Page:Autobiography of Mother Jones (1925).djvu/230

Rh tated against a powerful government that sought to make men serfs, to grind them down. He founded this nation that men might be free. He was a gentleman agitator!'

"Are you referring to George Washington?" said one of the group.

"I am so," said I. "And there was a man once who had the gift of a tender heart and he agitated against powerful men, against invested wealth, for the freedom of black men. He agitated against slavery!"

"Are you speaking of Abraham Lincoln?" said a little man who was peeking at me over another fellow's shoulder.

"I am that," said I.

"And there was a man once who walked among men, among the poor and the despised and the lowly, and he agitated against the powers of Rome, against the lickspittle Jews of the local pie counter; he agitated for the Kingdom of God!"

"Are you speaking of Jesus Christ?" said a preacher.

"I am," said I. "The agitator you nailed to a cross some centuries ago. I did not know that his name was known in the region of steel!"

They all said nothing and left.

I went in a house in Monessen where I heard a woman sobbing. "They have taken my man away and I do not know where they have taken