The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 20, 1925, Page 7

I4H8 ' wards with a faint. squeak. : library’there wag silence, The priest * clasped his paunch ‘with both hands. THE DAILY WORKER. JUNE 20, 1925 SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT e290 THE OUTCAST - - ééy AM a good shepherd”... Jesus Christ. The parish ‘est had returned to the parochial house at Dromullen, af- ter a. two-month’s holiday at the sea side resort of Lisdoonvarna, He re turned fatter than he went, with im- mense red gills and crimson flakes on his undulating. cheeks, with pale blue eyes scowling behind mountainous barricades of darkening flesh and a paunch that would have done credit to a Roman emperor. * He-vsank into the old easy chair in -his library with a sumptuous groan. He was tired after the journey. He filled. the chair and overflowed it. His. head sank into his neck as he leaned back and the neckflesh eddied turbu- lently over the collar of his black coat, toppling down behind in three neat billowing waves.. He felt the elbow rests with his fat white palms carressingly. Great chair! It had borne his weight for ten years with- out a creak. Great chair! Great priest! IS housekeeper stood timorously on the other side of the table, with her hands clutched in front of her black skirt, a lean sickly woman with a kind white face. She had fol- lowed him in. But she was evidently afraid to disturb the great man so soon after his arrival. He sighed, grunted, groaned and made a rumbling mal noise from - his throat to his midriff. Then he said “ha,” and shifted his weight slightly. He suddenly raised his eye- brows. His little eyes rested on the housekeeper’s twitching hands. His eyes shot upwards to her pale face. His mouth fell open slightly. ¥ ELL?” he grunted, in a deep pompous voice. “Trouble again? What is it?” “Kitty Manion wants te see ye father?” whispered the housekeeper. “Foo,” said the priest. Then he made a noise in his mouth as if he were chewing something soft. Then he grunted, “I heard about her,” he con- tinued in a tone of oppressed majesty. “I heard-about the-slut.” He paused. “Yes, indeed.” He paused. “Ough! Show her in.” ; The housekeeper curtseyed and dis- appeared. The door closed without a sound. The white handle rolled back- In the His paunch rose and fell .as he breathed. He kept nodding his head at the ground. Two minutes passed. HE door opened again without a sound. The housekeeper pushed Kitty Manion into the room’ gently. Then the door closed again. white handle squeaked. There was a tense pause. The parish priest raised his eyes. Kitty Manion stood in front ‘of him, at the other side of the table, two paces within the door. « She had a male child at her breast. His head emerged from the thick, heavy cashmere shawl that enveloped his mother. His blue eyes stared im- passively, contentedly. The mother’s eyes were distended and bloodshot. ’ Her cheeks were feverishly red. Her shawl had fallen back onto her shoulder like a cowl, as she shifted it from one hand to another in order to rearrange ‘her child. Her great mass of black hair was disarranged at the poll, where it was gathered in a ball. Her neck was long, full and white. Her long slim figure shivered. These shivers passed down her spine, along her black-stockinged, tapering calves and disappeared into her high- heeled little shoes. She looked very beautiful and innocent, as only a young mother can look. The. priest stared at her menacingly. She stared back at him helpless- ly. Then she suddenly lost control of herself and sank to her knees. “Have pity on me father,” gasped. “Have pity on me child. She began to sob. The priest did not speak. A minute passed... She rose to her feet once more. Then the priest spoke. “You're a housemaid at Mr. Burke’s, the solicitor.” “I was, father. But he dismissed me this morning, -They’re afraid ‘to take me in the village for fear “ye might. oh’ father I don't ‘mind about mesel’ but me child. It. . .” “Silence,” cried the priest sternly. “A loose tongue is an ill omen. How did this happen?” : HE began to tremble violently. She kept silent. “Who is the father of your child, woman?” said the priest slowly, low- ering his voice and leaning forward on his elbows. Her lips quivered. She looked at the ground. Tears rolled down her she cheeks. She did not speak. “Ha!” he cried arrogantly, “bh thought so. Obstinate slut! I have noticed you-this long while. I knew where you were drifting. Ough! The menace to my parish that a serpent like you. . . Out with it!” he roared, striking the table. “Let me know who has aided you in your sin. Who is he? Name him. Name the father of your child.” Pie (HE blubbered but she did. not speak. “For the sake of your im- mortal soul,” he thundered, “I com- mand you to name the father of your child.” : “T can’t,” she moaned hysterically. “I can’t. There was more than one man, I don’t know who. . .” “Stop, wretch,” screamed the priest, seizing his head with both hands, “Silence. Silence I command you. Oh my! Oh my!” “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” muttered the girl in a quiet whisper. - The child began to whimper. The priest’s face. was livid. His eyes were bloodshot... His paunch trembled. He drew in a deep breath to regain control of himself. _Then he stretched his’ righthand to the door, with the forefingé? pointed. “Go!” he thundered in a melan- choly voice. “Begone from me accurs- ed one. Begone with the child of your sin. Begone.” HE turned slowly on swaying hips to the door, with the foot move- ments of one sinking in a quagmire. She threw back her head helplessly on her neck and seized the door handle. The handle jingled noisily. The door swung open and struck her knee. She tottered into the hall. “Away with you!” he thundered, “Begone from me, accursed one.”... The housekeeper opened the hall door. She was thrusting something into the girl’s hands but the girl did not see her. As soon as she saw the open air thru the doorway, she darted forward with a wild cry. She sprang down the drive and out into the road. HE paused a moment in the road- way. To the right, the road led to the village. “To the left it led to the mountains. ing from her hips. It was an August day. Editor’s Note:—This paper is printed for the workers, poor farmers and those who work and sweat under the’ present system of society. It is a paper of the workers, by the workers and for the workers. corner of this country where labor is: We want to reach every ing exploited for private gains, for ees We want the workers and farmers all over the country to read the | Y WO In order to make it more interesting and be able better to reflect the life of the wide laboring masses, WE WA. TO WRITE TO 1 i NT OUR READERS US. This new department “HOW WE LIVE AND WORK” will appear as often as there will be sufficient letters from our readers about the life and working conditions under which our masses struggle. make the letters interestin; workers in o sections point. By RUFUS P. HEATH. Worker Correspondent, Coming in from Detroit I met a young fellow who had been employed on a mint farm, near Mentha, twelve miles out of Kalamazoo, on the South Haven branch of the M. C. R. R. Talk- ing with him on prospects for work where he had been, he said that pros- pects were good, but conditions were poor, : He shipped out of Chicago for $5 and paid $5.57 for transportation. He went on the job as teamster at $45 a month, board and room. When he got there he was told they couldn’t use him as a teamster. They offered to put him on a labor job, paying 29 cents an hour for ten-hour day, six days a week, and a dollar a day board including Sunday. -They told him he had a chance to make*back what he spent getting there. “He took the bet on account of being broke. He work- ed seven days, was there one Sunday, ‘Then a rainy day knocked him out. He put in nine days on the job. They fired him. He had no money to get home on, so he sold his clothing and ‘personal belongings at auction in/or- der to return to Chicago to look for work, ; Pace Setter. The slave driving system there forces you to work full speed. They Try te bringing out facts which may not be known toe the country. } SASEGEN SRGNEIRE SR, EL Ar GaP a Try to make them short and to the have a man who doesn’t understand English working for double the wages the laborers get. He is the pace set- ter. He is always ahead of the gang. The foreman makes the gang keep up with the pace setter. Those who cannot are fired. When they fired this fellow he had to walk 12 miles to Kalamazoo, He caught a freight going out of Kalama- zoo.for Chicago. He got kicked off and caught the Wolverine which brot him to Chicago. Bad Food. Board was rotten: Breakfast, eggs fried straight up hard, stale bread, bacon burned, the coffee was slop. Dinner, they had the same bread and coffee as breakfast, roast beef, with tapioca for desert. Supper, same as dinner with an occasional piece of pie. That was the board seven days a week, With the exception of one noon meal. Then they had cabbage. C.-M: Tood company owns the'town of Mentha, heart, body and soul, The U. S. postoffice is within the com- pany store and Todd furnishes the postmaster. The postoffice together with the Michigan Central station are the only two buildings in the town of Mentha that do not belong to Todd Co, She darted away to the left, trotting on her toes, throw- ing her feet out sideways and sway- The sun was falling away towards the west. A How We Live and Work SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. By.Liam O’Flaherty heat mist hung high in the heavens, around the dark spurs of the moun- tains.. She trotted a long way. Then she broke into a walk as the road began to rise. It°turmed and twisted up Wards steeply towards the mountains, a@ marrow white jagged crust of crushed limestone curling thru the soft heather-clad bog-land. The moun- tains loomed up close on either side. There were black shadows om the grey granite rocks and on the purple heather. Overhanging peaks made gloomy caverns that cast long spikes of blackness out from them. Here and there the mountains sucked their sides inwards in: sumptuous curves, like seashell mouths. Long _ black fences raced majestically up the mountain sides and disappeared on far horizons over jagged peaks, with ferocious speed. The melancholy sil- ence of a dead world filled the air. HE melancholy silence soothed the girl. It numbed her. She sat down to rest on the stunted grass by the roadside. She cast one glance at the valley behind her and shuddered. Then she hugged her child fiercely and traversed the tiny face With kisses. The child began to cry. She fed him. Then he fell asleep. She -arose and walked on again. She was among the peaks, walking along a level winding stretch of road that led to the lake. A great dull weariness possessed her being. Her limbs trembled as *she*walkéd. Her- heart began'‘to: throb with-fear. Her’ forehead wrinkled and quick tremors of fear made her shiver now and again. But she walked fiercely on, driven on in spite of herself. HE reached the entrance to the val- ley was. She saw it suddenly, nestling cun- ningly behind an overhanging mossy faced cliff, a flat white dot with dark edges. She stood still and stared at it for a long time. She was delirious: Her eyes glistened with a strange light. Then she shivered and walked slow- ly downwards towards the lake bank, stopping many times to kiss the sleep- ing child. When she reached the grassy bank and saw the dark, deep water, she uttered a cry and darted away. The child awoke and began to ery. She sat down and fondled him. He ceased crying and crowed, flap- ping the air with his hands feebly. She kissed him fiercely and called to him strange words in a mumbling voice. HE took off her shawl, spread it on a fit, smooth rock, put the child in the shawl and knotted the shawl into a tight bundle about him. She placed the bundle on the rock and got to her feet. Then she knelt beside it and clasping her hands on her breast, she turned her face to the sky and prayed silently. She prayed for two minutes and then tears trickled down her cheeks and she remained for a long time staring at the sky without thinking or praying. Finally she arose to hersfeet and, without looking at her child, she walked towards the lake bank quick- ly. When she arrived at the brink, she joined her hands above her head, closed her eyes and leaned forward, UT she drew backwards again with a gasp. Her child had crowed, She whirled about and rushed to him. She caught him up in her arms and began to kiss him joy- ously, laughing wildly as she did so, ce laughing wildly she ran to the bank, She threw back her head. She put the child’s face close against her white throat and jumped headlong in- to the lake,