IV
Jimmie would not have had the courage to advance, save for the other
man's smile--a smile that was weary, but candid and welcoming.
"Howdy do, Comrade?" said the man. He held out his hand, and the
moment of this clasp was the nearest to heaven that Jimmie Higgins
had ever known.
When he was able to find his voice, it was only to exclaim, "You
wasn't due till five-forty-two!"
As if the Candidate had not known that! He explained that he had
missed his sleep the night before, and had come on ahead so as to
snatch a bit during the day. "I see," said Jimmie; and then, "I
knowed you by your picture."
"Yes?" said the other, patiently.
And Jimmie groped round in his addled head for something really
worth while. "You'll want to see the Committee?"
"No," said the other, "I want to finish this first." And he took a
sip from a glass of milk, and a bite out of a sandwich, and chewed.
So utterly rattled was Jimmie he sat there like a num-skull, unable
to find a word, while the man finished his repast. When it was over,
Jimmie said again--he could do no better--"You want to see the
Committee?"
"No," was the reply, "I want to sit here--and perhaps talk to you,
Comrade--Comrade--?"
"Higgins," said Jimmie.
"Comrade Higgins--that is, if you have time."
"Oh, sure!" exclaimed Jimmie. "I got all the time there is. But the
Committee--"
"Never mind the Committee, Comrade. Do you know how many Committees
I have met on this trip?"
Jimmie did not know; nor did he have the courage to ask.
"Probably you never thought how it is to be a Candidate," continued
the other. "You go from place to place, and make the same speech
every night, and it seems as if you slept in the same hotel every
night, and almost as if you met the same Committee. But you have to
remember that your speech is new to each audience, and you have to
make it as if you had never made it before; also you have to
remember that the Committee is made up of devoted comrades who are
giving everything for the cause, so you don't tell them that they
are just like every other committee, or that you are tired to death,
or maybe have a headache--"
Jimmie sat, gazing in awe-stricken silence. Not being a man of
reading, he had never heard of "the head that wears a crown". This
was his first glimpse into the soul of greatness.
The Candidate went on: "And then, too, Comrade, there's the news
from Europe. I want a little time. I can't bring myself to face it!"
His voice had grown sombre, and to Jimmie, gazing at him, it seemed
that all the sorrows of the world were in his tired grey eyes.
"Perhaps I'd better go," said Jimmie.
"No no," replied the other, with quick self-recovery. He looked and
saw that Jimmie had forgotten his meal. "Bring your things over
here," he said; and the other fetched his cup and saucer and plate,
and gulped the rest of his "sinkers" under the Candidate's eyes.
"I oughtn't to talk," said the latter. "You see how hoarse I am. But
you talk. Tell me about the local, and how things are going here."
So Jimmie summoned his courage. It was the one thing he could really
talk about, the thing of which his mind and soul were full.
Leesville was a typical small manufacturing city, with a glass
bottle works, a brewery, a carpet-factory, and the big Empire
Machine Shops, at which Jimmie himself spent sixty-three hours of
his life each week. The workers were asleep, of course; but still
you couldn't complain, the movement was growing. The local boasted
of a hundred and twenty members, though of course, only about thirty
of them could be counted on for real work. That was the case
everywhere, the Candidate put in--it was always a few who made the
sacrifice and kept things alive.
Then Jimmie went on to tell about to-night's meeting, the
preparations they had made, the troubles they had had. The police
had suddenly decided to enforce the law against delivering circulars
from house to house; though they allowed Isaac's "Emporium" to use
this method of announcement. The Leesville Herald and Evening
Courier were enthusiastic for the police action; if you couldn't
give out circulars, obviously you would have to advertise in these
papers. The Candidate smiled--he knew about American police
officials, and also about American journalism.
Jimmie had been laid off for a couple of days at the shop, and he
told how he had put this time to good use, getting announcements of
the meeting into the stores. There was an old Scotchman in a real
estate office just across the way. "Git oot!" he said. "So I thought
I'd better git oot!" said Jimmie. And then, taking his life into his
hands, he had gone into the First National Bank. There was a
gentleman walking across the floor, and Jimmie went up to him and
held out one of the placards with the picture of the Candidate.
"Would you be so good as to put this in your window?" he inquired;
and the other looked at it coldly. Then he smiled--he was a good
sort, apparently. "I don't think my customers would patronize your
business," he said; but Jimmie went at him to take some tickets and
learn about Socialism--and would you believe it, he had actually
shelled out a dollar! "I found out afterwards that it was Ashton
Charmers, the president of the bank!" said Jimmie. "I'd a' been
scared, if I'd a' known."
He had not meant to talk about himself; he was just trying to
entertain a tired Candidate, to keep him from brooding over a world
going to war. But the Candidate, listening, found tears trying to
steal into his eyes. He watched the figure before him--a bowed,
undernourished little man, with one shoulder lower than the other, a
straggly brown moustache stained with coffee, and stumpy black
teeth, and gnarled hands into which the dirt and grease were ground
so deeply that washing them would obviously be a waste of time. His
clothes were worn and shapeless, his celluloid collar was cracked
and his necktie was almost a rag. You would never have looked at
such a man twice on the street--and yet the Candidate saw in him one
of those obscure heroes who are making a movement which is to
transform the world.
