revolution among the working people of American City.

Also, he told her about himself, and

awakened her sympathy for his harsh life, his twenty years of privation and servitude; and
when she wept over this, Peter liked it. It was fine, somehow, to have her so sorry for him;
it helped to compensate him for the boredom of hearing her be sorry for the whole working
class. Peter didnt know whether Jennie had learned about his bad record, but he took no
chanceshe told her everything, and thus took the sting out of it. Yes, he had been trapped
into evil ways, but it wasnt his fault, he hadnt known any better, he had been a pitiful
victim of circumstances. He told how he had been starved and driven about and beaten by
Old Man Drubb, and the tears glistened in Jennies grey eyes and stole down her cheeks.
He told about loneliness and heartsickness and misery in the orphan asylum. And how could
he, poor lad, realize that it was wrong to help Pericles Priam sell his Peerless Pain
Paralyzer ? How could he know whether the medicine was any good or nothe didnt even
know now, as a matter of fact. As for the Temple of Jimjambo, all that Peter had done was
to wash dishes and work as a kitchen slave, as in any hotel or restaurant. It was a story
easy to fix up, and especially easy because the first article in the creed of Socialist Jennie
was that economic circumstances were to blame for human frailties. That opened the door
for all varieties of grafters, and made the child such an easy mark that Peter would have
been ashamed to make a victim of her, had it not been that she happened to stand in the
path of his higher purposeand also that she happened to be young, only seventeen, with
tender grey eyes, and tempting, sweet lips, alone there in the house all day. eters
adventures in love had so far been pretty much of a piece with the rest of his life
experiences; there had been hopes, and wonderful dreams, but very few realizations. Peter
knew a lot about such matters; in the orphan asylum there were few vicious practices which
he did not witness, few obscene imaginings with which he was not made familiar. Also,
Pericles Priam had been a man like the traditional sailor, with a girl in every port; and
generally in these towns and villages there had been no place for Peter to go save where
Pericles went, so Peter had been the witness of many of his masters amours and the
recipient of his confidences. But none of these girls and women had paid any attention to
Peter. Peter was only a kid; and when he grew up and was no longer a kid, but a youth
tormented with sharp desires, they still paid no attention to himwhy should they? Peter was
nothing; he had no position, no money, no charms; he was frail and undersized, his teeth
were crooked, and one shoulder higher than the other. What could he expect from women
and girls but laughter and rebuffs? Then Peter moved on to the Temple of Jimjambo, and
there a devastating experience befell himhe tumbled head over heels and agonizingly in
love. There was a chambermaid in the institution, a radiant creature from the Emerald Isles
with hair like sunrise and cheeks like apples, and a laugh that shook the dish-pans on the
kitchen walls. She laughed at Peter, she laughed at the major-domo, she laughed at all the
men in the place who tried to catch her round the waist. Once or twice a month perhaps she
would let them succeed, just to keep them interested, and to keep herself in practice. The
only one she really favored was the laundry deliveryman, and Peter soon realized why. This
laundry fellow had the use of an automobile on Sundays, and Nell would dress herself up to
kill, and roll away in state with him. He would spend all his weeks earnings entertaining her
at the beach; Peter knew, because she would tell the whole establishment on Monday
morning. Gee, but I had a swell time! she would say; and would count the ice-creams and
the merry-go-rounds and the whirly-gigs and all the whang-doodle things. She would tell
about the tattooed men and the five-legged calf and the woman who was half man, and all

the while she would make the dishpans rattle. Yes, she was a marvelous creature, and Peter
suddenly realized that his ultimate desire in life was to possess a swell lady-friend like
Nell. He realized that there was one essential prerequisite, and that