Adventures of Working Men Part 6

"'He looked upon the heart,' sobbed Jenny; 'and oh, Harry, I have tried to choose my king like that.'

"People call this world a vale of sorrows, and I pity those who always speak like that, for they can never have felt the happiness that was mine that night, as two fond arms clasped my neck, and a loving cheek was laid to mine, and they were those of her who has been my wife these fifteen happy years.

"I believe that there are those who think us a strangely-matched couple, and that our little ones all favour their mother; but they don't know all, for my foolish little wife is even proud of her husband."

"And well she may be!" I said to myself as I went away, thinking what a blot these trade outrages have been upon working-cla.s.s history, and how generous stout-hearted men often allow themselves to be led away by the mouthing idlers of their workshops--by men who are constantly declaiming against their betters, and who want as they say for all to be free and equal, with as much sense as the child who cried for the moon.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

MY NON-STRIKING PATIENT.

I had just such a man as my Sheffield grinder to tend once for a broken leg. Samuel Harris was his name, and a very bad fracture I had to deal with.

He lay there without a murmur as I made my examination and then shook my head.

"Seems nasty, don't it, doctor," he said coolly.

"It's a very serious fracture," I said, "and I'm really afraid,--"

"That I shall lose my leg?" he said, antic.i.p.ating my words.

"I will try and save it," I replied, "but you must be prepared for amputation at any moment."

"All right doctor," he said, "I'm in your hands. I won't grumble. If you do take it off, though, and it don't kill me, I'll see if I can't contrive something better than those old wooden legs, that some fellows peg about on."

"Well we'll see," I said, "and if you'll look at matters in that cheerful way perhaps we shall get on."

I saved that man's leg: for a more patient fellow under suffering it was impossible to find, and in the course of various conversations with him, we talked of strikes and outrages, and the various trade disputes, and by degrees he talked about himself and his experiences over similar affaire.

"Ah!" he said, "some men can always make plenty of friends without taking any trouble, and some can make plenty of enemies in the same way; and that last seems to have been my luck through life. I suppose as an ordinary mechanic I'm not such a very bad sort, and I'll tell you why: after about a dozen years of married life there's always a pleasant smile to welcome me home--a sweet look that I always answer with a grin which spreads all over my rough, dirty face till it gets lost on each side in my whiskers, and up a-top in my hair. Then, too, for all I'm a big, grim-looking fellow, as my mates call Sour Sam, the little ones never seem a bit frightened of me; but one comes and gets hold of my cap, and another my coat, and one come and pulls before, and another comes and pushes behind, till they get me in my chair beside the table; and I know times and times I haven't had half a meal for the young rebels climbing on me; for, somehow or another, if there is any time in the day that goes fast, it's dinner hour. You get sat down, and toss this little one, and play with that, and eat two or three mouthfuls, and then it's time to go back to the shop, and grime yourself up again with steel filings and oil.

"I was such a grim, gruff fellow, that my shopmates took precious little notice of me; and one day, after it had been brewing for some time, they all turned out--hundred and forty of 'em.

"Now, I was so took aback, and it come upon me so unexpectedly, that I put on my coat and came out with the rest, and stood outside the gates; but as soon as I was outside, I felt mad at having done so, and would have gone back, only it was too late, and what my shopmates had settled it seemed that I must abide by. So, thinking of how it would end, I walked home, though two or three called me a sneak for not joining their meeting at a public-house hard by. After sitting by the fire for an hour I made up my mind what I should do, and that was to go back to work, for I didn't want to strike, and felt that the treatment we got at the works was quite as good as we deserved; and it didn't seem fair to me to look upon my employer as an enemy because he had had so much better luck in the world than I had. So back I went without a word, and as I got near the gates there were three or four of our chaps hanging about.

"'Where going, Sam?' says one.

"'Works,' I says, gruffly.

"'What for?' he says; and just then some others came up, and then from here and there more and more, till fifty or sixty stood round.

"'I'm going into the works,' I said, roughly, and trying to shove my way on.

"'Well, but what for!' he says, with a sort of half laugh. 'We haven't heard that they've given the rise, but being a favourite you got the news first. Why didn't you tell us, mate?'

"Of course I didn't like his bantering way, nor I didn't like the half laugh which followed; but I said nothing, only tried to push through the crowd, when being brought up short I swallowed down a sort of feeling of rage that seemed to come up my throat, and facing round, I says boldly:

"'Harry Perkins, you're on strike, as yer call it; well, I'm not. You don't mean work: I do; and I'm off into the shop.'

"Well, this seemed to stagger him for a moment, but the next minute half a dozen fellows had hold of me, and I was dragged back right into the middle of the crowd, and the voices I heard naming the pump and river told me I should get some rather rough usage; but the English obstinacy in me began to kick against this treatment, and, shouting out loudly, on the chance of there being some present of my way of thinking, I says:

"'I mean work, mates, and down with the strikers. Who's on my side?'

when fifteen or twenty came forward, and then I can't tell you how it was, for I always was hot-blooded; the next minute we all seemed to be raging and tearing at one another in a regular fight; men shouting, and swearing, and striking fiercely at one another; some down and trampled upon; some wrestling together; and the crowd swaying backwards forwards, here and there, and the battle growing more and more bitter every moment.

"You can't see much in a fight like this, when you have an enemy to contend with the whole time; but I saw that the men now all came out in their true colours, and that the sides were evenly balanced, for a good half had turned out more from feeling bound to act as the others did, than from being dissatisfied with the rate of pay; while now, seeing the stand I had made on their side, they felt bound to take my part in return, and, as I said before, the fight grew fiercer every moment, while headed by Perkins, the man who had spoken to me, the other side was making head, and we were being beaten back step by step and driven along a narrow street, but fighting desperately the whole time.

"Every now and then a chap on one side or the other would stagger out bleeding and wild, and make his way on to a doorstep, or up one of the courts that connected the street with the next, and more than one went down with a groan; while by some means or other about eight or nine of our side were driven up a court by some of the other party, when, seeing the chance, I shouted to them to follow, and we all ran hard, pursued by our enemies for twenty yards or so, when they turned back.

"'Come on,' I shouted, and, leading the way, I got into the next street, led them along it a little way, and then turned down the next court.

'Keep together,' I said, 'and we'll take 'em behind;' and the next minute we were back in the street, where our mates still fought on desperately, for in my heart I believe every blow struck on our side was nerved by the thought of home, and those we worked for.

"Next moment we took them in the rear, with a desperate rush, cheering as we did so, and tumbling them over right and left; whilst our mates in front who were just then giving way, cheered again and the fight was hotter than ever. But now, hemmed in between the two parties, the strikers fought desperately, and I caught sight of Perkins with a small hammer in his hand, knocking down first one and then another poor fellow, who crawled out of the struggling mob as well as he could.

"There were no police visible, but they could have done nothing if they had been there; but every window was crowded with people, while men's wives came harrying up, and shrieking to the people looking on to stop the fight.

"Just then I had downed the man opposed to me, when I heard a heavy blow, and turning, saw the man who worked at the next vice to me go down from a crack on the forehead from Perkins's hammer, and the next moment I stood on one side just in time to avoid a blow aimed at me, when the handle caught me on the shoulder, and the hammer-head snapped off, falling upon the ground behind me.

"I believe I was half-mad then with pain and excitement as I leaped at Perkins, and closed with him; when, being both big, stout fellows, and heads of the row, the desperate struggle going on between us seemed to act like magic on the others, who stopped to watch us as we wrestled together here and there--now up, now down, the centre of a busy throng, cheering and shouting us on, as if we had been two wild beasts fighting for their amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I'm not going to give you a long description of a hard fight, nor of the savage feelings that burned in my brain, as mad with fury I tore at him again and again; for I often look back upon that time with feelings of shame, though I can't help thinking that I only acted as most men would have done in such a case. All I can tell you is that I've a recollection of giving and receiving fierce blows, of falling, being picked up, and being cheered on, and muttering through my set teeth 'It's for those at home,' till there came a fiercer and longer struggle than ever, ending in both falling heavily; and I shall never forget the sickening crash with which my opponent's head came down upon the kerb-stone.

"Then, blind and giddy, I was standing panting there with a policeman hold of each arm, but only to be dragged from him next moment by my mates, who bore me away cheering.

"Early next morning, though, the police were at my place, and I followed them quietly, shuddering as I went, for I heard that Perkins was in a dying state. Then came the examination before the magistrates, and I was remanded a day or two till the doctors had given in their opinion.

Our heads of the firm, though, took great interest in the case as soon as they knew all the particulars; and one of the cleverest counsel they could get took my affairs in hand, which ended in my being discharged, for Perkins grew better; but a good many of us were fined pretty smartly for the breach of the peace.

"The workshop was open directly, and quite half the men went back to work; but from that day I began to find out that our town was no place for me. My employers were kind enough, and I was not a penny the worse in pocket for my encounter; but it grew plainer and plainer to me, day by day, that I should be driven out of the place. Threatening letters came; once I was struck down from behind as I came home on a dark night, and though I felt sure the man I caught a glance of was Perkins, I could not swear it. Then came news of the cowardly tricks at Sheffield-- throwing powder into houses--and my wife grew pale and ill with apprehension; while what filled the measure up to the brim was my poor la.s.s being set upon and insulted one night only a few yards from our door, so near that I heard her call 'Help,' and knew the voice, and ran out.

"The next week I was sitting in our empty room; the floor trampled and dirty with the feet of those who had been to the sale of the things in our bit of a four-roomed house. And the things had sold well, too; for my mates had sent their wives, and one had bought one thing, and another another. But I was down-hearted and sad at seeing first one little familiar thing and then another dragged away, while the thought of being driven out of the place was bitter to me. The wife and children had gone on to London, and there was no one there to see me as something which showed there were weak places in the strong man came into my eyes.

"But I had to choke that down, for a knock came at the door, and it sounded hollow and strange in the empty place. It was a letter; just in time, too, for I was thinking just before of locking up the place and going away, but fancied I should just like one pipe of tobacco for the last where I had spent so many quiet evenings. However, I opened the letter, and then started to run after the postman, feeling that it must be a mistake, for inside was a crisp new twenty-pound note, with a few lines telling me that it was from two friends who regretted the loss to the town and its works, of an honest, upright man, and begging my acceptance of the trifle enclosed, as a testimony of the esteem in which my services had been held.

"Twenty pounds, sir--a larger sum than I had ever before owned at once; but as I'm an honest man I thought more of the words of that letter then than I did of the money; while through being weak, I suppose, there was a wet spot or two upon the note when I put it away.

"After it was dark that night, I went and thanked those from whom I knew it had come, though they would not own to it; but the senior partner slapped me on the shoulder as I went out, and he said:

"'There's too much holding aloof between master and man, Samuel Harris; but if all mechanics were like you we should have no more strikes.'"

"He was quite right," I said, nodding.

"Think so, sir? perhaps he was, perhaps he was not, but depend upon it the best way is to give and take all you can. Striking's expensive work for both sides; but you see the thing is this--what makes the trouble is that neither side likes to be beat."

CHAPTER EIGHT.