10 A.M.
Having done so much , he undertook to obtain a view of the strike from the other side ; visited the wretched tenements of the laborers , sought out the sullen and distrustful strike-leaders , heard much fiery oratory and some veiled threats from impassioned agitators , mostly foreign and all tragically earnest ; chatted with corner grocerymen , saloon-keepers , ward politicians , composing his mental picture of a strike in a minor city , absolutely controlled , industrially , politically , and socially by the industry which had made it . The town , as he came to conceive it , was a fevered and struggling gnome , bound to a wheel which ground for others ; a gnome who , if he broke his bonds , would be perhaps only the worse for his freedom . At the beginning of the sixth day , for his stay had outgrown its original plan , the pocket-ledger , 3 T 9901 , was but little the richer , but the mind of its owner teemed with impressions . It was his purpose to take those impressions in person to Mr. Horace Vanney , by the 10 A.M. train . Arriving at the station early , he was surprised at being held up momentarily by a line of guards engaged in blocking off a mob of wailing , jabbering women , many of whom had children in their arms , or at their skirts . He asked the ticket-agent , a big , pasty young man about them . `` Mill workers , '' said the agent , making change .