74 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



were not settled by Tuesday night. It seemed 

 that I had not moved a day too soon. On Mon- 

 day thirty-seven carpenters applied at my office. 

 Most of them had union tickets and were not 

 considered. Thirteen, however, were not of the 

 union, and they were investigated. I hired seven 

 on these conditions : wages to begin the next 

 day, Tuesday, and to continue through the week, 

 work or no work. If the strike was ordered, I 

 would take the men to the country and give 

 them steady work until my jobs were finished. 

 They agreed to these conditions, and were re- 

 quested to report at my office on Wednesday 

 morning to receive two days' pay, and perhaps 

 to be set to work. 



I did not go to the farm until Tuesday after- 

 noon. There was no change in the strike, and 

 no reason to expect one. The noon papers said 

 that the Carpenters' Union would declare a sym- 

 pathetic strike to be on from Wednesday noon. 



On reaching Four Oaks I called Nelson aside and 

 told him how the land lay and what I had done. 



" I want you to call the men together," said I, 

 " and let me talk to them. I must know just 

 how we stand and how they feel." 



Nelson called the men, and I read the reports 

 from two papers on the impending strike order. 



" Now, men," said I, " we must look this 

 matter in the face in a businesslike fashion. 

 You have done good work here ; your boss is 

 satisfied, and so arn I. It would suit us down 



