Emil, and Schneider was off. A hell 
 of a Socialist he was ! Couldn't even wait for the drill-sergeant 
 to come after him, but had to run and hunt for him, had to 
 go and put himself out in the public square, where the town- 
 loafers could watch him playing the monkey ! 
 
 No, said Schneider, with abundant profanity, he had not 
 moved one inch from his position; they could send him to jail 
 any time they got ready, they could stand him up before a firing- 
 squad, but they'd never get any militarism into him. Pressed 
 for an answer, the big brewer admitted that he had registered; 
 but he wasn't going to be drafted, not on his life! Jimmie 
 suggested that this might be because he had a wife and six 
 children; but the other was too much absorbed in his tirade to 
 notice Jimmie's grin. He blustered on, in a tone so loud that 
 several times people on the street overheard, and gave him a 
 black look. Jimmie, being less in the mood of martyrdom, 
 parted from him and went to see the Meissners. 
 
 The little bottle-packer was living in the same place, having 
 rented the upper part of his house to a Polish family to help 
 meet his constantly rising expenses. He welcomed Jimmie with 
 open arms patted him on the back with delight, and opened 
 a bottle of beer to treat him. He asked a hundred questions 
 about Jimmie's adventures, and told in turn about events in 
 Leesville. The local as a whole had stood firm against the war, 
 
 169 
 
170 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 and was still carrying on propaganda, in the face of ferocious 
 opposition. The working classes were pumped so full of "patri- 
 otic dope," you could hardly get them to listen; as for the 
 radicals, they were marked men their mail was intercepted, 
 their meetings attended by almost as many detectives as spec- 
 tators. A number had been drafted which Meissner con- 
 sidered deliberate conspiracy on the part of the draft-boards. 
 
 Who had been taken? Jimmie asked. The other answered: 
 Comrade Claudel, the jeweller he wanted to go, of course; 
 and Comrade Koeln, the glass-blower he was a German, but 
 had been naturalised, so they had taken him, in spite of his 
 protests; and Comrade Stankewitz 
 
 "Stankewitz I" cried Jimmie, in dismay. 
 
 "Sure, he's gone." 
 
 "Was he willing?" 
 
 "They didn't ask if he was willing. They just told him to 
 report." 
 
 Somehow that seemed to bring the war nearer to Jimmie's 
 consciousness than anything that had happened so far. The 
 little Koumanian Jew had given him the greater part of his 
 education on this world-conflict; it was over the counter of the 
 cigar-store that Jimmie had got the first geography lessons of his 
 life. He had learned that Eussia was the yellow country, and 
 Germany the green, and Belgium the pale blue, and France the 
 light pink ; he had seen how the railroads from the green to the 
 pink ran through the pale blue, and how the big fortresses in the 
 pale blue all faced towards the green something which Meis- 
 sner and Schneider and the rest of the green people considered a 
 mortal affront, a confession of guilt on the part of the pale blue 
 people. Comrade Stakewitz's wizened up, eager little face rose 
 before Jimmie ; he heard the shrill voice, trying to compose the 
 disputes in the local. "Comrades, all this vill not get us any- 
 vere ! There is but vun question ve have to answer, are ve inter- 
 nationalists, or are ve not !" 
 
 "My God!" cried Jimmie. "Ain't that awful?" 
 
 He had got to the point where he was willing to admit that 
 perhaps the Kaiser had got to be licked, and maybe it was all 
 right for a fellow that felt like Emil Forster to go and lick 
 him. But to lay hold of a man who hated war with all his heart 
 and soul, to drag him away from the little business he had 
 painfully built up, and compel him to put on a uniform and 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH TEMPTER 171 
 
 obey other men's orders well, when you saw a thing like that, 
 jou knew about the atrocities of war! 
 
 ii 
 
 Comrade Meissner went on. Worse than that they had 
 taken Comrade Gerrity. And Jimmie stared. "But he's mar- 
 ried !" 
 
 "I know," explained Meissner, "but that ain't what counts. 
 What you got to have is a dependent wife. An' the Gerritys 
 didn't know that Comrade Evelyn held on to her job as 
 stenographer, and somebody must have told on them, for the 
 board jacked him up, and cancelled his exemption. Of course, 
 it was only because he was organiser of the local; they want to 
 put us out of business any way they can." 
 
 "What did Gerrity do?" 
 
 "He refused to serve, and they sent a squad of men after 
 him and dragged him away. They took him to Camp Sheridan, 
 and tried to put him in uniform, and he refused he wouldn't 
 work, he wouldn't have anything to do with war. So they tried 
 him and sentenced him to twenty-five years in jail ; they put him 
 in solitary confinement, and he gets nothin' but bread and 
 water they keep him chained up by his wrists a part of the 
 time " 
 
 "Oh! Ohr cried Jimmie. 
 
 "Comrade Evelyn's most crazy about it. She broke down 
 and cried in the local, and she went around to the churches 
 they have women's sewing-circles, you know, and things for the 
 Red Cross, and her and Comrade Mary Allen gets up and 
 makes speeches an' drives the women crazy. They arrested 'em 
 once, but they turned 'em loose they didn't want it to get in 
 the papers." 
 
 Comrade Meissner could not have foreseen how this par- 
 ticular news would aif ect Jimmie ; Meissner knew nothing about 
 the strange adventure which had befallen his friend, the ama- 
 tory convulsion which had shaken his soul. Before Jimmie's 
 mind now rose the lovely face with the pert little dimples and 
 the halo of fluffy brown hair; the thought of Comrade Evelyn 
 Baskerville in distress was simply not to be endured. "Where 
 is she?" he cried. He had a vision of himself rushing forth- 
 with to take up the agitation; to raid the church sewing-circles 
 
172 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 and brave the wrath of the she-patriots; to go to jail with 
 Comrade Evelyn; or perhaps who could say? to put about 
 her, gently and reverently, a pair of fraternal and comforting 
 arms. 
 
 Jimmie had the temperament of the dreamer, the idealist, to 
 whom it is enough to want a thing to see that thing forthwith 
 coming into being. His imagination, stimulated by the image 
 of the charming stenographer, rushed forth on the wildest of 
 flights. He realised for the first time that he was a free man ; 
 while, as for Comrade Evelyn, suppose the worst were to happen, 
 suppose Comrade G-errity were to perish of the diet of bread 
 andlvater, or to be dragged into the trenches and killed 
 then the sorrowing widow would be in need of some one to 
 uphold her, to put fraternal and comforting arms about her 
 
 "Where is she?" Jimmie asked again; and Comrade Meis- 
 sner dissipated his dream by replying that she had gone off to 
 work for an organisation in New York which was agitating 
 for humane treatment for "conscientious objectors." Meissner 
 hunted up the pamphlet published by this organisation, telling 
 most hideous stories of the abusing of such victims of the mili- 
 tary frenzy; they had been beaten, tortured and starved, sub- 
 jected to ridicule and humiliation, in many cases dragged 
 before courts-martial and sentenced to imprisonment for twenty 
 or thirty years. Jimmie sat up a part of the night reading 
 these stories with the result that once more the feeble sprout 
 of patriotism was squashed flat in his soul! 
 
 in 
 
 Jimmie went to the next meeting of the local. It was a 
 slender affair now, for some of the members were in jail, and 
 some in the training-camps, and some afraid to come for fear of 
 their jobs, and some discouraged by incessant persecution. But 
 the old war-horses were there Comrade Schneider, and gentle 
 old Hermann Forster, and Comrade Mabel Smith, with an 
 account of her brother's mistreatment in the county jail, and 
 Comrade Mary Allen, the Quaker lady. This last was still tak- 
 ing it as a personal affront that America should be going into 
 the bloody mess, in spite of all her denunciations and protests ; 
 she was even paler and thinner than when Jimmie had seen her 
 last her hands trembled and her thin lips quivered as she 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH TEMPTER 173 
 
 spoke, you could see that she was burning up with excitement 
 over the. monstrous wickedness of the world's events. She read 
 to the local a harrowing story of a boy who had registered as 
 a conscientous objector in New York, and had been taken 
 out to a training-camp and subjected to such indignities that 
 he had shot himself. Comrade Mary had no children of her 
 own, so she had adopted these conscientious objectors, and as 
 she read of their experiences, her soul was convulsed with a 
 mingling of grief and rage. 
 
 Jimmie went back to the Empire Shops and applied for a 
 job. They needed thousands of men, so the "Herald" declared 
 but they did not need a single one like Jimmie! The man 
 to whom he applied recognised him at once, and said, "Nothin* 
 doin'." For the sake of being nasty, Jimmie went to the head- 
 quarters of the newly formed union, and asked them to force 
 old Abel Granitch to give him work, according to the terms of 
 xhe agreement with the government. But the union secretary, 
 after thinking the matter over, decided that the provision against 
 blacklisting applied only to men who had been out on the last 
 strike, not to the strikers of a couple of years before. There 
 was no use going out of one's way to look for trouble, said this 
 secretary. Jimmie went away jeering at the union, and damning 
 the war as heartily as ever. 
 
 He was in no hurry to get work, having still some money 
 in his pocket, and being able to live cheaply with the Meissners. 
 He went again to watch young Forster drilling, and went home 
 with him and heard an argument with old Hermann. You 
 could see how this family had been split wide open; the old 
 man had ordered his traitorous son out several times, but the 
 mother had flung herself into the breach, pleading that the boy 
 was going away in a few days, and perhaps would never return. 
 The evening that Jimmie was there, the paper printed a speech 
 of the President, outlining his purposes in the war, the terms 
 of justice for all peoples, a league of nations and universal 
 disarmament. Emil read this triumphantly, finding in it a 
 justification of his support of the war. Wasn't it a great part 
 of what the Socialists wanted? 
 
 Hermann answered grudgingly that the words were all right, 
 but how about the deeds? Also, how about the other Allies 
 did the President imagine he could boss them? No to the 
 imperialists of England and France and Italy those fine words 
 
174 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 were just bait for gudgeons ; they would serve to keep the work- 
 ers quiet till the war was won, and then the militarists would 
 kick out the American President and pick the bones of the 
 carcass of Germany. If they really meant to abide by the Presi- 
 dent's terms, why didn't they come out squarely and say so? 
 Why didn't they repudiate the verdammte secret treaties ? Why 
 didn't England begin her career in democracy by setting free 
 Ireland and India? 
 
 So it went; and Jimmie listened to both speakers, and agreed 
 with both alternately, experiencing more and more that distress- 
 ing condition of mental chaos, in which he found himself of two 
 absolutely contradictory and diametrically opposite points of 
 view! 
 
 IV 
 
 All winter long the papers had been full of talk about a 
 mighty German offensive that was coming in the spring. The 
 German people were being told all about it, and how it was to 
 nd the war with a glorious triumph. In America nobody was 
 sure about the matter; the fact that the attack was boldly an- 
 nounced seemed good reason for looking elsewhere. Perhaps 
 the enemy was preparing to overwhelm Italy, and wished to 
 keep France and England from sending troops to the weakened 
 Italian line! 
 
 But now suddenly, in the third week of March, the Germans 
 made a mighty rush at the British line in front of Cambrai; 
 army upon army they came, and overwhelmed the defenders, 
 and poured through the breach. The British forces fell back 
 every hour it seemed that their retreat must be turned into a 
 rout. Day by day, as the despatches came in, Jimmie watched 
 the map in front of the "Herald" office, and saw a huge gap 
 opening in the British line, a spear-head pointing straight into 
 the heart of France. Three days, four days, five days, this 
 ghastly splitting apart went on, and the whole world held its 
 breath. Even Jimmie Higgins was shaken by the news he 
 had got enough into the war by this time to realise what a 
 German triumph would mean. It took a strong pacifist stom- 
 ach indeed to contemplate such an issue of events without flinch- 
 ing. 
 
 Comrade Mary Allen had such a stomach; to her religious 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH TEMPTER 
 
 fervour it made no difference whatever which set of robbers 
 ruled the world. Comrade Schneider had it also; he knew 
 that Germany was the birth-place and cradle of Socialism, and 
 believed that the best fate that could befall the world was for 
 the Germans to conquer it, and let the German Socialists make 
 it into a co-operative commonwealth bye and bye. Comrade 
 Schneider was now openly gloating over this new proof of 
 German supermanity, the invincibility of German discipline. 
 But most of the other members of the local were awed realising 
 in spite of themselves the seriousness of the plight which con- 
 fronted civilisation. 
 
 Jimmie would inspect the bulletin-board, and go over to- 
 watch the drilling, and then to Tom's "Buffeteria" with Emil 
 Forster. He had always had an intense admiration for Emil, 
 and now the young designer, distressed by the strife at home, 
 was glad of some one to pour out his soul to. He would help 
 Jimmie to realise the meaning of the British defeat, the enor- 
 mous losses of guns and supplies, the burden it would put upon 
 America. For America would have to make up these losses, 
 America would have to drive the Germans out of every foot of 
 this newly conquered territory. 
 
 Jimmie would listen, and study the matter out on the map; 
 and so gradually he learned to be interested in a new science, 
 that of military strategy. When once you have fallen i^der the 
 spell of that game, your soul is lost. You think of men, no 
 longer as human creatures, suffering, starving, bleeding, dying 
 in agony ; you think of them as chess-pawns ; you dispose of them 
 as a gambler of his chips, a merchant of his wares ; you classify 
 them into brigades and divisions and corps, moving them here 
 and there, counting off your losses against the losses of the 
 enemy, putting in your reserves at critical moments, paying this 
 price for that objective, wiping out thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands of men with a sweep of your hand, a mark of your pencil, 
 a pressure on an electric button! Once you have learned to 
 take that view of life, you are no longer a human heart, to be 
 appealed to by pacifists and humanitarians; you are a machine, 
 grinding out destruction, you are a ripe apple, ready to fall 
 into the lap of the god of war, you are an autumn leaf, ready 
 to be seized by the gales of patriotism, and blown to destruction 
 and death. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 
 
 TIMMIE went home one evening to the Meissners, and there 
 ** got a piece of news that delighted him. Comrade Stanke- 
 witz had come back from Camp Sheridan ! The man to whom 
 he had sold his tobacco-store having failed to pay up, Stanke- 
 witz had got a three days' furlough to settle his business affairs. 
 "Say, he looks fine!" exclaimed Meissner; and so after supper 
 Jimmie hurried off to the little store on the corner. 
 
 Never had Jimmie been so startled by the change in a man ; 
 he would literally not have known his Roumanian Jewish friend. 
 The wrinkles which had made him look old had filled out; his 
 shoulders were straight he seemed to have been lifted a couple 
 of inches; he was brown, his cheeks full of colour he was just 
 a new man! Jimmie and he had been wont to skylark a bit 
 in the old days, as young male creatures do, putting up their 
 fists, giving one another a punch or two, making as if they were 
 going to batter in one another's noses. They would grip hands 
 and squeeze, to see which could hold out longest. But now, 
 when they tried it, there was "nothing to it" -Jimmie got one 
 squeeze, and hollered quits. 
 
 "Vat you tink ?" cried Stankewitz. "I veigh tventy pounds 
 more already tventy pounds! They vork you like hell in 
 that army, but they treat you good. You don't never have 
 such good grub before, not anyvere you vork." 
 
 "You like it?" demanded Jimmie, in amazement. 
 
 "Sure I like it, you bet your money ! I learn lots of things 
 vat I didn't know before. I get myself straight on this var, 
 don't you ferget it." 
 
 "You believe in the war ?" 
 
 "Sure I believe in it, you bet your money !" Comrade Stanke- 
 witz, as he spoke, pounded with an excited fist on the counter. 
 
 176 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 177 
 
 "Ve got to vin this var, see? Ve got to beat them Yunkers! 
 I vould have make up my mind to that, even if I don't go in 
 the army I vould have make it up ven I see vat they do vit 
 Russia/' 
 
 "But the revolution " 
 
 "The revolution kin vait maybe vun year, maybe two years 
 already. It don't do us no good to have a revolution if the 
 Yunkers walk over it! No, sir I vant them Germans put out 
 of Eoumania und out of Eussia und out of Poland und I tell 
 you, in this American army you got plenty Roumanian Social- 
 ists, plenty Polish Socialists, und the Kaiser vill be sorry ven 
 he meets them in France, you bet your money !" 
 
 So Jimmie got another dose of patriotism, a heavy dose this 
 time; for Stankewitz was all on fire with his new conviction, 
 as full of the propaganda impulse as he had been when he 
 called himself an "anti-nationalist." He could not permit you 
 to differ with him became irritated at the bare mention of 
 those formula-ridden members of the local who were still against 
 the war. They were fools or else they were Germans; and 
 Comrade Stankewitz was as ready to fight the Germans in 
 Leesville as in France. He got so excited arguing that he 
 almost forgot the cigars and the show-cases which he had to 
 get rid of in two days. To Jimmie it was an amazing thing to 
 see this transformation not merely the new uniform and the 
 new muscles of his Roumanian Jewish friend, but his sense of 
 certainty about the war, his loyalty to the President for the bold 
 deed he had done in pledging the good faith of America to 
 securing the freedom and the peaceful future of the harassed 
 and tormented subject-races of Eastern Europe. 
 
 II 
 
 Jimmie got a sheet of letter paper, and borrowed a scratchy 
 pen and a little bottle of ink from Mrs. Meissner, and wrote 
 a painfully misspelled letter to Comrade Evelyn Gerrity, nee 
 Baskerville, to assure her of his sympathy and undying friend- 
 ship. He did not tell her that he was beginning to wabble 
 on the war; in fact, when he thought of Jack Gerrity, chained 
 up to the bars of a cell-window, he un-wabbled he wanted 
 the social revolution right away. But then as he went to drop 
 the letter into the post-office, so that it might go more quickly, 
 
178 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 he bought a paper and read the story of what was happening 
 in France. And again the war-fervour tempted him. 
 
 By desperate, frenzied fighting the British had succeeded in 
 holding up for a few days the colossal German drive. But help 
 was needed instant help, if civilisation was to be saved. The 
 cry came across the seas America must send assistance guns, 
 shells, food, and above all else men. Jimmie's blood was stirred ; 
 he had an impulse to answer the call, to rush to the rescue of 
 those desperate men, crouching in shell-holes and fighting day 
 and night for a week without rest. If only Jimmie could have 
 gone right to them ! If only it had not been necessary for him 
 to go to a training-camp and submit himself to a military mar- 
 tinet! If only it had not been for war-profiteers, and crooked 
 politicians, and lying, predatory newspapers, and all the other 
 enemies of democracy at home ! 
 
 Jimmie dropped his letter in the slot, and turned to leave 
 the post-office, when his eye was caught by a sign on the wall 
 a large sign, in bold, black letters: "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS 
 YOU!" Jimmie thought it was more "Liberty Bond" busi- 
 ness; they had been after him several times, trying to separate 
 him from his earnings, but needless to say they hadn't succeeded. 
 However, he stopped out of curiosity, and read that men were 
 needed to go to France skilled men of all sorts. There was a 
 long list of the trades, everything you could think of carpenters, 
 plumbers, electricians, lumbermen, stevedores, railwaymen, 
 laundrymen, cooks, warehousemen so on for several columns. 
 Jimmie came to "machinists," and gave a guilty start; then 
 he came to "motor-cycle drivers" and "motor-cycle repairers" 
 and suddenly he clenched his hands. A wild idea flashed 
 over him, causing such excitement that he could hardly read 
 on. Why should he not go to France he, Jimmie Higgins! 
 He was a man without a tie in the world as free as the winds 
 that blew across the ocean! And he was looking for a job 
 why not take one of these? 
 
 It was a way he might share all the adventures, see the 
 marvellous sights of which he had been reading and hearing, and 
 without the long delay in a training-camp, without waiting to 
 be bossed about by a military martinet ! Jimmie looked to see 
 what pay was offered ; fifty-one dollars a month and an "allow- 
 ance" for board and expenses. At the bottom of the sign he 
 read the words : "Why not work for your Uncle Sam ?" Jimmie 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 179 
 
 as it happened was in a fairly friendly mood towards his 
 Uncle Sam at that moment ; so he thought, why not give him a 
 chance as a boss? After all, wasn't that what every Socialist 
 was aiming at to be an employe of the community, a servant 
 of the public, rather than of some private profiteer? 
 
 in 
 
 Jimmie went to the window to inquire, and the clerk told 
 him that the "war-labour recruiting office" was at the corner 
 of Main and Jefferson. He came to the corner designated, and 
 there in a vacant store was a big recruiting sign, "War Labour 
 Wanted," and a soldier in khaki walking up and down. A 
 week ago Jimmie could not have been bribed to enter a place 
 presided over by a soldier; but he had learned from Emil and 
 Stankewitz that a soldier might be a human being, so he went 
 up and said, "Hello." 
 
 "Hello, yourself," said the soldier, looking him over with 
 an appraising eye. 
 
 "If I was to hire here, when would I start for France?" 
 
 "To-night," said the soldier. 
 
 "Youkiddin'rne?" 
 
 "They ain't payin' me to kid people," said the other; and 
 then, "What's your hurry?" 
 
 "Well, I don't want to be stalled in a trainin' camp." 
 
 "You won't be stalled if you know your business. What 
 are you?" 
 
 "I'm a machinist; I've repaired bicycles, an' I know a bit 
 about motor-cycles." 
 
 "Walk in," said the soldier, and led the way, and presented 
 Jimmie to a sergeant at the desk. "Here's a machinist," he 
 said, "and he's in a hurry to get to work. Kunnin' away from 
 his wife, may be/' 
 
 "There's a bunch of men starting for the training-camp 
 to-night," said the sergeant. 
 
 "Trainin'-camp ?" echoed Jimmie. "I want to go to France." 
 
 The other smiled. "You wouldn't expect us to send you 
 till we'd tried you out, would you?" 
 
 "No, I suppose not," replied Jimmie, dubiously. He was 
 on his guard against tricks. Suppose they were to enlist him as 
 a worker, and then make him fight ! 
 
180 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 The other went on. "If you're competent, you'll get to 
 France all right. We need men over there in a hurry, and we 
 won't waste your time." 
 
 "Well now," said Jimmie, "I dunno's you'll want me at 
 all when you hear about me. I'm a Socialist." 
 
 "Thought you was a machinist," countered the ser- 
 geant. 
 
 "I'm a Socialist, too. I was in the strike at the Empire a 
 coupla years ago, and they blacklisted me. I can't get no work 
 in the big places here." 
 
 "Well," said the sergeant, "it's a good town for you to quit, 
 I should say." 
 
 "You want a man like that?" persisted Jimmie. 
 
 "What we want is men that know machinery, and'll dig in 
 and work like hell to beat the Kaiser. If you're that sort, 
 we don't ask your religion. We've got a bunch that start to- 
 night." 
 
 "Holy smoke !" said Jimmie. He had thought he would have 
 time to ask questions and to think matters over, time to see his 
 friends and say good-bye. But the sergeant was so efficient 
 and business-like ; he took it so completely for granted that any 
 man who was worth his salt must be anxious to help wallop the 
 Hun ! Jimmie, who had come in full of hurry, was now ashamed 
 to back water, to hem and haw, to say, "I dunno; I ain't so 
 sure." And so the trap snapped on him the monster of Mili- 
 tarism grabbed him! 
 
 IV 
 
 "Sit down," said the sergeant, and the anxious little Socialist 
 took the chair beside the desk. 
 
 "What's your name?" 
 
 "James Higgins." 
 
 "Your address?" 
 
 "I'm just stayin' with a friend." 
 
 "The friend's address ?" and so on : where had Jimmie worked 
 last, what work had he done, what references had he to offer. 
 Jimmie could not help grinning as he realised how his record 
 must sound to a military martinet. He had been fired and 
 blacklisted at the motor-truck factory in Ironton, his last job ; 
 he had been fired and blacklisted at the Empire Shops ; he had 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 181 
 
 been arrested and sent to jail for soap-boxing on the streets of 
 Leesville ; he had been arrested in the bomb-conspiracy of Kumme 
 and Heinrich von Hoist. The sergeant entered each of these 
 items without comment, but when he came to the last, he stared 
 up at the applicant. 
 
 "I didn't have nothin' to do with it," declared Jimmie. 
 
 "You got to prove that to "me," said the sergeant. 
 
 "I proved it once," replied Jimmie. 
 
 "Who to?" 
 
 "Mr. Harrod, the agent of the Department of Justice here." 
 
 The other took up the telephone and called the post office 
 building. Jimmie listened to one half of the conversation 
 would Mr. Harrod look up the record of James Higgins, who 
 was applying for enlistment in the Mechanical Department of 
 the Motor Corps? There was some delay Mr. Harrod was 
 talking while Jimmie sat, decidedly nervous; but it was all 
 right apparently the sergeant hung up the receiver, and re- 
 marked reassuringly, "He says you're just a dub. He told 
 me to congratulate you on having got some sense." 
 
 Jimmie made the most of this more than dubious statement, 
 and proceeded to answer questions as to his competence. Was 
 there anybody at the Empire who could certify as to this ? The 
 sergeant was about to call up the Empire Shops, but recon- 
 sidered; if Jimmie had actually worked in a machine-shop and 
 in a bicycle-shop, they would surely be able to find something 
 for him in the army. In an hour of such desperate need they 
 took most every one. "How tall are you?" demanded the ser- 
 geant, and added, "Weight don't matter so much, because we'll 
 feed you." 
 
 The office of the medical examiner was upstairs in the same 
 building, and Jimmie was escorted upstairs, and invited to re- 
 move his coat and shirt, and have his chest measured, and his 
 heart and lungs listened to, and his teeth counted, and his nose 
 peered into, and a score of such like stunts. He had things 
 wrong with him, of course, but not too many for army purposes, 
 it appeared. The doctor jotted down the figures on a sheet 
 and signed it, after which Jimmie and the soldier went back to 
 the recruiting-office. 
 
 And now suddenly the little Socialist found himself with 
 an enlistment-paper before him, and a wet pen in his hand. 
 He had never once been asked: "Is your mind made up? Do 
 
182 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 you really mean to take this irrevocable step?" No, the sergeant 
 had taken it for granted that Jimmie meant business. He had 
 done all this inquiring and writing down of information, this 
 weighing and measuring and what not, and now he sat with a 
 stern, compelling eye fixed on his victim, as much as to say: 
 "Do you mean to tell me that I've done all that for nothing?" 
 If Jimmie had actually refused to sign his name, what a blast 
 of scorn would have withered him ! 
 
 So Jimmie did not even stop to read all the paper; he 
 signed. "And now," said the sergeant, "the train leaves at 
 nine-seventeen this evening. I'll be there to give you your 
 ticket. Don't fail to be on hand. You understand you're under 
 military discipline now." There was a new tone in these last 
 words, and Jimmie quaked inwardly, and went out with a sort 
 of hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. 
 
 He rushed away to tell Comrade Stankewitz, who hugged 
 him with delight, and shouted that they would meet in France ! 
 Then he went to tell Emil Forster, who was equally glad. He 
 found himself with an impulse to hunt up Comrade Schneider 
 and tell him. Jimmie discovered in himself a sudden and 
 curious antagonism to Schneider; he wanted to have matters 
 out with him, to say to him : "Wake up, you mutt forget that 
 fool dream of yours that the Kaiser's goin' to win the war !" 
 
 There were others Jimmie thought of, upon whom he would 
 not call. Comrade Mary Allen, for example he would let her 
 get the news after he was out of the reach of her sharp tongue ! 
 Also he thought of Comrade Evelyn; he might never see her 
 again; if he did see her, she might refuse to speak to him! 
 But Jimmie repressed the pang of dismay which this realisation 
 brought him. He was going to war, and the longings and de- 
 lights of love must be put to one side ! 
 
 He went to the Meissners for supper, and broke the news to 
 them. He had expected protests and arguments, and was sur- 
 prised by the lack of them. Had the little bottler-packer been 
 impressed by the experiences of Comrade Stankewitz ? Or could 
 it be that he was afraid to voice his full mind to Jimmie just 
 as Jimmie had been afraid in the case of Emil Forster ? 
 
 Jimmie had some commissions to entrust to the Meissners; 
 
JIMMIB HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE 183 
 
 he would leave with them the diary of "Wild Bill/* which he 
 had hung on to, but which seemed hardly the sort of literature 
 to take on a transport. 
 
 "Sure/' assented Meissner. "Besides, the subs might get it." 
 And Jimmie gave a sudden start. By heck! It was the 
 first time the idea had occurred to him. He would have to pass 
 through the barred zone! He might be in some fighting after 
 all! He might never get to France! "Say!" he exclaimed. 
 "That ocean must be cold this time of year!" 
 
 For a moment he wavered. Surely it would have been more 
 sensible to wait till later in the season, when the consequences 
 of a plunge overboard would be less distressing! But Jimmie 
 remembered the armies, locked in their grip of death; never 
 would despatch-riders need their motor-cycles more urgently 
 than now ! Also Jimmie remembered the sergeant at the recruit- 
 ing-office. "You understand, you're under military discipline 
 now !" He set his jaw in a grim resolve. The "subs" be damned, 
 he would go and do his part ! Already he felt the thrill of his 
 responsibility in this mighty hour of history; he was a military 
 man, with a stern duty to do, with the destinies of nations de- 
 pending upon his behaviour! 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 
 
 'IP HERE were seven fellows who boarded the train that eve- 
 ning, under the temporary charge of a blacksmith from the 
 nearby country. At seven o'clock next morning they presented 
 their papers at the entrance-gate of the training-camp,, and 
 under the escort of a soldier were marched down the main street, 
 hanging on to their bundles and suit-cases, and staring about 
 them at the sights. 
 
 It was a city, inhabited by some forty thousand men, on a 
 site which a year ago had been waste scrub-land. Long rows 
 of wooden buildings stretched in every direction barracks, 
 dining-rooms, study-rooms, offices, store-houses with great 
 stretches of exercise and training grounds between. Just to see 
 this city, with its swarming population of young men, all in 
 uniform, erect, eager, well set-up and vivid with health, every 
 man of them busy, and every man seemingly absorbed in his 
 job that alone was a worth-while experience. It was a new 
 kind of city a city without a loafer, without a drunkard, 
 without a parasite. The seven workingmen from Leesville felt 
 suddenly slouchy and disgraced, with their ill-fitting civilian 
 clothes and their miscellaneous bundles and suit-cases. 
 
 The first thing they did with the new arrivals was to make 
 them clean, to fumigate and vaccinate them. In a Socialist 
 local one meets all sorts of eccentrics, the lunatic-fringe of the 
 movement, and so it happened that Jimmie had listened to a 
 tirade against the diabolical practice of inoculation, which 
 caused more deadly diseases than it was supposed to prevent. 
 But the medical officers of this camp did not stop to ask Jim- 
 mie's conclusions on that vital subject; they just told him to 
 roll up the sleeve of his left arm, and proceeded to wipe his 
 skin clean and scratch it with a needle. 
 
 184 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 185 
 
 And then came the tailor, to do him up in khaki. This also 
 was something the little machinist had not bargained for; he 
 had taken it as a matter of course that he would be allowed to 
 work for Uncle Sam in any old clothes, just as he had done for 
 Abel Granitch. But no he must have an outfit, complete even 
 to a tooth-brush, which they would show him how to use. Hav- 
 ing been done up neat and tight in khaki, with a motor-wheel on 
 his sleeve to show his branch of the service, he stood and 
 looked at himself in the glass, experiencing a demoralising and 
 unworthy excitement. He was every bit as handsome as Com- 
 rade Stankewitz! When he walked down the street, would the 
 girls giggle, and turn to look at him, as they did at the sedate 
 and proper Comrade Emil? So the meshes of Militarism were 
 being woven about the soul of Jimmie Higgins. 
 
 ii 
 
 Jimmie was in quarantine, not allowed to go out of camp on 
 account of his typhoid and other vaccinations. There was 
 enough about the place to have interested him ; but, alas, he be- 
 came suddenly very sick, and was terrified to realise that the 
 opponent of inoculation must have been right. His health had 
 been undermined forever, he would suffer from a dozen obscure 
 diseases ! He went to the hospital, miserable in body and still 
 more miserable in mind; but in a couple of days he began to 
 feel better, and listened to the nurses, who told him cheerfully 
 that everybody felt that way for a bit. Then he got up, and had 
 several free days in which to complete his recovery days which 
 he spent wandering about the camp, watching the fascinating 
 sights. 
 
 It was like a circus with hundreds of rings. The drilling 
 and marching he had seen in the Leesville square were here 
 going on wholesale. Hundreds of groups were being put through 
 squad-drill and the manual, while other groups were having 
 special kinds of exercises climbing up walls, digging trenches, 
 making roads, shooting at targets. It rained every other day, 
 and the ground was a morass, but no one paid the least attention 
 to that; the men came in plastered with mud, and steaming 
 like lard- vats. They seemed to enjoy it; nothing ever inter- 
 fered with their bantering and jokes. 
 
 Jimmie watched them with alternating moods of curiosity 
 
186 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 and horror ; for the things that were done here' brought the war, 
 with its infinite and multiform wickedness, before his very eyes. 
 Here was a group of men being taught to advance under fire; 
 crawling on their bellies on the ground, jumping from one hum- 
 mock to another, flinging themselves down and pretending to 
 fire. A man in front, supposed to have a machine-gun, was 
 shouting when he had "got" them. Now they unslung their little 
 trenching-tools, and began to burrow themselves like wood- 
 chucks into the ground. "Dig, you sons o' guns, dig!" the 
 officer would shout. "Keep your head down, Smith! Make 
 the dirt fly ! Put the jazz into it ! That's the stuff !" 
 
 Jimmie had never watched football practice, so he had no con- 
 ception of the efforts to which men could be goaded by "coach- 
 ing." It was abhorrent yet also it was fascinating, the spell 
 of it got hold of him. He saw what these men were doing ; 
 they were learning to act in masses, to act with paralysing and 
 terrific force. Whatever it was they did, they did with the 
 smash of a battering-ram. You saw the fire in their eyes, the 
 grim, set look on their faces; you knew that they were not 
 going to war with any hesitations or divided minds. 
 
 You would move over a rise in the ground, and come upon 
 a bunch of them at bayonet-practice. You didn't require imagi- 
 nation to get the hang of this; they had dummies made of 
 leather, and they rushed at these figures, hacking, stabbing 
 and here was the most amazing part of it, shouting with rage. 
 Actually, the officers taught them to yell, to snarl, to work up 
 their feelings to a fury ! It was blood-curdling Jimmie turned 
 away from it sick. It was just what he had been arguing for 
 three years and a half you had to make yourself into a wild 
 beast in order to go to war ! 
 
 Also Jimmie watched the target-ranges, from which came 
 all day a rattle of shots, like the whir of many typewriters. 
 Companies of men came marching, and spread themselves out 
 along the firing-steps, and under the direction of instructors 
 proceeded to contribute their quota to the noise. Over by the 
 targets were others who kept score and telephoned the results ; so 
 all day long, winter or summer, rain or shine, men were learning 
 to kill their fellows, mechanically, as if it were a matter of 
 factory routine. At other ranges were moving targets, where 
 sharp-shooters were acquiring skill; you noticed that their tar- 
 gets were never birds and deer, as at the shooting-galleries 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 187 
 
 which Jimmie had seen at the beaches and at Socialist picnics. 
 No, they were the heads or bodies of men, and each body painted 
 a greenish grey, matching the uniforms of the enemy. 
 
 in 
 
 So day by day Jimmie lived with the idea of killing, con- 
 fronting the grim and ferocious face of war. He had thought 
 that repairing motor-cycles would be pretty much the same 
 anywhere you did it; but he found that it was one thing to 
 repair motor-cycles to be ridden by errand-boys and working- 
 men out for a holiday with their sweethearts, and another and 
 entirely different thing to repair them for fighting-men and 
 despatch-couriers. Jimmie was driven more insistently than 
 ever to make up his mind about this war. It was every day 
 less easy for him to hold two contradictory sets of opinions. 
 
 All the men he now met were of one opinion, and by no 
 possibility to be persuaded to consider any other. Jimmie found 
 that he could get them to agree that after this war for democracy 
 there would be vast changes in this world, the people would 
 nevermore let themselves be hoodwinked and exploited as they 
 had ; he found that he could interest them in the idea of having 
 the government run the great industries, producing food and 
 clothing for the people as it was now producing them for the 
 troops. But when he tried to give this programme the name of 
 Socialism, then the trouble began. Weren't Socialists the loons 
 who wanted to have America "lay down" like Russia? The 
 premise from which all discussion started with these men was 
 that America was going to win the war; if you tried to hint 
 that this matter could so much as be hesitated over, you met, 
 first sharp mockery, and then angry looks, and advice to go 
 and take a pill and get the Hun poison out of your system. 
 
 Nor was there any use trying to talk about the dangers of 
 militarism. These men knew all about the dangers of militar- 
 ism for the Kaiser. The man who is at the butt-end of a 
 gun, and knows how to aim it so as to pick off a cat at six hun- 
 dred yards that man will let the cat do the worrying. So, 
 at any rate, the matter seemed to these husky young recruits, 
 who were learning to march in the mud and sleep in the rain and 
 chew up carpet-tacks and grind Huns into leber-wurst. They 
 were putting through the job with a fierce and terrifying gaiety; 
 
188 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 they exulted in their toughness, they called 'themselves "griz- 
 zlies" and "mountain cats" and what not; they sang wild songs 
 about their irritability, their motto was "Treat 'em rough!" 
 It was a scary atmosphere for a dreamer and utopian; Jimmie 
 Higgins shrank into himself, afraid even to reach about for some 
 fellow-Socialist with whom he might exchange opinions about 
 the events of the outside world. 
 
 IV 
 
 In the evening there were picture-shows, concerts, lectures 
 nearly all dealing with the war, of course. They were held in 
 big halls built by the Y. M. C. A., an organisation for which 
 Jimmie had a hearty contempt. He regarded it as a device of 
 the exploiting classes to teach submission to their white-collar 
 slaves. But nobody could live in a training-camp without being 
 aware of the "Y." Jimmie was invited to a lecture, and out 
 of boredom he went. 
 
 It was Sergeant Ebenezer Collins, imported from Flanders 
 to tell the "doughboys" about the wiles of the Hun. Sergeant 
 Collins spoke a weird language which Jimmie had never heard 
 before, and not all of which he could understand; it served, 
 however, to convince him that the sergeant was genuine for 
 nobody could possibly have faked such a form of utterance ! 
 "When yer gow inter Wipers naow," said the orator, "yer see 
 owld, grye-headed lydies an' bybies like little wite gowsts, an' 
 yer sye ter them, 'Gow a-wye, the 'Un may be 'ere ter-dye,' but 
 they wown't gow, they got now 'omes ter gow ter I" 
 
 But in spite of the difficulties of a foreign language, you 
 realised that this cockney sergeant was a man. For one thing 
 he had a sense of humour ; he had kept it in the midst of terror 
 and death kept it standing all night in trenches full of icy 
 cold water, with icy cold water pouring down his collar. Also 
 the sergeant had a sense of honour there were things he could 
 not do to a 'Un, even though the 'Un might do them to him. 
 Jimmie had listened to excited debates in Local Leesville, as 
 to whether the Allies were really any better than the Germans; 
 whether, for example, the Allies would have sunk passenger- 
 liners with women and babies on board, if it had been neces- 
 sary in order to win the war. Sergeant Collins did not debate 
 this question, he just revealed himself as a fighting man. "It's 
 
I 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 189 
 
 because we plye gymes, an' they down't," he remarked. "If 
 yer plye gymes, yer now 'ow to plye fair." 
 
 For three years and eight months Jimmie had been hearing 
 stories about atrocities, and for three years and eight months 
 he had been refusing to believe them. But now the cockney 
 sergeant told about a pal who had been wounded in a night 
 attack by the 'Tins, and the sergeant had tried to carry him 
 back and had had to leave him; towards dawn they made a 
 counter-attack, and retook the village, and there they found the 
 sergeant's pal, still alive, in spite of the fact that he was spiked 
 to a barn-door with bayonets ,hrough his hands and feet. 
 When that story was told, you heard a low murmur run through 
 the room, and saw a couple of thousand young men clenching 
 their hands and setting their jaws, getting ready for their big 
 job in France. 
 
 Just now, said the sergeant, the Germans were making the 
 most desperate attack of the war. The British were at bay, 
 with their backs against the wall. It was upon the men in the 
 training-camps of America that the decision rested; there was 
 no one but them to save the day, to save the rest of the world 
 from falling under the hoofs of the Hun monster. Would they 
 do their part? Jimmie Higgins heard the answer from those 
 two thousand young throats, and the pacifist in him shrunk 
 deeper out of sight. 
 
 But the pacifist was never entirely silent. War was wrong ! 
 War was wrong! It was a wicked and brutal way for human 
 beings to settle their disagreements. If human beings were not 
 yet intelligent enough to listen to reason well, even so, that 
 didn't make war right ! A man had to have principles, and to 
 stand by them how else could he make the world come his 
 way? Yes, war was wrong! But, meantime, war was here; 
 and calling it wrong did not put a stop to it ! What the devil 
 was a fellow to do ? 
 
 As soon as Jimmie was able to work, they took him to the 
 part of the camp where a motor-cycle division was training. 
 Here was a big repair shop, with plenty of damaged machines 
 upon which he might display his skill. He did not know the 
 particular engine they used here, but he soon learned the secrets 
 
190 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 of it, and satisfied the officers in charge that he knew how to 
 take one apart and put it together again, to replace and mend 
 tires, to clean ball-bearings and true crooked rims. "You're 
 all right/' they said. "And you're needed like the devil over 
 there. You won't have to wait long." 
 
 There was a platform where the trains came into the camp, 
 and every few hours now there came a long train to be loaded 
 with men. Jimmie got his notice, and packed his kit and 
 answered roll-call and took his place; at sun-down of the next 
 day he was detrained at a "mobilisation-camp" another huge 
 city, described in the cautious military fashion as "Somewhere 
 in New Jersey," though everybody within a hundred miles knew 
 its exact location. Here was a port, created for the purposes 
 of war, with docks and wharves where the fleets of transports 
 were loaded with supplies and troops. The vessels sailed in 
 fleets, carrying thirty or forty thousand men at once. From 
 the port of New York alone there was going out a fleet like this 
 every week the answer of America to the new drive of the Hun. 
 
 One met here, not merely the fighting-men, but the forces 
 of all the complicated service behind the lines : gangs of lumber- 
 men from the far Northwest, who were to fell the forests of 
 France and make them into railroad-ties and timbers for 
 trenches; railway-men, miners, and construction-gangs, engi- 
 neers and signalmen, bridge-builders and road-makers, telephone- 
 linemen and operators, the drivers of forty thousand motor- 
 cars and of five thousand locomotives ; bakers and cooks, menders 
 of shoes and of clothing, farmers to till the soil of France, and 
 doctors and nurses to tend its sick and wounded. There was 
 nothing which the skill and knowledge of a nation of a hundred 
 million people had to offer that was not gathered into this vast 
 encampment. All the youngest and keenest were here, eager 
 to do their part, laughing at danger, tingling with excitement, on 
 tiptoe with curiosity and delight. Jimmie Higgins, watching 
 them, found his doubts melting like an April snow-storm. How 
 could any man see this activity and not be caught up in it? 
 How could he be with these laughing boys and not share their 
 mood? 
 
 Jimmie himself had not had a merry childhood, he did not 
 know the youth of his own country the breezy, slangy, rather 
 shocking, utterly irrepressible youth of this democratic world. 
 If there was anything they did not know well, they did not 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI 191 
 
 know it; if there was anything they could not do their motto 
 was: "Show me!" Jimmie, not having been to school, found 
 himself having a hard time with their weird slang. When one 
 of these fellows hailed you, "Hey, pimp I" it did not necessarily 
 mean that he did not like you; when he greeted you, "Hey, 
 sweetness !" it did not mean that he felt for you any overpower- 
 ing affection. If he referred to his officer as "hard-boiled," he 
 did not have in mind that this officer had been exposed to the 
 action of water at 212 degrees Fahrenheit; he merely meant 
 that the officer was a snob. When he remarked, "Good-night ?' 
 in broad daylight, he meant you to understand that he disagreed 
 with you. 
 
 He disagreed frequently and explosively with Jimmie Hig- 
 gins, trying to point out a difference between the German rulers 
 and the German people! Such subtleties had no interest for 
 these all-knowing boys. When Jimmie persisted, they called 
 him a "nut," a "poor cheese"; they told him that he was 
 "cuckoo," that his "trolley was twisted"; they made whirling 
 motions with their hands to indicate that he had "wheels in his 
 head," they made flapping motions over him to signify that 
 there were "bats in his belfry." So Jimmie subsided, and 
 let them talk their own talk imploring one another to "have 
 a heart," or to "get wise," or to "make it snappy," or to "cut 
 out the rough stuff." And he would sit and listen while they 
 sang with zest a song telling about what they were going to 
 do when they got to France: 
 
 Bring the good old bugle, boys, we'll sing another song, 
 Sing it with a spirit that will move the world along, 
 Sing it as we love to sing it, just two million strong 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. 
 
 CHOBUS : 
 
 Oh, Bill! Oh, Bill! We're on the job to-day! 
 Oh, Bill! Oh, Bill! We'll seal you so you'll stay! 
 We'll put you up in ginger in the good old Yankee way 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. 
 
 Hear the song we're singing on the shining roads of France; 
 Hear the Tommies cheering, and see the Poilus prance; 
 Africanders and Kanucks and Scots without their pants 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. (Chorus) 
 
192 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Bring the guns from Bethlehem, by way of old New York; 
 Bring the beans from Boston, and don't leave out the pork; 
 Bring a load of soda-pop, and pull the grape-juice cork 
 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. (Chorus) 
 
 Come you men from Dixieland, you lumberjacks of Maine; 
 Come you Texas cowboys, and you farmers of the plain; 
 Florida to Oregon, we toast the Yankee strain 
 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. (Chorus) 
 
 Now we've started on the job, we mean to put it through; 
 Ship the kings and kaisers all, and make the world anew; 
 Clear the way for common folk, for men like me and you- 
 While we are canning the kaiser. 
 
 CHOBUS : 
 
 Oh, Bill! Oh, Bill! We're on the job to-day I 
 Oh, Bill! Oh, Bill! We'll seal you so you'll stay! 
 We'll put you up in ginger in the good old Yankee way- 
 While we are canning the Kaiser. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 
 
 X/DTJ did not stop very long in the mobilisation-camp, for 
 * the arrival of your train was timed with the arrival of the 
 ship on which you were to sail. You had a meal, sometimes 
 you slept a night, then you marched to the docks. Nor was 
 there much of the traditional "sweet sorrow" about the de- 
 parture of these great fleets; the weeping mothers and sisters 
 had not been notified to be present, and the ladies of the canteen- 
 service had given coffee and sandwiches, cigarettes and choco- 
 late, to so many tens of thousands that they had forgotten about 
 tears. It was like the emigration of a nation; the part of 
 America that was now on the other side was so large that nobody 
 would need to feel homesick. 
 
 Jimmie's embarking was done at night ; on the long, covered 
 piers lighted by arc-lights, the soldiers set down their kits and 
 stood about, munching food, singing songs, and keeping one 
 another's wits sharpened for battle. They filtered on board, 
 and then without a light or a sound the vessel stole down the 
 long stretches of the harbour, and out to sea. One never knew 
 at what hour the enemy submarines might attempt a raid on 
 the American side, so the entrance to the harbour was mined 
 and blockaded, a narrow passage being opened when the ships 
 passed through. 
 
 When morning came the convoy was out at sea, amid glorious 
 green rollers, and Jimmie Higgins was lying in his narrow 
 berth, cursing the fates that had lured him, the monster of 
 Militarism into whose clutches he had been snared. The army 
 medical service had a serum to prevent small-pox and another 
 to prevent "typhoid, but they had nothing for sea-sickness as 
 yet; so for the first four days of the trip Jimmie wished that 
 a submarine would come and end his misery once for all. 
 
 193 
 
194 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 At last, however, he came on deck, an utterly humbled So- 
 cialist agitator, asking only a corner to lie in the sunshine 
 preferably where he could not see the Atlantic surges, the very 
 thought of which turned him inside out. But gradually he 
 found his feet again, and ate with permanence, and looked out 
 over the water and saw the other vessels of the convoy, weirdly 
 painted with many-coloured splotches, steaming in the shape of 
 a gigantic V, with two cruisers in front, and another on each 
 side, and another bringing up the rear. Day and night the 
 look-outs kept watch, and the wig-wag men and the heliograph 
 men were busy, and the wireless buzzed its warnings of the 
 movements of the underwater foe. The U-boats had not yet 
 got a transport, but they had made several tries, and every one 
 knew that they would continue trying. Twice a day the clang- 
 ing of bells sounded from one end of the vessel to the other, and 
 the crews rushed to the boat-drill; each passenger had his 
 number, and unless he was ill in his berth he had to take his 
 specified place, with his life-preserver strapped about his waist. 
 
 The passengers played cards, and read and sang and sky- 
 larked about the decks. Up on the top deck, to which Jimmie 
 was not invited, were officers, also a number of women and 
 girls belonging to the hospital and ambulance units. "Janes" 
 was the term by which the soldier-boys described these latter; 
 you could see they were a good sort of "Janes," serious and 
 keen for their job, looking businesslike and impressive in their 
 uniforms with many pockets. Among them were suffragists, 
 answering the taunt of the other sex, showing that in war as 
 well as in peace the world needed them; it had to find a place 
 for them on board the most badly crowded transport. 
 
 Never having been on an ocean-liner before, Jimmie did 
 not know that it was crowded ; it did not trouble him that there 
 was hardly room for a walk on the decks. He watched the 
 sea and the great white gulls and the piebald ships ; he watched 
 the crew at work, and got acquainted with his fellow-passengers. 
 Before long he found a driver of an ambulance who was a 
 Socialist; also an I. W. W. from the Oregon lumber-camps. 
 Even the "wobblies," it appeared, had come to hate the Kaiser; 
 a bunch of them were in France, and more would have come, 
 if the government had not kept them cross by putting their 
 leaders into jail. An army-officer with some sense had gone into 
 the spruce-country of the far North-west, and had appealed <o 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 195 
 
 the patriotism of the men, giving them decent hours and wages, 
 and recognizing their unions; as a result, even the dreaded 
 I. W. W. organization had turned tame, and all the lumber-jacks 
 had pitched in to help in "canning the Kaiser" t 
 
 ii 
 
 The fleet was nearing the submarine-zone and it was time 
 for the convoying destroyers to arrive. Everybody was peering 
 out ahead, and at last a cry ran along the decks: "There they 
 are!" Jimmie made out a speck of smoke upon the horizon, 
 and saw it turn into a group of swiftly flying vessels. He 
 marvelled at the skill whereby they had been able to find the 
 transports on this vast and trackless sea; he marvelled at the 
 slender vessels with their four low, rakish stacks. These sea- 
 terriers were thin skins of steel, covering engines of enormous 
 power; they tore through the water, literally with the speed 
 of an express-train, leaving a boiling white wake behind. See- 
 ing them rock and swing from side to side in the waves, hurled 
 this way and that, you marvelled that human beings could live 
 in them and not be jerked to pieces. Jimmie never tired of 
 observing them, nor did they tire of racing in and out between 
 the vessels of the convoy, weaving patterns of foam, the men on 
 their decks watching, watching for the secret foe. 
 
 Every one on board the transports of course was on the 
 alert. Jirhmie in his secret heart was scared stiff, but he did 
 not reveal it to these mocking soldier-boys, who made merry 
 over German U-boats as they did over sauerkraut and pretzels 
 and limburger and "wienies," otherwise known as "hot dogs." 
 Actually, Jimmie found, they were hoping to encounter a sub- 
 marine; not to be hit, of course, but to have the torpedo pass 
 within a foot or two, so that they might have something thrilling 
 to write to the folks at home ! 
 
 There came storms, and blinding sheets of rain across the 
 water, and mists that hid everything from view; but still the 
 little sea-terriers dashed here and there, winding their foam 
 wakes about the fleet, by night as well as by day. How they 
 managed to avoid collisions in the dark was a mystery beyond 
 imagining; Jimmie lay awake, picturing one of them plunging 
 like a sharp spear into the rows of bunks in the steerage where 
 he had been stowed. But when morning dawned, his berth was 
 
196 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 unspeared, and the watch-dogs of the sea were still weaving their 
 patterns. 
 
 It was a day of high wind, with clouds and fitful bursts of 
 sunshine in which the waves shone white and sparkling. Jimmie 
 was standing by the rail with his "wobbly" friend, watching the 
 white-caps, when his companion called his attention to a sparkle 
 that seemed to persist, hitting one in the eye. They pointed it 
 out to others, and as the orders were strict to report anything 
 out of the way, some one shouted to the nearest look-out. A 
 <cry went over the ship, and there was hasty wigwagging of 
 the signalmen, and three of the destroyers leaped away like 
 hounds on the chase. 
 
 There were some on board who had glasses, and they cried 
 out that it was a black object, and finally reported it a raft 
 with people on it. Later, when Jimmie reached port, he heard 
 an explanation of the sparkle which had caught his eye a woman 
 on the raft had a little pocket-mirror, and had used this to flash 
 the sun's rays upon the vessel, until at last she had attracted 
 attention. 
 
 Those who had glasses were mostly on the upper deck, so 
 Jimmie did not see anything of the rescue; the transports of 
 course did not swerve or delay, for their orders forbade all 
 altruisms. Even the little destroyers would not approach the 
 raft until they had scoured the sea for miles about, and then 
 they did not stop entirely, but slid by and tossed ropes to the 
 people on the raft, dragging them aboard one by one. A sea- 
 man standing near Jimmie explained this procedure; it ap- 
 peared that the submarines were accustomed to lurk near rafts 
 .and life-boats, preying upon those vessels which came to their 
 rescue. Distressed castaways were bait "live bait," explained 
 the seaman; the U-boats would lurk about for days, sometimes 
 for a week, watching the people in the life-boats struggle against 
 the waves, watching them die of exposure and starvation and 
 thirst, watching them signal frantically, waving rags tied onto 
 oars, shouting and praying for help. One by one the castaways 
 would perish, and when the last of them was gone, the U-boat 
 would steal away. "Dead bait's no good," explained the seaman. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 197 
 
 in 
 
 This mariner, Toms by name, came from Cornwall; for the 
 transport was British, and so also the convoying war-ships 
 Jimmie's fate had been entrusted to "perfidious Albion" ! Seven 
 times this Toms had been torpedoed and seven times rescued, 
 and he had most amazing tales to tell to landlubbers, and a 
 new light to throw on a subject which our Socialist landlubber 
 had been debating for several years the torpedoing of passenger- 
 vessels with women and children on board. Somehow Jimmie 
 found it a different proposition when he heard of particular 
 women and children, how they looked and what they said, and 
 what happened when they took to open boats in midwinter, and 
 the boats filled up with water, and the children turned blue and 
 then white, and were rescued with noses and ears and hands 
 and feet frozen off. 
 
 Jimmie was a workingman, and understood the language of 
 workingmen, their standards and ways of looking at life. And" 
 here was a workingman; not a conscious Socialist, to be sure, 
 but a union man, sharing the Socialist distrust of capitalists 
 and rulers. What this weather-bitten toiler of the sea told to 
 Jimmie, Jimmie was prepared to understand and believe; so he 
 learned, what he had refused to learn from prostitute newspapers, 
 that there was a code of sea-manners and sea-morals, a law of 
 marine decency, which for centuries had been unbroken save 
 by pirates and savages. The men who went down to the sea in 
 ships were a class of their own, with instincts born of the 
 peculiar cruelties of the element they defied instincts which 
 broke across all barriers of nations and races, and even across 
 the hatreds of war. 
 
 But now these sea-laws had been defied, and the Hun who 
 had defied them had placed himself outside the pale of the 
 human race. In the souls of seamen there had been generated 
 against him a hatred of peculiar and unique ferocity ; they hunted 
 him as men hunt vipers and rattle-snakes. The union to which 
 this Toms belonged had pledged itself, not merely for the war, 
 but for years afterwards, that its members would not sail in 
 German ships, nor in any ship in which a German sailed, nor 
 in any ship which sailed to a German port, nor which carried 
 German goods. It had refused to carry Socialist delegates de- 
 siring to attend international conferences with German Social- 
 
198 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 ists; it had refused to carry for any purpose labour leaders 
 whom it considered too mercifully disposed towards Germany. 
 
 When Jimmie learned this, you can imagine the arguments, 
 continuing far into the night ! Quite a crowd gathered about, 
 and they gave it to the little Socialist hot and heavy. The 
 upshot of it was that somebody reported him, and the officer in 
 command of his "motor-unit" read him a stern lecture. He 
 was not here to settle peace-terms, but to do his work and hold 
 his tongue. Jimmie, awed by the fangs and claws of the mon- 
 ster of Militarism, answered, "Yes, sir," and went away and 
 sulked by himself the whole day, wishing that the submarines 
 might get this transport, with everybody on board except two 
 Socialists and one "wobbly ." 
 
 IV 
 
 It was the morning of the day they were due in port. 
 Everybody wore life-preservers, and stood at his station; when 
 suddenly came a yell, and a chorus of shouts from the side of 
 the ship, and Jimmie rushed to the rail, and saw a white wake 
 coming like a swift fish directly at the vessel. "Torpedo !" was 
 the cry, and men stood rooted to the spot. Far back, where the 
 white streak started, you could see a periscope, moving slowly; 
 there was a volley of cracking sounds, and the water all about 
 it leaped high, and the little sea-terriers rushed towards it, 
 firing, and getting ready their deadly depth-bombs. But of 
 all that Jimmie got only a glimpse ; there came a roar like the 
 opening of hell in front of him ; he was thrown to the deck, half- 
 stunned, and a huge fragment of the rail of the vessel whirled 
 past his head, smashing into a stateroom behind him. 
 
 The ship was in an uproar; people rushing here and there, 
 the members of the crew leaping to get away the boats. Jimmie 
 sat up and stared about him, and the first thing he saw was his 
 friend the "wobbly/ 5 lying in a pool of blood, with a great gash 
 in his head. 
 
 Suddenly somebody began to sing: "Oh, say, can you see 
 
 by the dawn's early light " Jimmie had always hated that 
 
 song, because jingoes and patrioteers used it as an excuse to 
 bully and humiliate radicals who did not jump to their feet 
 with sufficient alacrity. But now it was wonderful to see the 
 effect of the song; everybody joined, and the soldier-boys and 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 199 
 
 workingmen and nurses and lady ambulance-drivers, no matter 
 how badly scared, recalled that they were part of an army on 
 the way to war. Some helped the crews to get the boats into 
 the water; others bound up the wounds of the injured, and 
 carried them across the rapidly slanting decks. 
 
 The great ship was going down. It was horrible to realise 
 this mighty structure, this home for two weeks of several 
 thousand people, this moving hotel with its sleeping-berths, 
 its dining-saloons, its kitchens with lunch ready to be eaten, its 
 mighty engines and its cargo of every kind of necessity and 
 comfort for an army all was about to plunge to the bottom of 
 the sea! Jimmie Higgins had read about the torpedoing of 
 scores of ocean-liners, but in all that reading he had learned 
 less about the matter than he learned in a few minutes while he 
 clung half-dazed to a stay-rope, and watched the life-boats swing 
 out over the sides and disappear. 
 
 "Women first!" was the cry; but the women would not go 
 until the wounded had been taken, and this occasioned delay. 
 Jimmie helped to get his friend the "wobbly," and passed him 
 on to be lowered with a rope. By that time the deck had got 
 such a slant that it was hard to walk on it ; the bow was settling, 
 and the stern rearing up in the air. Never could you have 
 realised the size of an ocean-liner, until you saw it rear itself 
 up like a monstrous mountain, preparatory to plunging beneath 
 the waves! "Jump for it!" shouted voices. "They'll pick 
 you up from the other vessels. Jump and swim." 
 
 So Jimmie rushed to the rail. He saw a life-boat below, 
 trying to push away, and being beaten against the vessel by the 
 heavy waves. He heard a horrible scream, and saw a man slip 
 between the boat and the side of the liner. People on every 
 side of him were jumping so many that he could not find a clear 
 spot in the water. But at last he saw one, and climbed upon 
 the rail and took the plunge. 
 
 He struck the icy water and sank, and a wave rolled over 
 him. He came up quickly, owing to his life-preserver, and 
 gasped for breath, and was choked by another rushing wave 
 and then pounded on the head by an oar in the hands of a strug- 
 gling sailor. He managed to get out of the way, and struck 
 
200 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 out to get clear of the vessel. He knew how to do this, thanks 
 to many "swimmin'-holes" including the one he had visited 
 with the Candidate. But he had never before swam in such 
 deadly cold as this; it was colder than he had dreamed when 
 he had talked about it with Comrade Meissner! Its icy hand 
 seemed to smite him, to smite the life out of him; he struggled 
 desperately, as one struggles against suffocation. 
 
 The waves beat him here and there; and then suddenly he 
 was seized as if by the falls of Niagara, drawn along and drawn 
 under down, down. He thought it was the end, and when 
 again he bobbed up to the surface, his breath was all but gone. 
 The great bulk of the vessel was no longer in sight, and Jimmie 
 was struggling in a whirlpool, along with upset boats and oars 
 and deck-chairs and miscellaneous wreckage, and scores of 
 people clinging to such objects, or swimming frantically to reach 
 them. 
 
 Jimmie was just about ready to roll over and let his face 
 go under, when suddenly there loomed above him on the top 
 of a wave a boat rowed swiftly by sailors. One in the boat 
 flung a rope to him, and he tried to catch it, but missed; the 
 boat plunged towards him, and an arm reached out, and caught 
 him by the collar. It was a strong and comforting arm, and 
 Jimmie abandoned himself to it, and remembered nothing more 
 for a long time. 
 
 VI 
 
 When Jimmie opened his eyes again he was in a most 
 extraordinary position. At first he could not make it out, he 
 was only aware of endless bruises and blows, as if some one were 
 shaking him about in a gigantic pepper-cruet. As nature pro- 
 tested desperately against such treatment, Jimmie fought his 
 way back to consciousness, and caught hold of something, in 
 his neighbourhood, which presently turned out to be a brass rail- 
 ing; he struggled to ward off the blows of his tormentors, which 
 turned out to be the aforesaid railing, plus a wall, plus two 
 other men, one on each side of him, the three of them being 
 lashed to the brass railing with ropes. The wall and railing 
 and Jimmie and the other men were behaving in an incredible 
 fashion swinging down, as if they were plunging into a bottom- 
 less abyss, then swinging up, as if they were going to part alto- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM 201 
 
 gether from this mundane sphere; the total enormous swing, 
 from bottom to top, being mathematically calculated to occupy 
 a period of five and one half seconds of time. 
 
 Jimmie discovered before long that there were a whole row 
 of men, lashed fast and subjected to this perplexing form of 
 torture. They made you think of a row of carcasses in a 
 butcher-shop only, who could picture a butcher-shop whose 
 floor careened to an angle of forty-five degrees in one direction, 
 and then, in a space of precisely five and a half seconds, careened 
 to an angle of forty-five degrees in the opposite direction? 
 
 And they kept bringing more carcasses and hanging them in 
 this insane butcher-shop ! Two sailors in uniforms would come 
 staggering, carrying a man between them, clinging to the railing, 
 to Jimmie, to the other men, to anything else they could grab. 
 They would make a desperate rush while the swing was right, 
 and get to a new place on the railing, where they would tie the 
 new man with a bit of rope about his waist, and leave him 
 there to be mauled and pounded. One side of the room was 
 lined solid with carcasses, and then the other side, and still they 
 came. This was apparently a dining-saloon, there being a table 
 down the middle, and two rows of chairs ; they lashed people into 
 these chairs, they brought others and lashed them to the bottom 
 of the chairs any old place at all! There were some who 
 thought they could hold on for themselves; but after the sailors 
 were gone they discovered that it took more skill to hold on 
 than they realised, and they would come hurtling across the 
 floor, winding up with a crash on top of some one else. 
 
 It was not the first time in Jimmie's life that he had had to 
 scramble for himself in some uncomfortable situation; he got 
 his wits together quickly. He was shivering as if with ague, 
 and he managed to get out of his wet coat. There being a 
 couple of ladies strapped into chairs in front of him, he did 
 not like to go further; but presently came sailors with armfuls 
 of blankets, and made him perform the complicated feat of get- 
 ting out of his dripping icy uniform and getting the blanket 
 wrapped around his middle, so that the rope would not saw him 
 into halves. Then came a steward with a pot of hot coffee; 
 being marvellously expert at holding this at all angles of the 
 ship, he poured it into cups with little funnels for drinking, and 
 thus got some down Jimmie's throat. 
 
 The little machinist felt better after that, and was able to 
 
202 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 devote attention to the man on his right, who had hit his nose 
 so many times that it was bleeding in a stream, and had been 
 tilted at so many angles that the blood had run into his eyes and 
 made him blind. The man on the other side of him apparently 
 could make no effort at all to keep his face from being pounded, 
 or his feet from being thrown into the pit of Jimmie's stomach ; 
 after Jimmie made a number of protests, an officer came along, 
 and put his ear to the man's chest and pronounced him dead. 
 They brought another rope, and lashed him tighter, so that he 
 would behave himself. 
 
 For several hours Jimmie clung to that railing. The de- 
 stroyer would soon be in port, they kept telling him; meantime 
 they brought him hot soup to keep up his strength. Some peo- 
 ple fainted, but there was nothing that could be done for them. 
 The first boat-loads of the rescued had filled up the berths of 
 both officers and crew; the rest must hang on to the railings as 
 best they could. They should be thankful it was decent weather, 
 said one of the sailors; the vessel didn't roll any faster in bad 
 weather, but it rolled much farther in the same time a dis- 
 tinction which struck Jimmie as over-subtle. 
 
 The poor fellow's arms were numb with exhaustion, he had 
 lost hope that anything in the world ever could be still, when the 
 announcement was made that the harbour was in sight, and 
 everybody's troubles would soon be over. And sure enough, 
 the rolling gradually became less. The little vessel still quivered 
 from stem to stern with the movement of her enormous engines, 
 but Jimmie didn't mind that he was used to machinery; he 
 got himself untied from the railing, and lay down on the floor, 
 right there where he was, and fell asleep. Nor did he open his 
 eyes when they came with a stretcher, and carried him onto a 
 pier and slid him into a motor-truck and whisked him off to a 
 hospital. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 JLMEMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY 
 
 "I5I7HEN Jimmie took an interest in life again he was lying 
 ** in a bed: a bed that actually was still, that did not rise 
 with a leaping motion to the ceiling, and then sink like a swift 
 elevator into the basement. Better yet was the fact that this 
 bed had clean sheets, and a lovely angel in spotless white hover- 
 ing about it. You who read of Jimmie Higgins' adventures 
 have perhaps been blessed with some of the good things of life, 
 and may need to have it explained to you that never before 
 had Jimmie known what it was to sleep between sheets to 
 say nothing of clean sheets; never had he known what it was 
 to sleep in a night-gown ; never had he had hot broth fetched to 
 him by a snow-white angel with a bright smile and an aureole 
 of golden-brown hair! This marvellous creature waited on his 
 slightest nod, and when she was not busy running errands for 
 him, she sat by his bedside and chatted, asking him all sorts of 
 questions about himself and his life. She thought he was a 
 soldier, and he, shameless wretch, discovered what she thought, 
 and delayed to tell her that he was a common repairer of 
 motor-cycles ! 
 
 This was a war-hospital, and there were terrible sights to 
 be seen here, terrible sounds to be heard; but Jimmie for a 
 long time missed them almost entirely he was so comfortable ! 
 He lay like a nice dozy cat ; he ate good things and drank good 
 things, and then he fell asleep, and then he opened his eyes in 
 the sunshine of a golden brown aureole. It was only gradually 
 that he realised that somewhere in the ward a man was choking 
 and gasping all night, because the inside of his lungs had been 
 partly eaten out with poisonous acids. 
 
 Jimmie inquired and was told that more than a hundred 
 people on the transport had lost their lives, including several 
 
 203 
 
204 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 women; the nurse brought a paper with a list of the casualties, 
 among which he read the name of Mike Angoni his friend the 
 "wobbly" from the far West ! Also the name of Peter Toms 
 the seaman from Cornwall, caught at the eighth attempt! 
 Jimmie read that the submarine which had sunk the transport 
 had been shattered by a depth-charge, and the sea all strewn 
 with the wreckage of it; and strange and terrible as it might 
 seem, Jimmie, the pacifist, the Socialist, experienced a thrill of 
 satisfaction ! Not once did he stop to reflect that on board 
 this underwater craft might have been some German comrade, 
 some poor, enslaved, unhappy internationalist like himself! 
 Jimmie wanted the sneaking, treacherous terrors of the sea ex- 
 terminated, regardless of everything! 
 
 The nurse with the halo of golden-brown hair got interested 
 in her American patient, and would sit and talk with him 
 every chance she got. She learned about Eleeza Betooser and 
 the babies who had been blown to pieces in the explosion. Also 
 she learned about Jimmie's being a Socialist, and asked him 
 questions about it. Wasn't he just a little hard on the leisure 
 classes? Might it not be that some of the capitalists would 
 be as glad as he to know about a better social system? The 
 young lady pronounced the word "capitalists" with the accent 
 on the "it," which puzzled Jimmie for a time; also she assured 
 him that "wage shedules" would never go back to what they 
 were before the war, and Jimmie had to ask what a "shedule" 
 might be. He did not have to ask what she meant by a "tart," 
 because there it was on his tray a delicious little strawberry 
 pie. 
 
 II 
 
 This meant that the destroyer had come to an English 
 port; the nurse was a Britisher. If Jimmie had had tact, he 
 would have remembered that Britishers have an outfit of earls 
 and dukes and lords and things, to which they are sentimentally 
 attached. But tact is not the leading virtue of Socialists; in 
 fact Jimmie made a boast of scorning it if people asked his 
 opinion, he "gave it to 'em straight." So now he caused this 
 white angel to understand that he regarded the effete aristocra- 
 cies of the old world with abysmal contempt; he meant to put 
 them out of business right off the bat. In vain the white angel 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY 205 
 
 pleaded that some of them might be useful people, or at any 
 rate well-meaning; Jimmie pronounced them a bunch of para- 
 sites and grafters; the thing to do was to make a clean sweep 
 of them. 
 
 "You won't cut off their heads ?" pleaded the nurse. "Sure- 
 ly they ought to have a chance to reform V 9 
 
 "Oh, sure !" answered Jimmie. "All I mean is, everybody's 
 got to go to work the dooks an' aristererats like the rest." 
 
 The nurse went off, carrying Jimmie's chamber to be 
 emptied; and while she was gone, the man in the next bed, a 
 gun-pointer from an American destroyer with his head bandaged 
 up so that he looked like a Hindoo swami, turned his tired eyes 
 upon Jimmie and drawled: "Say, you guy, you better can that 
 line o' talk!" 
 
 "Whaddyer mean ?" demanded Jimmie, scenting controversy 
 with some militarist. 
 
 "I mean that there young lady belongs to the nobility her- 
 self." 
 
 "Go on !" said Jimmie. 
 
 "Straight!" said the other. "Her father's the earl of Skye- 
 terrier, or some such damn place." 
 
 "Aw, cut it out !" growled the little machinist for you never 
 knew in dealing with these soldier boys whether you were being 
 "kidded" or not. 
 
 "Did you ask her name?" 
 
 "She told me it was Miss Clendenning." 
 
 "Well, you ask her if she ain't the Honourable Beatrice Clen- 
 denning, and see what she says." 
 
 But Jimmie could not get up the nerve to ask. When the 
 young lady came back, carrying his chamber washed clean, her 
 pet patient was lying still, but so red in the face that she sus- 
 pected that he had been trying to get out of bed without per- 
 mission. 
 
 in 
 
 Nor was that the end of wonders. Next day there ran a 
 murmur of excitement through the ward, and everything was 
 cleaned up fresh, though there was really nothing that needed 
 cleaning. Flowers were brought in, and each nurse had a flower 
 pinned on her waist. When Jimmie asked what was "up," the 
 
206 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Honourable Beatrice looked at him with a quizzical smile. 
 "We're going to have some distinguished visitors," she said. 
 "But you won't be interested a class-conscious proletarian like 
 you." ' 
 
 And she would not tell him; but when she went out, the 
 fellow in the next bed told. "It's the king and queen that's 
 comin'," said the gun-pointer. 
 
 "Aw, ferget it!" said Jimmie quite sure he was being 
 "kidded" this time. 
 
 "Comin 5 to see the submarine victims," said the gun-pointer. 
 "You cut out your Socialist rough stuff for to-day." 
 
 Jimmie asked the nurse when she came back; and sure 
 enough, it was true! the king and queen were to visit the hos- 
 pital, and pay their respects to the victims of the U-boat. But 
 that wouldn't interest Jimmie Higgins. Would he not rather 
 be carried away and put in a private room somewhere, so that 
 his revolutionary eyes would not be offended? Or would he 
 stay, and make a soap-boxer of His Majesty? 
 
 "Sure, he won't have no time to talk to a feller like me!" 
 said Jimmie. 
 
 "Don't you be too sure," replied the other. "He's got noth- 
 ing to do but talk, you know !" 
 
 Jimmie didn't venture any farther, because he knew that the 
 Honourable Beatrice was laughing at him, and he had never been 
 laughed at by a woman before, and didn't know quite how to 
 take it. He could not have been expected to understand that 
 the Honourable Beatrice was a suffragette, and laughed at all 
 men on general principles. Jimmie lay quietly in his bed and 
 concealed the unworthy excitement in his soul. Wasn't that 
 the devil now? Him, a little runt of a workingman from no- 
 where in particular, that had been brought up on a charity- 
 farm, and spent a good part of his life on the bum him to be 
 meeting the king of England ! Jimmie had a way of disposing 
 of kings that was complete and final; he called them "kinks," 
 and when he had called them that he had settled them, wiped 
 them clean out. "None o' them kinks fer me!" he had said 
 to the Honourable Beatrice. v 
 
 But now a "kink" was coming to the hospital ! And what was 
 Jimmie going to do ? How the devil did you talk to 'em ? Did 
 you have to say, "Your Majesty" ? Jimmie gripped his hands 
 under the bed-covers, "I'll be damned if I do !" He summoned 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY 207 
 
 his revolutionary fervour, he called up the spirits of his "wobbly" 
 friends, "Wild Bill" and "Strawberry" Curran and "Flathead 
 Joe" and "Chuck" Peterson. What would they do under these 
 circumstances? What would the Candidate do? Somehow, 
 Jimmie's revolutionary education had been neglected nothing 
 had ever been said in any Socialist local as to how a comrade 
 should behave when a "kink" came to visit him! 
 
 Jimmy was naturally a kindly human being; he was ready 
 to respond to the kindness of other human beings. But was 
 it in accord with revolutionary ethics to be polite to a "kink"? 
 Was it not his duty to do something to show his contempt for 
 "kinks"? Maybe his Royal Nibs never had anybody to "stand 
 up to him" in all his life before. Well, let him have it to-day I 
 
 IV 
 
 A nurse rushed into the ward in great excitement, and 
 whispered, "They're coming!" And after that the nurses all 
 stood round, twisting their hands together nervously, and the 
 patients lay with their eyes glued on the door where the appari- 
 tion was to appear. 
 
 At last there came in sight a man dressed in uniform, who 
 Jimmie would never have dreamed could be a king except that 
 he had seen his picture in the illustrated papers. He was a 
 medium-sized, rather stoop-shouldered little gentleman, decidedly 
 commonplace-looking, with a closely trimmed brown beard turn- 
 ing grey, and rosy cheeks such as all Englishmen have. He was 
 escorted by the head of the hospital-staff ; and behind him came 
 a lady, a severe-looking lady dressed in black, with a couple more 
 doctors escorting her, and behind them several officers in uni- 
 form. 
 
 The king and queen stopped at the head of the room, and 
 looked down the rows of beds. Each of them wore a friendly 
 smile, and nodded, and said, "How do you do ?" And of course 
 everybody smiled back, and the nurses curtsied and said, "How 
 do you do, Your Majesties?" And then His Majesty said, "I 
 hope everybody is doing well ?" And the doctor called the head 
 nurse in charge of the ward, who came up smiling and bowing, 
 and answered that everybody was doing beautifully, thank you; 
 at which both His Majesty and Her Majesty declared that they 
 were so pleased. The queen looked about, and seeing a man with 
 
208 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 many bandages, went to him and sat by his be'dside and began to 
 ask him questions ; the king moved down the centre of the room, 
 until suddenly his eye happened on the Honourable Beatrice. 
 
 She had not moved; she stood at her place like the other 
 nurses. But Jimmie, watching, saw a smile come upon the 
 king's face, and he moved towards her, saying, "Oh! How do 
 you do?" The young lady went to meet him, quite as if she 
 were used to meeting kings every day. 
 
 "How are your patients doing?" inquired His Majesty. 
 
 "Beautifully," said she; and His Majesty said that he was 
 pleased just as if he had not said the same words only a 
 minute before. He looked at the patients with benevolent but 
 tired-looking eyes ; and the Honourable Beatrice, by those subtle 
 methods known to women, brought it about that he looked 
 especially at her favourite. She knew that he would wish to talk 
 to some of the patients, and by ever so slight a movement she 
 brought it about that it was towards Jimmie Higgins he ad- 
 vanced. 
 
 "What is your name?" he asked, and then, "Well, Higgins, 
 how are you feeling?" 
 
 "Sure, I'm all right," said Jimmie sturdily; "I wanner get 
 up, only she won't let me." 
 
 "Well," said His Majesty, "the time was when the king was 
 the tyrant, but now it's the nurse." He smiled at the Honour- 
 able lady. "Are you an American soldier?" 
 
 "Naw," replied Jimmie, "I'm only a machinist." 
 
 "This is a war of machines," replied His Majesty, gra- 
 ciously. 
 
 "Fin a Socialist !" exclaimed Jimmie, right off the bat. 
 
 "Indeed!" said His Majesty. 
 
 "You bet !" was the reply. 
 
 "But you're not one of those Socialists who oppose their 
 country, I see." 
 
 "I done it for a long time," said Jimmie. "I didn't see 
 we had no business in this here war. But I been changin' a 
 bit." 
 
 "I'm glad to hear that," remarked His Majesty. "Doubtless 
 your recent experience has helped you to change." 
 
 "Sure/' replied Jimmie. "But I'm still a Socialist, don't you 
 make no mistake about that, Mr. King." 
 
 "I won't," said His Majesty ; and he looked at the Honour- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY 209 
 
 able Beatrice, and between them there flashed one of those 
 subtle messages which highly sophisticated people know how to 
 give and to catch entirely over the heads of Socialist machin- 
 ists from Leesville, U. S. A. To the Honourable Beatrice the 
 message conveyed, "How perfectly delicious I" To His Majesty 
 it conveyed, "I knew you'd enjoy it!" 
 
 Jimmie's mind was of course occupied entirely with the 
 idea of propaganda. He must make the most of this strange 
 opportunity ! "Things is goin' to be changed after this here 
 war I" said he. "Fer the workin' people, I mean." 
 
 "They'll be changed for all of us/' said His Majesty. "The 
 dullest of us know that." 
 
 "The workin' people got to get what they earn!" persisted 
 Jimmie. "Why, Mr. King back home where I come from a 
 feller could work twelve hours a day all his life, an' not have 
 enough saved up to bury himself with. An' they say it was 
 worse here in England." 
 
 "We have had terrible poverty," admitted His Majesty. 
 "We shall have to find some way of getting rid of it." 
 
 "There ain't no way but Socialism !" cried Jimmie. "Look 
 into it, an' you'll see ! We gotter get rid o' the profit-system. 
 The feller that does the work has gotter get what he produces." 
 
 "Well," said His Majesty, "you'll agree with me this far at 
 least we must beat the Germans first." And then he turned 
 to the Honourable Beatrice. "We shall learn much from our 
 American visitors," he said, and flashed her another of those 
 subtle messages, which indicated that perhaps it was not a good 
 thing for patients in hospitals to become excited over Socialist 
 propaganda ! So the Honourable Beatrice turned to the man 
 in the other bed, and His Majesty turned also; he ascertained 
 that the man's name was Deakin, and that he came from Cape 
 Cod. His Majesty remarked how badly England needed good 
 Yankee gun-pointers, and how grateful he was to those who came 
 to help the British navy. Jimmie listened, just a tiny bit jealous 
 not for himself, of course, but because he knew that Socialism 
 was so much more important than gun-pointing ! 
 
 At the foot of the bed there stood a military officer. He had 
 been there for some time, but Jimmie did not notice him till the 
 
210 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 king arose and moved away. The officer was just the sort of 
 hand-made aristocrat that Jimmie imagined all officers to be; 
 smooth-shaven, except for a little toy moustache, with serene, im- 
 passive features, a dapper and immaculate uniform, and a queer 
 little fancy stick in his hand, to show that he never did anything 
 resembling work. He was eyeing the machinist, with what the 
 machinist suspected to be a superior air. "Well, my good man," 
 said he, "you had a talk with the king!" 
 
 That seemed obvious enough. "Sure !" said Jimmie. 
 
 "Generally," continued the officer, "wFen one talks with the 
 king, one addresses him as 'Your Majesty' not as 'Mr. KingV' 
 
 Jimmie was tired now, and not looking for controversy; so 
 he did not bridle as he might otherwise have done. "Nobody 
 told me," said he. 
 
 "Also," continued the other, "one is not supposed to volunteer 
 opinions. One waits for the king to ask a question, and then one 
 answers." 
 
 Jimmie's eyes were closed, and he only half opened them as 
 he answered. "They been tellin' me this here is a war for 
 Democracy !" said he. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 JIMM'IE HIGGINS WORKS FOE HIS UNCLB 
 
 THEY gave Jimmie Higgins a couple of days to lie about on 
 the grounds of the hospital, and make the acquaintance and 
 hear the experiences of men who had lost arms and legs in bat- 
 tle, or had been burned by flame-throwers, or ruined for life by 
 poison-gases. Strange as it might seem, Jimmie found among 
 these men not a few with whom he could talk, whose point of 
 view was close to his own. These Britishers had been through 
 the mill; they knew. None of the glory stuff for them ! Leave 
 that for the newspaper scribblers, the bloody rascals who stayed 
 at home and beat on tomtoms, driving other men to march in 
 and die. You went and got yourself battered up, ruined for 
 life and then what would they do for you? It was a hard 
 world to a man who was crippled and helpless. Yes, said 
 Jimmie; the same hard world that it was to a Socialist, a 
 dreamer of justice. 
 
 But there was the old dilemma, from which he had never 
 been able to find escape, whether in Leesville, U. S. A., or on 
 the high seas, or here in old England. What were you going to 
 do about the Huns? To hold out your hand to them was like 
 putting it into a tiger's cage. No, by God, you had to fight 
 them, you had to lick them, cost what it might! And the 
 speaker would go on and tell of things he had seen : a Prussian 
 officer who had shot a British surgeon in the back, after this 
 surgeon had bound up his wounds; a commandant of a prison- 
 camp who had withdrawn all medical aid in a typhus-epidemic, 
 and allowed his charges to perish like rats. 
 
 So, hell though it was, you had to go through with it ; if you 
 were a man, you had to set your teeth and grip your hands and 
 take your share of the horror, whatever it might be. And 
 Jimmie, being something of a little man in his way, would set- 
 
 211 
 
212 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 his teeth and grip his hands and take, in imagination, the share 
 of the particular human wreck who happened to be talking to 
 him. So Jimmie Higgins was battered back and forth, like a 
 tennis-ball between the two forces of Militarism and Revolution. 
 Just now was another crisis the Huns had begun a furious 
 drive in Flanders, the third battle of Ypres, and the British 
 were falling back, not in rout, but in retreat which might be- 
 come rout at any hour. The bulletins came in several times 
 a day, and people on the streets would stop and read them, their 
 faces full of fear. When the wind was right you could hear 
 the guns across the channel; Jimmie would lie at night and 
 listen to the dull, incessant thunder a terrific, man-made storm, 
 in which showers of steel were raining down upon the heads of 
 soldiers hiding in shell-holes and hastily dug trenches. The 
 war seemed very near indeed when the wind was right ! 
 
 II 
 
 Still, a fellow has to live. Jimmie was in a foreign land 
 for the first time in his life, and when they turned him loose, 
 he and a couple of other American chaps went wandering about 
 the streets, staring at the sights of this town, which had been a 
 small harbour before the war, but now was a vast centre of the 
 world's commerce, one of the routes by which large sections of 
 Britain were moved across the channel every day. 
 
 You saw on the streets no men out of uniform, except a few 
 old ones ; you saw nobody at all idle, except the young children. 
 The women were driving the trucks, and operating the street- 
 cars, which were called "trams," and the elevators, which were 
 called "lifts." Everybody's face was sober and drawn, but they 
 lightened up when they saw the Americans, who had come so 
 far to help them in their trouble. In the cake-shops, and the 
 queer little "pubs" where rosy-cheeked girls sold very thin beer, 
 they could not be polite enough to the visitors from over-seas; 
 even the haughtiest-looking "bobby" would stop to tell you the 
 way about the streets. "First to the roight, third to the left," he 
 would say, very fast ; and when you looked bewildered, he would 
 say it again, as fast as ever. 
 
 But they needed motor-cycles so badly in the new American 
 armies that they didn't give Jimmie much time to be a hero; 
 he got his orders, and a new outfit, and bade farewell to the 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE 213 
 
 Honourable Beatrice, promising to write to her now and then, 
 and not to be too hard on the aristocracy. He crossed the chan- 
 nel, alive with boats like the Hudson River with its ferries, 
 and came to another and still bigger port, which the Americans 
 had taken and made over new for the war. Long vistas of docks 
 had been built since the fighting began ; Jimmie saw huge cranes 
 that dipped down into the hold of a ship, and pulled out whole 
 locomotives, or maybe half a dozen automobile trucks in one 
 swoop. Behind these docks was a tangle of railroad-yards and 
 tracks, and miles upon miles of sheds, piled to the top with 
 stores of every sort you could imagine. A whole encampment- 
 city covered the surrounding hills, crowned by an old, creaking, 
 moss-grown windmill the Middle Ages looking in dismay upon 
 these modern times. 
 
 Nobody took the trouble to invite Jimmie to inspect these 
 marvels, but he got glimpses here and there, and men with 
 whom he chatted told him more. One man had been directing 
 the unloading of canned tomatoes; for six months he had seen 
 nothing but crates upon crates and car-loads upon car-loads of 
 canned tomatoes, coming into one end of a shed and going out 
 at the other. Somewhere in the higher regions dwelt a mar- 
 vellous tomato-brain, which knew exactly how many cans a 
 division of dough-boys in a training-camp would consume each 
 day, how many would be needed by patients in hospitals, by 
 lumbermen in French forests, by revellers in Y. M. C. A. huts. 
 Every now and then a ship brought another supply, and the 
 man who told Jimmie about it bossed a gang of negroes who 
 piled the crates on trucks. 
 
 And then Jimmie met a Frenchman, who had been a waiter 
 in a Chicago hotel, and now was bossing a gang of wire-haired 
 Korean labourers. Jimmie had thought he knew all the races 
 of the earth in the shops and mills and mines of America; but 
 here he heard of new kinds of men Annamese and Siamese, 
 Paythans and Sikhs, Madagascans and Abyssinians and Alge- 
 rians. All the British empire was here, and all the French 
 colonies. There were Portuguese and Brazilians and West In- 
 dians, bushmen from Australia and Zulus from South Africa; 
 and these not having proven enough, America was now pouring 
 out the partly melted contents of her pot Hawaiians and Porto 
 Ricans, Filipinos and "spiggoties," Esquimaux from Alaska, 
 Chinamen from San Francisco, Sioux from Dakota, and plain 
 
214 JIMMIB HIGGINS 
 
 black plantation niggers from Louisiana and Alabama ! Jimmie 
 saw a gang of these latter mending a track which had been blown 
 out of place by a bomb from an aeroplane ; their black skins shin- 
 ing with sweat, their white teeth shining with good-nature as 
 they swung their heavy crow-bars, a long row of them moving 
 like a machine, chanting to keep in unison. "Altogether' 
 heave I" the officer would call, and the line would swing intc 
 motion 
 
 "Get a mule 
 
 An' a jack! 
 
 No slow, 
 
 No slack! 
 
 Put the hump 
 
 In yo' lack " 
 
 III 
 
 For nearly four years Jimmie had been reading about 
 France, and now he was here, and could see the sights with his 
 own eyes. People with wooden shoes, for example! It was 
 worth coming across the seas to see women and kids going 
 clatter, clatter along the cobbled streets. And the funny little 
 railroad-coaches, with rows of doors like rabbit-pens. It was 
 a satisfaction to notice that the train had a real man-sized engine, 
 with U. S. A. painted thereon. Jimmie owned a share in that 
 engine, and experienced socialistic thrills as he rode behind it. 
 
 He had got separated from his "unit," thanks to the sub- 
 marine and the sojourn in the hospital. They had given him 
 a pass, with orders to proceed to a certain town, travelling on a 
 certain train. Now Jimmie sat looking out of the window, as 
 happy as a boy out of school. A beautiful country, the fresh 
 green glory of spring everywhere upon it; broad, straight mili- 
 tary highways lined with poplars, and stone houses with queer 
 steep roofs, and old men and women and children toiling in the 
 fields. 
 
 Jimmie chattered with the men in the compartment, sol- 
 diers and workers, each a cog in the big machine, each bound 
 upon some important errand. Each had news to tell tales 
 of the fighting, or of the progress of preparation. For more than 
 a year now America had been getting ready, and here, in the 
 most desperate crisis of the war, what was she going to do? 
 Everybody was on tip-toe with excitement, with impatience to 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE 215 
 
 get into the scrap, to make good in the work upon which his 
 soul was set. Every man knew that the "dough-boys" would 
 show themselves the masters of "Fritz" ; they knew it as religious 
 people know there is a God in Heaven only, unlike most re- 
 ligious people, they were anxious to get to this heaven and meet 
 this God at the earliest possible moment. Next to Jimmie sat a 
 Wisconsin farmer-boy, German in features, in name, even in 
 accent; yet he was ready to fight the soldiers of the Kaiser 
 and quite sure he could lick them! Had he not lived since 
 childhood in a free country, and been to an American public- 
 school ? 
 
 Everybody had funny stories to tell about the adventures 
 of soldiers in a foreign land. The French were all right, of 
 course, especially the girls; but the shop-keepers were frugal, 
 and you had better count your change, and bite the coins they 
 offered you. As for their language holy smoke! Why did a 
 civilised people want to talk a lingo that made you grunt like 
 a pig or like a penf ul of pigs of all sizes ? Across the way sat 
 a Chicago street-car conductor with a little lesson-book, and now 
 and then he would read something out loud. An, in, on, un, 
 that many different sizes of pigs ! When you wanted bread, you 
 asked for a pain, and when you wanted a dish of eggs, you asked 
 for a cat-roof omelette. How was this for a tongue-twister 
 say five hundred and fifty-five francs in French ! 
 
 Fortunately, you didn't have to say that many not on the 
 pay of a dough-boy, put in a plumber from up-state in New 
 York. For his part, he did not bother to grunt he would make 
 drinking motions or eating motions, and they would bring him 
 things till they found what he wanted. One time he had met a 
 girl that he thought was all right, and he wanted to blow her to 
 a feed, so he drew a picture of a chicken, thinking he would 
 get it roasted. She had chattered away to the waiter, and he 
 had come back with two soft-boiled eggs. That was the French 
 notion of taking a girl out to dinner ! 
 
 IV 
 
 They loaded Jimmie into a motor-lorry and whirled him 
 away. You knew you were going to war then, by heck; there 
 were two almost solid processions of wagons and trucks, loaded 
 with French soldiers and materials going, and damaged French 
 
216 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 soldiers returning. It was like Broadway at. the most crowded 
 hour ; only here everything went by in a whirl of dust you got 
 quick glimpses of drivers with tense faces and blood-shot eyes. 
 Now and then there would be a blockade, and men would swear 
 and fume in mixed languages ; staff-cars in an extra hurry would 
 go off the road and bump along across country, while gangs of 
 negro labourers, French colonials, seized the opportunity to fill 
 up the ruts worn in the highway. 
 
 They put Jimmie off at a village where his motor-unit was 
 located, in a long shed made of corrugated iron, the sort of shed 
 which the army threw up over night. Here were a score of 
 men working at repairs, and Jimmie stopped for no formalities, 
 but took off his coat and pitched in. There was plenty of 
 work, he could see; the machines came, sometimes whole truck- 
 loads of them, damaged in every way he had ever seen before, 
 and in new ways not dreamed of in Kumme's bicycle-shop tires 
 torn to shreds by fragments of shrapnel, frames twisted out of 
 shape by explosions, and nasty splotches of blood completing the 
 story. 
 
 It was one of the many places where American units had 
 been taken to plug the damaged French lines. There was a 
 reserve battalion nearby, and outside this village a group of men 
 at work, putting up tents for a hospital. Some thirty miles 
 ahead was the front, and you heard the guns off and on, a low 
 sullen roar, punctuated with hammer-strokes of big fellows, 
 pillions of dollars every hour were being blown to nothingness 
 in that fearful inferno ; a gigantic meat-mill that was grinding 
 up the bodies of men, and had never ceased day or night for 
 nearly four years. You could be a violent pacifist in sound of 
 those guns, or you could be a violent militarist, but you could not 
 be indifferent to the war, you could not be of two minds about it. 
 
 And yet Jimmie Higgins was of two minds! He wanted 
 to beat back the Huns, who had made all this fearful mess ; but 
 also he wanted to beat the profiteers who were making messes 
 at home. It happened that Jimmie had reached the army at a 
 trying moment, when there were no American big guns, and 
 when promises of machine-guns and aeroplanes had failed. 
 There was wild excitement in the home papers, and not a little 
 grumbling in the army. It was graft and politics, men said; 
 and Jimmie caught eagerly at this idea. He pointed out how 
 the profiteers at home were intrenching themselves, making 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE 217 
 
 ready to exploit the soldiers returning without jobs. That was 
 a line of talk the men were ready for, and the little machinist 
 rejoiced to see the grim look that come upon their faces. They 
 would attend to it, never fear; and Jimmie would go on to tell 
 them exactly how to attend to it ! 
 
 But that was only now and then, when the wind was the 
 other way, and you did not hear the guns. For the most part 
 Jimmie's thoughts were drawn irresistibly to the front; about 
 him were thousands of other men, all their thoughts at the 
 front, their hands clenched, their teeth set, their beings centred 
 upon the job of holding the Beast at bay. Jimmie saw the grey 
 ambulances come in, and the wounded lifted out on stretchers, 
 their heads bandaged, their bodies covered with sheets, their 
 faces a ghastly waxen colour. He saw the poilus, fresh from the 
 trenches, after God alone knew what siege of terror. They came 
 staggering, bent double under a burden of equipment. The first 
 time Jimmie saw them was a day of ceaseless rain, when the dust 
 ground up by the big lorries was turned into ankle-deep mud; 
 the Frenchmen were plastered with it from head to foot ; you saw 
 under their steel helmets only a mud-spattered beard, and the 
 end of a nose, and a pair of deep-sunken eyes. They stopped to 
 rest not far from the place where Jimmie worked; they sank 
 down in the wet, they fell asleep in pools of water, where not 
 even beasts could have slept. You did not have to know any 
 French to understand what these men had been through. Good 
 God ! Was that what was going on up there ? 
 
 Jimmie thanked his stars he was no nearer. But that 
 coward's comfort did not last him long, for Jimmie was not a 
 coward, he was not used to letting other men struggle and 
 suffer for him. His conscience began to gnaw at him. If that 
 was what it cost to beat down the Beast, to make the world safe 
 for democracy, why should he be escaping? Why should he be 
 warm and dry and well fed, while workingmen of France lay out 
 in the trenches in the rain ? 
 
 Jimmie went back and worked overtime without extra pay 
 something that old man Granitch had never got out of him, 
 you bet, nor old man Kumme either. For three whole days 
 he stayed a militarist, forgetting his life-long training in re- 
 
218 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 bellion. But then he got into an argument with a red-headed 
 Orangeman in his unit, who expressed the opinion that every 
 Socialist was a traitor at heart, and that after the war the army 
 should be used to make an end of them all. Jimmie in his rage 
 went farther than he really meant, and again got a "calling 
 down" from his superior officer; so for several days his pro- 
 letarian feelings blazed, he wanted the revolution right away, 
 Huns or no Huns. 
 
 But most of the time now the spirit of the herd mastered 
 Jimmie; he wanted what all the men about him wanted to 
 hold back the Beast from these fair French fields and quaint 
 old villages, and these American hospitals and rest-camps and 
 Y. M. C. A. huts to say nothing of motor-cycle repair-sheds 
 with Jimmie Higgins in them! And the trouble was that the 
 Beast was not being held back; he was coming nearer and 
 nearer one bull rush after another ! Jimmie's village was near 
 the valley of the Marne, and that was the road to Paris; the 
 Beast wanted to get to Paris, he really expected to get to Paris ! 
 
 The sound of guns grew louder and louder, and rumour 
 flew wild-eyed and wild-tongued about the country. The traffic 
 in the roads grew denser, but moving more slowly now, for the 
 Germans were shelling the road ahead, and blockades were fre- 
 quent; one huge missile had fallen into a French artillery-train 
 only a couple of miles away. "They'll be moving us back, if 
 this keeps up," said Jimmie's sergeant ; and Jimmie wondered : 
 suppose they didn't move them ! Suppose they forgot all about 
 it! Was there any person whose particular duty it was to 
 remember to see that motor-cycle units got moved in the precise 
 nick of time ? And what if the Germans were to break through 
 and sweep over all calculations? This was a little more than 
 Jimmie Higgins had bargained for when he entered the re- 
 cruiting-office in Leesville, U. S. A. ! 
 
 They gave out gas-masks to every one in Jimmie's unit, 
 and put an alarm-bell in the shed, and made everybody practise 
 putting on the masks in a hurry. Jimmie was so scared that 
 he thought seriously of running away ; but such is the perversity 
 of human nature what he did was to run in the opposite direc- 
 tion! His officer in command came into the shed and de- 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE 219 
 
 inanded, "Can any of you men ride?" And imagine any fel- 
 low who worked at repairing motor-cycles admitting that he 
 couldn't ride! "I can!" said Jimmie. "I can!" said every 
 other workman in the place. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Jimmie always of the forward and 
 pushing sort. 
 
 "The French ask for half a dozen men in a rush. They've 
 had several motor-cycle units wiped out or captured." 
 
 "Gee!" said Jimmie. "I'll go!" 
 
 "And me!" said another. "And me!" "And me!" 
 
 "All right," said the officer, and told them off: "You and 
 you and you. And you, Cullen, take command. Report to 
 French headquarters at Chatty Terry. You know where it is !" 
 
 "Sure Mike !" said CuUen. "I been there." Jimmie hadn't 
 been to "Chatty Terry," but he knew it was somewheres across 
 the Marne. The officer gave him a map, showing the villages 
 through which he would go. Jimmie and his companions 
 named these villages, using sensible language, without conces- 
 sion to the fool notions of the natives. Wipers, Reems, Ver- 
 doon, Devil Wood, Arm-in-tears, Saint Meal all these Jimmie 
 had heard about ; also a place where the Americans had won their 
 first glorious victory a week ago, and which they called, some- 
 times Can tinny, sometimes Tincanny. And now Jimmie was 
 going to "Chatty Terry," in charge of a red-headed Orange- 
 man who a few days ago had expressed the opinion that all 
 Socialists were traitors and should be shot! 
 
 The officer gave them passes, one for each man, in case they 
 got separated, and they started towards the place where the new 
 machines were lined up. On the way Jimmie had a moment of 
 utter panic. What was this he was getting himself in for, 
 idiot that he was ? Going up there where the shells were falling, 
 wiping out motor-cycle units! And shells that were full of 
 poison gases, most of them! Of all the fool things he had 
 done in his life, this was the crown and climax! His knees 
 began to shake, he turned sick inside. But then he glanced 
 about, and caught Pat Cullen's menacing blue eye; Jimmie re- 
 turned the glare, and the spirit of battle flamed up in him, he 
 laid hold of the handles of a motor-cycle and strode towards the 
 door. Was any Irish mick going to catch him in a funk, and 
 "bawl him out" before this crowd, and put the Socialist move- 
 ment to shame? Not much! 
 
. CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 JDiMlE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN" 
 
 six motor-cyclists leaped onto their machines and went 
 chugging down the road. Of course they raced one another ; 
 all motor-cyclists always race and here was the best of all 
 possible excuses, the French army in dire need of them, several 
 of its precious cycle-units wiped out or captured! They tore 
 along, dodging in and out between trucks and automobiles, 
 ambulances and artillery caissons, horse-wagons ajnd mule- 
 wagons, achieving again and again those hair's-breadth escapes 
 which are the joy in life of every normal motor-cyclist. Now 
 and then, when things were too slow, they would try a crawl 
 in the ditches, or push their machines over the ploughed fields. 
 So it happened that Jimmie found himself competing with his 
 red-headed Irish enemy; there was a narrow opening between 
 two stalled vehicles, and Jimmie made it by the width of his 
 hand, and vaulted onto his machine and darted away, free and 
 exulting his own boss ! He shoved in the juice and made time, 
 you bet; no "mick" was going to catch up and shout orders at 
 him! 
 
 There were long trains of refugees streaming back from the 
 battle-fields; pitiful peasant-people with horse-carts and dog- 
 carts and even wheel-barrows, toothless old men and women 
 trudging alongside, children and babies stuck in amidst bed- 
 ding and furniture and sauce-pans and bird-cages. This was 
 war, as the common people saw it; but Jimmie could not stop 
 now to think about it Jimmie was on his way to the front. 
 There were big observation balloons up over his head, looking 
 like huge grey elephants with broad ears; there were aeroplanes 
 whirring about, performing incredible acrobatic feats, and spray- 
 ing each other with showers of steel; but Jimmie had no time 
 for a single glance at these marvels Jimmie was on his way 
 to the front ! 
 
 220 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 221 
 
 He swept around a curve, and there directly in front of 
 him was a hole in the middle of the road, as big as if a steam- 
 shovel had been working for a week. Jimmie clapped on the 
 brakes, and swerved side-ways, missing a tree and plunging into 
 a cabbage-patch. He got off and said, Gtee! once or twice; 
 and suddenly it was as if he were whacked on the side of the 
 ear with a twelve-inch board the whole world about him turned 
 into a vast roar of sound, and a mountain of grey smoke leaped 
 into being in front of him. Jimmie stared, and saw out of a 
 little clump of bushes a long black object thrust itself out, like the 
 snout of a gigantic tapir from some prehistoric age. It was a 
 ten-inch gun, coming back from its recoil; and Jimmie, smell- 
 ing its fumes, struggled back to the road with his machine, 
 before the monster should speak again and stifle him entirely. 
 
 There was a frame house in the distance, and in front of it 
 a barnyard, and sheds with thatched roofs. There came a 
 scream, exactly like the siren of Hook and Ladder Company 
 Number One that used to go tearing about the streets in Lees- 
 ville, U. S. A. ; a light flashed in one of the sheds, and every- 
 thing disappeared in a burst of smoke, which spread itself in 
 the air like a huge duster made from turkey-feathers. There 
 came another shriek, a little nearer, and the ground rose in a 
 huge black mushroom, which boiled and writhed like the clouds 
 of an advancing thunderstorm. Boom ! Boom ! Two vast, all- 
 pervading roars came to Jimmie's ears; and his knees began to 
 quake. By heck ! He was under fire ! He looked ahead ; there 
 must be Germans just up there ! Was a fellow supposed to ride 
 on without knowing? 
 
 There was a big battle on, that much was certain; but the 
 uproar was so distributed that one could hardly tell whether it 
 was in front or behind. However, the transport was steadily 
 advancing horse-wagons, mule-wagons, motor-wagons, all plod- 
 ding patiently, paying no heed to the shellbursts. And then 
 Jimmie took a look behind, and saw that infernal red-headed 
 Orangeman! He imagined a raucous voice, shouting: "C'mon 
 here! Whatcher waiten' fer?" Jimmie bounced onto his ma- 
 chine and turned her loose! 
 
 He came to a place where something had hit a load of am- 
 munition, and there were pieces of a wagon and a driver 
 scattered about; it was a horrible mess, but Jimmie passed it 
 without much emotion his whole soul was centred on beating 
 
222 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Pat Cullen into "Chatty Terry" ! He came to the outskirts of a 
 village, and there was a peasant's cottage with the roof blown 
 off, and a smell fresh out of the infernal regions, and a terrified 
 old woman standing by the road-side with two terrified chil- 
 dren clinging to her skirts. Jimmie stopped his machine and 
 shouted : "Chatty Terry ?" When the old woman did not answer 
 quickly, he shouted again: "Chatty Terry? Chatty Terry? 
 Don't you understand French? Chatty Terry?" The old wom- 
 an apparently did not understand French. 
 
 He rode up the street of the village, and came to a military 
 policeman directing traffic at a crossing. This fellow under- 
 stood English, and said : "Chatty Terry ? Eet ees taken !" And 
 when Jimmie stood dismayed, wondering what he was to do 
 now, the policeman told him that headquarters had been shifted 
 to this village it was in the chateau; he did not say "chatty/' 
 eo Jimmie did not understand his kind of English. But Jimmie 
 rode as directed, and came to a place with iron gates in front, 
 and a big garden, and a sentry in front, and a bustle of coming 
 and going, so he knew that he had reached his destination, and 
 had beaten his Irish enemy ! 
 
 II 
 
 Jimmie's pass was in duplicate French and English, so the 
 sentry could read it, and signed him to pass in. At the door 
 of the chateau he showed the paper again, and a French officer 
 in the hall-way espied him, and exclaimed, "A cyclist? Mon 
 dieu !" He half ran Jimmie into another room, where another 
 officer sat at a big table with a chart spread out on it, and 
 innumerable filing cabinets on the walls. "Un courier Ajneri- 
 cain I" he exclaimed. 
 
 "Only one?" asked the officer, in English. 
 
 "Five more's comin'," said Jimmie quickly. He hated Pat 
 Cullen like the devil, but he wouldn't have any French officer 
 think that Pat would lie down on his job. "The road's cut 
 
 up, an' there's lots o' traffic. I come as fast " 
 
 "See !" interrupted the officer not quite as polite as French- 
 men are supposed to be. "This packet contains maps, which 
 we make from aeroplane-photographs you comprehend? It is 
 for the artillerist " 
 
 The officer paused for a moment; there came a deafening 
 

 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 223 
 
 crash outside, and the window of the room collapsed, and 
 something grazed Jimmie's face. 
 
 "Viola!" remarked the officer. "The enemy draws nearer. 
 Our wires are cut; we send couriers, but they perhaps do not 
 arrive; it needs that we send many what you say? duplicates. 
 You comprehend ?" 
 
 "Sure!" said Jimmie. 
 
 "It is most urgent; the battle depends upon it the war, it 
 may be. You comprehend?" 
 
 "Sure!" said Jimmie again. 
 
 "You are brave, mon gargon?" 
 
 Jimmie did not reply so promptly to that; but the officer 
 was too tactful to wait. Instead he asked, "You know French ?" 
 And when Jimmie shook his head: "It needs that you learn. 
 Say this: Botteree Normb Cott. Try it, if it pleases you: 
 Botteree Normb Cott." 
 
 Jimmie, stammering like a schoolboy, tried: the officer 
 made him repeat the sounds, assuring him gravely that he need 
 have no doubts whatever ; if he would make those precise sounds, 
 any Frenchmen would know what he was looking for. He was 
 to take the main road east from the village and ride till he 
 came to a fork; then he was to bear to the right, and when he 
 came to the edge of a dense wood, he was to take the path to 
 the left, and then say to everybody he met: "Botteree Normb 
 Cott!" 
 
 "Is it that you have a weapon?" inquired the officer; and 
 when Jimmie answered no, he pressed a button, and spoke 
 quick words to an orderly, who came running with an automatic 
 revolver and a belt, which Jimmie proceeded to strap upon him, 
 with thrills, half of delighted pride and half of anguished ter- 
 ror. "You will say to the men of the botteree that the Ameri- 
 cans come soon to the rescue. You will find them, my brave 
 American?" The officer spoke as if to a son whom he dearly 
 loved; and Jimmie, who had never received an order in that 
 tone of voice, reciprocated the affection, and clenched his hands 
 suddenly and answered, "I'll do my best, sir." He turned to 
 leave the room, when whom should he see coming in Mike 
 Cullen ! Jimmie gave him a wink and a grin, and hustled out- 
 side and leaped upon his machine. 
 
224 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 in 
 
 And now here was the little machinist from Leesville, TL S. 
 A., flying down the battered street of this French village with 
 something like a mid-western cyclone going on in his head. 
 They say that a drowning man remembers everything that ever 
 happened in his life ; perhaps that was not true of Jimmie, but 
 certainly he remembered every pacifist argument he had ever 
 heard in his life. For the love of Mike, what was this he had let 
 himself in for? Bound for the spot where the whole German 
 army was trying to break through upon an errand the most 
 dangerous of any in the war ! How in the name of Karl Marx 
 and the whole revolutionary hierarchy had he managed to get 
 himself into such a pickle? He, Jimmie Higgins, Bolshevik 
 and wobbly! 
 
 And he was going through with it ! He was going to throw 
 his life away just because he had started because he had 
 pledged himself because he was carrying maps which might 
 enable a "botteree" to win the war! Did he really care that 
 much about this infernal capitalist war? So cried out the 
 proletarian demons in the soul of Jimmie Higgins; and mean- 
 time the engine hammered and chugged, and a miraculous power 
 in the depths of his subconsciousness moved the handle-bars so 
 that he dodged shell-holes and grazed automobiles. 
 
 The air was full of the scream of shells and the clatter of 
 their bursting, an infernal din out of which he could hardly 
 pick individual sounds. The road ahead was less crowded; the 
 vehicles had left it, spreading out to one side or the other. How 
 much farther ahead was that fork? And suppose the Germans 
 had got there, and had captured "Botteree Normb Cott" was 
 he going to present them with a brand new motor-cycle in addi- 
 tion? There were other "botterees" which he passed; why 
 couldn't he give them the maps? Jimmie rode on, raging in- 
 wardly. If he had been a despatch-rider he would have known 
 all about this, but he was only a repair-man, and they had had 
 no business to put such a job off on him ! 
 
 There were woods about him now, the trees smashed up by 
 shells, and Jimmie considered it the part of prudence to get off 
 his machine and steal forward and peer out to see if there were 
 Germans in the opening beyond. And suddenly his knees gave 
 way, because of the fright he was in, with all this deadly racket. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 225 
 
 He became violently sick at his stomach, and began to act as 
 he had acted on the first three days of his ocean passage from 
 New York. At the same time all the other functions of his 
 body began to operate. A group of Frenchmen passing by burst 
 into hilarious laughter; it was ridiculous and humiliating, but 
 Jimmie was powerless to help it he wasn't cut out for a soldier, 
 he hadn't agreed to be a soldier, they had had no business 
 sending him up here where vast craters of shell-holes were open- 
 ing in the ground, and whole trees were being lifted out of the 
 earth, and the air was full of a stink which might require a gas- 
 mask or might not how was poor Jimmie to tell? 
 
 IV 
 
 He mastered the awful trembling of his knees and the 
 grotesque efforts of his body to get rid of everything inside him, 
 and got on his machine again and stole ahead. He could only 
 go a few rods at a time, because the road was so cut up. Should 
 he leave the machine and run for it ? Or should he go back and 
 tell them their infernal maps were all wrong, there was no fork 
 in the road? No for there at last was the fork, and after 
 Jimmie had ridden and run a hundred yards farther, there was 
 a wheat-field, and a line of woods, and at the edge of it four 
 guns belching flame and smoke and racket. Jimmie stood his 
 machine in a ditch and went tearing across the fields, wild with 
 relief, because he had found his "Botteree Normb Cott," and 
 could hand over his precious packet and get out of this mess as 
 fast as two wheels would take him. 
 
 But to his dismay he found that it wasn't the French battery, 
 it was an American battery; the French battery was farther 
 ahead, and a little to the right; the officer gave directions, tak- 
 ing it entirely for granted that Jimmie would go on to his goal. 
 
 But then came another officer. "What have you got there ?" 
 And when Jimmie answered maps, he demanded them; he 
 seemed as greedy for maps as a child for his gifts on Christmas 
 morning. He ripped open the packet what is called "cutting 
 red tape" in the army and spread out the papers and began 
 to call out figures to another officer who sat on a camp-stool at 
 a little folding table, with many sheets of figures in front of 
 him. This officer went on noting down the information and 
 the men at the guns went on shoving in shells and stepping back 
 
226 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 while the screaming messengers were hurled upon their way. 
 In the rear were other men, wheeling up ammunition, unloading 
 one of the big camions which Jimmie had been dodging on 
 the roads. It was a regular factory, set up there in the middle 
 of the fields, despatching destruction to the unseen foe. 
 
 "We're having the hell of a time," remarked the officer, as 
 he folded up the maps again and handed them to Jimmie. "Our 
 wires have been cut three times in the last half hour, and we 
 have to shoot blind/' 
 
 "Where are the Germans ?" asked Jimmie. 
 
 "Somewhere up ahead there." 
 
 "Have you seen them ?" 
 
 "Good Lord, no! We hope to move before they're thai; 
 near!" 
 
 Jimmie felt a bit reassured by the quiet, business-like de- 
 meanour of all the men in this death-factory. If they could 
 stand the racket, no doubt he could; only, they were all to- 
 gether, while he had to go off by himself. Jimmie wished he 
 had enlisted in the artillery ! 
 
 He shoved the maps into the inside pocket of his jacket, 
 and chased back to his machine and set out. He took a side- 
 path as directed, and then a wood-road and then he got lost. 
 That was all there was to it he was hopelessly lost ! The path 
 didn't behave at all as the one he was looking for. It went 
 through a long stretch of woods with shattered trees lying this 
 way and that; then it crossed a field of grain, and then it 
 plunged down into a ravine, and climbed to the other side, and 
 up a ridge and down again. "Hell!" said Jimmie to himself. 
 And if you could imagine all the noises in all the boiler-fac- 
 tories in America, you would have something less than the racket 
 in that woods through which Jimmie was wandering, saying 
 "Hell!" to himself. 
 
 He got to the top of the ridge, puffing and panting and 
 dripping perspiration; and there suddenly he jumped from his 
 machine and ran with it behind a tree-trunk and stood anxiously 
 peering out. There were men ahead; and what sort of men? 
 Jimmie tried to remember the pictures of Germans he had 
 seen, and did they look like this? The air was full of smoke, 
 

 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 227 
 
 which made it hard to decide; but gradually Jimmie made out 
 one group, dragging a machine-gun on wheels; they placed it 
 behind a ridge of ground, and began to shoot in the direction 
 of Germany. So Jimmie advanced, but with hesitation, not 
 wanting to interfere with the aiming of the gun, which was mak- 
 ing a noise like a rivetting machine, only faster and louder. 
 It had a big round cylinder for a barrel, and the men were feed- 
 ing it long strips of cartridges out of a box, and were so intent 
 on the process that they paid no attention whatever to Jimmie. 
 He stood and stared, spell-bound. For these creatures seemed 
 not men, but hairy monsters out of caves ragged, plastered 
 with mud, grimed and smoke-blackened, with their faces drawn, 
 their teeth shining like the teeth of angry dogs. Jimmie for- 
 got all about the enemy, he saw only this roaring, flame-vomit- 
 ing machine, and the men who were a part of it. 
 
 Suddenly one of the men leaped up, a little hairier and a 
 little blacker than the rest, and shouted, "Ah derry-air! Ah 
 derry-air!" And the gun stopped roaring and vomiting flame, 
 and the men laid hold and began to tug and strain to draw it 
 back. The leader continued exhorting them; until suddenly 
 an amazing thing happened right in the midst of his shouting, 
 the whole of his mouth and lower jaw disappeared. You did not 
 see what became of it it just vanished into nothingness, and 
 there in the place of it was a red cavern, running blood. The 
 man stood with his startled eyes shining white in his black and 
 hairy face, and gurgling noises coming out as if he thought 
 he was still shouting, or could if he tried harder. 
 
 The others paid not the least attention to this episode; they 
 continued tugging at the gun. And would you believe it, the 
 man with no mouth and jaw fell to helping again ! The wheels 
 struck a rise in the ground, and he waved his hands in im- 
 potent excitement, and then rushed at Jimmie, exposing to the 
 horrified little machinist the full ghastliness of that red cavern 
 running blood. 
 
 Jimmie tried his magic formula: "Botteree Normb Cott." 
 But the man waved his hands frantically and grabbed Jimmie 
 by the arm the very incarnation of that Monster of Militarism 
 which the little machinist had been dodging for four years! 
 He pushed Jimmie towards the gun, and the other men shouted : 
 "Asseestay!" So of course there was nothing for Jimmie to 
 do but lay hold and tug with the rest. 
 
228 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Presently they got the wheels to moving, and rolled the thing 
 up the ridge. A wagon came bumping through the woods, and 
 the men at the gun gave a gasp which was meant to be a cheer, 
 and one of them laid hold of Jimmie again, crying: "Portay! 
 Portay I" He dragged out a heavy box and loaded it into Jim- 
 mie's arms, and carried another himself, and so in a few moments 
 the machine-gun was drumming, and Jimmie went on carrying 
 boxes. The men who were driving the wagon leaped upon the 
 horses and drove away; and still Jimmie carried boxes, blindly, 
 desperately. Was it because he was afraid of the little French 
 demon who was shouting at him ? No, not exactly, because when 
 he went back with a box he saw the little demon suddenly double 
 up like a jack-knife and fall forward. He did not make a 
 sound, he did not even kick ; he lay with his face in the dirt and 
 leaves and Jimmie ran back for another box. 
 
 VI 
 
 He did it because he understood that the Germans were com- 
 ing. He had not seen them; but when the gun fell silent he 
 heard whining sounds in the air, as if from a litter of elephan- 
 tine puppies. Sometimes the twigs of trees fell on him, the 
 dirt in front of him flew up into his face ; and always, of course, 
 everywhere about him was that roar of bursting shells which 
 he had come to accept as a natural part of life. And suddenly 
 another man went down, and another there were only two left, 
 and one of them signalled to Jimmie what to do, and Jimmie 
 did not say a word, he just went to work and learned to run a 
 machine-gun by the method favoured by modern educators 
 by doing. 
 
 Presently the man who was aiming the gun clapped his hand 
 to his forehead and fell backwards. Jimmie was at his side, and 
 the gun was shooting so what more natural than for Jimmie 
 to move into position and look along the sights ? It was a fact 
 that he had never aimed any sort of gun in his life before; 
 but he was apt with machinery and disposed to meddle into 
 things, as we know. 
 
 Jimmie looked along the sights; and suddenly it seemed as 
 if the line of distant woods leaped into life, the bushes vomit- 
 ing grey figures which ran forward, and fell down, and then 
 leaped up and ran and fell down again. "Eel vienn!" hissed 
 

 JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 229 
 
 the man at Jimmie's side. So Jimmie moved the gun here and 
 there, pointing it wherever he saw the grey figures. 
 
 Did he kill any Germans? He was never entirely sure in 
 his own mind ; always the idea pursued him that maybe he had 
 been making a fool of himself, shooting bullets into the ground 
 or up into the air and the poilus at his side thinking he must 
 know all about it, because he was one of those wonderful Ameri- 
 cans who had come across the seas to save la belle France ! The 
 Germans kept falling, but that proved nothing, for that was the 
 method of their advance anyway, and Jimmie had no time to 
 count and see how many fell and how many got up again. All 
 he knew was that they kept coming more and more of them, 
 and nearer and nearer, and the Frenchmen muttered curses, and 
 the gun hammered and roared, until the barrel grew so hot that 
 it burned. And then suddenly it stopped dead ! 
 
 "Sockray I" cried the two Frenchmen, and began frantically 
 working to take the gun to pieces; but before they had worked 
 a minute one of them clapped his hand to his side and fell back 
 with a cry, and a second later Jimmie felt a frightful blow on 
 his left arm, and when he tried to lift it and see what was 
 wrong, half of it hung loose, and blood ran out of his sleeve ! 
 
 VII 
 
 That was too much for the remaining Frenchman. He 
 caught Jimmie by the other arm, exclaiming, "Vennay! Ven- 
 nay !" Apparently that meant to run away ; Jimmie didn't want 
 to run away, but the Frenchman chattered so fast, and tugged 
 so hard, and Jimmie was half dazed anyhow with pain, so he 
 let himself be dragged back. And presently they came to a 
 dead soldier lying with a gun by his side, and the Frenchman 
 grabbed the gun and unstrapped the cartridge-belt, and then 
 threw himself down behind a big rock. Jimmie remembered 
 the automatic which he had strapped at his waist; he held it 
 out to the Frenchman, shaking his head and saying, "No savvy ! 
 No work !" as if he thought the Frenchman would understand 
 bad English better than good English! But the Frenchman 
 understood the head-shaking, and showed Jimmie how to move 
 the little catch which released the trigger for firing. With 
 hasty fingers he tore off the sleeve of Jimmie's shirt, and bound 
 up his arm tightly with a bandage from his kit; then he raised 
 
230 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 up over the rock, and cursed the sockray Bosh and began to fire. 
 
 Jimmie got up the nerve to peer out, and there were the 
 grey figures, much nearer now, and he knew they were Germans 
 because they were like the pictures he had seen. They were 
 running at him, firing as they came, and Jimmie fired his re- 
 volver, shutting his eyes because he was scared of it. But then, 
 finding that it behaved .all right, he fired again, and this time 
 he did not close his eyes, because he saw a big German running 
 straight towards him, the fury of battle in his face. It was 
 plain what this German meant to do to leap on Jimmie with 
 his sharp bayonet; and somehow Jimmie never once thought of 
 his pacifist arguments he fired, and saw the German fall, and 
 was murderously glad at the sight. 
 
 There were shots from behind him; apparently there had 
 been a lot of Frenchmen hidden in these woods, and the enemy 
 was not finding it easy to advance. Jimmie's companion jumped 
 up and ran again, and Jimmie followed, and a hundred yards 
 or so back they came to a shell-hole with half a dozen poilus in 
 it. Jimmie tumbled in, and the men chattered at him, and gave 
 him more cartridges, so that when the Germans appeared again 
 he did his part. A bullet took a lump of hair off his temple, 
 and shrapnel exploding nearby almost split his ear-drums; but 
 still he went on shooting. His heart was really in the job now, 
 he was going to stop these Bosh or bust. With five Frenchmen, 
 two of them wounded, he held the shell-hole for an hour ; one of 
 them ran back and staggered up with a supply of ammunition, 
 and loaded up a rifle for Jimmie, and laid it so that he could 
 manage it with one hand. So Jimmie went on shooting, half- 
 dead, half-blind, half-choked with powder smoke. 
 
 The sockray Bosh made another charge, and this was the 
 end, every man in the shell-hole knew. There were literally 
 swarms of the grey figures, their bullets came like a shower of 
 hail. Jimmie decided to wait till the enemy was near enough 
 for him to aim the revolver with effect. He crouched, watch- 
 ing a Frenchman with the life-blood oozing out of a hole in his 
 chest; then he raised up and emptied his automatic, and still 
 there were Germans rushing on. 
 
 Jimmie was so very tired now, he really did not care very 
 much what happened; he knelt in the hole, looking up, and 
 suddenly he saw the huge figure of a German looming above 
 him, his rifle poised. Jimmie closed his eyes and waited for 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 231 
 
 the blow, and suddenly the German came down with a crash on 
 top of him. 
 
 Jimmie thought for sure he must be dead; he lay wonder- 
 ing, was this immortality? But it did not seem like either 
 heaven or hell as he had imagined them, and gradually he realised 
 that the German was writhing and moaning. Jimmie wriggled 
 from under, and looked up, just in time to see another German 
 loom over the shell-hole, and pitch forward and hit on his 
 face. 
 
 It was evident that somebody farther back was attending to 
 these Germans; so Jimmie lay still, with a feeble flicker of hope 
 in his heart. The rattle of shots went on, a battle that lasted 
 ten or fifteen minutes, but Jimmie was too tired to peer out and 
 see how matters were going. Presently he heard some one 
 running up behind him, and he looked around and up, and 
 saw two men jump into the shell-hole. He took one glance, 
 and his heart leaped. The doughboys ! 
 
 VIII 
 
 Yes, sir, there were two doughboys in the shell-hole ! Jim- 
 mie had seen so many tens of thousands of them that he had 
 no doubt. Compared witn the war-battered poilus, they were 
 like soldiers out of a fashion-plate: smooth-shaven, with long 
 chins and thin hips, and a thousand other details which made 
 you realise that home was home, and better than any other 
 place in the world! And oh, the beautiful business-like pre- 
 cision of these fashion-plate soldiers ! They never said a word, 
 they never even glanced about ; they just threw themselves down 
 at the edge of the shell-hole, and leaned their rifles over and 
 set to work. You didn't need to see you could tell from the 
 look on these men's faces that they were hitting something ! 
 
 Presently came two more, leaping in. Without so much as 
 a nod of greeting, they settled down and went to shooting; and 
 when they had used up most of their cartridges, one of them 
 got up and shouted to the rear, and there, came a man running 
 with a fresh supply in a big pouch. 
 
 Later on came three more with rifles. Apparently there 
 were not so many Germans now, for these newcomers found time 
 for words. "They told us to hold a line back there," said one. 
 "But hell!" 
 
232 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 "There's more Huns up ahead," said another. "Lef s get 
 'em." 
 
 "Just as well now as later," said a third. 
 
 "You stay behind and get that finger tied up," said the first 
 speaker; but the other told him to go and get his own fingers 
 tied up. 
 
 Then one of them looked about and spied Jimmie. "Why, 
 here's a Yank !" he cried. "What you doin' here?" 
 
 Jimmie answered : "I'm a motor-cycle man, and they sent me 
 with maps for a battery, but I think it's been captured long 
 ago." 
 
 "You're wounded," said the other. 
 
 "It ain't much/' said Jimmie, apologetically. "It was a 
 long time ago anyhow." 
 
 "Well, you go back," said the doughboy. "We're here now 
 it'll be all right." He said it, not boastingly, but as a simple 
 matter of fact. He was a mere boy, a rosy-cheeked kid with 
 a little ugly pug-nose covered with freckles, and a wide, grin- 
 ning mouth. But to Jimmie he seemed just the loveliest boy 
 that had ever come out of the U. S. A. "Can you walk?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Sure!" said Jimmie. 
 
 "And these Frenchies ?" The doughboy looked at the others. 
 "You savvy their lingo?" When Jimmie shook his head, he 
 turned to the battle-worn hairy ones. "You fellows go back," 
 he said. "We don't need you now." When they stared un- 
 comprehending, he asked : "Polly voo Francy ?" 
 
 "We, we!" cried they, in one voice. 
 
 "Well then," said the doughboy, "go back! Go home! 
 Toot sweet ! Have sleep ! Rest ! We lick 'em Heinies !" As 
 the poilus did not show much grasp of this kind of "Francy," 
 the doughboy boosted them to their feet, pointed to the rear, 
 patted them on the back, and grinned with his wide mouth. 
 "Good boy! Go home! American! American!" as if that 
 was enough to make clear that the work of France in this war 
 was done ! The poilus looked over the top of the shell-hole, and 
 saw a swarm of those new fashion-plate soldiers, darting for- 
 ward through the woods, throwing themselves down and shoot- 
 ing at the sockray Bosh. They looked at the rosy-cheeked boy 
 with the grateful faces of dogs, and shouldered their packs and 
 rifles and set out for the rear, helping Jimmie, who suddenly 
 found himself very weak, and with a splitting headache. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN 233 
 
 IX 
 
 These doughboys had a song that Jimmie had heard all the 
 time: "The Yanks are coming!" And now the song needed 
 to be rewritten : "The Yanks are here !" All these woods through 
 which Jimmie had blundered with his motor-cycle were now 
 swarming with nice, new, clean-shaven, freshly-tailored sol- 
 dier-boys, turned loose to get their first chance at the Hun. 
 Four years they had been reading about him and hating him, 
 a year and a half they had been getting ready to hit him 
 and now at last they were turned loose and told to go to it! 
 Back on the roads was an endless procession of motor-trucks, 
 with doughboys, and also marines, or "leather-necks," as they 
 were called. They had started at four o'clock that morning, 
 and ridden all day packed in like sardines; and here, a mile 
 or two back in the woods, the trucks had come to a halt, and 
 the sardines had jumped out and gone into this war ! 
 
 Jimmie did not realise till long afterwards what a world- 
 drama he had been witnessing. For four months the Beast had 
 been driving at Paris; irresistibly, incessantly, eating his way 
 like a forest fire, spreading ever wider and more fearful deso- 
 lation this Beast with the Brains of an Engineer ! The world 
 had shuddered and held its breath, knowing that if he got to 
 Paris it would mean the end of the war, and of all things 
 that free men value. And now here he made his last supreme 
 rush, and the French lines wavered and cracked and gave way; 
 and so in this desperate crisis they had brought up the truck- 
 loads of doughboys for their first real test against the Beast. 
 I The orders had been to hold at all hazards; but that had 
 not been enough for the doughboys, they and the leather-necks 
 had seized the offensive and sent the Germans reeling back. 
 The very pride of the Prussian army had been worsted by 
 these new troops from overseas, at whom they had mocked, 
 whose very existence they had scouted. 
 
 It was a blow from which "Fritz" never recovered ; he never 
 gained another foot, and it was the beginning of a retreat that 
 did not stop until it reached the Rhine. And the Yanks 
 had done it the Yanks, with the help of Jimmie Higgins! 
 For Jimmie had got there first; Jimmie had held the fort 
 while the Yanks were coming! Yes, truly; if he had n't 
 stuck by that machine-gun and helped to work it, if he hadn't 
 
234 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 hid in that shell-hole, emptying the contents of a rifle and an 
 automatic pistol into the charging Huns, if he hadn't held them 
 up that precious hour why, they might have swept over this 
 position, and the Yanks might not have had a chance to de- 
 ploy, and the victory of "Chatty Terry" might not have gone 
 resounding down the ages ! The whole course of the world's 
 history might have been different, if one little Socialist ma- 
 chinist from Leesville, U. S. A., had not chanced to be wan- 
 dering through "Bellow Wood" in search of a fabulous and never- 
 discovered "Botteree Normb Cott!" 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 
 
 BUT these exultations and glory-thoughts were reserved for 
 a later stage of Jimmie Higgins's life. At present he was 
 weak, and his head was splitting, and his left arm burning like 
 fire. And on top of this came a happening so strange that it 
 drove the whole battle from his thoughts. He was walking on 
 a path with his French companions, when one of them noticed 
 a man in a French uniform lying on the ground a little way 
 to one side. He was not a soldier, but a hospital-orderly or 
 stretcher-bearer, as you could tell by tne white bandage with a 
 red cross on his arm. He had been shot through the shoulder, 
 and some one had plugged up the wound and left him; so now 
 the French soldiers helped him to his feet and started to lead 
 him back. Jimmie watched them, and when he saw the man's 
 face, the conviction stole over him that he had seen the face 
 before. He had seen it, or one incredibly like it and under 
 circumstances of intense emotion. The old emotion stirred in 
 the deeps of his subconsciousness, and suddenly it burst to the 
 surface, an explosion of excitement. It could not be! The 
 idea was absurd! But it must be! It was! The wounded 
 French stretcher-bearer was Lacey Granitch ! 
 
 The young heir of the Empire Machine Shops might never 
 have known the little Socialist machinist; but recognition was 
 so evident on Jimmie's face, that Lacey was set groping in his 
 own mind. Now and then as the party walked along he stole 
 an uneasy glance at his fellow-countryman ; and presently when 
 they struck a road, and sat down to rest and wait for a vehicle 
 of some sort, Lacey put himself beside Jimmie and began: 
 "You're the fellow that was in the house that night, aren't 
 you?" 
 
 235 
 
236 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Jimmie nodded; and the young lord of Leesville looked 
 at him uneasily, looked away, and then looked back. "I've got 
 something I want to ask you," he said. 
 
 " What's that?" 
 
 "Don't give me away." 
 
 "How do you mean ?" 
 
 "Don't tell who I am. There's no reason why anybody should 
 know. I'm trying to get away from it." 
 
 "I see," said Jimmie. "I won't tell." 
 
 "You promise?" 
 
 "Sure." 
 
 Then was a silence. Then suddenly, with no reason that 
 Jimmie could see, the other exclaimed: "You'll tell!" 
 
 "But I won't!" protested Jimmie. "What makes you say 
 so?" 
 
 "You hate me!" 
 
 Jimmie hesitated, as if investigating his own mind. "No/* 
 he said, "I don't hate you not any more." 
 
 "God!" exclaimed the other. "You don't need to Tve 
 paid all I owe !" 
 
 Jimmie studied his face. Yes, you could see that was true. 
 Not merely was Lacey haggard, his features drawn with the 
 pain he was enduring ; there were lines in his face that had not 
 been put there by a few days of battle, nor even by a couple 
 of years of war. He looked twenty years older than the insolent 
 young aristocrat whom Jimmie had seen hurling defiance at the 
 Empire strikers. 
 
 His eyes were searching Jimmie's anxiously, pleadingly. 
 "I had to get away," he said. "I couldn't face it everybody 
 staring at me, grinning at me behind my back! I tried to 
 enlist in the American army, but they wouldn't have me not 
 to do any sort of work. So I came to France, where they need 
 men badly they let me carry a stretcher. I've been through 
 it all now more than a year. I've been wounded twice be- 
 fore, but I can't seem to get killed, no matter where I go. 
 It's the fellows that want to live that get killed damn it!* 
 
 The speaker paused, as if seeing visions of the men whom 
 he had seen die when they wanted to live. When he went on, 
 it was in. a voice of humble entreaty. "I've tried to pay for my 
 blunders. All I ask now is to be let alone, and not have every- 
 body gossiping about me. That's fair, isn't it?" 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 237 
 
 Jimmie answered: "I give you my word I won't tell a 
 soul about it." 
 
 "Thank you/' said Lacey ; and then, after a moment's pause, 
 "My name is Peterson. Herbert Peterson." 
 
 n 
 
 A truck came along and gave them a lift to the nearest 
 dressing-station : a couple of tents with big red crosses on them, 
 and a couple more being put up, and motor-cars bringing nurces 
 and supplies, and others with loads of wounded, French and 
 American. Jimmie was so weak now that he hardly cared about 
 anything; he took his place in a row of wounded men, waiting 
 patiently, trying not to make a fuss, because this was war, 
 and the Hun had to be licked, and everybody was doing his 
 best. He lay down on the ground, and shut his eyes; and 
 gradually there came to him a familiar odour. At first he 
 thought it was the product of his imagination because he had 
 just met Lacey Granitch, and been reminded of the night when 
 he and Lizzie had crouched in the room of the lonely farm- 
 house, and listened to the sounds and smelled the odour through 
 the door. And presently Jimmie heard the very same sounds 
 from the tent moans and shrieks, babbling as of insane men. 
 How strange that both times when he smelt this odour and 
 heard these cries he should be with the young master of the 
 Empire Shops! 
 
 Jimmie's turn came, and they led him into the tent, making 
 short work with him merely ascertaining that no artery was 
 cut and that he would not bleed to death, and then tagging him 
 for the brigade hospital. They loaded him into a truck with 
 a score of other "sitting cases," including Lacey Granitch, 
 and treated him to a long ride which he did not at all enjoy. 
 At the hospital, which was a big group of tents, now swarming 
 with activity, Jimmie waited his turn again so many wounds 
 all at once, and so few to tend them ! 
 
 At last he was led into the operating-place; the first sight 
 that greeted his eyes being a couple of orderlies carrying out 
 a tub filled with sawed off arms and legs and miscellaneous 
 fragments of men. There was a surgeon with a white costume 
 smeared with blood, and a white mask over his face, and sev- 
 eral nurses with white masks also. Nobody greeted him, or 
 
238 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 stopped for preliminaries they laid him on the operating-table, 
 and covered all but his shattered arm with a rubber sheet, 
 and slit off his bandages, and then a nurse put something over 
 his face and said, "Breathe deeply, please." 
 
 It was that ghastly odour again, but overpowering now. 
 Jimmie breathed, and everything began to rock and swim, his 
 head began to roar, worse than when he had fought the machine- 
 gun. He could not stand any more of it ; he cried and struggled 
 to get loose, but they had strapped his feet, and some one 
 held his other arm, so his frantic efforts were of no avail. 
 
 He began to fall; head over heels he went tumbling, into 
 vast bottomless abysses down, down, down. He heard a strange 
 voice saying: "Their collars are too tight." The words rang 
 in his ears, they assumed monstrous and overwhelming signifi- 
 cance, they became a whole universe by themselves "Their 
 collars are too tight I" All the rest of creation ceased, the lamp 
 of being went out; there remained only a voice, pronouncing 
 amid whirling infinities : "Their collars are too tight !" 
 
 ill 
 
 Somewhere in the vast spaces of chaos was a snore. Then, 
 ages afterwards, out of the void there arose a mysterious for- 
 gotten effort to get something out of a choking throat. After 
 several such unaccountable manifestations, the feeble flame of 
 consciousness that called itself Jimmie Higgins flickered up, 
 and he realised that it was he who was trying desperately not to 
 be choked. Also he realised that he was become one horrible 
 pain ; somebody had driven a nail through his arm, and fastened 
 him tight to the ground by it ; also they had blown up his 
 stomach, so that it was threatening to burst, and when he choked, 
 it was an agony. He gasped for help, but no one paid any atten- 
 tion to him; he was all alone in the dungeon-house of pain, 
 buried and forgotten forever. 
 
 Gradually he emerged from the misty regions of anaesthesia, 
 and realised that he was on a stretcher, and being carried. He 
 moaned for water, but no one would give it to him. He pleaded 
 that there was something dreadful wrong with him, he was 
 going to burst inside; but they told him that was only ether 
 gas, and not to worry^ he would soon be all right. They laid 
 Mm on a cot in a room, one of a long row, and left him to 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 239 
 
 wrestle with the demons all alone. This was war, and a man 
 who had only a shattered arm might count himself among the 
 lucky. 
 
 So through a night and a day Jimmie lay and made the 
 best of a bad situation. There were two nurses in this tent, and 
 Jimmie, having nothing to do but watch them, conceived a 
 bitter rage at them both. One was lean and angular and sal- 
 low; she went about her duties grimly, with no nonsense, and 
 Jimmie did not realise that she was ready to drop with ex- 
 haustion. The other was pretty, with fluffy yellow hair, and 
 was flirting shamelessly with a young doctor. Perhaps Jimmie 
 should have reflected that men were being killed rapidly these 
 days, and it was necessary that some should concern themselves 
 with supplying the future generations; but Jimmie was in no 
 mood to probe the philosophy of flirtation he remembered the 
 Honourable Beatrice Clendenning, and wished he was back in 
 Merrie England. Also he remembered his pacifist principles, 
 and wished he had kept out of this hellish war ! 
 
 But his pain became somewhat less, and they loaded him 
 into an ambulance and took him farther back, to a big base 
 hospital. Here, before long, he was able to sit up, and to be 
 wheeled out into the sunshine, and to discover the unguessed 
 raptures of convalescence* the amazing continuous appetite, the 
 amazing continuous supply of good things to eat and drink; 
 the bliss of looking at trees and flowers, and listening to the 
 singing of birds, and telling other people how you rode out 
 on a motor-cycle to look for "Botteree Normb Cott" what the 
 hell was that, anyhow? and ran into the whole Hun army, 
 and held it up for a couple of hours, and won the battle of 
 Chatty Terry all alone ! 
 
 IV 
 
 One of the first persons Jimmie saw was Lacey Granitch, 
 and Lacey took him off to a corner of the park and said : "You 
 haven't told any one?" 
 
 "No, Mr. Granitch," said Jimmie. 
 
 "My name is Peterson," said Lacey. 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Peterson," said Jimmie. 
 
 It was a strange acquaintance between these two, chosen 
 from the opposite poles of social life, and brought together in 
 
240 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 the democracy of pain. Jimmie had the young lord of Lees- 
 ville down, and might have walked on his face; but strange 
 as it might seem, Jimmie took towards him an attitude of 
 timid humility. Jimmie felt that he had betrayed him to a 
 cruel and hideous vengeance; moreover, in spite of all his revo- 
 lutionary fervours, Jimmie could not forget that he was talk- 
 ing to one of the masters of the world. You might hate with 
 all your soul the prestige and power that went with the Granitch 
 millions, but you couldn't be indifferent to it, you could never 
 feel natural in the presence of it. 
 
 As for Lacey, he was no longer the proud, free, rich young 
 aristocrat; he had suffered, and learned respect for his fellow- 
 men, regardless of money. He heard how this little Socialist 
 machinist, whom once he had cursed in a herd of strikers, had 
 ridden into the jaws of death and helped to nail the Beast 
 through the snout! So he wanted to know about him, and 
 these two sat conversing for hours, each of them discovering 
 a new world. 
 
 Just now all Europe and America were engaged in furious 
 argument on the subject of the Bolsheviki. Had they betrayed 
 democracy to the Hun, or were they, as they claimed, leading 
 the way for mankind to a newer and broader kind of democracy ? 
 Lacey, of course, believed the former everybody in the Amer- 
 ican army believed it, and in fact everybody in France, except 
 a few dyed-in-the-wool reds. When Lacey found that Jimmie 
 was one of these reds, he questioned him, and they had it hot 
 and heavy for days. How could men have done what Lenine 
 and Trotzky had done, unless they were paid German agents? 
 So Jimmie had to set forth the theory of internationalism; the 
 Bolsheviki were making propaganda in Germany, they were 
 doing more to break the power of the Kaiser than even the 
 Allied armies. How did Jimmie know that? He didn't know 
 the details, of course, but he knew the soul of internationalism; 
 he could tell what Lenine and Trotzky were doing, because he 
 knew what he would be doing, were he in their place ! 
 
 They talked on and on, and the young lord of Leesville, 
 who would some day fall heir to an enormous fortune, and had 
 been trained to think of it as his by every right, human and 
 divine, heard a little runt of a machinist from the shops explain 
 how he was going to seize that mass of property he and the 
 rest of his fellows combined into one big union and how they 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 241 
 
 were going to run it, not for Lacey's benefit, but for the benefit 
 of all society. Jimmie forgot all respect for persons when he 
 got on this theme; this was his dream, this was the proletariat 
 expropriating the expropriators, and he told about it with shin- 
 ing eyes. In times past the young lord of Leesville would have 
 answered him with insolent serenity, perhaps with a threat of 
 machine-guns; but now he said hesitatingly that it was a large 
 programme, and he feared it couldn't be made to work. 
 
 He was moved to question Jimmie about his past life, so 
 as to understand how such fanaticism had come to be. So 
 Jimmie told about starvation and neglect, about overwork and 
 unemployment, about strikes and jails and manifold oppressions. 
 The other listened, nodding his head. Yes, of course, that was 
 enough to drive any man to extremes. And then, thinking 
 further, "I wonder/' said he, "which of us two got the worse 
 deal from life." 
 
 Jimmie was without means of understanding that remark. 
 Lacey had had everything, hadn't he ? To which Lacey answered, 
 "I had too much, and you had too little; and which is worse 
 for a man?" 
 
 By way of making clear what was in his mind, he told Jimmie 
 a little about his own life. He pictured a big household, with a 
 father beset by business cares, and turning over the managing 
 of his home to employes. "My mother was a fool," said 
 Lacey. "I suppose it sounds bad for a man to say that, but 
 I've known it all my life. Maybe the old man was too busy 
 to look up a woman with sense or maybe he didn't believe 
 there were any. Anyhow, my mother's idea was to be seen 
 spending more money than any other woman in town ; that was 
 her 'position,' and her children were part of the show we must 
 wear more clothes and bully more servants than anybody else's 
 children. I've thought it all out I've had lots of opportunity 
 for thinking of late. I can't remember when I didn't hit my 
 nurse in the face if she tried to take away a toy from me. 
 I never had to ask for anything twice if I did, I went into a 
 tantrum and got it. I learned to smoke and to drink wine, 
 and then came the women the women finished me, as you 
 know." 
 
242 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 He paused; and Jimmie nodded sympathetically, remem- 
 bering the story of the eight chorus-girls about whom "Wild 
 Bill" had read out in the local. 
 
 "It's hell for a boy to have a lot of money/' said Lacey, 
 "and to be preyed on by women. You have your human emo- 
 tions, of course you're absolutely compelled to believe in some 
 woman; and they're all perfectly cold-blooded at least the 
 kinds that a rich boy meets. I don't mean only adventuresses 
 I mean the society-girls, the ones you're supposed to marry. 
 Their damned old harpies of mothers are pushing behind them, 
 of course laying out everything they own for clothes, and 
 not knowing how they can pay the bills for last season. They 
 set out to catch you, they're mad with the determination, they 
 don't care about reputation, they'll do any damned thing. You 
 take them out in your car, and then they want to get out and 
 pick flowers, and they draw you into the woods, and presently 
 you've got hold of their hands, and then you're hugging and 
 kissing them, and then you go the limit. But then you've got to 
 marry them; and when they find you won't, they have hys- 
 terics, and say they're going to shoot their heads off; only 
 they don't shoot their heads off, they kiss you some more, and 
 borrow your diamond scarf-pin and forget to return it." 
 
 The young lord of Leesville fell silent. Sombre memories 
 possessed him, and Jimmie, darting a swift glance at him, 
 saw the look of weary age on his face. "I've never talked with 
 anybody about what happened at the end," said he, "and I 
 never mean to; but I'll say this much the time I loved a 
 married woman was the only honest love I ever had, because 
 she was the only woman who wasn't looking to marry me!" 
 
 That was of course too subtle for a man like Jimmie Higgins. 
 But this much the little Socialist got that the heir of the 
 Granitch fortune had been in truth a miserably unhappy mortal. 
 And this was an extraordinary revelation to Jimmie, who had 
 taken it for granted that the rich were the lucky ones of earth. 
 He had hated them on the supposition that they were without 
 care; they were the Lotus-eaters, of whom the poet wrote that 
 they 
 
 "live and lie reclined 
 
 On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind, 
 For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurPd 
 Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd 
 Bound their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE 243 
 
 Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, 
 
 Blight of famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands, 
 
 Clanging fights and flaming towns, and sinking ships and praying 
 
 hands. 
 
 But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song 
 Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong, 
 Like a tale of little meaning tho' the words are strong; 
 Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil, 
 Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil, 
 Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil. 
 
 But now Jimmie had crossed the social chasm, he had seen the 
 other side of the problem of riches and poverty. After that 
 revelation, he would be more merciful in his judgments of his 
 fellow-mortals; he would understand that the system in which 
 we are trapped makes true happiness impossible for those 
 who have too much as well as for those who have too little. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 
 
 Jimmie wandered through the streets of this French 
 town, letting his broken arm get strong again, the death- 
 grapple of the war continued. In mid-July the Germans made 
 a last desperate lunge at the Marne; they were stopped dead 
 in a couple of days by the French and Americans combined; 
 and then the Allied commander-in-chief struck back, smashing 
 in the side of the German salient, and driving the enemy, still 
 fighting furiously, but moving back from the soil of France. 
 All France caught its breath with excitement, with relief 
 mingled with dread. So many times they had hoped, through 
 these four weary, hideous years, and so many times their hopes 
 had been dashed ! But this time there was no mistake it was 
 really the turning of the tide. The enemy resisted at every 
 step, but he went on moving out of the salient, and the Allies 
 went on lunging now here, now there, see-sawing back and 
 forth, and keeping their opponents bewildered. 
 
 Jimmie read about it in the army paper, the "Stars and 
 Stripes"; and now, for the first time in four years, Jimmie's 
 mind was one mind on the war. Jimmie was on the field of 
 every battle, his teeth set, his hands clenched, his whole soul 
 helping at the job. He had got over the disorders of anaes- 
 thesia, and was forgetting the shock of his wound; he had 
 realised that wounds, and even death, were something a man 
 could bear not cheerfully, of course, not lightly, but you could 
 bear them, if only you knew that the Beast was being put out 
 of business. 
 
 In the old days the word German had meant to Jimmie 
 fellows like Meissner and Forster and Schneider; but now it 
 meant a huge grey form looming over the edge of a shell-hole, 
 
 244 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 245 
 
 its face distorted with hate, its hayonet poised to plunge. Per- 
 haps the most vivid impression of Jimmie's whole life was the 
 relief he had felt when he realised that some doughboy had 
 shot a bullet into that looming figure. Let there be more 
 doughboys, more and more, until the last figure had been shot ! 
 Jimmie knew, of course, that the policy he had been advocating 
 in America had not tended to that end; if Jimmie in Leesville 
 had had his way, there would have been no doughboys to 
 rescue Jimmie at Chatty Terry! Jimmie was quite clear on 
 that point now, and for the time being the pacifist was dead 
 in him. 
 
 He listened to the talk of the men in this hospital. They 
 had all been through the mill, they had got their wounds, light 
 or severe, but it had not broken their spirit not a bit of it; 
 there was hardly one among them who was not hoping to get 
 cured and to get back into the game before it was over. That 
 was how they took it a game, the most sensational, the most 
 thrilling that a man would ever play. These boys had been 
 .brought up on foot-ball, the principal training and only real 
 interest in life of some hundreds of thousands of young Amer- 
 icans every year. They had brought the spirit and the method 
 of foot-ball with them into the army, and communicated it to 
 those less fortunate millions who had been neither to college 
 nor to high school: the team-work, the speed, the incessant, 
 gruelling drill, the utter, unquestioning loyalty, the persistent 
 searching of eager young minds for new combinations, new 
 tricks ; and above all the complete indifference to the possibility 
 of a broken collar-bone or a damaged heart-valve, provided only 
 that the game should be won ! 
 
 This army was attacking a foe who relied on machine-guns 
 to break formations and give time to withdraw stores and big 
 guns to safety; so the life of young America for the moment 
 had become a study of the arts of rushing machine-guns. Jim- 
 mie listened to the conversation of the new men, and saw the 
 technique being worked out before his eyes. Tanks were all 
 right, aeroplanes were all right, when you had them; but 
 mostly you did not have them in time, so the doughboy was 
 learning to take machine-guns with the bayonet. You had a 
 little squad, trained like a foot-ball team, with its own sys- 
 tem of signals, its formations worked out by young heads put 
 together at night. It was a costly game you would be lucky 
 
246 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 if a third of the players came out alive; but if you could get 
 one man to the machine-gun with a bayonet, you had won the 
 game because he would take the gun and turn it about on the 
 retreating Germans, and could kill enough of them in a minute 
 to make up for the losses of his squad. 
 
 II 
 
 Lacey Granitch's shoulder healed, and he went back to his 
 job. He told Jimmie what it had meant to him to meet a 
 Socialist; if he could believe what Jimmie believed, he wouldn't 
 mind living, even with his shame. Jimmie gave him the names 
 of books to read, and Lacey promised to read them; of course 
 Jimmie was proud and happy seeing a vision of the Empire 
 Machine Shops turned over to the control of the workers, the 
 capitalist system committing hari-kari in one American in- 
 dustry ! 
 
 Jimmie got a letter from one of the workingmen in the 
 repair station where he had last worked, telling him that the 
 Americans had taken over this sector, and now there was a 
 big shop established, and when was he coming back? But 
 Jimmie was not so eager to come back; working on motor- 
 cycles did not seem a thrilling prospect to one who had held 
 up the whole Hun army and won the battle of Chatty Terry. 
 Having proven his mettle as a fighting man, Jimmie wondered 
 if there mightn't be some way for him to get into the real 
 army, and do a real man's work? 
 
 He wrote a letter to the officer in command of his motor- 
 unit, telling what had happened to him, and couldn't it be 
 arranged? In reply the officer said that he would have an in- 
 vestigation made, and if Jimmie's story could be verified, he 
 would have honourable mention, and promotion of some sort. 
 And sure enough, a month later, when Jimmie was ready to 
 leave the hospital, came official notice that he was promoted to be 
 a sergeant of motor-transport, and ordered to report to head- 
 quarters in a certain harbour on the English channel for as- 
 signment. Sergeant Jimmie Higgins! 
 
 Jimmie reported, of course, and was put in charge of a 
 dozen cyclists and repair-men, newly arrived on a transport. 
 These men looked up to Jimmie as a veteran and hero, and 
 Jimmie, who had never enjoyed authority in his life before 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 247 
 
 except you count Jimmie Junior and the two kids may have 
 had his head turned just a little bit. But there was real work 
 to be done,, and no time for strutting. There was excitement 
 in the air, wild rumour and speculation; this little unit of 
 Jimmie's, composed of specially fit men, was going somewhere 
 on a special errand an expedition, evidently by sea. Nobody 
 was told where that wasn't the way in the army ; but presently 
 there were issued sheepskin-lined coats and heavy wool-lined 
 boots in the middle of August ! So they knew that they were 
 bound for the far North, and for some time. Could it be a 
 surprise attack in the Baltic ? Either that, said the wise-heads, 
 or else Archangel. Jimmie had never heard of this latter place, 
 and had to ask about it. It appeared that the Allies had landed 
 enormous masses of stores at this port in far Northern Russia; 
 and now that the Russians had dropped out of the war, the 
 Germans were threatening to take possession. 
 
 Jimmie was thrilled to the soles of his new wool-lined boots. 
 He was going to Russia, going to see the revolution! Jimmie 
 had but a vague idea of world-conditions now, for during the 
 past three or four months he had been reading only official 
 papers, which confined their attention to the job, and carefully 
 omitted mention of difficulties and complications. The people 
 with whom he talked insisted that it was necessary for the 
 Allies to do something to counter the Brest-Litovsk treaty; 
 if the Germans were allowed to take possession of helpless 
 Russia and use it for their purposes, they might hold out for 
 another hundred years. The Russian people themselves must 
 realise this, and welcome Allied help! Jimmie wasn't sure on 
 this latter point, but he remembered the Rabin brothers and 
 their enthusiasm for the Allied cause, so he put his doubts 
 to sleep, and helped get his motor-unit stowed on board a trans- 
 port. 
 
 in 
 
 There came a passage across the North Sea and up the coast 
 of Norway; a region of fogs and restless winds, and incessant 
 deadly peril of submarine and mine. There were three trans- 
 ports in the expedition, and a couple of war-ships convoying 
 them, and half a dozen destroyers weaving their foam-patterns 
 in and out. Every day the air grew colder, and the period of 
 
248 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 daylight shorter; they were entering the Land of the Midnight 
 Sun, but at the time of year when midnight noons were ap- 
 proaching. The men had plenty of time for reading and talk; 
 BO Jimmie discussed the war from the Socialist point of view, 
 defending the Russian revolutionists ; and so, as usual, he made 
 somebody angry, and got himself and his seditious opinions 
 reported. 
 
 Lieutenant Gannet was the name of Jimmie's superior offi- 
 cer. He had been a clerk in a cotton-mill before the war, and 
 had never had the exercise of authority. Now he had to learn 
 suddenly to give orders, and his idea of doing it was to be 
 extremely sharp and imperative. He was a deeply conscientious 
 young man, keen on the war, and willing to face any hardship 
 or peril in fulfilment of his duty; but Jimmie could not have 
 been expected to appreciate that all Jimmie knew was that 
 his superior had a way of glaring from behind his spectacles, as 
 if he was sure that some one was lying to him. 
 
 Lieutenant Gannet didn't ask what Jimmie had said; he 
 told Jimmie what he had said, and informed him that that kind 
 of talk wasn't going on in the army while he was in hearing. 
 Jimmie's business was to keep some motor-cycles in repair, 
 and some cyclists on their job ; about other matters let him hold 
 his tongue, and not try to run the affairs of the nation. Jim- 
 mie ventured the remark that he had said nothing but what 
 President Wilson was saying all along. To which the lieuten- 
 ant replied that he was not interested in Sergeant Higgins' 
 opinions of President Wilson's opinions Sergeant Higgins was 
 to keep his opinions to himself, or he would get into serious 
 trouble. So Jimmie went away, seething with indignation, as 
 much of a rebel as he had ever been in Local Leesville. 
 
 What were the rights of a soldier anyway? Was he privi- 
 leged to discuss political issues, and to agree with the utter- 
 ances of the President of his country? Might he believe, as 
 the President believed, in a just peace and the right of all 
 peoples to freedom and self-determination, even though many 
 of the officers of the army hated and despised such ideas? 
 Jimmie didn't know, and there was nobody to tell him; but 
 Jimmie knew that he hadn't meant to give up his rights as a 
 citizen when he enlisted to fight for democracy, and if these 
 rights were taken away from him, it would not be without a 
 struggle. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTEBS INTO DANGER 249 
 
 IV 
 
 The transports came into the region of ice-bergs, and low- 
 hanging mists, and rocky cliffs covered with snow, and flocks 
 of sea-gulls flying over them. For days and nights on end they 
 steamed in those arctic waters, and came at last into the White 
 Sea, and the harbour of Archangel. 
 
 The Allies had been here since the beginning of the war, 
 building docks and sheds and railway yards; but they had 
 never been able to build enough, and the transport department 
 of the corrupt Russian government having gone to pieces, here 
 were mountains of supplies of every sort you could think of 
 for an army, piled high on the shores. At least, that was what 
 Jimmie had been told; he had read in the newspapers that the 
 statement was made officially in answer to questions in the 
 British parliament. Jimmie had understood that he was here 
 to save those mountains of supplies from the Germans, and he 
 was surprised when he looked about the harbour and saw no 
 mountains of any sort. 
 
 Back in the interior were vast trackless forests of fir-trees, 
 and moss-covered swamps in which in summer-time a man 
 would sink up to his neck. Now, in September, they were al- 
 ready frozen solid, and you travelled over them with a sledge 
 and a team of reindeer, bundled up in furs and looking, ex- 
 cept for the whiskers, like the pictures of Santa Glaus you had 
 seen when you were a kid. But most of the traffic of the army 
 was upon the rivers which cut the forests and swamps, and 
 the single railroad, which was being put back into commission. 
 
 This country had, of course, no roads on which motor-cycles 
 could be used, even in summer. Jimmie found that his job 
 would be confined to the city and the encampments near about. 
 A few streets would be kept clear of snow, and the little band of 
 messengers would scoot about them, now and then taking a 
 slide into a snow-bank and smashing things up. That would 
 have been all right, and Jimmie would have bossed the job and 
 been happy as he knew how to be had only his mind been at 
 peace. 
 
 For the first few days, of course, he had no time to think, 
 he was as busy as an ant, getting himself and his men ashore, 
 and setting up their benches and tools in an iron shed, with a 
 
250 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 roaring stove at each end, and heaps of fire-wood which the 
 peasants brought on heavy flat sledges dragged by reindeer. 
 Jimmie and his unit worked, not merely during the hours of 
 daylight, but most of the hours of darkness, not stopping for 
 Sundays. There were five thousand men to be got ashore with 
 their supplies and in a desperate rush, as if the Germans were 
 expected at any hour. It was some while before Jimmie found 
 time to go about the city, to meet the "Tommies," who had 
 been here a month before him, and to hear what they had done, 
 and what they were expecting to do. 
 
 Jimmie had understood that this expedition was to fight 
 the Germans; but now he became suspicious; apparently it 
 was to fight the Bolsheviki ! The social revolution had accom- 
 plished itself in Archangel, and a council of workingmen and 
 peasants had been in full control, when the British troops and 
 sailors had made a surprise attack and seized the port, driving 
 the revolutionists in confusion before them. Now they were 
 sending an expedition up the railroad, and another on steamers 
 up the North Dwina river, pursuing Eussian Socialists and 
 driving them back into frozen swamps ! And here were Amer- 
 ican troops, being hurried ashore, and outfitted and made ready 
 to join in what seemed to Jimmie to be warfare upon organised 
 workingmen ! 
 
 Jimmie was almost beside himself with bewilderment. It 
 was all so new and strange to him and he had nobody to advise 
 him. At home, if there were a Socialist problem to settle, he 
 would take it to Meissner or Stankewitz, or Comrade Gerrity 
 the organiser, or Comrade Mabel Smith, the chairman of the 
 Literature Committee. But now, in all this expedition Jimmie 
 did not know a single man who had any idea of radicalism; 
 they looked upon the Bolsheviki as mad dogs, as traitors, crim- 
 inals, lunatics, any word that seemed worst to you. The Bol- 
 sheviki had deserted the cause of the Allies, they had gone into 
 league with Germany to betray democracy; so now the Amer- 
 icans had come to teach them the lesson of law and order. The 
 Americans looked upon themselves as an advance guard of a 
 vast expedition which was to march to Petrograd and Moscow, 
 and wipe the idea of Bolshevism off the map. And Jimmie 
 Higgins was to help ! Jimmie Higgins, bound and gagged, 
 lashed to the chariot of Militarism, was to take part in destroy- 
 ing the first proletarian government in history ! 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTEHS INTO DANGER 251 
 
 The more Jimmie thought of it, the more indignant he be- 
 came; he took it as a personal outrage a scurvy trick that had 
 been played upon him. He had swallowed their propaganda, he 
 had filled himself up with their patriotism, he had dropped 
 everything to come and fight for Democracy. He had gone 
 into battle, had risked his life, had suffered wounds and agony 
 for them. And now they had broken their bargain with him, 
 they had brought him here and ordered him to fight working men 
 just as if he had been a militiaman at home! Democracy 
 indeed ! Here they were marching in, glorying in their purpose 
 to conquer the Eussian revolutionists! 
 
 And Jimmie Higgins, under martial law, must obey and 
 hold his tongue! Jimmie thought of all his friends at home 
 who had denounced the military machine; he thought of Com- 
 rade Mary Allen, of Comrade Mabel Smith and Comrade Eve- 
 lyn Baskerville and Comrade Gerrity; he had rejected their 
 advice, and now, if they could see what he was doing, how they 
 would spurn him! Jimmie writhed at the very thought; nor 
 was he consoled when one of the men in his company gave him 
 an "inside" story of what was happening here that in order to 
 persuade the British to submit their armies to the control of a 
 French general, and thus to save the situation in France, the 
 Americans had been forced to submit their own armies also; 
 and now they found themselves ordered to march in and fight a 
 revolutionary government which had repudiated its debt to 
 France, and so had given offence to a naturally frugal people. 
 
 Jimmie met a man whom he might almost have taken for 
 Deror Eabin, so much did he resemble the little Jewish tailor. 
 A big, black-whiskered peasant brought a load of wood for the 
 fires; and there was a Jew helping him a chap with a sharp 
 face and keen black eyes, his cheeks sunken as if he had not had 
 enough to eat for years, and his chest racked by a cough. He 
 had wrapped his feet and his hands in rags, because he had 
 neither boots nor gloves ; but he seemed cheerful, and presently, 
 as he dumped down a load, he nodded and said, "Hello !" 
 
 "Hello yourself!" replied Jimmie. 
 
 "I speak English," said the fellow. 
 
 It didn't surprise Jimmie that anybody should speak Eng- 
 
252 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 lish; he was only surprised when they didn't. So he smiled 
 and said, "Sure!" 
 
 "I been in America/' went on the other. "I vork by sveat- 
 shop in Grand Street." 
 
 You could see that he preferred gossiping to carrying wood ; 
 he stood about and questioned, "Vere you vork in America ?" 
 When the peasant grumbled at him in Eussian, he went back 
 at his job ; but as he went away, he said, "I talk vit you some- 
 time about America." To which, of course, Jimmie answered 
 with a friendly assent. 
 
 A couple of hours later, when he went out from his work, 
 he found the little Jew waiting for him in the darkness. "I git 
 lonesome sometime for America," he said; and walked down 
 the street with Jimmie, beating his thin arms to keep 
 warm. 
 
 "Why did you come back?" Jimmie inquired. 
 
 "I read about revolution. I tink maybe I git rich." 
 
 "Huh!" said Jimmie, and grinned. "What did you get?" 
 
 "You belong to union in America?" countered the other. 
 
 "You bet I do !" said Jimmie. 
 
 "Vat sort of union?" 
 
 "Machinist's." 
 
 "You been on strike, maybe?" 
 
 "You bet I have!" 
 
 "You got licked, maybe?" 
 
 "You bet!" 
 
 "You don't never scab, hey?" 
 
 "Not much!" 
 
 "You vat you call class-conscious?" 
 
 "You bet ! I'm a Socialist !" 
 
 The other turned upon him, his voice trembling with sudden 
 excitement. "You got a red card?" 
 
 "You bet !" said Jimmie. "Eight inside my coat." 
 
 "My God !" cried the other. "A comrade !" He stretched 
 out his hands, which were bundled up with old gunny-sacking, 
 to Jimmie. "Tovarish !" cried he. And standing there in the 
 freezing darkness, these two felt their hearts leap into a hot 
 glow. Here, under the Arctic Circle, in this wilderness of ice 
 and desolation, even here the spirit of international fraternity 
 was working its miracles ! 
 
 But then, shaking with excitement, the little Jew pawed at 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 253 
 
 Jimmie with his bundled hands. "If you are Socialist, vy you 
 fight de Eussian vorkers?" 
 
 "I'm not fighting them!" 
 
 "You vear de uniform." 
 
 "I'm only a motor-cycle man." 
 
 "But you help ! You kill de Russian people ! You destroy 
 de Soviets! Vy?" 
 
 "I didn't know about it," pleaded Jimmie. "I wanted to 
 fight the Kaiser, and they brought me here without telling me." 
 
 "Ah ! So it iss vit militarism, vit capitalism ! Ve are slaves ! 
 But ve vill be free! And you vill help, you vill not kill de 
 Russian vorkers !" 
 
 "I will not!" cried Jimmie, quickly. 
 
 And the little stranger put his arm through Jimmie's. "You 
 come vit me, quick ! I show you someting, tovarish !" 
 
 VI 
 
 They threaded the dark streets till they came to a row of 
 workingmen's hovels, made of logs, the cracks stuffed with mud 
 and straw places in which an American farmer would not 
 have thought it proper to keep his cattle. "So live de vorkers/* 
 said the stranger, and he knocked on the door of one of the 
 hovels. It was unbarred by a woman with several children 
 about her skirts, and the men entered a cabin lighted by a 
 feeble, smoky lamp. There was a huge oven at one side, with a 
 kettle in which cabbage was cooking. The man said nothing 
 to the woman, but signed Jimmie to a seat before the oven, and 
 fixed his sharp black eyes on his face. 
 
 "You show me de red card?" he said, suddenly. 
 
 Jimmie took off his sheep-skin-lined overcoat, and un- 
 buttoned his sweater underneath, and from an inside pocket 
 of his jacket took out the precious card with the due-stamps 
 initialled by the secretaries of Local Leesville and Local Hope- 
 land and Local Ironton. The stranger studied it, then nodded. 
 "Good! I trust you." As he handed back the card he re- 
 marked, "My name is Kalenkin. I am Bolshevik." 
 
 Jimmie's heart bounded though he had guessed as much, 
 of course. "We called our local in Ironton Bolshevik," said 
 he. 
 
 "Dey drive us out from here," continued the Jew, "but I 
 
254 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 stay behind for propaganda. I look for comrades among de 
 Americans, de British. I say, Do not fight de vorkers, fight de 
 masters, de capitalists. You understand?" 
 
 "Sure I" said Jimmie. 
 
 "If de masters find me, dey kill me. But I trust you." 
 
 "Fll not tell !" said Jimmie, quickly. 
 
 "You help me," went on the other. "You go to de Amer- 
 ican soldiers, you say, De Russian people have been slaves so 
 many years; now dey get free, and you come to kill dem and 
 make dem slaves again ! Vy iss it ? Vat vill dey say, tovarish ?"" 
 
 Jimmie answered: "They say they want to lick the Kai- 
 ser." 
 
 "But ve help to lick de Kaiser! Ve fight him!" 
 
 "They say you've made peace with him." 
 
 "Ve fight vit propaganda de vay de Kaiser fear most of 
 all. Ve spend millions of rubles, ve print papers, leaflets you 
 know, comrade, vat Socialists do. Ve send dem into Germany, 
 ve drop dem by aeroplanes, ve have printing-presses in vat 
 you call it, de Suisse, de Nederland everyvere. De Germans 
 read, dey tink, dey say, Vy do ve fight for de Kaiser, vy do 
 ve not be free like de Russians? I know it, tovarish, I have 
 talked vit many German soldiers. It goes like a fire in Ger- 
 many. Maybe it take time a year two years but some day 
 people see, de Bolsheviki vere right, dey know de vorkers, de 
 heart of de vorkers dey have de life, de fire dat cannot be put 
 out in de heart !" 
 
 "Sure," said Jimmie. "But you can't tell things like that 
 to the doughboys." 
 
 "My God!" said Kalenkin. "Don't I know? I vas in 
 America ! Dey tink dey are de people vat de good God made ! 
 Dey know ever'ting you cannot teach dem. Dey are democ- 
 racy; dey have no classes; vage-slaves dat iss just foreign 
 vat you call it scum, hey ? Dey vill shoot us I have seen how 
 dey beat de vorkers ven dey strike on Grand Street." 
 
 "I've been through it all," said Jimmie. "What can we 
 do?" 
 
 "Propaganda !" cried Kalenkin. "For de first time ve have 
 plenty money for propaganda all de money in Russia for propa- 
 ganda! Ever'vere in de vorld ve reach de vorkers ever'vere 
 ve cry to dem : Rise ! Rise and break your chains ! You tink 
 dey vill not hear us, tovarish ! De capitalists know dey vill hear 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 255 
 
 us, dey tremble, so dey send armies to beat us. Dey tink de 
 armies vill obey alvays is it not so?" 
 
 "They think the Russian people will rise against you." 
 At which the little man laughed, a wild, hilarious laugh. 
 "Ve have got our own government ! For de first time in Rus- 
 sia, de first time in de vorld, de vorkers rule; and dey tink ve 
 rise against ourselves ! Dey put up vat you call it puppets, 
 vat dey call Socialists, dey make a government here in Archangel, 
 vat dey call Russian! Dey fool demselves, but dey don't fool 
 de Russians !" 
 
 "They think this government will spread," said Jimmie. 
 "It vill spread just so far as de armies go just so far. 
 But in Russia, all de people come together all are Bolsheviki, 
 ven dey see de foreign armies coming. And vy, tovarish ? Be- 
 cause dey know vat it means ven capitalists come to make new 
 governments for Russia. It means bonds de French, de 
 British debt ! You know ?" 
 
 "Sure, I know," said Jimmie. 
 "It is billions, fifteen billions of roubles to France alone. 
 De Bolsheviki have said, Ve do not pay dem so quick. And for 
 vy ? Vat did dey do vit dat money ! Dey loaned it to de Tsar, and 
 for vat? To make slaves out of de Russian people, to put dem 
 in armies and make dem fight de Japanese, to make police-force 
 and send hundert thousand Russian Socialists to Siberia! Is 
 it not so? And Russian Socialists pay such debts? Not so 
 quick! Ve say, Ve had nothing to do vit such money! You 
 loaned it to de Tsar, now you collect it from de Tsar ! But dey 
 say, You must pay ! And dey send armies, to take de land of 
 Russia, to take de oil and de coal and de gold. So, tovarish ! Dey 
 vill put down de Soviets ! But if so, dey must take ever' town, 
 ever' village in Russia and all de time ve make propaganda 
 vit de soldiers, ve make it vit Frenchmen and Englishmen and 
 Americans, just like ve make it vit Germans !" 
 
 VII 
 
 The little man had made a long speech, and was exhausted ; 
 the coughing seized him, and he pressed his hands to his chest, 
 and his white face flushed red in the firelight. The woman 
 brought him water to drink, and stood by him with a hand on 
 his shoulder; her broad peasant's face, deeply lined with care, 
 
256 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 quivered at every spasm of the man's. Jimmie quivered too, 
 sitting there watching, and facing in his own soul a mighty 
 destiny. He knew the situation now, he knew his own duty. 
 It was perfectly plain, perfectly simple his whole life had 
 been one long training for it. Something cried out in him, 
 in the words of another proletarian martyr, Let this cup pass 
 from me ! But he stifled the voice of his weakness, and after a 
 while he said, "Tell me what to do, comrade." 
 
 Kalenkin asked, "You have made propaganda in America?" 
 
 "Sure," said Jimmie. "I went to jail once fer makin' a 
 speech on the street/' 
 
 And the other went to a corner of the cahin, and dug under 
 half a dozen cabbages, and brought out a packet. It contained 
 leaflets, a couple of hundred perhaps, and the Jew handed one 
 to Jimmie, explaining, "Dey ask me, How shall ve make de 
 Americans understand? I say, Dey must know how ve make 
 propaganda vit de Germans. I say, Print de proclamations vat 
 ve give to de German troops, and make English translation, so 
 de Americans and de Englishmen can read. You tink dat help? 
 
 Jimmie took the leaflet and moved the lamp a bit nearer 
 and read : 
 
 "Proclamation of the Army Committee of the Kussian 
 Twelfth Army (Bolshevik), posted throughout the city of Riga 
 during its evacuation by the Russians : 
 "German Soldiers! 
 
 "The Russian soldiers of the Twelfth Army draw your 
 attention to the fact that you are carrying on a war for 
 autocracy against Revolution, freedom and justice. The 
 victory of Wilhelm will be death to democracy and freedom. 
 We withdraw from Riga, but we know that the forces of 
 the Revolution will ultimately prove themselves more power- 
 ful than the force of cannons. We know that in the long 
 run your conscience will overcome everything, and that the 
 German soldiers, with the Russian Revolutionary Army, 
 will march to the victory of freedom. You are at present 
 stronger than we are, but yours is only the victory of 
 brute force. The moral force is on our side. History 
 will tell that the German proletarians went against their 
 revolutionary brothers, and that they forgot international 
 working-class solidarity. This crime you can expiate only 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER 257 
 
 by one means. You must understand your own and at the 
 same time the universal interests, and strain all your 
 immense power against imperialism, and go hand in hand 
 witn us toward life and liberty!" 
 
 Jimmie looked up. 
 
 "Vat you tink of it?" cried Kalenkin, eagerly. 
 
 "Fine!" cried Jimmie. "The very thing they need! No- 
 body can object to that. It's a fact, if s what the Bolshevik! 
 are doing." 
 
 The other smiled grimly. "Tovarish, if dey find you vit 
 dat paper, dey shoot you like a dog ! Dey shoot us all !" 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 "Because it is Bolshevik." 
 
 Jimmie wanted to say, But ifs true ! However, he realised 
 how naive that would sound. So he waited, while Kalenkin 
 went on: 
 
 "You show it only to men you can trust. You hide de 
 copies, you take vun and make it dirty, so you say, I find it in 
 de street. See, iss it so de Bolsheviki fight de Kaiser? If it 
 iss so, vy do ve need to fight dem? So you give dese; and some 
 day I come vit someting new." 
 
 Jimmie agreed that that was the way to set about it. He 
 folded up a score of the leaflets and stowed them in an inside 
 pocket of his jacket, and put on his heavy overcoat and gloves, 
 which he wished he could give to the sick, half -starved and half- 
 frozen Bolshevik. He patted him reassuringly on the back, and 
 said : "You trust me, comrade ; I'll hand them out, and they'll 
 bring results too, I'll bet." 
 
 "You don't tell about me !" exclaimed Kalenkin with fierce 
 intensity. 
 
 To which Jimmie answered, "Not if they boil me alive 1" 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 
 
 TIMMIE went to supper in the mess-hall; but the piles 
 ** steaming hot food choked him he was thinking of the half- 
 starved little Jew. The thirty pieces of silver in the pocket of 
 his army jacket burned each a separate hole. Like the Judas 
 of old, he wanted to hang himself, and he took a quick method 
 of doing it. 
 
 Next to him at the table sat a motor-cyclist who had been a 
 union plumber before the war, and had agreed with Jimmie 
 that workingmen were going to get their jobs back or would 
 make the politicians sweat for it. On the way out from the 
 meal, Jimmie edged this fellow off and remarked, "Say, I've 
 got somethin' interestin'." 
 
 Now interesting things were rare here under the Arctic 
 Circle. "What's that?" asked the plumber. 
 
 "I was walkin' on the street/' said Jimmie, "an' I seen a 
 printed paper in the gutter. It's a copy of the proclamation 
 the Bolsheviki have made to the German soldiers, an' that 
 they're givin' out in the German trenches." 
 
 "By heck !" said the plumber. "What's in it ?" 
 
 "Why, it calls on them to rise against the Kaiser to do what 
 the Russians have done." 
 
 "Can you read German?" asked the other. 
 
 "Naw," said Jimmie. "This is in English." 
 
 "But what's it doin' in English?" 
 
 "I'm sure I dunno." 
 
 "What's it doin' in Archangel?" 
 
 "Dunno that either." 
 
 "Holy Christ!" cried the plumber. "I bet them fellers are 
 trying their stunts on us !" 
 
 258 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVEKS HIS SOUL 259 ' 
 
 "I hadn't thought of that," said Jimmie, subtly. "Maybe 
 if s so." 
 
 "They won't get very far with the Yanks, I bet/' predicted 
 the other. 
 
 1 "No, I suppose not, But anyhow, it's interesting, what they 
 say." 
 
 "Lemme see it," said the plumber. 
 
 "But say," said Jimmie, "don't you tell nobody. I don't 
 want to get into trouble." 
 
 "Muni's the word, old man." And the plumber took the 
 dirty scrap of paper and read. "By God!" said he. "That's 
 kind o' funny." 
 
 "How do you mean ?" 
 
 "Why, that don't sound like them fellers were backing the 
 Kaiser, does it?" And the plumber scratched his head. "Say, 
 that sounds all right to me !" 
 
 "Me too !" said Jimmie. "Didn't know they had that much 
 sense." 
 
 "It's just what the German people ought to have, by God," 
 said the plumber. "Seems to me we ought to hire fellows to 
 give out things like that." 
 
 "I think so too," said Jimmie, enraptured. 
 
 The plumber reflected again. "I suppose/* said he, "the 
 trouble is they wouldn't give it to the Germans only ; they'd want 
 to give it to both sides." 
 
 "Exactly !" said Jimmie, enraptured still more. 
 
 "And of course that wouldn't do," said the plumber; "that 
 would interfere with discipline." So Jimmie's hopes were 
 dashed. ' 
 
 But the upshot of the interview was that the plumber said 
 he would like to keep the paper and show it to a couple of other 
 fellows. He promised again that he wouldn't mention Jimmie, 
 so Jimmie said all right, and went his way, feeling that one seed 
 was lodged in good soil. 
 
 II 
 
 The "Y" had come to Archangel, along with the rest of 
 the expedition, and had set up a hut, in which the men played 
 checkers and read, and bought chocolate and cigarettes at prices 
 which they considered too high. Jimmie strolled in, and there 
 was a doughboy with whom he had had some chat on the trans- 
 
260 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 port. This doughboy had been a printer at home, and he had 
 agreed with Jimmie that maybe a whole lot of politicians and 
 newspaper editors didn't really understand President Wilson's 
 radical thought, and so far as they did understand it, hated and 
 feared it. This printer was reading one of the popular maga- 
 zines, full of the intellectual pap which a syndicate of big bank- 
 ers considered safe for the common people. He looked bored, so 
 Jimmie strolled up and lured him away, and repeated his play- 
 acting as with the plumber and with the same result. 
 
 Then he strolled in to see one of the picture-shows which had 
 been brought along to beguile the long arctic nights for the 
 expedition. The picture showed a million-dollar-a-year girl 
 doll-baby in her habitual role, a poor little child-waif dressed in 
 the newest fashion and with a row of ringlets just out of a band- 
 box, sharing those terrible fates which the poor take as an 
 every-day affair, and being rewarded at the end by the love of 
 a rich and noble and devoted youth who solves the social prob- 
 lem by setting her up in a palace. This also had met with the 
 approval of a syndicate of bankers before it reached the common 
 people; and in the very midst of it, while the child- waif with 
 the ringlets was being shown in a "close-up" with large drops 
 of water running down her cheeks, the doughboy in the seat 
 next to Jimmie remarked, "Aw, hell! Why do they keep on 
 giving us this bunk?" 
 
 So Jimmie suggested that they "cut it," and they went out, 
 and Jimmie played his little game a third time, and again was 
 asked to leave the leaflet he had picked out of the gutter. 
 
 So on for two days, until Jimmie had got rid of the last 
 of the manifestoes which Kalenkin had entrusted to him. And 
 on the evening of the last day, as the subtle propagandist was 
 about to turn into his bunk for the night, there suddenly ap- 
 peared a sergeant with a file of half a dozen men and announced, 
 "Higgins, you are under arrest." 
 
 Jimmie stared at him. "What for?" 
 
 "Orders that's all I know." 
 
 "Well, -wait " began Jimmie; but the other said there 
 was no wait about it, and he took Jimmie by the arm, and one 
 of the other men took him by the other arm, and marched him 
 away. A third man slung Jimmie's kit-bag onto his shoulder, 
 while the rest began to search the place, ripping open the mat- 
 tress and looking for loose boards in the floor. 
 
JIMMIE BIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 261 
 
 in 
 
 It didn't take Jimmie very long to figure out the situation. 
 Ey the time he had come into the presence of Lieutenant Gannet, 
 he had made up his mind what had happened, and what he 
 would do about it. 
 
 The lieutenant sat at a table, erect and stiff, with a terrible 
 frown behind his glasses. He had his sword on the table and 
 also his automatic as if he intended to execute Jimmie, and 
 had only to decide which method to use. 
 
 "Higgins," he. thundered, "where did you get that leaflet ?" 
 
 "I found it in the gutter/' 
 
 "You lie I" said the lieutenant. 
 
 "No, sir," said Jimmie. 
 
 "How many did you find ?" 
 
 Jimmie had imagined this emergency, and decided to play 
 safe. "Three, sir," said he ; and added, "I think." 
 
 "'You lie I" thundered the lieutenant again. 
 
 "No, sir," said Jimmie, meekly. 
 
 "Whom did you give them to?" 
 
 Jimmie hadn't thought of that question. It stumped him. 
 *'I I'd rather not say/' said he. 
 
 "I command you to say," said the lieutenant. 
 
 "I'm sorry, sir, but I couldn't." 
 
 "You'll have to say before you get through," said the other. 
 "You might as well understand that now. You say you found 
 three?" 
 
 It might have been four," said Jimmie, playing still safer. 
 "I didn't pay any particular attention to them." 
 
 "You sympathise with these doctrines," said the lieutenant. 
 "Do you deny it?" 
 
 "Why, no, sir not exactly. I sympathise with part of 
 them." 
 
 "And you found these leaflets in the gutter, and you didn't 
 take the trouble to count whether there were three or four?" 
 
 "No, sir." 
 
 "There couldn't have been five?" 
 
 "I don't know, sir I don't think so." 
 
 "Certainly not six?" 
 
 "No, sir," said Jimmie, feeling quite safe now. "I'm sure 
 there weren't six." 
 
262 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 So the lieutenant opened a drawer in the table before him, 
 and took out a bunch of the leaflets, folded, wrinkled and dirt- 
 stained, and spread them before Jimmie's eyes, one, two, three, 
 four, five, six, seven. "You lie !" said the lieutenant. 
 
 "I was mistaken, sir," said Jimmie. 
 
 "Have you searched this man ?" the officer demanded of the 
 other soldiers. 
 
 "Not yet, sir." 
 
 "Do it now." 
 
 They made certain that Jimmie had no weapons, and then 
 they made him strip to the skin. They searched everything, 
 even prying loose the soles of his boots; and of course one of 
 the first things they found was the red card in the inside jacket- 
 pocket. "Aha !" cried the lieutenant. 
 
 "That's a card of the Socialist party," said Jimmie. 
 
 "Don't you know that back home men who carry that card 
 are being sent to jail for twenty years?" 
 
 "It ain't fer carryin' the card," said Jimmie, sturdily. 
 
 There was a pause, while Jimmie got his clothes on again. 
 "Now, Higgins," said the lieutenant, "you have been caught 
 red-handed in treason against your country and its flag. The 
 penalty is death. There is just one way you can escape by 
 making a clean breast of everything. Do you understand ?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Then tell me who gave you those leaflets ?" 
 
 "I'm sorry, sir, I found them in the gutter." 
 
 "You intend to stick to that silly tale ?" 
 
 "If s the truth, sir." 
 
 "You will protect your fellow-conspirators with your life?" 
 
 "I have told you all I know, sir." 
 
 "All right," said the lieutenant. He took a pair of hand- 
 cuffs from the drawer and saw them put on Jimmie. He picked 
 up his sword and his automatic and Jimmie, who did not 
 understand military procedure, stared with fright. But the 
 lieutenant was merely intending to strap the weapons onto his 
 belt; then he got into his overcoat and his big fur gloves and 
 his fur hat that covered everything but his eyes and nose, and 
 ordered Jimmie brought along. Outside an automobile was 
 waiting, and the officer and the prisoner and two guards rode 
 to the military jail. 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 263 
 
 IV 
 
 There was terror in the soul of the prisoner, but he did not 
 let anyone see it. And in the same way Lieutenant Gannet did 
 not let anyone see the perplexity that was in his soul. He was a 
 military officer, he had his stern military duty to do, and he was 
 doing it ; but he had never put anybody in hand-cuffs before, and 
 had never taken anybody to jail before, and he was almost as 
 much upset about it as the prisoner. 
 
 The lieutenant had seen the terrible spectacle of Eussia col- 
 lapsing, falling into ruin and humiliation, because of what 
 seemed to him a propaganda of treason which had been carried 
 on in her armies; he realized that these "mad dogs" of Bol- 
 sheviki were deliberately conspiring to poison the other armies, 
 to bring the rest of the world into their condition. It seemed 
 to him monstrous that such efforts should be under way in the 
 American army. How far had the thing gone ? The lieutenant 
 did not know, and he was terrified, as men always are in the 
 presence of the unknown. It was his plain duty, to which he 
 had sworn himself, to stamp his heel upon the head of this snake ; 
 but still he was deeply troubled. This Sergeant Higgins had 
 been promoted for valor in France, and had been, in spite of his 
 reckless tongue, a pretty decent subordinate. And behold, here 
 he was, an active conspirator, a propagandist of sedition, a defi- 
 ant and insolent traitor! 
 
 They came to the jail, which had been constructed by the 
 Tsar for the purpose of holding down the people of the region. 
 It loomed, a gigantic stone bulk in the darkness; and Jimmie, 
 who had preached in Local Leesville that America was worse 
 than Russia, now learned that he had been mistaken Russia was 
 exactly the same. 
 
 They entered through a stone gateway, and a steel door 
 opened before them and clanged behind them. At a desk sat a 
 sergeant, and except that he was British, and that his uniform 
 was brown instead of blue, it might have been Leesville, U. S. A. 
 They took down Jimmie's name and address, and then Lieu- 
 tenant Gannet asked: "Has Perkins come yet?" 
 
 "Not yet, sir," was the reply; but at that moment the front 
 door was opened, and there entered a big man, bundled in an 
 overcoat which made him even bigger. From the first moment, 
 Jimmie watched this man as a fascinated rabbit watches a snake. 
 
264 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 The little Socialist had had so much to do with policemen and 
 detectives in his hunted life that he knew in a flash what he 
 was "up against." 
 
 This Perkins before the war had been an "operative" for a 
 private detective agency what the workers contemptuously re- 
 ferred to as a "sleuth." The government, having found itself 
 in sudden need of much "sleuthing," had been forced to take 
 what help it could get, without too close scrutiny. So now 
 Perkins was a sergeant in the secret service ; and just as the car- 
 penters were hammering nails as at home, and the surgeons were 
 cutting flesh as at home, so Perkins was "sleuthing" as at home. 
 
 "Well, sergeant ?" said the lieutenant. "What have you got ?" 
 
 "I think I've got the story, sir." 
 
 You could see the relief in Gannet's face ; and Jimmie's heart 
 went down into his boots. 
 
 "There's just one or two details I want to make sure about," 
 continued Perkins. "I suppose you won't mind if I question 
 this prisoner?" 
 
 "Oh, not at all," said the other. He was relieved to be able 
 to turn this difficult matter over to a man of decision, a pro- 
 fessional man, who was used to such cases and knew how to 
 handle them. 
 
 "I'll report to you at once," said Perkins. 
 
 "I'll wait," said the lieutenant. 
 
 And Perkins took Jimmie's trembling arm in a grip like 
 a vise, and marched him down a long stone corridor and down 
 a flight of steps. On the way he picked up two other men, also 
 in khaki, who followed him; the four passed through a series 
 of underground passages, and entered a stone cell with a solid 
 steel door, which they clanged behind them a sound that was 
 like the knell of doom to poor Jimmie's terrified soul. And 
 instantly Sergeant Perkins seized him by the shoulder and 
 whirled him about, and glared into his eyes. "Now, you little 
 son-of-a-bitch !" said he. 
 
 Having been a detective in an American city, this man was 
 familiar with the "third degree," whereby prisoners are led to 
 tell what they know, and many things which they don't know, 
 but which they know the police want them to tell. Of the 
 other two men, one, Private Connor, had had this inquisition 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVEES HIS SOUL 265 
 
 applied to him on more than one occasion. He was a burglar 
 with a prison-record; but his last arrest had been in a middle 
 Western town for taking part in a bar-room fight, and the judge 
 didn't happen to know his record, and accepted his tearful plea, 
 agreeing to suspend sentence provided the prisoner would enlist 
 to fight for his country. 
 
 The other man was named Grady, and had left a wife and 
 three children in a tenement in "Hell's Kitchen," New York, 
 to come to fight the Kaiser. He was a kind-hearted and decent 
 Irishman, who had earned a hard living carrying bricks and 
 mortar up a ladder ten hours a day; but he was absolutely con- 
 vinced that there existed, somewhere under his feet, a hell of 
 brimstone and sulphur in which he would roast forever if he 
 disobeyed the orders of those who were set in authority over him. 
 Grady knew that there were certain wicked men, hating and 
 slandering religion, and luring millions of souls into hell; they 
 were called Socialists, or Anarchists, and must obviously be 
 emissaries of Satan, so it was God's work to root them out and 
 destroy them. Thus the Gradys have reasoned for a thousand 
 years ; and thus in black dungeons underground they have turned 
 the thumb-screws and pulled the levers of the rack. They do it 
 still in many of the large cities of America, where superstition 
 runs the police-force, in combination with liquor interests and 
 public service corporations. 
 
 VI 
 
 "Now, you little son-of-a-bitch," said Perkins, "listen to me. 
 "I been lookin' into this business of yours, and I got the names 
 of most of them Bolsheviks you been dealing with. But I want 
 to know them all, and I'm going to know see?" 
 
 In spite of all his terror, Jimmie's heart leaped with exulta- 
 tion. Perkins was lying! He hadn't found out a thing! He 
 was just trying to bluff his prisoner, and to make his superior 
 officer think he was a real "sleuth". He was doing what the 
 police everywhere do trying to obtain by brutality what they 
 cannot obtain by skill and intelligence. 
 
 "Now, you're goin' to tell," continued the man. "You may 
 think you can hold out, but you'll find it's no go. I'll tear you 
 limb from limb if you make me I'll do just whatever I have 
 to do to make you come through. You get me?" 
 
266 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Jimmie nodded his head in a sort of spasm, but his effort 
 to make a sound resulted only in a gulp in his throat. 
 
 "You'll only make yourself a lot of pain if you delay, so 
 you'd better be sensible. Now who are they?" 
 
 "They ain't anybody. They " 
 
 "So that's it? Well, we'll see." And the sergeant swung 
 Jimmie about, so as to be at his back. "Hold him," he said, 
 to the two men, and they grasped the prisoner's shoulders; the 
 sergeant grasped his two wrists, which were handcuffed together, 
 and began to force them up Jimmie's back. 
 
 "Ow !" cried Jimmie. "Stop ! Stop !" 
 
 "Will you tell?" said the sergeant. 
 
 "Stop!" cried Jimmie, wildly; and as the other pushed 
 harder, he began to scream. "You'll break my arm! The one 
 that was wounded." 
 
 "Wounded ?" said the sergeant. 
 
 "It was broken by a bullet !" 
 
 "The hell you say !" said the sergeant. 
 
 "It's true ask anybody! The battle of Chatty Terry in 
 Prance!" 
 
 For just a moment the pressure on Jimmie's arms weak- 
 ened ; but then the sergeant remembered that military men who 
 have a career to make do not go to their superior officers with 
 sentimentalities. "If you were wounded in battle," said the 
 sergeant, "what you turnin'" traitor for? Give me the names I 
 want !" And he began to push again. 
 
 It was the most horrible agony that Jimmie had ever 
 dreamed of. His voice rose to a shriek: "Wait! Wait! 
 Listen !" The torturer would relax the pressure and say : "The 
 names ?" And when Jimmie did not give the names, he would 
 press harder yet. Jimmie writhed convulsively, but the other 
 two men held him as in a vise. He pleaded, he sobbed and 
 moaned; but the walls of this dungeon had been made so that 
 the owners of property outside would not be troubled by knowing 
 what was being done in their interest. 
 
 We go into museums and look at devilish instruments which 
 men once employed for the torment of their fellows, and we 
 shudder and congratulate ourselves that we live in more humane 
 days ; quite overlooking the fact that it does not need elaborate 
 instruments to inflict pain on the human body. Any man can 
 do it to another, if he has him helpless. The thing that ia 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 267 
 
 needed is the motive that is to say, some form of privilege 
 established by law, and protecting itself against rebellion. 
 
 "Tell me the names I" said the sergeant. He had Jimmie's 
 two hands forced up the back of his neck, and was lying over on 
 Jimmie, pushing, pushing. Jimmie was blinded with the pain, 
 his whole being convulsed. It was too horrible, it could not be ! 
 Anything, anything to stop it! A voice shrieked in his soul: 
 "Tell ! Tell I" But then he thought of the little Jew, pitiful, 
 trusting no, no, he would not tell! He would never tell! 
 But then what was he to do? Endure this horror? He could 
 not endure it it was monstrous ! 
 
 He would writhe and scream, babble and plead and sob. 
 Perhaps there have been men who have endured torture with 
 dignity, but Jimmie was not one of these. Jimmie was abject, 
 Jimmie was frantic ; he did anything, everything he could think 
 of save one thing, the thing that Perkins kept telling him to do. 
 
 This went on until the sergeant was out of breath : that being 
 one disadvantage of the primitive hand-processes of torture to 
 which American police-officials have been reduced by political 
 sentimentalism. The torturer lost his temper, and began to 
 shake and twist at Jimmie's arms, so that Connor had to warn 
 him he didn't want to break anything, of course. 
 
 So Perkins said, "Put his head down/' They bent Jimmie 
 over till his head was on the ground, and Grady tied Jimmie's 
 legs to keep them quiet, and Connor held his neck fast, and 
 Perkins put his foot on the handcuffs and pressed down. By 
 this means he could continue the torture while standing erect 
 and breathing freely, a great relief to him. "Now, damn you I" 
 said he. "I can stay here all night. Come through \" 
 
 VII 
 
 Jimmie thought that each moment of pain was the worst. 
 He had never had any idea that pain could endure so long, could 
 burn with such a white and searing flame. He ground his teeth 
 together, he chewed his tongue through, he ground his face upon 
 the stones. Anything for a respite even a new kind of pain, 
 that he might forget the screaming ache in his shoulders and 
 elbows and wrists. But there was no respite; his spirit was 
 whirled and beaten about in bottomless abysses, and from their 
 depths he heard the voice of Perkins, as from a far-off mountain 
 
268 JIMMIE HIQGINS 
 
 top: "Come through! Come through or you'll stay like this 
 all night I" 
 
 But Jimmie did not stay like that; for Perkins got tired 
 of standing on one foot, and he knew that the Lieutenant was 
 pacing about upstairs, wondering why it took so long to ask a 
 few questions. Jimmie heard the voice from the far-off moun- 
 tain-top : "This won't do ; we'll have to string him up for a bit." 
 And he took from his pocket a strong cord, and tied one end 
 about Jimmie's two thumbs, and ran the other end over an iron 
 ring in the wall of the dungeon put there by some agent of the 
 Tsar for use in the cause of democracy. The other two men 
 lifted Jimmie till his feet were off the ground, and then made 
 fast the cord, and Jimmie hung with his full weight from his 
 thumbs, still handcuffed behind his back. 
 
 So now he was no trouble to the three jailors except that 
 he was an ugly-looking object, with his face purple and con- 
 vulsed, and his bloody tongue being chewed up. They turned 
 him about, with his face against the stones, and then they had 
 nothing but the sounds of him, which had become feebler, but 
 were none the less disagreeable, a babbling and gabbling, con- 
 tinuous and yet unrhythmic, as if made by a whole menagerie of 
 tormented animals. 
 
 Still the minutes passed, and Perkins' irritation grew. He 
 wouldn't have minded for himself, for his nerves were strong, 
 he had handled a good many of the I. W. W. in the old days 
 back home ; but he had promised to get the information, and so 
 his reputation was at stake. He would prod Jimmie and say: 
 "Will you tell?" And when Jimmie still refused, finally he 
 said, "We'll have to try the water-cure. Connor, get me a 
 couple of pitchers of water and a good sized funnel." 
 
 "Yes, sir," said the ex-burglar, and went out ; and meantime 
 Perkins addressed his victim again. "Listen, you little hell- 
 pup," said he. "I'm going to do something new, something 
 that'll break you sure. I been with the army in the Philip- 
 pines, and seen it worked there many's the time, and I never 
 yet seen anybody that could stand it. We're going to fill you 
 up with water ; and we'll leave you to soak for a couple of hours, 
 and then we'll put in some more, and we'll keep that up day 
 and night till you come through. Now, you better think it 
 over and speak quick, before we get the water in, because it 
 ain't so easy to get out." 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 269 
 
 Jimmie lay with his face against the wall, and the agony 
 of his tortured thumbs was like knives twisted into him; he 
 listened to these threats, and heard again the cry in his soul 
 for respite at any hazard. 
 
 Jimmie was fighting a battle, the sternest ever fought by 
 man the battle of conscience against the weakness of the flesh. 
 To tell or not to tell? The poor tormented body shrieked, 
 Tell ! But conscience, in a feeble voice, gasped, over and over and 
 over, No ! No ! No ! It had to keep on insisting, because the bat- 
 tle was never over, never won. Each moment was a new agony, 
 and therefore a fresh temptation; each argument had to be re- 
 peated without end. Why should he not tell? Because Kalen- 
 kin had trusted him, and Kalenkin was a comrade. But maybe 
 Kalenkin was gone now, maybe he had died of one of his cough- 
 ing spells, maybe he had heard of Jimmie's arrest and made 
 his escape. Maybe they would not torture Kalenkin as they 
 had Jimmie, because he was not a soldier; they might just put 
 him in jail and keep him there, and others would do the work. 
 Maybe 
 
 And so on. But the feeble voice whispered in the soul of 
 Jimmie Higgins: You are the revolution. You are social jus- 
 tice, struggling for life in this world. You are humanity, 
 setting its face to the light, striving to reach a new goal, to 
 put behind it an old horror. You are Jesus on the cross; and 
 if you fail, the world goes back, perhaps forever. You must 
 hold out! You must bear this! And this! And this! You 
 must bear everything forever as long as needs be ! You must 
 not "come through" ! 
 
 VIII 
 
 Connor came back with his pitchers of water and his funnel. 
 They took Jimmie down oh, the blessed relief to his thumbs ! 
 and laid him on the ground, with his racked and swollen hands 
 still handcuffed under him; and Grady sat on his feet, and 
 Connor sat on his chest, and Perkins forced the funnel down 
 his throat and poured in the water. 
 
 Jimmie had to swallow, of course; he had to gulp desper- 
 ately, to keep from being choked; and pretty soon the water 
 filled him up, and then began the most fearful agony he had 
 yet endured. It was like the pain of the ether-gas, only in- 
 
270 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 finitely worse. He was blown out like a balloon; his insides 
 were about to burst; his whole body was one sore boil and 
 Connor, sitting on his stomach, sat a little harder now and 
 then, to make sure the water got jostled into place. Jimmie 
 could not scream, but his face turned purple and the cords stood 
 out on his forehead and neck; he began to strangle, and this 
 was worst of all ; every convulsion of his body stabbed him with 
 ten thousand knives. 
 
 Jimmie had talked with a number of the "wobblies" who 
 had this "water-cure," a regular device of police-authorities in 
 small towns and villages. It is simple and cheap and cleanly; 
 it leaves no blood and no bruises to be exhibited in court; 
 it muzzles the victim, so that his screams cannot be heard 
 through jail-windows therefore a simple denial covers it com- 
 pletely. "Wild Bill" had had this treatment, "Strawberry" 
 Curran had had it several times. But oh, thought Jimmie, it 
 could not be like this no human being had ever endured any- 
 thing like this ! Poor Jimmie was not learned in history, and 
 did not realise that men have endured everything that other 
 men can inflict. They will continue to endure it, so long as 
 privilege is written in the law, and allowed to use the law in its 
 unholy cause. 
 
 So the battle of the ages went on in the soul of Jimmie 
 Higgins. He was a little runt of a Socialist machinist, with 
 bad teeth and gnarled hands, and he could do nothing sublime 
 or inspiring, nothing even dignified; in fact, it would be hard 
 for any one to do anything dignified, when he lies on the floor 
 with a gallon or two of water in him, and one man sitting on 
 his legs and another on his stomach, and another jamming a 
 funnel into his mouth. All Jimmie could do was to fight the 
 fearful fight in the deeps of him, and not lose it. "Lift your 
 knee if you are ready to tell," Perkins would say; and Grady 
 would raise up, so that Jimmie could lift his knee if he wanted 
 to; but Jimmie's knee did not lift. 
 
 Far down in the deeps of Jimmie Higgins' tormented soul, 
 something strange was happening. Lying there bound and help- 
 less, despairing, writhing with agony, half insane with the ter- 
 ror of it, Jimmie called for help and help came to him; that 
 help which penetrates all dungeon walls, and cheats all jailors 
 and torturers; that Power which breaks all bars of steel and 
 bars of fear 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL 271 
 
 "Thou has great allies; 
 Thy friends are exultations, agonies, 
 And love, and man's unconquerable mind!" 
 
 In the soul of Jimmie Higgins was heard that Voice which 
 speaks above the menaces and commands of tyranny; which 
 says : I am Man, and I prevail. I conquer the flesh, I trample 
 upon the body and rise above it. I defy its imprisonments, its 
 prudences and fears. I am Truth, and will be heard in the 
 world. I am Justice, and will be done in the world. I am 
 Freedom, and I break all laws, I defy all repressions, I exult, I 
 proclaim deliverance ! And because, in every age and in every 
 clime, this holy Power had dwelt in the soul of man, because 
 this mystic Voice has spoken there, humanity has moved out 
 of darkness and savagery, into at least the dream of a decent 
 and happy world. 
 
 So Jimmie lay, converting his pain into ecstasy, a dizzy and 
 perilous rapture, close to the border-line of madness; and Ser- 
 geant Perkins arose and looked down on him and shook his 
 head. "By God!" said he. "What's in that little hell-pup ?" 
 He gave Jimmie a kick in the ribs; and Jimmie's soul took a 
 leap, and went whirling through eternities of anguish. 
 
 "By Jesus, I'll make you talk !" cried Perkins, and he began 
 to kick with his heavy boots until Connor stopped him, know- 
 ing that this was not ethical it would leave marks. 
 
 So finally the sergeant said abruptly, "Wait here." And he 
 went upstairs to where Gannet was pacing about. 
 
 "Lieutenant," he said, "that fellow's a stubborn case." 
 
 "What does he say?" 
 
 "I can't get a word out of him. He's a Socialist and a 
 crank, you know, and you'd be surprised how ugly some of them 
 fellows can be. As soon as I get the story complete I'll report to 
 you, but meantime there's no use your waiting here." 
 
 So the officer went away, and Perkins went back to the 
 dungeon and gave orders that every two hours some one should 
 come and fill Jimmie up with water, and give him another 
 chance to say "Yes." And Jimmie lay and moaned and wept, 
 all by himself, quivering now and then with the perilous ecstasy, 
 which does not last, but has to be renewed by continuous efforts 
 of the will, as a tired horse has to be driven with spur and 
 whip. Never, never could this battle be truly won! Never 
 could the body be wholly forgotten, its clamorous demands 
 
272 JIMM1E HIGGINS 
 
 wholly stilled ! God comes, but doubt follows closely. What is 
 the use of this fearful sacrifice ? What good will it accomplish, 
 who will know about it, who will care? Thus Satan in the 
 soul, and thus the eternal duel between the new thing that man. 
 dreams, and the old thing that he has made into law. 
 
CHAPTEK XXVII 
 
 JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOR DEMOCRACY 
 
 A NOTHER day had come though Jimmie did not know it in 
 ** his dungeon. All he knew was that Sergeant Perkins re- 
 turned, and stood looking at him, picking his teeth with a 
 quill. This little Bolshevik had stood the water-cure longer 
 than any man whom Perkins had ever known, and he won- 
 dered vaguely what sort of damned fool he was, what he thought 
 he was accomplishing, anyhow. 
 
 But it was necessary to keep after him, for Perkins knew 
 that his career was at stake. He was supposed to have found 
 out something, and he hadn't! So he ordered Jimmie tied up 
 by the thumbs, the poor thumbs that were swollen to three times 
 their normal size, and nearly black in colour. But now Jimmie's 
 good Mother Nature interfered to stop the proceedings ; the pain 
 was so exquisite that Jimmie fainted, and when the sergeant 
 saw that he was being cheated, he cut his victim down and left 
 him lying on the damp stones. 
 
 So for three days Jimmie's life consisted of alternating 
 swoons and agony the regular routine of the "third degree" 
 in the more obstinate cases; and always, in his conscious mo- 
 ments, Jimmie called upon the God in himself, and the God 
 responded with his hosts, and trumpets of triumph echoed in 
 Jimmie's soul, and he did not "come through." 
 
 So on the fourth day the three torturers entered the cell, 
 and lifted him to his feet, and carried him up the stone stairs, 
 and wrapped him in a blanket and put him in an automobile. 
 
 "Listen now," said Perkins, who sat by his side, "they're 
 going to try you by court-martial. Hear me?" 
 
 Jimmie made no response. 
 
 "And I'll explain this for your health if you tell any lies 
 
 273 
 
274 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 about what we done to you, I'll take you back to that dungeon 
 and tear you limb from limb. You get me ?" 
 
 Still Jimmie did not answer the sullen little devil, thought 
 Perkins. But in Jimmie's soul there was a faint flicker of hope. 
 Might he not make appeal to the higher authorities, and be 
 saved from further torture? Jimmie had believed in his coun- 
 try, and in his country's purpose to defend democracy; he had 
 read the wonderful speeches of President Wilson, and could not 
 bring himself to think that the President would permit any man 
 to be tortured in prison. But alas, it was a long way from 
 the White House to Archangel and still longer if you measured 
 it through the ramifications of the army machine, a route more 
 thoroughly crisscrossed with red tape than any sector of the 
 Hindenburg line with barbed wire. 
 
 Jimmie was taken into a room where seven officers sat at a 
 big table, looking very stern and solemn. Perkins supported 
 him under the arm-pits, thus making it look as if he were walk- 
 ing. He was placed in a chair, and took a glance about but 
 without seeing much hope in the faces which confronted him. 
 
 The president of the court-martial was Major Gaddis, who 
 had been a professor of economics in a great university before 
 the war: that is to say, he had been selected by a syndicate of 
 bankers as a man who believed in a ruling class, and could 
 never by any possibility be brought to believe in anything else. 
 He was a man of strict honour, a very gracious and cultivated 
 gentleman if you happened to belong in his social circle; but 
 he was convinced that the duty of the lower classes was to 
 obey, and that the existence of civilised society depended upon 
 their being made to obey. 
 
 Next to him sat Colonel Nye, as different a type as could 
 be imagined. Nye had been a soldier of fortune in Mexico and 
 Central America, and had found prosperity as a captain of 
 one of those condottieri bands which were organised by the big 
 corporations of America before the war, for the purpose of 
 crushing strikes. He had commanded a private army of five 
 thousand men, horse, foot and artillery, known to the public as 
 the Smithers Detective Agency. During a great coal-strike he 
 had been placed by a state government in virtual charge of the 
 militia, and had occupied himself in turning loose machine-guns 
 on tent-colonies filled with women and children. He had been 
 tried by a militia court-martial for murder and acquitted thus 
 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS YOTES FOR DEMOCRACY 275 
 
 making it impossible for any civilian grand-jury ever to indict 
 him and have him hanged. And now he had been automatically 
 taken from the state militia into the national army, where he 
 made a most efficient officer, with a reputation as a strict disci- 
 plinarian. 
 
 First Lieutenant Olsen had been a drygoods clerk, who had 
 gone into an officer's training camp. As he hoped to rise in 
 the world, he looked to his superiors always before he expressed 
 an opinion. The same was true of Captain Cushing, who was 
 a good-natured young bank-cashier with a pretty wife who spent 
 his salary a couple of months before he got it. The fifth officer, 
 Lieutenant Gannet, did most of the talking, because he was 
 Jimmie's immediate superior, and had conducted the investi- 
 gations into the case. He had discussed the matter with Major 
 Prentice, the Judge-Advocate of the court, also with Captain 
 Ardner, the young military lawyer who went through the form 
 of defending Jimmie; the three had agreed that the case was 
 a most serious one. The propagandja of Bolshevism in this Arch- 
 angel expedition must certainly be nipped in the bud. The 
 charge against Jimmie was insubordination and incitement Jo 
 mutiny, and the penalty was death. 
 
 II 
 
 Jimmie sat in his chair, only partly aware of what was 
 going on, because of the agony in his swollen thumbs and his 
 twisted arms. His flicker of hope had died, and he had lost 
 interest in the proceedings all his energy was needed to endure 
 his pain. He would not tell them where he had got the leaflets, 
 and when they badgered him, he just grunted with pain. He 
 would not talk with Captain Ardner, who tried in vain to per- 
 suade him that he was acting in his the prisoner's interest. 
 Only twice did Jimmie flare up; the first time when Major Gad- 
 dis voiced his indignation that any citizen of the great American 
 democracy should ally himself with these Bolshevik vermin, who 
 were carrying on a reign of terror throughout Eussia, burning, 
 slaying, torturing 
 
 "Who talks about torturing? 5 * shrieked Jimmie, half start- 
 ing from his chair. "Ain't you been torturin' me regular tear- 
 in' me to pieces ?" 
 
 The court was shocked. "Torturing ?" said Captain Cushing. 
 
276 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 "Torturin' me for days a week, maybe, I dunno, in that 
 there dungeon !" 
 
 Major Gaddis turned to Sergeant Perkins, who stood behind 
 D~immie's chair, barely able to withhold his hands from the 
 prisoner. "How about that, sergeant?" 
 
 "It is utterly false, sir/' 
 
 "Look at these thumbs!" cried Jimmie. "They strung me 
 up by them!" 
 
 "The prisoner was violent," said Perkins. "He nearly killed 
 Private Connor, one of the guards, so we had to use severe 
 measures." 
 
 "It's a lie !" shrieked Jimmie. But they shut him up, and 
 the dignified military machine ground on. Anybody could see 
 that discipline would go to pieces if the word of a jailer did not 
 prevail over that of a prisoner, the word of a loyal and tried 
 subordinate over that of a traitor and conspirator, an avowed 
 sympathiser with the enemy. 
 
 Presently the presiding officer inquired if the prisoner was 
 aware that he had incurred the death-penalty. Getting no reply, 
 he went on to inform the prisoner that the court would be apt 
 Jo inflict this extreme penalty, unless he would reconsider and 
 name his accomplices among the Bolsheviki, so that the army 
 could protect itself against the propaganda of these murderers. 
 So Jimmie flared up again but not so violently, rather with a 
 touch of fierce irony. "Murderers, you say? Ain't you gettin' 
 ready to murder me ?" 
 
 "We are enforcing the law/' said the court. 
 
 "You make what you call law, an' they make what they call 
 law. You kill people that disobey, an' so do they. What's the 
 difference ?" 
 
 "They are killing all the educated and law-abiding people in 
 Russia," declared Major Gaddis, severely. 
 
 "All the rich people, you mean," said Jimmie. "They make 
 the rich obey their laws; they give them a chance, the same as 
 everybody else, then if they don't obey they kill them just as 
 many as they have to kill to make them obey. An' don't you 
 do the same with the poor people? Ain't I seen you do it, 
 every time there was a strike ? Ask Colonel Nye there ! Didn't 
 he say: 'To hell with habeas corpus we'll give them post- 
 mortems'?" 
 
 Colonel Nye flushed; he did not know that his fame had 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOR DEMOCRACY 277 
 
 followed him all the way from Colorado to the Arctic Circle. 
 The court made haste to protect him: "We are not conducting 
 a Socialist debate here. It is evident that the prisoner is im- 
 nitent and defiant, and that there is no reason for leniency." 
 o the court proceeded to find Jimmie Higgins guilty as 
 charged, and to sentence him to twenty years' military confine- 
 ment really quite a mild sentence, considering the circum- 
 stances. In New York city at this very time they were trying 
 five Russian Jews, all of them mere children, one a girl, for 
 exactly the same offence as Jimmie had committed distributing 
 a plea that American troops should cease to kill Russian Social- 
 ists ; these children received twenty years, and one of them died 
 soon after his arrest his fellows swore as a result of torture 
 inflicted by Federal secret service agents. 
 
 Ill 
 
 So Jimmie was taken back to prison. Major Gaddis, who 
 was really a just man, and made law and order his religion, gave 
 the strictest orders that the prisoner should not again be hung up 
 by the thumbs. It was of course desirable to find out who had 
 printed the Bolshevik leaflets, but in the effort to make the 
 prisoner tell he should receive only the punishments formally 
 approved by the army authorities. 
 
 So Jimmie went back to the underground dungeon, and 
 for eight hours every day a chain was fastened about his wrists, 
 and the other end run up into the iron ring, so that his feet 
 barely touched the floor ; and there Jimmie hung, and tried out 
 his conscience this being the test then being undergone by 
 many men at the disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth. 
 Jimmie's conscience really was nothing like as strong as it ought 
 to have been. Jimmie had moods of shameless self-pity, moods 
 of desperate and agonising doubt. He did not mean to let his 
 dungeon-keepers know this, but they listened behind the door 
 through a slot which the Tsar had had contrived for that pur- 
 pose; it could be closed while the prisoner was screaming under 
 torture, and then opened by the jailer without the prisoner's 
 knowledge. 
 
 So Perkins heard Jimmie sobbing and wailing, talking to 
 himself and to other people to some one called "Strawberry," 
 and to some one else called "Wild Bill," asking them if they 
 
278 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 had ever suffered anything like this, and was it really worth 
 while, would it help the revolution? Perkins thought he had 
 got some important information here, and took it to Lieutenant 
 Gannet, with the result that inquiry was made through all the 
 American forces for men known as "Strawberry" and "Wild 
 Bill/' But these men could not be found; as it happened, 
 "Wild Bill" had taken refuge in a place to which not even the 
 army intelligence service can penetrate, and "Strawberry" Cur- 
 ran was just then being tried with a bunch of other "wobblies" 
 in California and subjected to much the same kind of treatment 
 as Jimmie was receiving in Archangel. 
 
 It was a big advantage that Sergeant Perkins had in his 
 struggle with Jimmie, that the pitiful weakness of Jimmie's 
 soul was exposed to him, while the soul of Perkins was hidden 
 from Jimmie. For the truth was that Perkins was suffer- 
 ing from rage, mingled with not a little fear. What the hell 
 was this idea that could keep a little runt of a workingman 
 stronger than all in authority? And how was this idea to be 
 kept from spreading and wrecking the comfortable, well-ordered 
 world in which Perkins expected soon to receive an army com- 
 mission ? The very day after the court-martial, which was sup- 
 posed to be a profound military secret, the army authorities were 
 astounded to discover, posted in several conspicuous places, a 
 placard in English, reading: 
 
 "American soldiers, do you know that an army sergeant is 
 being tortured and has been sentenced to twenty years in a 
 dungeon for having tried to tell you how the Bolshevik! are 
 making propaganda against the German Kaiser? 
 
 "Do you know the true reason your armies are here? Are 
 you willing to die to compel the Eussian people to accept your 
 ideas of government? Are you willing to have your comrades 
 tortured to keep the facts from you?" 
 
 And of course the doughboys who read this placard wanted 
 to know if it told the truth. And quickly word spread that it 
 did. Men who still had copies of the leaflet which Jimmie had 
 distributed now found eager readers for it, and soon all the 
 men knew its contents, and were debating the question of the 
 use of American armies to put down social revolution in a for- 
 eign country. These same questions were being asked in the 
 halls of Congress back home. Senators were questioning the 
 right of sending troops into a country against which war had 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOB DEMOCRACY 279 
 
 never been declared, and other Senators were demanding that 
 they be immediately withdrawn. And this news also reached 
 the men, and increased the danger. Archangel was not a pleas- 
 ant place to stay, especially with winter coming on fast; men 
 were disposed to grumble and now they had a pretext ! 
 
 IV 
 
 The authorities who were handling this army laboured under 
 one. grievous handicap, probably never before faced by any 
 army in history. The commander-in-chief of the army, who 
 determined its policies and tried to set its moral tone, kept com- 
 ing now and then before Congress and making speeches full of 
 incendiary and reckless utterances, calculated to set dangerous 
 thoughts to buzzing in the heads of soldiers, to break down 
 discipline and undermine morale. The President wrote a letter 
 to a political convention in which he declared that the workers 
 of America were living in "economic serfdom"; he declared 
 again and again that every people had a right to determine 
 their own destinies and form of government without outside in- 
 terference. This while the army was trying to put down those 
 Kussians who were in revolt against "economic serfdom" in 
 their own country! 
 
 An army, you see, is a machine built to fight; a man who 
 goes into it and takes part in its work, very quickly acquires 
 its tone, which is one of abysmal contempt for all politicians, 
 particularly of the talking and letter-writing variety, the "ideal- 
 ists" and "dreamers" and "theorists," who do not understand 
 that the business of men is to fight battles and win them. All 
 the officers of the old army, the West Pointers, had been bred 
 in the tradition of class-rule, they had in their very bones the 
 idea that they were a special breed, that obedience to them was 
 a law of God; while of the new officers, the overwhelming 
 majority came from the well-to-do, and were not favourable to 
 speech-making and letter-writing about the rights of man. 
 They were without enthusiasm for the idea of having a pacifist 
 secretary of war set over them by the "idealist" commander-in- 
 chief. They did not hesitate to vent their indignation ; and when 
 this pacifist secretary gave orders about conscientious objectors 
 which were based upon sentimentalism and theory, the army 
 machine took the liberty of interpreting these orders and trim- 
 
280 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 ming the nonsense out of them. And the farther away you 
 got from the office of the pacifist secretary, the more thorough 
 the trimming inevitably became; thus producing the phenom- 
 enon which poor Jimmie Higgins found so bewildering that pol- 
 icies laid down by sincere humanitarians and liberals in Wash- 
 ington were carried out in Archangel by an ex-detective trained 
 in a school of corruption and cruelty. 
 
 Jimmie Higgins couldn't understand that here in Arch- 
 angel were Americans, taking their orders from British and 
 French officers, who wasted no breath on pacifism and senti- 
 ment, who had no fool ideals about wars for democracy. Was 
 one obscure little runt of a Socialist machinist to be allowed to 
 bjock their world-plans? Setting himself up as an authority, 
 presuming to accept literally the messages of his President, in 
 defiance of their authority in Archangel ! Allying himself with 
 traitorous and criminal scoundrels, trying to poison the minds 
 of American soldiers and light the flame of mutiny among them ! 
 Just as once Jimmie Higgins had found himself in a strategic 
 position where he had held up the whole Hun army and won 
 the battle of Chateau-Thierry, so now he found himself in a 
 position of equal strategic importance on the line of com- 
 munication of the Allied armies attacking Russia, and threaten- 
 ing to cut the line and force the armies into retreat! 
 
 It became more essential than ever to discover these Bolshevik 
 sympathisers and stamp out their propaganda. As hanging 
 Jimmie up by the wrists had not brought forth the desired 
 information, Jimmie was put in solitary confinement on a diet 
 of bread and water, this being another test of sincerity of con- 
 science. For the conscience a diet of white flour and water may 
 be all right, but Jimmie soon found that it is very bad indeed 
 for the intestinal tract and the blood-stream being, in truth, 
 far worse than a diet of water alone. The man who lives on 
 white flour and water for a few days suffers either from com- 
 plete stopping of the bowels, or else from dysentery; his blood 
 becomes clogged with starch poisons, his nerves degenerate, he 
 falls a quick victim to tuberculosis, or pernicious anaemia, or 
 Borne other disease which will prevent his ever being a sound man 
 
JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOR DEMOCRACY 281 
 
 Also, Jimmie received the water-treatment, as included in 
 the Fort Leavenworth regimen. It was necessary that all 
 prisoners should be bathed; which was interpreted by some 
 guards to mean that they should have a stream of icy water 
 turned on them, and be forced to stand under it. Because Jim- 
 mie's arms were too badly injured for him to scrub himself, 
 Connor seized a rough brush and salt, and rubbed off strips of 
 his skin. When Jimmie wriggled away, they followed him with 
 the hose; when he screamed, they turned it into his mouth and 
 nose; when he fell down, they let the cold water run over him 
 for ten or fifteen minutes. 
 
 Jimmie had had a good deal of harsh treatment in the 
 course of his outcast life, but never so closely concentrated in 
 point of time. His spirit remained unbroken, but his body gave 
 way, and then his mind began to give also. He fell victim to 
 delusions; the nightmares which haunted his sleep lay siege 
 to his waking hours also, and he thought he was being tortured 
 at times when he was just hanging by his chains. Until at 
 last Perkins, listening through the door, heard strange cries 
 and grunts, beast-like noises, barkings and growlings. He 
 called Connor and Grady, and the three of them stood listening. 
 
 "By God I" said Grady. "He's dippy." 
 
 "He's nutty," said Connor. 
 
 "He's batty," said Perkins. 
 
 But the idea occurred to all of them perhaps he was sham- 
 ming! What was easier than for one of those emissaries of 
 Satan to pretend to have a devil inside him? So they waited 
 a bit longer; until Connor, coming to chain Jimmie up, found 
 him gnawing off the ends of his fingers. That was really seri- 
 ous, so they sent for the prison-surgeon, who had to make but 
 a brief inspection to convince himself that Jimmie Higgins was 
 a raving madman. Jimmie fancied himself some kind of fur- 
 bearing animal, and he was in a trap, and was trying to gnaw off 
 his foot so as to escape. He snapped his teeth at every one who 
 came near him ; he had to be knocked senseless before a strait- 
 jacket could be got on him. 
 
 VI 
 
 And so it was that Jimmie Higgins at last made his escape 
 from his tormentors. Jimmie doesn't know anything about the 
 
282 JIMMIE HIGGINS 
 
 Russian Jew, Kalenkin, any more; he could not tell the secret 
 if he wanted to, so they have given up testing his conscience, 
 and they treat him kindly, and have succeeded in persuading 
 him that he is out of the trap. Therefore he is a good beast 
 he crawls about on all-fours, and eats his food out of a tin 
 platter without using his gnawed-off fingers. He still has tor- 
 turing pains in the arm- joints, but he does not mind them so 
 much, because, being a beast, he suffers only the pain of the 
 moment, he does not know that he is going to suffer to-morrow, 
 nor worry about it. He is no longer one of those who "look 
 before and after and pine for what is not." He is a "good 
 doggie/' and when you pet him on the head he rubs against you 
 and whines affectionately. 
 
 Poor, mad Jimmie Higgins will never again trouble his coun- 
 try; but Jimmie's friends and partisans, who know the story of 
 his experiences, cannot be thus lightly dismissed by society. In 
 the industrial troubles which are threatening the great democ- 
 racy of the West, there will appear men and women animated 
 by a fierce and blazing bitterness; and the great democracy of 
 the West will marvel at their state of mind, unable to conceive 
 what can have caused it. These rebellious ones will be heard 
 quoting to the great democracy the words of its greatest demo- 
 crat, spoken in solemn warning during the slaughter and de- 
 struction of the civil war: 
 
 "If God will that it continue until all the wealth piled by 
 the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil 
 shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash 
 shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as it was said 
 three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, The judgments 
 of the Lord are true and righteous altogether/' 
 
The Profits of Religion 
 
 An Essay in Economic Interpretation 
 By UPTON SINCLAIR 
 
 This book is a study of Supernaturalism from a new 
 point of view as a Source of Income, and a Shield to 
 Privilege. I have searched the libraries through, and no 
 one has done it before. If you read it, you will see that 
 it needed to be done. It has meant twenty-five years of 
 thought and a year of investigation. 
 
 "You have put a lot of work into it," writes William 
 Marion Reedy, "and you have marshalled your facts in 
 masterly fashion. The book is bound to make a sensation." 
 
 Rev. John Haynes Holmes writes: 
 
 "The book is, of course, a powerful and on the whole 
 justifiable indictment of the organized Christianity of our 
 day. I must confess that it has fairly made me writhe 
 to read these pages, not because they are untrue or un- 
 fair, but on the contrary, because I know them to be the 
 real facts. I love the church as I love my home, and 
 therefore it is no pleasant experience to be made to face 
 such a story as this which you have told. It had to be 
 done, however, and I am glad you have done it, for my 
 interest in the church, after all, is more or less incidental, 
 whereas my interest hi religion is a fundamental thing. 
 
 "Let me repeat again that I feel you have done us all 
 a service hi the writing of this book. Our churches to- 
 day, like those of ancient Palestine, are the abode of 
 Pharisees and scribes. It is as spiritual and helpful a 
 thing now as it was hi Jesus' day for that fact to be re- 
 vealed." 
 
 Price in paper, 50c postpaid; in cloth, $1.00 postpaid. 
 
 Published by the Author, Pasadena, California 
 
THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ 
 
 This book is due on the last DATE stamped below. 
 
 APR16'87 A- 
 
 DEC221986RECD 
 
 100m-8,'65(F6282s8)2373 
 
PS3537.I85J5 
 
 3 2106 00214 5644