One Way Out

OLLARS

eman to learn whether it was a ledge rock or just a fragment. This interest was not associated with the elevated road for whom the work was being done, nor the contractor who had undertaken the job, nor the foreman who was supervising it. It was a question which concerned only me and Mother Earth who seemed to be doing her best to balk us at every turn. I forgot the sticky, wet clay in which I had floundered for nine hours, forgot the noisome stench which at times we were forced to breathe, forgot my lame hands and back. I recalled only the problem itself and the skill with which the man they called Anton' handled his crow bar. He was a master of it. In removing the smaller slabs which lay around the big one he astonished me with his knowledge of how to place the bar. He'd come to my side where I was prying with all my strength and with a wave of his hand for me to stand back, would adjust two or three smaller

ling when with the United Woollen. My only thought in the morning then was how much time I must give myself to catch the six-thirty. When I reached the office I hung up my hat and coat and sat down to the impersonal figures like an automaton. There was nothing of

n I came into the kitchen she was trying

d, "don't waste your

from her tas

let you get slack

st as bad again five minutes a

l look like this on your way

then let me have them

shaved?"

asn't very bad and I'd made up my m

ut twice or thre

o your new business looking just as ship-shape as you went to t

he had brushed clean and oiled. There was nothing left fo

to put on a high

the things I la

he led me back into the bed room, and over a chair I saw a

you get thi

"It's too much to pay. I can make one for

jected at first because it seemed too much for her to do to wash the things every day, but she said it was a good deal easier than washing them once a week. Incidentally that was one of her own little schemes for saving trouble and it seemed to me a good one; instead of collecting her soiled clothes for seven days and then tearing herself all to pieces with a wh

nversation with Anton', but he understood little English and I knew no Italian, so we didn't get far. As he sat in a group of his fellow countrymen laughing and jabbering he made me feel distinctly like an outsider. There were one or two English-speaking workmen besides myself, but somehow t

t, for he seemed to have it in for Dan. There never was an especially dirty job to be done but what Dan was sent. He always obeyed but he used to slouch off with his big red fist doubled up, muttering curses that brought out his brogue at its best. Later on he confided in me what he was going to do to that boss. If he

sin' me job for the dirthy

like it but I knew that there was just as much to learn here as above and that it must all be learned eventually. The sides were braced with heavy timbers like a mine shaft to prevent the dirt from falling in and there was the constant danger that in spite of this it might cav

rs were sent down but at the end of an hour they too retreated. Dan and I stuck it out for a while. Then I began to ge

' here," he said. "I

er gas was. I couldn't smell anythi

too," I answered, m

behind. At the top we found the foreman fighting mad and trying to spur on anoth

ou out of ther

," answe

oreman. "You're a bunch of whi

nd start towards the man. The l

re or you're fire

Then I saw his j

red. "You shan't

owd together and watch him. By that time my head was clearer but my legs wer

ht! He's lying th

ground I was dizzy again but I managed to get out, heave the unconscious Dan in and pile on top of him myself. When I came to, I was in an ambulance on my way to the hospital but by the time I had reached the emergency room I had taken a grip on myself. I knew that if ever Ruth heard of this she would never again be comfortable. When they

ther scare but luckily the nearest they came to my name was Darlinton, so no harm was done. And they didn't come within a mile of getting the real story. W

a bit white perhaps but otherwise normal e

one with your di

had forgotten it and that was enough to excite suspicion at any time. She kept me uneasy for ten minutes and the best I could do was to ad

one, someone else would have done it sooner or later. At that the man had taught me something about sewer gas and that is when you begin to feel

wo or three days. When he did

nin,

ft town nursing a black eye and a cut on one cheek such as might have bee

th will never again be prouder than she was when, after she had laid aside three of them for the rent and five for current expenses, she picked out a one-dolla

nest-egg,"

you're that much ahead of

Billy," sh

Sunday's dinner. I've kept that list. Many of the things she had bought were not yet used

ur,

d,

tartar an

meal

sses

ar,

toes

e,

k,

s,

brea

ages

uce,

ns,

por

mea

m mea

ter

ese

of be

h,

l,

p,

lt and pepp

f cor

ons

al

lived, and lived well on this amount and as yet Ruth was inexperienced. She hadn't learned all she learned later. For the benefit of those who may think we went hungry I have asked Ruth to write out the bill of fare for this week as nearly as she can remember it. One thing

nd

e-cakes with molasses, cre

rd-boiled eggs, bowl of rice, cold coffee;

potatoes, grid

es

tatoes, graham muff

hard-boiled eggs, rice, milk; for Dic

toes, pork scraps,

nes

fried potatoes, wa

boiled eggs, bread pudding; for Dick and me:

with dumplings,

rsd

ages, baked potatoes,

ffins, cold sausage and rice

r stew, lettuce, h

id

ied rock cod, baked po

read, potato salad, rice;

k of beef, left over fish,

urd

, fried corn mush

, two hard-boiled eggs, cheese, ri

ed beans, h

nd

ked beans, gr

pork scraps, canned corn,

s her beans, stirring it every now and then. I never knew before how the trick was done but it comes out a rich brown and

ars left over from the old home, one dollar saved in the new, a