would repose undisturbed
in the heart of the ancient oak of Wake Robin Lodge.
ANTHONY MEREDITH
Ardis,
November 27, 419 B.O.M.
THE IRON HEEL
CHAPTER I
MY EAGLE
The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over
its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the
drowsy hum of bees. It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder, and am
restless. It is the quiet that makes me restless. It seems unreal. All the world is quiet, but
it is the quiet before the storm. I strain my ears, and all my senses, for some betrayal of
that impending storm. Oh, that it may not be premature! That it may not be premature!*
* The Second Revolt was largely the work of Ernest Everhard, though he cooperated, of
course, with the European leaders. The capture and secret execution of Everhard was the
great event of the spring of 1932 A.D. Yet so thoroughly had he prepared for the revolt,
that his fellow-conspirators were able, with little confusion or delay, to carry out his plans.
It was after Everhard's execution that his wife went to Wake Robin Lodge, a small
bungalow in the Sonoma Hills of California.
Small wonder that I am restless. I think, and think, and I cannot cease from thinking. I
have been in the thick of life so long that I am oppressed by the peace and quiet, and I
cannot forbear from dwelling upon that mad maelstrom of death and destruction so soon
to burst forth. In my ears are the cries of the stricken; and I can see, as I have seen in the
past,* all the marring and mangling of the sweet, beautiful flesh, and the souls torn with
violence from proud bodies and hurled to God. Thus do we poor humans attain our ends,
striving through carnage and destruction to bring lasting peace and happiness upon the
earth.
* Without doubt she here refers to the Chicago Commune.
And then I am lonely. When I do not think of what is to come, I think of what has been
and is no more--my Eagle, beating with tireless wings the void, soaring toward what was
ever his sun, the flaming ideal of human freedom. I cannot sit idly by and wait the great
event that is his making, though he is not here to see. He devoted all the years of his
manhood to it, and for it he gave his life. It is his handiwork. He made it.*
* With all respect to Avis Everhard, it must be pointed out that Everhard was but one of
many able leaders who planned the Second Revolt. And we to-day, looking back across
the centuries, can safely say that even had he lived, the Second Revolt would not have
been less calamitous in its outcome than it was.
And so it is, in this anxious time of waiting, that I shall write of my husband. There is
much light that I alone of all persons living can throw upon his character, and so noble a
character cannot be blazoned forth too brightly. His was a great soul, and, when my love
grows unselfish, my chiefest regret is that he is not here to witness to-morrow's dawn. We
cannot fail. He has built too stoutly and too surely for that. Woe to the Iron Heel! Soon
shall it be thrust back from off prostrate humanity. When the word goes forth, the labor
hosts of all the world shall rise. There has been nothing like it in the history of the world.
The solidarity of labor is assured, and for the first time will there be an international
revolution wide as the world is wide.*
* The Second Revolt was truly international. It was a colossal plan--too colossal to be
wrought by the genius of one man alone. Labor, in all the oligarchies of the world, was
prepared to rise at the signal. Germany, Italy, France, and all Australasia were labor
countries--socialist states. They were ready to lend aid to the revolution. Gallantly they
did; and it was for this reason, when the Second Revolt was crushed, that they, too, were
crushed by the united oligarchies of the world, their socialist governments being replaced
by oligarchical governments.
You see, I am full of what is impending. I have lived it day and night utterly and for so
long that it is ever present in my mind. For that matter, I cannot think of my husband
without thinking of it. He was the soul of it, and how can I possibly separate the two in
thought?
As I have said, there is much light that I alone can throw upon his character. It is well
known that
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