Things went on quietly at the mine.  There was no riot, no disturbance.  Gordon did not go over, but simply telephoned to the superintendent to close the shaft houses, shut down the engines, put out the fires, and let things rest, at the same time saying that he would hold the superintendent and the bosses responsible for the safety of the plant.

The men were disappointed, as the days went by, that the owner made no effort to induce them to resume work.  They had believed that he would at once accede to their demand, and that they would go back to work with the tax removed.  This, however, was not his plan.  Weeks passed and the men became restless.  They frequented the saloons more generally, spent their remaining money for liquor, and went into debt as much as they were permitted for more liquor.  They became noisy and quarrelsome.  The few men who were opposed to the strike could make no headway against public opinion.  These men held aloof from the saloons, husbanded their money, and confined themselves as much as possible to their own houses.

Things had gone on in this way for six weeks.  The men grew more and more restless and more dissipated.  Again the walking delegate came to encourage them to hold out.  Mounted on an empty coal car, he made an inflammatory speech to the men, advising them not only to hold out against the owner, but also to prevent the employment of any other help.  If this should not prove sufficient, he advised them to wreck the mining property and to fire the mine,—­anything to bring the owner to terms.

Jack and Jarvis went for a long walk one day, and their route took them near Gordonville.  Seeing the men collected in such numbers around a coal car, they approached, and heard the last half of this inflammatory speech.  As the walking delegate finished, Jack jumped up on the car, and said:—­

“McGinnis has had his say; now, men, let me have mine.  There are always two sides to a question.  You have heard one, let me give you the other.  I am a delegate, self-appointed, from the amalgamated Order of Thinkers, and I want you to listen to our view of this strike,—­and of all strikes.  I want you also to think a little as well as to listen.

“You have been led into this position by a man whose sole business is to foment discords between working-men and their employers.  The moment these discords cease, that moment this man loses his job and must work or starve like the rest of you.  He is, therefore, an interested party, and he is more than likely to be biassed by what seems to be his interest.  He has made no argument; he has simply asserted things which are not true, and played upon your sympathies, emotions, and passions, by the use of the stale war-cries—­’oppression,’ ’down-trodden working-man,’ ‘bloated bond-holders,’ and, most foolish of all, ’the conflict between Capital and Labor.’  You have not thought this matter out for yourselves at all.  That is why I ask you to join hands for a