It was thereupon subsequently
resolved that before resorting to harsher measures the Union
should do all in its power toward winning over the enemy. Brother
Knight Dennis Quigg was thereupon deputed to call upon Mrs. Grogan
and invite her into the Union.
On brother Knight Dennis Quigg's declining for private reasons the
honorable mission intrusted to him by the honorable board (Mr.
Quigg's exact words of refusal, whispered in the chairman's ear,
were, "I'm a-jollyin' one of her kittens; send somebody else after
the old cat"), another walking delegate, brother Knight Crimmins
by name, was selected to carry out the gracious action of the
committee.
Crimmins had begun life as a plumber's helper, had been iceman,
night- watchman, heeler, and full-fledged plumber; and having been
out of work himself for months at a time, was admirably qualified
to speak of the advantages of idleness to any other candidate for
like honors.
He was a small man with a big nose, grizzled chin-whiskers, and
rum-and-watery eyes, and wore constantly a pair of patched blue
overalls as a badge of his laborship. The seat of these outside
trousers showed more wear than his hands.
Immediately upon his appointment, Crimmins went to McGaw's house
to talk over the line of attack. The conference was held in the
sitting-room and behind closed doors--so tightly closed that young
Billy McGaw, with one eye in mourning from the effect of a recent
street fight, was unable, even by the aid of the undamaged eye and
the keyhole, to get the slightest inkling of what was going on
inside.
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