to think about herself, to reflect upon what the future might hold for
her when the strike should be over. Nor did she confine herself to
typewriting, but, as with Ditmar, constantly assumed a greater burden of
duty, helping Czernowitz--who had the work of five men--with his
accounts, with the distribution of the funds to the ever-increasing
number of the needy who were facing starvation. The money was paid out to
them in proportion to the size of their families; as the strike became
more and more effective their number increased until many mills had
closed; other mills, including the Chippering, were still making a
desperate attempt to operate their looms, and sixteen thousand operatives
were idle. She grew to know these operatives who poured all day long in a
steady stream through Headquarters; she heard their stories, she entered
into their lives, she made decisions. Some, even in those early days of
the strike, were frauds; were hiding their savings; but for the most part
investigation revealed an appalling destitution, a resolution to suffer
for the worker's cause. A few complained, the majority were resigned;
some indeed showed exaltation and fire, were undaunted by the task of
picketing in the cold mornings, by the presence of the soldiery. In this
work of dealing with the operatives Janet had the advice and help of Anna
Mower, a young woman who herself had been a skilled operative in the
Clarendon Mill, and who was giving evidence of unusual qualities of
organization and leadership. Anna, with no previous practise in oratory,
had suddenly developed the gift of making speeches, the more effective
with her fellow workers because unstudied, because they flowed directly
out of an experience she was learning to interpret and universalize.
Janet, who heard her once or twice, admired and envied her. They became
friends.

The atmosphere of excitement in which Janet now found herself was
cumulative. Day by day one strange event followed another, and at times