He kicked the boardwalk again, so hard that Emily could feel the boards beneath her bounce slightly. “He’d been with the company fifteen years, and they threw him away like a piece of garbage.”
The bitterness in his voice made Emily uncomfortable.
“That’s tough,” Ted said in a low voice. He cleared his throat. “Uh, what kind of accident was your father in when he lost his fingers?”
“He didn’t lose all of them in one accident. He was a brakeman.”
Emily and Ted glanced at each other. “It takes courage to be a brakeman,” she said. Lots of brakemen lost fingers, Emily knew. Sometimes they lost entire hands or even their lives.
Erik flashed her a look of gratitude. “Pa lost two fingers in an accident three years ago, but he could still work. He lost the other two this winter.”
“Was he trying to use the coupler?” Ted asked.
Erik nodded. “The last time, he was trying to attach a boxcar to the train with the link-and-pin coupler. He was standing between the cars, like the brakemen always do when they’re attaching cars. He was steering the iron link into the socket so he could drop in the pin that held the cars together. But the boxcar was moved at the wrong moment, and his fingers were crushed in the link-and-pin coupler.”
Emily blinked back tears at the thought of what it must have been like for Erik to have his father lose his fingers. “My father is a doctor,” she said. “He’s seen a lot of accidents like your father’s. Too many, he says.”
Erik’s brown eyes grew darker with anger. “Everybody says there’s too many accidents, but no one does anything about it.”
Ted and Emily glanced at each other but said nothing. What could they say? Erik was right.
Ted cleared his throat. “Where does your father work now?”
Erik stared at the road. “Nowhere. He hasn’t been able to find a job because of the hard times.” He nodded at the bag at his feet. “That’s why I had to quit school and go to work as a newsboy.”
Emily couldn’t imagine needing to quit school to make money for her family. She knew there were children who had to do that, but she didn’t know any. She thought it must be scary.
“Is your ankle feeling any better?” Erik asked.
“It still throbs,” she said. “My shoe feels tighter than before.”
Ted’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “That’s not a good sign. Maybe your foot is swollen. Can you stand on it?”
He and Erik each took one of her arms and helped her stand. She held her breath as she put her weight on her injured foot. “Oooh!”
The boys’ hands tightened on her arms.
“We’d better help you home,” Ted said.
Erik nodded.
“You don’t have to help, Erik,” Emily said. “You have to sell your papers. I’ve kept you from your work too long already.”
“That’s all right,” Erik answered. “It’ll take you and Ted hours if you try to walk leaning on him.”
Erik slung his bag over his shoulders. Ted put Emily’s school-books with his and fastened his book strap around them. Then he and Erik made a chair with their arms for Emily.
Emily still thought it took a long time to get home. The boys had to stop and rest a few times along the way. The closer they got to the house, the more Emily dreaded reaching it.
She glanced down at the ruffle that ran along the bottom of her green dress, just below her knees. It dangled below the hem now. The white stocking that came up over her knee was torn, and her leg and knee were scraped like the palms of her hand. “Mother will be upset about the dress,” she said to Ted.
He laughed. “You are always doing something to upset your mother.”
“I bet she’ll be so glad you weren’t hit by the trolley car that she won’t be upset at all,” Erik told her.
She shook her head. “You don’t know my mother. She’ll say,
‘Emily Marie Allerton, why must you act so impulsively? Young ladies cross streets carefully and slowly. Why can’t you be more like your sister, Anna?’”
Erik smiled at Emily’s tone.
Ted laughed. “She sounds just like her mother,” he told Erik.
Emily glanced at Erik and bit back a groan. How could she have let Erik help her home? Her parents and Ted’s parents had warned them many times not to have anything to do with the city’s newsboys. The adults thought the newsboys tough and were sure they would drag well-raised children into trouble.
Emily took a deep breath as the boys carried her up the front steps and across the wide wooden porch to the door of her house. Her parents weren’t going to like a newsboy coming to their house with her and Ted!
CHAPTER 3
The Surprise
Whatever happened to you, Emily?” Mother rushed out of the parlor and down the hallway toward the front door when the children entered the house.
“I hurt my ankle,” Emily said. Ted and Erik set Emily down on one of the bottom steps of the stairway leading to the upstairs.
“I’d better go,” Erik said. “See ya.” He lifted a hand in a small wave and backed toward the front door. He nodded at Emily’s mother, touching his fingers to the brim of his bicycle hat. “Ma’am.” A second later he was outside and closing the door.
Mother frowned after him. “Have I met him before?” “I don’t think so,” Ted said. “We just met him today.” Emily groaned and darted Ted a sharp glance. Surely he knew better than to say that! Her mother was going to be upset enough when she discovered Erik was a newsboy. “Where did you meet him?” Mother asked. “When I hurt my ankle.” Emily leaned down and rubbed her ankle, groaning slightly.
As she’d hoped, her mother forgot about Erik instantly. She knelt in front of Emily and began unbuttoning the shoe. “What happened?”
Emily’s father and Ted’s parents came out of the parlor as Emily started to tell the story.
When Emily told of catching her heel on the rail, Mother sighed. “Emily Marie Allerton, why must you act so impulsively? Why can’t you be more feminine, like your sister, Anna? Young ladies cross streets slowly and cautiously. They don’t race across like boys. And just look what you did to your pretty new school dress.”
Emily glanced at Ted and tried not to groan. Ted put his fist up to his face and gave a funny little cough. Emily knew he was trying not to laugh. She looked away to keep from laughing herself and continued her story.
When she told of Erik pulling her to safety, her mother asked, “Is that the boy who came home with you?”
Emily nodded. “He probably saved my life, or at least my leg.”
“Yes, he probably did,” her father said, kneeling in front of her. “We’ll have to thank him properly.” He ran experienced fingers lightly over her ankle. “Swollen but not broken. It will likely hurt for a few days. I’ll bandage it so it will be easier to walk on. Marcia,” he turned to his wife, “could you get some ice? It might be too late to stop the swelling, but we can try it.”
Mother hurried down the hallway and through a swinging door into the kitchen.
Father helped Emily into the parlor, where she sat in his favorite stuffed chair, which was covered in green velvet, and rested her foot on a matching footstool. In a few minutes, Mother was back with a chunk of ice wrapped in a linen towel.
Emily flinched when her father pressed the cold towel against her ankle. “It will help,” he said, holding it in place.
Mother stood behind him, shaking her head.
Ted’s mother came to stand beside her. “Tell us more about this brave lad who helped you.”
Emily was glad Aunt Alison had changed the subject from Emily’s shortcomings, though she was sure her mother wouldn’t think Erik so brave when she discovered he was a newsboy. She wished her own mother were more like Aunt Alison. Her aunt never got as upset as her mother over the small scrapes Emily and Ted’s impulsive acts got them into.
Before she could say anything, Ted jumped in eagerly and told how Erik had risked his o
wn safety to help Emily.
“I wish he would have stayed so we could thank him in person,” Mother said.
Emily glanced at her in pleased surprise. “He’s very nice.” “Even though he is a newsboy,” Ted added. Mother’s face swung toward Ted. “A newsboy?” Emily leaned her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes.
“What were you two doing with a newsboy?” Mother asked.
Ted fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “We weren’t with him when Emily fell. We didn’t even know him until afterward. He helped Emily even though he didn’t know her.”
“That was brave and honorable of him,” Emily’s father said, “but you know we don’t want you making friends with newsboys.”
“Yes, sir,” Emily muttered.
“That goes for you, too, Theodore,” Aunt Alison said. “Yes, ma’am,” Ted muttered.
“Erik isn’t a newsboy because he wants to be one,” Emily told their parents. “He has to work because his father lost his job.”
“That’s right,” Ted added from his seat in a tall-backed oak rocking chair on the other side of the room. He told how Erik’s father lost his fingers and then his job.
“It’s terrible that men like Erik’s father have had to lose their fingers and their lives doing their jobs,” Uncle Charles agreed.
“About twenty-five years ago, when I was younger than you, a man named Eli Hamilton Janney invented a new kind of coupler to connect railroad cars. It automatically connects, or couples, the cars when the cars are pushed together. It’s much safer than the old way.”
Ted’s almost-black eyes flashed. “Then why don’t the railroads use the new coupler?”
“The railroad companies thought it was too expensive to add to the railroad cars. Only the Pennsylvania Railroad used it. They thought it worked well. Then a few years ago, Iowa made a law that all railroads in Iowa had to use both Janney’s coupler and a safer kind of brake called an air brake.”
Emily sat up straighter. Anger, more powerful than the pain in her ankle, swirled through her chest. “I think it’s awful railroads are more worried about money than about people like Erik’s father! Why don’t all railroads in all the states have to use the safest brakes and couplers?”
“Soon they will,” Uncle Charles said. “The United States has a new organization called the Interstate Commerce Commission. It makes rules for companies that do business in more than one state. This spring they made a rule saying all railroads have to use Janney’s coupler and the air brake.”
“Hurrah!” Ted leaped to his feet. The chair rocked like a boat on one of Minnesota’s wind-blown lakes.
His mother raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “Theodore, don’t let the chair hit the wall.”
Although Aunt Alison’s words sounded like scolding and the children always knew she was serious when she called him Theodore, Emily could hear a laugh behind her aunt’s voice.
While Ted slowed the chair’s rocking and sat down again, Emily said, “I’m glad about the new rule, Uncle Charles, but the rule came too late for Erik’s father.”
“Yes,” he admitted, “and that’s a shame. But he probably helped get the new rule passed.”
“How could he do that?” Ted asked.
“Yes, how?” Emily repeated. “He was only a brakeman, not a rich man.”
“The brakemen have a union. Through the union, the brakemen work together to try to get railroads to do things in ways that make their work safer. The brakemen’s union told the Interstate Commerce Commission how safe Janney’s coupler is.”
Ted frowned. “Is the brakemen’s union like the railroad engineers’ union that you belong to, Father?”
Uncle Charles nodded. “Yes. There are lots of different unions. There’s a plumbers’ union and a carpenters’ union and a tailors’ union. Each one tries to make working conditions better for their own kind of jobs.”
“There are unions that try to help all working people, too, no matter what their jobs,” Father told them, looking up from Emily’s ankle, which he’d just finished wrapping in a bandage. “One is called the Knights of Labor. Another is the American Federation of Labor, which most people call the AFL.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Emily said.
Uncle Charles smiled at her. “In addition to trying to make work safer, they try to get better wages for their members—and shorter work hours. Those are some of the reasons your brother Walter thinks unions are so important, Ted.”
Ted grinned. “Walter is always talking about unions and going to union meetings.”
Father stood up. “Better wages and shorter hours are nice for the working men, but I think that helping make things safer is the most important work they do. I suppose that’s because I’m a doctor and treat so many people hurt in unnecessary accidents. Some bosses make things as safe as they can for their workers without laws, but not all.”
“That’s right,” Uncle Charles agreed. “The new law about couplers and air brakes will make trains safer for both workers and the people riding the trains. About 6,400 people were killed in railroad accidents last year, and almost 30,000 were injured.”
“Wow!” Emily stared at Ted. His eyes were as big as hers felt. “No wonder the new rule was made.”
“Sometimes people have to see how bad things are before they do something to change them,” Father said.
“Erik’s father isn’t the only railroad man to lose his job this year,” Uncle Charles said. “A number of railroads are declaring bankruptcy. They owe more money than they can make.”
Ted stared at him. “Is … is your railroad in trouble?”
Ted’s voice sounded high and tight. Emily felt suddenly sick to her stomach. Would Uncle Charles lose his job? What if Ted had to quit school and go to work like Erik?
Uncle Charles shook his head. “The Great Northern Railroad is in good shape. James Hill is too good a businessman to let the company get in trouble.”
Emily’s stomach felt instantly better, and she saw a grin on Ted’s face. Then she remembered the bank run. She sat up with a jerk that bumped her sore ankle against the shoe on her other foot. She winced but ignored her pain in order to deliver her message. “We almost forgot to tell you why Ted and I were in such a hurry on our way home.”
She and Ted interrupted each other again and again telling the story of the bank run.
“Have you talked to Uncle Enoch?” Ted asked when they were done.
“No,” said Uncle Charles.
“No,” Father added, “but—”
“Maybe you should take your money out of the bank and put it somewhere safe,” Emily interrupted.
Father and Uncle Charles exchanged looks. “I think we’ll wait until we talk with Enoch,” Uncle Charles said slowly.
Father nodded.
Emily thought it looked like there was something almost like fright in their eyes, but she wasn’t sure. She’d never seen any of their parents afraid before.
“But …” She licked her lips. Her parents usually didn’t take advice from their children. She took a deep breath and started again. “What if all the bank’s money is gone by the time you talk to Uncle Enoch? There were a lot of people there.”
Ted sat on the edge of the rocker and nodded.
“I’m sure Enoch would have told us if our money wasn’t safe,” Father said with a small smile.
Is that a true smile, Emily wondered, or a smile to make me and Ted feel better?
Ted rubbed his hands over his knees. “Emily’s right. You should talk to Uncle Enoch right away.”
“We will, son,” Uncle Charles said. “We promise.”
“Enoch and his wife are joining us for dinner this evening,” Mother said. “Your fathers can ask him about the bank then.”
Emily and Ted glanced at each other. She wasn’t at all sure that would be soon enough.
Aunt Alison stood up. “I’m tired of all this dreary talk. I think we could all use a dose of someth
ing more cheerful. Ted, Emily, I think Emily’s parents have a surprise for you.”
Emily looked at her mother expectantly.
“A surprise?” Ted’s grin grew.
Father went to stand by the dainty upholstered chair where
Mother sat beside the fireplace doing needlework. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked, “What do you think? Should we tell them yet or make them wait?”
Mother put her needlework down and leaned her head to one side. She looked at Ted, then at Emily. “I’m not so sure. Perhaps they’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
Emily could see her father’s eyes sparkling with mischief. Excitement bubbled inside her. “Tell us now!”
Father laughed. “How would you two like to go to the fair?”
Emily frowned. “The state fair? That’s not until fall.”
Mother smiled.
Father shook his head. “Not the state fair. The World’s Fair. The Columbian Exposition in Chicago.”
CHAPTER 4
An Unexpected Meeting
The World’s Fair? Oh, yes!” Emily grabbed the arms of the green velvet chair and pushed her feet from the footstool to stand up. “Ooooh!” She sank back down.
“Whoopee!” Ted leaped from his chair. It banged against the wall.
“Theodore!” Aunt Alison’s voice held a sterner tone than usual. “If you let that chair hit the wall one more time, you will have to repaint and paper your aunt and uncle’s parlor before you go to the fair—if we allow you to go at all.”
Ted grabbed the arms of the chair, stopping it. “Yes, Mother.” He couldn’t stop grinning though. He knew his mother would never keep him away from something as important as the World’s Fair. “When do we leave?”
“Not until after school lets out for the summer,” Uncle Charles said.
Ted pretended to be disappointed.
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