Harris-Ingram Experiment Read online

  Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Mary Meehan, and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  THE HARRIS-INGRAM EXPERIMENT

  By CHARLES E. BOLTON, M.A.

  AUTHOR OF "A MODEL VILLAGE AND OTHER PAPERS," "TRAVELS IN EUROPE ANDAMERICA," ETC.

  CLEVELAND

  THE BURROWS BROTHERS COMPANY

  1905

  TO MY WIFESARAH KNOWLES BOLTONAND MY SONCHARLES KNOWLES BOLTON

  INTRODUCTION

  This volume was ready for publication when my husband died, October 23,1901. In it, in connection with a love story and some foreign travel, hestrove to show how necessary capital and labor are to each other. He hadalways been a friend to labor, and there were no more sincere mourners athis funeral than the persons he employed. He believed capital should beconciliatory and helpful, and co-operate with labor in the most friendlymanner, without either party being arrogant or indifferent.

  Mr. Bolton took the deepest interest in all civic problems, and it is acomfort to those who loved him that his book, "A Model Village and OtherPapers," came from the press a few days before his death. He had hopedafter finishing a book of travel, having crossed the ocean many times andbeen in many lands, and doing some other active work in public life, totake a trip around the world and rest, but rest came in another way.

  Sarah K. Bolton

  Cleveland, Ohio.

  PREFACE

  Mr. W.D. Howells, in reply to a literary society in Ashtabula County,Ohio, said that most people had within their personal experience onebook.

  I have often quoted Howells's words to my best friend, who has written ascore of books, and the answer as frequently comes, "Why not write a bookyourself?" Encouraged by Howells's belief, and stimulated by the acceptedchallenge of my friend, to whom I promised a completed book in twelvemonths, I found time during a very busy year to pencil the chapters thatfollow. Most of the book was written while waiting at stations, or on thecars, and in hotels, using the spare moments of an eight-months' lectureseason, and the four months at home occupied by business.

  I am aware that some critics decry a novel written with a purpose. Permitme therefore in advance to admit that this book has a double purpose: Totest the truth of Howells's words as applied to myself; and to describe ajourney, both at home and abroad, which may possibly be enjoyed by thereader, the inconveniences of travel being lessened by incidentallytracing a love story to a strange but perhaps satisfactory conclusion;the whole leading to the evolution of a successful experiment, which infragments is being tried in various parts of the civilized world.

  CONTENTS

  Chapter IThe Harrises in New York

  Chapter IIMr. Hugh Searles of London Arrives

  Chapter IIIA Bad Send-off

  Chapter IVAboard the S.S. Majestic

  Chapter VDiscomfitures at Sea

  Chapter VIHalf Awake, Half Asleep

  Chapter VIILife at Sea a Kaleidoscope

  Chapter VIIIColonel Harris Returns to Harrisville

  Chapter IXCapital and Labor in Conference

  Chapter XKnowledge is Power

  Chapter XIIn Touch with Nature

  Chapter XIIThe Strike at Harrisville

  Chapter XIIIAnarchy and Results

  Chapter XIVColonel Harris Follows his Family Abroad

  Chapter XVSafe Passage, and a Happy Reunion

  Chapter XVIA Search for Ideas

  Chapter XVIIThe Harrises Visit Paris

  Chapter XVIIIIn Belgium and Holland

  Chapter XIXParis, and the Wedding

  Chapter XXAboard the Yacht "Hallena"

  Chapter XXITwo Unanswered Letters

  Chapter XXIIColonel Harris's Big Blue Envelope

  Chapter XXIIIGold Marries Gold

  Chapter XXIVThe Magic Band of Beaten Gold

  Chapter XXVWorkings of the Harris-Ingram Experiment

  Chapter XXVIUnexpected Meetings

  Chapter XXVIIThe Crisis

  THE HARRIS-INGRAM EXPERIMENT