The Worship of
The Golden Calf.
A Story of
Wage-Slavery
in Massachusetts.
By
Charles Sheldon French.
DALTON, MASS.:
C. Sheldon French, Publisher,
35 John Street.
PITTSFIELD, MASS.:
William J. Oatman, Printer,
536 North Street.
1908.
COPYRIGHT,
1908,
By CHARLES SHELDON FRENCH.
NOTE. Since Chapter VIII was written Massachusettslaw has been so amended that$10,000, instead of $5,000, may now becollected for a human life lost throughthe negligence of a railroad or streetrailway corporation.
CHAPTER I.
THE snows had begun to disappearfrom the far-famed valleys ofBerkshire; the mountain-tops and slopeswere still white; in the softening air wasthe promise of the return of birds andflowers; Nature was relenting from herwinter harshness, but man was lesskindly than Nature.
On Beauna Vista, one of the hillocksrising slightly above the level of theHousatonic Valley, the day’s work wasdone, and John Wycliff, a farm-laborer,was awaiting the pay for his last month’swork before returning home.
There was nothing prepossessing aboutWycliff’s appearance. Short of stature,minus one eye which he had lost in anencounter with the Indians, with a bentnose, a souvenir of a cattle-stampede onthe plains,—he was tough and wiry as alynx, and his features betrayed almostas little emotion as that animal.
His experience had been largely of a[6]kind to make him suspicious of his fellows,and alert for self-defence. He hadknocked about the East in a variety ofoccupations, and in the West had beeneditor, cow-boy and gold-miner. He hadseen varying fortunes, having beenonce part owner of a gold mine. He hadlost all and was now a common laboreragain. Although he still retained his interestin the mine, it was consideredworthless. He had hopes that sometimeit might become valuable again throughthe invention of cheaper methods of separatingthe gold from the rock.
Jacob Sharp, the farm-superintendent,was, in appearance, a typical Yankee.He was tall and angular, with blue eyes,which sometimes kindled with a kindlylight, but which oftener showed a steelyluster suggesting something of the serpent.The nose was the most prominentfeature. It was large and sharply defined,and he had a habit, when excited,of blowing it vigorously.
On this occasion a trumpet-like blastfirst warned John Wycliff that Boss Sharp[7]had something on his mind. He blewhis nose loudly several times, while theblue eyes seemed to retreat more deeplyi