The Blind Brother: A Story of the Pennsylvania Coal Mines

om yi

destruction have done so. But that vision of Bennie, with eyes that could look into his eyes, with eyes that could see the houses and the breakers, the trees and the birds and the flowers, that c

nevertheless, as he answered,

give sight to Bennie. I wouldn't lie

them into a morocco case, and slipped the case

y, you'll make a lawyer; and a lawyer, with so evenly balance

s was intended for a compliment or

igh silk hat, motioned to Carolan to follow

amuse yourself; we'

a tumult. Is it right? Is it right? Some unseen

d Bennie

d Mommie

to be told; he was si

y? Would it not be better, after all, to take back his promise, to do his duty fearlessly, and to work an

m, one by one, ten crisp, new ten-dollar bills. The boy had never in his life before seen so much money at one time. To hold it was like a scene in a fairy story;

f his vest. Carolan looked on with apparent satisfaction; then went and seate

region, of the secret order of Molly Maguires. He was always shrewd enough not to implicate himself in any lawlessness. The fact that he so controlled the organization as to meet his personal ends caused it, eventually, to be split with intern

ntered, laid his silk hat carefully on the table, and motioned to him to be seated. Having ta

d in the mean time it will be absolutely unsafe for you to disclose to any one the fact of your having money o

and Pleadwel

l on the night the breaker was burned, you saw a man come from near the point where the fire broke out, pa

s,

ooking man was th

hiskers"-a sudden thought seemed to strike the boy, and looking for a mome

ed just like-

imly, but Pleadwe

at the trial, and should call you to the witness-stand, you would have no objection, I presume, to giving a

om, "not so lon

"I would not allow a witness of mine to tell a lie. Well, then, you are to be in the

s,

his fob-pocket and glancing at it, "you will have just time to catch the train north." Then stepping to the door between the two r

om, and he and the boy were soon on the stree

e and inquiring, but now his companion was able to get from him no mo

streets, but followed blindly along by the side of Harris. Somehow he felt as though he were walking under a heavy weight, and that roll of money in his pocket se

artling force, that he stopped still in the street, and o

st in time f

e alone, and sat there thinking over what he had done, and

ondered if he knew. But of course that was absurd. Then he tried to dismiss the matter f

into darkness. It was very dismal and cheerless, and not at all the kind of outlook that could serve to draw Tom's mind from its task

imagined that the people in the cars were speaking it; that even the rhythmic rattle of th

long hill toward home, that he had never been so unhappy in all his life before. It was strange, too, fo

and tucked safely away in the pocket of his vest;

hem about the money that night at any rate; he had decided upon that. Indeed, he had almost concluded that it would be better tha

f his trip to Wilkesbarre, and about what he had seen and heard,-about the law-office,

plea of being very tired, he went early to bed. There he lay half the night debating with his conscience, tr

eceive it; and always beating upon his brain, with a regular cadence that followed the pulsation of his heart, and wit

he breach between the miners and the operators was growing daily wider. The burning of the Valley breaker and the arrest of Jack Renni

bring on deeds of violence of a desperate nature. The cry of want began to be heard, and, as the win

od and clothing for them all. Tom had tried to get work outside of the mines, but had failed; there were so many idle men and boys, and there

reat deal, and during these days of enforced idleness the boys occupied much of their time in that way; finding their lite

l air, its far-sounding echoes, its hazy light and its smoky distances; and the brooding spirit o

t to every point of the compass. Over in the little valley to the south lay the ruins of the burned breaker, still untouched; and off upon the other side, one could see the sparkling Susquehanna far up into the narrow valley where its wa

upon the warm sod, and silently looked away to the haze-wrapped mountains, while Bennie sat by his side, and p

h perplexity of mind, much futile reasoning with his

did blind Bennie at his side. He was thinking of the trial, now only three days distant, of what he should be calle

come to that; but how should he ever be able to tell to these two a thing of

in having grasped an opportunity? Or would they grieve over his lack of manly firmness and his loss of bo

at perhaps he could learn what Bennie's mind would be on the subject, without e

the matter, but, after some consider

Jack Rennie act'ally se

bad. 'Taint so much worse to burn a breaker than 'tis to burn a shaft-house, an' they say

you know, Bennie-an' s'pose you'd 'a' seen Jack Ren

ly, "if I thought he'd never get puni

wealthy clapitulist, against the poor laborer, who ain't got no other way to get ev

because he believed in it himself, but

et it by

y else; an' if I saw any one a-doin' it, I'd tell on him if"-Bennie hesitated a moment, and Tom

come to you an' say, 'Ben Taylor, if you tell on Jack, we'l

hought a

' then I'd get a pistol, an' I wouldn't let

ennie holding a crowd of outlaws at bay, with a cocked revolver in his hand. But

t, an' he'd 'a' said to you, 'Ben Taylor, if you ever tell on me, I'll burn you

ed. This was m

done what he said-I don't know-I guess I'd-well, maybe, if I

er in which Bennie would have been even less firm than he himself had been

but there was a strange shortness of breath, and a huskiness in his voice wh

nd brother Bennie, ain't you?' an' I'd 'a' said, 'Yes,' an' he'd 'a' said, 'What'll it cost to get Bennie's sight for him?' an' I'd 'a' said, 'Oh, maybe a hundred dollars,' an' he'd 'a'

and leaned toward Bennie, with flushed

either a return to a measure of the old h

t as if lost in thought. Then he turned his sightles

n it, an' I'd 'a' got my sight, I don't believe-I don't believe I should ever 'a' want