There were enough hard-thinking, sensible men in the audience that night to see the force of his argument.  The majority, however, were in favor of a general strike to gain their point in regard to the scale of wages.  When Philip went home he carried with him the conviction that a general strike in the mills was pending.  In spite of the fact that it was the worst possible season of the year for such action, and in spite of the fact that the difference demanded by the men was a trifle, compared with their loss of wages the very first day of idleness, there was a determination among the leaders that the fifteen thousand men in the mills should all go out in the course of a few days if the demands of the men in the Ocean Mill were not granted.

What was the surprise of every one in Milton, therefore, the very next day, when it was announced that every mill in the great system had shut down, and not a man of the fifteen thousand laborers who marched to the buildings in the early gray of the winter morning found entrance.  Statements were posted up on the doors that the mills were shut down until further notice.  The mill-owners had stolen a march on the employees, and the big strike was on; but it had been started by Capital, not by Labor, and Labor went to its tenement or congregated in the saloon, sullen and gloomy; and, as days went by and the mills showed no signs of opening, the great army of the unemployed walked the streets of Milton in growing discontent and fast accumulating debt and poverty.

Meanwhile the trial of the man arrested for shooting Philip came on, and Philip and his wife both appeared as witnesses in the case.  The man was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years’ imprisonment.  It has nothing special to do with the history of Philip Strong, but may be of interest to the reader to know that in two years’ time he was pardoned out and returned to Milton to open his old saloon, where he actually told more than once the story of his attempt on the preacher’s life.

There came also during those stormy times in Milton the trial of several of the men who were arrested for the assault on Mr. Winter.  Philip was also summoned as a witness in these cases.  As always, he frankly testified to what he knew and saw.  Several of the accused were convicted, and sentenced to short terms.  But the mill-owner, probably fearing revenge on the part of the men, did not push the matter, and most of the cases went by default for lack of prosecution.

Mr. Winter’s manner toward Philip underwent a change after that memorable evening when the minister stood by him at the peril of his own life.  There was a feeling of genuine respect, mingled with fear, in his deportment toward Philip.  To say that they were warm friends would be saying too much.  Men as widely different as the minister and the wealthy mill-man do not come together on that sacred ground of friendship, even when one is indebted to the other