Jimmie Higgins   By: Upton Sinclair (1878-1968)

BY

UPTON SINCLAIR

LONDON

CONTENTS

I. JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE

II. JIMMIE HIGGINS HEARS A SPEECH

III. JIMMIE HIGGINS DEBATES THE ISSUE

IV. JIMMIE HIGGINS STRIKES IT RICH

V. JIMMIE HIGGINS HELPS THE KAISER

VI. JIMMIE HIGGINS GOES TO JAIL

VII. JIMMIE HIGGINS DALLIES WITH CUPID

VIII. JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT

IX. JIMMIE HIGGINS RETURNS TO NATURE

X. JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE OWNER

XI. JIMMIE HIGGINS FACES THE WAR

XII. JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS A PATRIOT

XIII. JIMMIE HIGGINS DODGES TROUBLE

XIV. JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE ROAD

XV. JIMMIE HIGGINS TURNS BOLSHEVIK

XVI. JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE TEMPTER

XVII. JIMMIE HIGGINS WRESTLES WITH THE TEMPTER

XVIII. JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES THE PLUNGE

XIX. JIMMIE HIGGINS PUTS ON KHAKI

XX. JIMMIE HIGGINS TAKES A SWIM

XXI. JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS SOCIETY

XXII. JIMMIE HIGGINS WORKS FOR HIS UNCLE

XXIII. JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE HUN

XXIV. JIMMIE HIGGINS SEES THE OTHER SIDE

XXV. JIMMIE HIGGINS ENTERS INTO DANGER

XXVI. JIMMIE HIGGINS DISCOVERS HIS SOUL

XXVII. JIMMIE HIGGINS VOTES FOR DEMOCRACY

JIMMIE HIGGINS

CHAPTER I

JIMMIE HIGGINS MEETS THE CANDIDATE

I

"Jimmie," said Lizzie, "couldn't we go see the pictures?"

And Jimmie set down the saucer of hot coffee which he was in the act of adjusting to his mouth, and stared at his wife. He did not say anything; in three years and a half as a married man he had learned that one does not always say everything that comes into one's mind. But he meditated on the abysses that lie between the masculine and feminine intellects. That it should be possible for anyone to wish to see a movie idol leaping into second story windows, or being pulled from beneath flying express trains, on this day of destiny, this greatest crisis in history!

"You know, Lizzie," he said, patiently, "I've got to help at the Opera house."

"But you've got all morning!"

"I know; but it'll take all day."

And Lizzie fell silent; for she too had learned much in three years and a half of married life. She had learned that working men's wives seldom get all they would like in this world; also that to have a propagandist for a husband is not the worst fate that may befall. After all, he might have been giving his time and money to drink, or to other women; he might have been dying of a cough, like the man next door. If one could not have a bit of pleasure on a Sunday afternoon well, one might sigh, but not too loud.

Jimmie began telling all the things that had to be done that Sunday morning and afternoon. They seemed to Lizzie exactly like the things that were done on other occasions before meetings. To be sure, this was bigger it was in the Opera house, and all the stores had cards in the windows, with a picture of the Candidate who was to be the orator of the occasion. But it was hard for Lizzie to understand the difference between this Candidate and other candidates none of whom ever got elected! Lizzie would truly rather have stayed at home, for she did not understand English very well when it was shouted from a platform, and with a lot of long words; but she knew that Jimmie was trying to educate her, and being a woman, she was educated to this extent she knew the way to hold on to her man.