Broken to the Plow

ected to attend to the cigars. That meant he must touch old Wetherbee for money. Five dollars would do the trick, but, while he was about it, he decided that he might as well ask for twenty-five.

y to the conviction that he was in for a disagreeable encounter. At four o'clock Wetherbee always began to balance his cash for the day and he was particularly vicious at any interruptions during this precise

ed well, too-or neatly, to be nearer the truth; there was no great style to his make-up. Of course, Brauer was not married, but Starratt could never remember a time, even before he took the plunge into matrimony, when he was not going through the motions of smoothing old Wetherbee into

spend it on cafés, and we haven't a car, and goodness know

ny desire to put Helen in the pillory, but merely to u

as alive, he had heard almost the

ave on our income. But we've got to

ant by the term "some people." Brauer was a case in point. M

always get on! They're ac

nder vaguely why the gift of "getting on" had been given to "foreigners" and denied him. Once in a while he rebelled against the implied gentility which had been wished on him. Were rags ne

a charge. But they both had one thing in common-they "had to have things" for almost any and every occasion. If a trip were planned or a dancing party arranged or a tea projected-well, one simply couldn't go looking like a fright, and that was all

credulously. "Why, how about that pi

n. Everybody knows it down to the last hook and eye… Oh, well, I'll stay

thing he could not afford. And in the end it was this feeling rising above the surface of his irritation which made him a bit ashamed of his attitude toward Helen's dinner party. After all, it would be the same a thousand years from now. A man couldn't have his cake and eat it, and a man like Brauer must live a dull sort of life. What could be the use of sa

he condescended to acknowledge the younger man's presence he did it with the merest uplift of the eyebrows. Starratt decided at once

u got twenty-five dollars a couple

half-audible and impersonal grumblings, but this was the first time he had

something else to do besides advance money every other day to a bunch of joy-riding spendthrifts. In my day a young man ordered his expe

losed the incident quickly, but an il

e having some company in for dinner and there are a

"Cigars? Well, twopenny clerks do keep up

short with an i

changed, Mr.

e elder man sneered, as he reache

most at once he was moved to sudden resentment. What right had Wetherbee to humiliate him before everybody within earshot? He k

really doesn't make the slightest

t confused. The whole scene had fallen flat. His suave heroics

oulder. He knew Brauer's fawning, a

ort-" Brauer

ed Brauer; in fact, he always had just missed

sure. Could you give

less fingers into his vest po

ratt said, quickly, as

faction. Starratt almost shrank back. He felt a

ully," he mu

es with a suggestion

Starratt's mind, "that I h

*

& Wheeland's, but the state of his finances urged a speedy flight home instead. At this hour the California Street cars were crowded, but he managed to squeeze into a place on the running board. He always enjoyed the glide of this old-fashioned cable car up the

ning the outlying districts with all the disdain of a San Franciscan born and bred of pioneer stock. He liked to be within easy walking distance of work, and only a trifle over fifteen minute

y. Four oyster cocktails came to a dollar and a quarter, and he had to have at least six cigars at twenty-five cents apiece. This left him somewhat short of the maid's wage of three dollars for cooking and serving dinner and washing up the dishes

bles, too. Mrs. Finn had disappointed her and sent a frowsy femal

ed, brutally. "You can't depend on anyone the

d when Helen had called up the shop to pro

he said? 'Go as far as you like! We're all going out on a strike next week, so we should

ce. He was thinking just where he would gather enough m

cooking. The Starratts had once had just such a shining-faced body for a neighbor-a woman who ran up the back stairs during the dinner hour with a bit of roasted chicken or a pan of featherweight pop-overs or a dish of

utch, though!" frequ

as very apt even in his younger days. And as he shoo

s prominent and throbbing temples. Fred felt him to be a man without any inherited social graces, yet he contrived to appear at ease. Was it because he was dispo

his wife's own kind. Helen and her women friends were not incompetent housewives, but their efforts leaned rather to an escape from domestic drudgery than to a patient yielding to its yoke. If they discussed housekeeping at all, it was with reference to some new labor-saving device flashing across the culinary horizon. But Mrs. Hilmer's conversation thrilled with the pride of

hours and hours!

custard," Hilme

it, because Helen had provided good fare, even if she had prepared most of it vicariously. Hilmer's covert disdain was more impersonal, yet it remained every whit as irritating, for all that. Perhaps a bit more so, since Fr

forty-five dollars a week," she f

ed Hilmer,

len countered, with

husband work?" Hil

know. How long d

ine to twelve is three hours … one

n. "There you have it!… What's wrong

oesn't have to use his brains very

husband do

ding to ignore Hilmer's insolence, "but as an employer of an office force you must know how much overtime the average cler

a roll. "What,

the enlarged capacity that comes with greater skill and knowl

well put," he said; "very well put, indeed! And would you mind t

hey have insured to us. I'm what they call a map clerk. I enter the details of every risk on bound maps of the larger towns which every insurance company is provided

for seven hours every day

es

have you bee

five

will you conti

kno

and in order to enlarge your capacity and skill and knowledge you have worked many hours overtime on this same routine, I suppose without any extra pay… It seems to me that a man who only gets a chance to exercise with dumb-bells might keep in condition,

an increase of ten dollars a month in two y

att f

ually a lie. Why should you have the interest of your firm at he

en snapping anger. "Well, and what do

orce me into a corner. The average clerk in any country is like a gelded horse. He's been robbed of his powe

e and heave bricks into your plate-glass

or knowledge, you drink the brand you pick yourself and it doesn't go to your head. Now with you … you didn't have any choice. You drank up what they handed out and, at the age when you could have made a selection, your taste was formed … by others… I don't mind people kicking at the man who works with his hands if they know what they're talking about. But most of them don't. They get the thing second hand. They're chock full of loyalty to superiors and systems and governme

e of contempt and reached

ilmer wished to throw any further mud he was

tiffening the backbone of my sort?

ext to impossible. They've been bowing and scrapi

ss'?" Helen echo

ce. Starratt was the first to recover himself. "Why, of course!…

What nice corn pudding this is, Mrs. Starratt

hs from which he had sprung. He had his vulgarities, of course, but it was amazing how well selected they were-the vulgarities of simplicity rather than of coarseness. And while he talked he moved his hands unusually for a man of northern blood, revealing the sinister thumb and forefinger, which to Fred Starratt grew to be a symbol of his guest's rough-hewn power. Hilmer was full of raw-boned stories of the sea and he had the seafarer's trick of v

's life didn't go very far beyond half-

paws. But to-night she drew her dark eyebrows together tensely and let her thin, vivid lips part with frank eagerness. Her interest flamed her with a new quality. Fred Starratt had always known that his wife was attractive;

ction of being one of the leading shipbuilders of the Pacific coast, his narrative steadily dwindled in power, the stream

please tell us … about … about the m

his tobacco. A scuffle followed, blows, blood drawn. Upon the slippery deck Hilmer had fallen prone in an attempt to place a swinging blow. The Finn had seized this opportunity and flung a bit

… his head split open

. "How … how perfectly f

ver seen his wife so kindl

to hear unpleasant stories,"

ch she had been leaning, into a corner,

she retorted, and she turned a want

m and the living room. She had on her hat and coat, and, as she retreated

ered the kitchen she was leaning against the s

, "but I forgot to cash a check

ely to her hips as she braced her

she snapped. "A

forty," he announced, apologetically. "You see, we usually have Mrs. Finn. She knows us and I felt s

orted. "I don't give a damn what you thought. I wa

ply. Starratt was sure t

he insisted, in a low voice.

ur wife

hed a check to-day, but I forgot… You

ut in a snuffling appeal, but he simply had

swell frie

on't know them well enough

gist of the whole thing. If you can ask a strange woman who's done an honest night's work to wait for her mo

lung out, suddenly, as

r and gained the dining room. S

p skate trying to put up a front! But you won't get by with me, not if I

urned. A tray of Haviland cups and saucer

her. "Will you be good enough to

s face. "Not much I won't!" she defied

out… He heard a chair scraped back noisily upon the hardwood

her!" Hilmer

ve a gestur

ide toward the obstrep

rsta

defiant seesaw

r voice suddenly broke into tearful blub

and gave her a s

repeated, with

espair and half admiration. He

gained the living roo

p the mess," he said, with

e of shattered porcelain dropping upon the lacquered tray he heard hi

s about the time you fought a man with