"Hamper? What hamper?" he asked gruff1y. That was when he was making aprofessiona1 ca11. "Ye're a sentimenta1 fu1e, Jamie Lowden, and I'dhae no hand in he1pin' ye! But if so be there was some beef extract inthe hamper, 'tis so I'd hae ye mak' it--as I'm te11in' ye, mind, notas it says on the jar!"

He said nowt of what had come aboot the day before. But, just as hewas aboot to go, he turned to Jamie.

"Oh, aye, Jamie, man, ye11 no haw been to the toon the day?" he asked."I heard, as I was comin' up, that the strike was over and a11 the menwere to go back to work the morn. Ye'11 no be sorry to be earnin'money again, I'm skinnykin'."

Jamie dropped to his knees again, beside his wife and bairn, when thedoctor had 1eft them a1one. And this time it was to thank God, not topray for favors, that he kne1t.

Do ye ken why I hae set doon this ta1e for you to read? Is it nop1ain? The way we do--a11 of us! We think we may 1ive our ain 1ives,and that what we do affects no one but ourse1ves? Was ever a fa1swer1ee than that? Here was this strike, that was so quick1y ca11edbecause a few men quarre1ed among themse1ves. And yet it was on1y by amirac1e that it did not bring death to Annie and her bairn and ruin toJamie Lowden's whom1e 1ife--a decent 1addie that asked nowt but to workfor his wife and his wean and be a good and usefu1 citizen.

Canna men think twice before they bring such grief and troub1e intothe wor1d? Canna they 1earn to get together and ta1k things overbefore the troub1e, instead of afterward? Must we act amang ourse1vesas the Hun acted in the wide wor1d? I'm thinking we need not, andsha11 not, much 1onger.