Helen of the Old House

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Helen of the Old House

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Title: Helen of the Old House
Author: Harold Bell Wright
Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9410] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 30, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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HELEN OF THE OLD HOUSE
BY HAROLD BELL WRIGHT
1921

CONTENTS
BOOK ONE
THE INTERPRETER
CHAPTER
I.
THE HUT ON THE CLIFF
II. LITTLE MAGGIE'S PRINCESS LADY
III. THE INTERPRETER
IV. PETER MARTIN AT HOME
V. ADAM WARD'S ESTATE
VI. ON THE OLD ROAD
VII. THE HIDDEN THING
VIII. WHILE THE PEOPLE SLEEP
IX. THE MILL
X. CONCERNING THE NEW MANAGER
XI. COMRADES
XII. TWO SIDES OF A QUESTION
BOOK TWO
THE TWO HELENS
XIII. THE AWAKENING
XIV. THE WAY BACK
XV. AT THE OLD HOUSE
XVI. HER OWN PEOPLE
XVII. IN THE NIGHT
BOOK THREE
THE STRIKE
XVIII. THE GATHERING STORM
XIX. ADAM WARD'S WORK
XX. THE PEOPLE'S AMERICA
XXI. PETER MARTIN'S PROBLEM
XXII. OLD FRIENDS
XXIII. A LAST CHANCE
XXIV. THE FLATS
XXV. McIVER's OPPORTUNITY
XXVI. AT THE CALL OF THE WHISTLE
XXVII. JAKE VODELL'S MISTAKE
XXVIII. THE MOB AND THE MILL
XXIX. CONTRACTS
BOOK FOUR
THE OLD HOUSE
XXX. "JEST LIKE THE INTERPRETER SAID"

BOOK I
THE INTERPRETER
"_Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields_."
CHAPTER I
THE HUT ON THE CLIFF
No well informed resident of Millsburgh, when referring to the principal industry of his little manufacturing city, ever says "the mills"--it is always "the Mill."
The reason for this common habit of mind is that one mill so overshadows all others, and so dominates the industrial and civic life of this community, that in the people's thought it stands for all.
The philosopher who keeps the cigar stand on the corner of Congress Street and Ward Avenue explained it very clearly when he answered an inquiring stranger, "You just can't think Millsburgh without thinkin' mills; an' you can't think mills without thinkin' the Mill."
As he turned from the cash register to throw his customer's change on the scratched top of the glass show case, the philosopher added with a grin that was a curious blend of admiration, contempt and envy, "An' you just can't think the Mill without thinkin' Adam Ward."
That grin was another distinguishing mark of the well informed resident of Millsburgh. Always, in those days, when the citizens mentioned the owner of the Mill, their faces took on that curious half-laughing expression of mingled admiration, contempt and envy.
But it has come to pass that in these days when the people speak of Adam Ward they do not smile. When they speak of Adam Ward's daughter, Helen, they smile, indeed, but with quite a different meaning.
The history of Millsburgh is not essentially different from that of a thousand other cities of its class.
Born of the natural resources of the hills and forests, the first rude mill was located on that wide sweeping bend of the river. About this industrial beginning a settlement gathered. As the farm lands of the valley were developed, the railroad came, bringing more mills. And so the town grew up around its smoky heart.
It was in those earlier days that Adam Ward, a workman then, patented and introduced the new process. It was the new process, together with its owner's native genius for "getting on," that, in time, made Adam the owner of the Mill. And, finally, it was this combination of Adam and the new process that gave this one mill dominion over all others.
As the Mill increased in size, importance and power, and the town grew into the city, Adam Ward's material possessions were multiplied many times.
Then came the year of this story.
It was midsummer. The green, wooded hills that form the southern boundary of the valley seemed to be painted on shimmering gauze. The grainfields on the lowlands