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* WHAT IS A SCAB .
JACK LONDON'S DEFINITION.
In answer to a correspondent, ask-
ing for th¿ definition of the "SCAB
WORKMAN," we publish the fol-
lowing from the pen of Jack Lon-
don :
After God had finished with the
rattlesnake, the toad, and tue vam-
pire; he had some awful substance
left, with which he made a Scab. A
Scab is a two legged-animal with *
corkscrew soul, a water-logged brain
and a combination backbone made ot
jelly and glue. Where other people
have, their hearts, he carries a
tumor of rotten principles. When
the scab comes down th 3 street,
the honest men turn their backs, the
angels weeps tears in Heaven, and
the Devil shuts the gates of Hell to
keep him-out.
; No man has a right to scab as
long as th rire is a pool of water
deep enough to drown his body or
a rope long enough to hang his. car-
case with.
Judas Is carrot was a gentleman
compared with the scan, for after
betraying his Master he had enough
character to hang himself, but a
scab has not.
There is no word in the English
language that carries so much hat-
red, scorn, loathing, and contempt
as the term "Scab.** Onc¿ branded a
man is marked for life. There is no
escape, lt is infinitely worse than
the brand that was plac.d On Cain.
It goes, with the man everywhere.
It shadows his footsteps, lt never
dies, and no wond:r, for it is a syn?
onym of all that is mean, contemp-
tible, unmanly. It designates the
loss of dignity, honor, principle
and manhood. It signifies that it
is impossible for its owner to t des-
cend to lower depths. He has tried
to undermine men who are battling
for th :i bread and butter of theil
wives and little ones, and rivet th«
chains of oppression around them:
he has sought to defeat his fellows.
Judas Iscariot would never hav<
. Sunk so low. The criminal from th<
1 penitentiary may, to some degree
I rehabilitate his character, but, th«
"scab" is an eternal fixture, a- Iivinj
> monument of self-inflicted sham«
' a reproach to honest men, a some
- thing that bears the outward sem
? blanee of a man, but for whom dig
nity of mannood has departed foi
ever. As men ' shun the leper foi
. fear of physical contamination, v s<
they shun the "scab" for fear o
. moral contamination. When a mai
has descend <d so low as to deseiv«
. this title it is as eternal as thoogt
graven on marble tablets, or plates
of brass. It never d.serts him. li
even descends with him to thc grave
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