The Witness by Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (best fiction novels of all time .txt) 📖

Relief,  Till It Was Time To Return To

The Vine-Clad Factory And Its Hot,  Noisy Slavery For Another Day.

 

Three Girls Fainted On The Fifth Floor And Two On The Sixth Next

Morning. They Were Not Carried To The Cool And Shaded Rest-Rooms To

Revive,  But Lay On The Floor With Their Heads Huddled On A Pile Of

Waste,  And Had A Little Warmish Water From The Rusty "Cooler" In The

Back Stairway Poured Upon Them As They Lay. No White-Clad Nurse With

Palm Leaf And Cooling Drinks Attended Their Unconscious State,  Although

There Was One In Attendance In The Rest-Room Whose Duty It Was To Look

After The Comfort Of Any Chance Visitors. When Any Stooped To Succor

Here,  She Fanned Her Neighbor With Her Apron,  Casting An Anxious Eye On

Her Own Silent Machine And Knowing She Was Losing "Time."

 

Susie Fainted Three Times That Morning,  And Katie Lost An Hour In All,

Bringing Water And Making A Fan Out Of A Newspaper. Also She Had An

Angry Altercation With The Foreman. He Said If Susie "Played Up" This

Way She'd Have To Quit; There Were Plenty Of Girls Waiting To Take Her

Place,  And He Hadn't Time To Fool With Kids That Wanted To Lie Around

And Be Fanned. It Was His Last Few Words As She Was Reviving That Stung

Susie To Life Again And Put Her Back At Her Machine For The Last Time In

Nervous Panic,  With The Thought Of What Would Happen At Home If She Lost

Her Job. Up Above Her The Great Heavy Machines Thrashed On And The Floor

Trembled With Their Movement. Black And Thick And Hot Was The Air Around

Susie And She Scarcely Could See,  For Dizziness,  The Machinery Which She

Worked From Habit,  As She Stood Swaying In Her Place,  And Wondering If

She Could Hold Out Till The Noon Whistle Blew.

 

Down In The Basement,  Near One Of The Elevator Shafts,  A Pile Of Waste

Lay Smoldering,  Out Of Sight. One Of The Boys From The Lumber-Yard Down

The Next Block Had Stopped To Light His Cigarette As He Passed Out Into

The Street After Bringing A Bill To The Head Manager. He Tossed His

Match Away,  Not Seeing Where It Fell. The Big Factory Thundered On In

Full Swing Of A Busy,  Driving Morning,  And The Little Match Lay Nursing

Its Flame And Smoldering.

 

How Long It Crept And Smoldered No One Knew. It Seemed To Come From

Every Floor At Once,  That Smell Of Smoke And Cry Of Fire! More Smoke In

Volumes Pouring Up Suddenly Through Cracks And Bursting From The

Elevator Shaft; A Lick Of Flame Darting Out Like A Serpent Ready To

Strike,  Menacing Against The Heat Of The Big Rooms.

 

Panic And Smoke And Fire! Cries And Clashing Of Machinery Thundering On

Like A Storm Above An Angry Sea!

 

The Girls Rushed Together In Fear,  Or,  Screaming,  Ran Desperately To

Windows Which They Knew They Could Not Raise! They Pounded At The Locked

Doors And Crowded In The Narrow Passages,  Frantically Surging This Way

And That. There Was No One To Quiet Them Or Tell Them What To Do. If

Some Oneion Of This Agreement Shall Not Void The Remaining Provisions.

 

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Chapter 28 Pg 170

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While We Cannot And Do Not Solicit Contributions From States Where We

Have Not Met The Solicitation Requirements,  Weontribuanybody_. There Is Probably Not

A Militarist In America To-Day Who,  However Bitterly Opposed To Disarmament

As A Present Policy,  Would Not Agree That If,  In Some Future Time,  Mankind

Reaches The Happy Condition Of Universal Socialism,  Disarmament Will Then

Become Practicable And Logical. It Would Not Be Difficult For General Wood

To Subscribe To That Doctrine,  I Think. It Would Not Have Been Difficult

For Mr. Roosevelt To Subscribe To It.

 

Not Only Is Lenine Willing To Support National Armaments,  And Even To Fight

For The Defense Of National Rights,  Whenever An Attack On These Is Also An

Attack On Proletarian Rights--Which He Believes To Be The Case In The

Continued War Against Germany,  He Goes Much Farther Than This _And Provides

A Theoretical Justification For A Socialist Policy Of Passive Acceptance Of

Ever-Increasing Militarism_. He Draws A Strangely Forced Parallel Between

The Socialist Attitude Toward The Trusts And The Attitude Which Ought To Be

Taken Toward Armaments. We Know,  He Argues,  That Trusts Bring Great Evils.

Against The Evils We Struggle,  But How? Not By Trying To Do Away With The

Trusts,  For We Regard The Trusts As Steps In Progress. We Must Go Onward,

Through The Trust System To Socialism. In A Similar Way We Should Not

Deplore "The Militarization Of The Populations." If The Bourgeoisie

Militarizes All The Men,  And All The Boys,  Nay,  Even All The Women,  Why--So

Much The Better! "Never Will The Women Of An Oppressed Class That Is Really

Revolutionary Be Content" To Demand Disarmament. On The Contrary,  They Will

Encourage Their Sons To Bear The Arms And "Learn Well The Business Of War."

Of Course,  This Knowledge They Will Use,  "Not In Order That They May Shoot

At Their Brothers,  The Workers Of Other Countries,  As They Are Doing In The

Present War ... But In Order That They May Struggle Against The Bourgeoisie

In Their Own Country,  In Order That They May Put An End To Exploitation,

Poverty,  And War,  Not By The Path Of Good-Natured Wishes,  But By The Path

Of Victory Over The Bourgeoisie And Of Disarmament Of The Bourgeoisie."[90]

 Universally The Working Class Has Taken A Position The

Very Opposite Of This. Universally We Find The Organized Working Class

Favoring Disarmament,  Peace Agreements,  And Covenants In General Opposing

Extensions Of What Lenine Describes As "The Militarization Of Populations."

For This Universality Of Attitude And Action There Can Only Be One Adequate

Explanation--Namely,  The Instinctive Class Consciousness Of The Workers.

But,  According To Lenine,  This Instinctive Class Consciousness Is All

Wrong; Somehow Or Other It Expresses Itself In A "Bourgeois" Policy. The

Workers Ought To Welcome The Efforts Of The Ruling Class To Militarize And

Train In The Arts Of War Not Only The Men Of The Nations,  But The Boys And

Even The Women As Well. Some Day,  If This Course Be Followed,  There Will Be

Two Great Armed Classes In Every Nation And Between These Will Occur The

Decisive War Which Shall Establish The Supremacy Of The Most Numerous And

Powerful Class. Socialism Is Thus To Be Won,  Not By The Conquests Of Reason

And Of Conscience,  But By Brute Force.

 

Obviously,  There Is No Point Of Sympathy Between This Brutal And Arrogant

Gospel Of Force And The Striving Of Modern Democracy For The Peaceful

Organization Of The World,  For Disarmament,  A League Of Nations,  And,  In

General,  The Supplanting Of Force Of Arms By The Force Of Reason And

Morality. There Is A Prussian Quality In Lenine's Philosophy. He Is The

Chapter 28 Pg 171

Treitschke Of Social Revolt,  Brutal,  Relentless,  And Unscrupulous,  Glorying

In Might,  Which Is,  For Him,  The Only Right. And That Is What Characterizes

The Whole Bolshevik Movement: It Is The Infusion Into The Class Strife And

Struggles Of The World The Same Brutality And The Same Faith That Might Is

Right Which Made Prussian Militarism The Menace It Was To Civilization.

 

And Just As The World Of Civilized Mankind Recognized Prussian Militarism

As Its Deadly Enemy,  To Be Overcome At All Costs,  So,  Too,  Bolshevi

Down To The City For Over Sunday. An Inexpressible Longing Filled Him To

See Tennelly Again,  Before His Marriage Completed The Wall That Was

Between Them. He Wanted To Have A Real Old-Fashioned Talk; To Look Into

The Soul Of His Friend And See The Old Loyalty Shining There. He Wanted

More Than All To Come Close To Him Once More,  And,  It Might Be,  Tell Him

About The Christ.

 

He Took Down His Road-Book,  Turned To The Map,  And Let His Finger Fall

On The Coast-Line About Midway Between The City And The Seminary.

Looking It Up In The Book,  He Found Shadow Beach Described As A Quiet

And Exclusive Resort With A Good Inn,  Excellent Service,  Fine

Sea-Bathing,  Etc. Well,  That Would Do As Well As Anywhere. He

Telegraphed Tennelly:

 

     Meet Me At Shadow