“Now you see what it is to be a Socialist!”
laughed Everley.
And Samuel saw.
After supper that evening came Everley with Friederich
Bremer, to take Samuel to the meeting of the local,
where he was to tell his story.
The “local” met in an obscure hall, over
a grocery shop. There were present those whom
Samuel had met the night before, and about a score
of others. Most of them were working-men, but
there were several who appeared to be well-to-do shopkeepers
and clerks. Samuel noticed that they all called
one another “comrade”; and several of them
addressed him thus, which gave him a queer feeling.
Also he noted that there were women present, and that
one of them presided at the meeting.
Everley made a speech, reading Samuel’s manifesto,
and telling how it had been given out. Then he
called upon Samuel. The boy stood upon his feet—and
suddenly a deadly terror seized hold upon him.
Suppose he should not be able to make a speech after
all! Suppose he should be nervous! What
would they think of him? But he clenched his hands—what
did it matter what they thought of him? The poor
were suffering, and the truth was crying out for vindication!
He would tell these men what had happened to him.
So he began. He told how he had been robbed,
and how he had sought in vain for work, and how he
had been arrested. And because he saw that these
were people who understood, he found himself a case,
and thinking no longer about himself. He talked
for nearly half an hour, and there was quite a sensation
when he finished.
Then Everley rose to his feet again. “Comrades,”
he said, “for the past year I have been urging
that the local must make a fight for free speech in
this town. And it seems to me that the occasion
has now come. If we do not take up this fight,
we might just as well give up.”
“That’s right,” cried Beggs, the
old carpenter.
“I took the liberty of ordering circulars,”
continued Everley. “There was no time to
be lost, and I felt sure that the comrades would back
me. I now move that the local take charge of the
meeting to-morrow evening, and that the two thousand
circulars I have here be given out secretly to-night.”
“I second that motion,” said Mrs. Barton.
“It must be understood,” added Everley,
“that we can’t expect help from the papers.
And our people ought to hear this story, as well as
the members of the church.”
And then he read the circulars, and the motion was
put, and carried unanimously.
“Now,” said Everley, “I suggest
that the local make this the occasion of a contest
for the right to hold street meetings in Lockmanville.
As you know, the police have refused permits ever
since the strike. And I move that beginning with
Thursday evening, we hold a meeting on the corner
of Market and Main streets, and tell this story to
the public. And that we continue to hold a meeting
every night thereafter until we have made good our
right.”
