“THE FIELD”--“CUTTING-DOWN”--THE FLYING DUTCHMAN--THE FRAME
SHED--PROMOTION--RIVET BOYS--THE OVERSEER
On the north the factory yard is bounded by a high board fence that runs
along close behind the shed and divides the premises from the recreation
grounds, which are chiefly the haunt of juveniles during the summer
months and the resort of football players and athletes in the winter.
Here also the small children come after school and wander about the
field among the buttercups, or sit down amid the long grass in the
sunshine, or swing round the Maypole, under the very shadow of the black
walls, with only a thin fence to separate them from the busy factory.
The ground beneath their feet shakes with the ponderous blows of the
steam-hammers; the white clouds of steam from the exhaust pipes shoot
high into the air. Dense volumes of blackest smoke tower out of the
chimneys, whirling round and round and over and over, or roll lazily
away in a long line out beyond the town and fade into the distance.
The fence stretches away to the east for a quarter of a mile from the
shed and then turns again at right angles and continues the boundary on
that side as far as to the entrance by the railway. About half-way
across are several large shops and premises used for lifting, fitting,
and storing the carriages; beyond them is a wide, open space commonly
known as “the field.” As a matter of fact, the whole area of the yard
was really a series of fields until quite recently. Fifteen years ago,
although the space was enclosed, you might have walked among the
hedgerows and have been in the midst of rustic surroundings. Numerous
rabbits infested the place and retained their burrows till long after
the steel rails were laid along the ground. Hares, too, continued to
frequent the yard until the rapid extension of the premises and the
clearing away of the grass and bushes deprived them of cover. It was a
common thing to see them and the rabbits shooting in and out among the
old wheels and tyres that had been removed from the condemned vehicles.
If you should follow the fence along for a short distance you might even
now soon forget the factory and imagine yourself to be far away in some
remote village corner, surrounded with fresh green foliage and drinking
in the sweet breath of the open fields. One would not conceive that in
the very factory grounds, within sight of the hot, smoky workshops, and
but a stone’s throw from some of them, it would be possible to enjoy the
charm of rusticity, and to revel unseen in a profusion of flowers that
would be sought for in vain in many parts about the countryside. Yet
such is the pleasure to be derived from a visit to this little
frequented spot. The fence, to the end, runs parallel with the
recreation ground alongside a hedgerow that once parted the two fields
when the whole was in the occupation of the people at the old farmhouse
that has now disappeared. In the hedgerow, with their trunks close
against the board partition, still in their prime and in strong contrast
to the black smoky walls and roofs of the sheds opposite, stand
half-a-dozen stately elms that stretch their huge limbs far over the
yard and throw a deep shadow on the ground beneath. At this spot the
field gradually declines and, as the inner yard has been made up to a
level with the railway beyond, when you approach the angle you find
yourself out of sight, with the raised platform of cinders on the one
hand and, on the other, the high wooden fence and thick elms.
At the corner the steel tracks have had to make a long curve, and this
has left the ground there free to bring forth whatever it will. Here,
also, the trees are thickest, and, within the fence, a small portion of
the original site still remains. A streamlet--perhaps the last drain of
a once considerable brook--enters from the recreation ground underneath
the boards and is conducted along, now within its natural banks and now
through broken iron pipes, into the corner, where it is finally
swallowed up in a gully and lost to view. Stooping over it, as though to
protect it from further injury and insult, are several clumps of
hawthorn and the remains of an old hedge of wych elm. Standing on the
railway track of the bank are some frames of carriages that were burnt
out at the recent big fire. Near them are several crazy old waggons and
vans, that look as if they had stood in the same place for half a
century and add still further to the quiet of the scene.
It is alongside the fence, and especially about the corner, that the
wild flowers bloom. Prominent over all is the rosebay. This extends in a
belt nearly right along the fence, and climbs up the ash bank and runs
for a considerable distance among the metals, growing and thriving high
among the iron wheels and frames of the carriages and revelling in the
soft ashes and cinders of the track. Side by side with this, and
blooming contemporary with it, are the delicate toadflax, bright golden
ragwort, wild mignonette, yellow melilot, ox-eye daisies, mayweed, small
willow-herb, meadow-sweet, ladies’ bedstraw, tansy, yarrow, and
cinquefoil. The wild rose blooms to perfection and the bank is richly
draped with a vigorous growth of dewberry, laden with blossoms and
fruit.
Beside the streamlet in the corner is a patch of cats’-tails, as high as
to the knees, and a magnificent mass of butter-bur. The deliciously
scented flowers of this are long since gone by, but the leaves have
grown to an extraordinary size. They testify to the presence of the
stream, for the butter-bur is seldom found but in close proximity to
water. Here also are to be found the greater willow-herb with its large
sweet pink blossoms and highly-scented leaves, the pale yellow
colt’s-foot, medick, purple woody night-shade, hedge stachys, spear
plume thistles, hogweed and garlick mustard, with many other plants,
flowering and otherwise, that have been imported with the ballast and
have now taken possession of the space between the lines and the fence.
The shade of the trees and beauty of the flowers and plants are
delightful in the summer when the sun looks down from a clear, cloudless
sky upon the steel rails and dry ashes of the yard, which attract and
contain the heat in a remarkable degree, making it painful even to walk
there in the hottest part of the day. Then the cool shade of the trees
is thrice welcome, especially after the stifling heat of the workshop,
the overpowering fumes of the oil furnaces and the blazing metal just
left behind; for it is impossible for any but workmen to enjoy the
pleasant retreat. No outsider ever gains admittance here, and though you
should often pace underneath the trees in the recreation ground you
would never dream of what the interior is like. Nor do even workmen--at
least, not more than one or two, and this at rare intervals in the
meal-hours--often come here, for if they did they would be noticed by
the watchmen and ordered away. Their presence here, even during
meal-hours, would be construed as prejudicial to the interests of the
company. They would be suspected of theft, or of some other evil
intention, or would at least be looked upon as trespassers and reported
to the managers. In times gone by men and youths have been known to
escape from the factory during working hours and while they were booked
at their machines, by climbing over the fence, and this has made the
officials cautious and severe in dealing with trespassers. It would not
be a difficult matter, even now--and especially in the winter afternoons
and evenings--to climb over the top of the fence and decamp.
This part of the factory yard is by far the most wholesome of the works’
premises. There is plenty of room and light, and happy were they who, in
the years ago, were told off for service in the field, breaking up the
old waggons, sorting out the timber, and running the wheels from one
place to another. At the time the old broad-gauge system of vehicles
was converted to the four-foot scale, large gangs in the yard were
regularly employed in cutting-down; that is, reducing the waggons to the
new shape. First of all the wood-work was removed; then both sides of
the iron frame--a foot each side--were cut completely away. Two new
“sole-bars” were affixed, and the whole frame was riveted up again. The
wheels, also, were taken out and the axles shortened and re-fitted. The
carpenters now replaced the floors and sides and all was fit for traffic
again. The locomotives, on the other hand, were condemned. The boilers
and machinery were built on too great a scale to be fitted to the
narrow-gauge frames. They were accordingly lifted out and the boilers
distributed all over the system, while the frames were cut up for scrap
and new ones built in place of them.
The old type of broad-gauge engine has never been beaten for speed on
the line. By reason of its occupying a greater space over the wheels and
axles the running was more even, and there was not so much rocking of
the coaches. The broad-gauge Flying Dutchman express was noted for its
magnificent speed and stately carriage, and for many years after the
abolition of the system stories of almost incredible runs were current
at the works. One old driver, very proud of his machine, was said to
have sworn to the officials that he would bring his engine and train
from London to the railway town, a distance of seventy-seven miles, in
an hour, dead time, with perfect safety, and he was only prevented from
accomplishing the feat by the strong stand made by the officials, who
threatened him with instant dismissal if he should exceed the limit of
speed prescribed in the time-tables.
At the same time, it is well known that the official time-table was
often ignored, and stirring tales might be told of flying journeys
performed in defiance of all written injunctions and authority. The
signalmen knew of these feats and were often astounded at them, but they
are only human, and they often did that they ought not to have done in
order to shield the driver. The passengers, too, are always delighted to
find themselves being whirled along at a high rate. There is an
intoxication in it not to be resisted, and when they leave the train at
the journey’s end, after an extraordinary run, they invariably go and
inspect the engine and admire the brave fellow who has rushed them over
the country at such an exciting speed.
When the broad-gauge was converted great numbers of men from all
quarters were put on at the works. Every village and hamlet for miles
around sent in its unemployed, and many of the farms were quite
deserted. These were engaged in “cutting-down” or in breaking up the
waggons and engines--little skill being necessary for that
operation--and when, after several years, the system was quite reduced
and slackness followed the busy period, the greater part of them were
discharged and were again distributed over the countryside round about.
It is impossible to go into any village within a radius of eight or ten
miles of the railway town without finding at least one or two men who
were employed on “the old broad-gauge,” as they still call it. After
their discharge the majority, by degrees, settled down to farm life.
Many, however, continued out of work for a long time, and some are
numbered among the “casuals” to this day.
The only tools, besides hammers, required by the cutters-down, were cold
sets to cut off the heads of the rivets and bolts, and punches to force
the stems and stays out of the holes. They were held by hazel rods, that
were supplied in bundles from the stores for the purpose. To bind them
round the steel tools they were first of all heated in the middle over
the fire. Then the cutter-out took hold of one end, and his mate held
the other, and the two together gave the wand several twists round.
After that the rod was wound twice about the set or punch and the two
ends were tied together with strong twine. This gave a good grip on the
tool, which would not be obtained with the use of an iron rod. The
repeated blows on the set from the sledge would soon jar the iron rod
loose and cause it to snap off, while the hazel rod grips it firmly and
springs with it under the blow.
Formerly all the repair riveting was done by hand. When the hot rivet
was inserted in the hole the “holder-up” kept it in position, either
with the “dolly” or with a heavy square-headed sledge. Then the riveters
knocked down the head of the rivet with long-nosed hammers, striking
alternately in rapid succession and making the neighbourhood resound
with the blows. Afterwards the chief mate held the “snap” upon it and
his mate plied the sledge until the new head was perfectly round and
smooth. The “snap” is a portion of steel bar, about ten inches long and
toughly tempered, with a die, the shape of the rivet head required,
infixed at one end. Now, however, pneumatic riveting machines are used
out of doors. These, being small and compact, can be employed anywhere
and with much fewer hands than were required by the old method. The air
is supplied from accumulators into which it is forced by the engine in
the shed, and it is conducted in pipes all round the factory yards.
The repair gangs are an off-shoot of the frame shed that is situated at
a distance of nearly half a mile from the field. There the steel frames
for the waggons and carriages and all iron-topped vehicles, such as
ballast trucks, brake and bullion vans, refrigerators and others are
constructed. That is essentially the shop of hard work, heavy lifting
and noise terrific. The din is quite inconceivable. First of all is the
machinery. On this side are rows of drills, saws, slotting and planing
machines; on that are the punches and shears, screeching and grinding,
snapping and groaning with the terrible labour imposed upon them. The
long lines of shafting and wheels whirl incessantly overhead, the cogs
clatter, the belts flap on the rapidly spinning pulleys, and the blast
from the fan roars loudly underground. All this, however, is nearly
drowned with the noise of the hammering. Hundreds of blows are being
struck, on “tops” and “bottoms,” steel rails and iron rails, sole-bars
and headstocks, middles, diagonals, stanchions, knees, straps and
girders. Every part of the frame is being subjected to the same
treatment--riveted, straightened, levelled, or squared, most
unmercifully used. Every tone and degree of sound is emitted, according
to the various qualities and thicknesses of the metal--sharps and flats,
alto, treble and bass. There is the sharp clear tone of the
highly-tempered steel in the tools used; the solid and defiant ring of
the sole-bar or headstock, strong and firm under the hammer of the
“puller-up,” the dull, flat sound of the floor plates, the loud hollow
noise of the “covered goods” sides and ends, and the deep heavy boom of
the roofs of the vans. Everyone seems to be striking as hard and as
quickly as he is able. All the blows fall at once, and yet everything is
in a jumble and tangle, loud, vicious, violent, confused and chaotic--a
veritable pandemonium. And then, to crown the whole, there are the
pneumatic tools, the chipping and riveting machines. It is dreadful; it
is overpowering; it is unearthly; but it has to be borne, day after day
and year after year.
Yet even the frame shed must yield to the boiler shop in the matter of
concentrated noise. The din produced by the pneumatic machines in
cutting out the many hundreds of rivets and stays inside a boiler is
quite appalling. There is nothing to be compared with it. The heaviest
artillery is feeble considered with it; thunder is a mere echo. What is
more, the noise of neither of these is continuous, while the operation
within the boiler lasts for a week or more. The boiler, in a great
degree, contains the sound, so that even if you were a short distance
away, though the noise there would be very great, you could have no idea
of the intensity of the sound within. Words could not express it;
language fails to give an adequate idea of the terrible detonation and
the staggering effect produced upon whosoever will venture to thrust his
head within the aperture of the boiler fire-box. Do you hear anything?
You hear nothing. Sound is swallowed up in sound. You are a hundred
times deaf. You are transfixed; your every sense is paralysed. In a
moment you seem to be encompassed with an unspeakable silence--a
deathlike vacuity of sound altogether. Though you shout at the top of
your voice you hear nothing--nothing at all. You are deaf and dumb, and
stupefied. You look at the operator; there he sits, stands or stoops.
You see his movements and the apparatus in his hands, but everything is
absolutely noiseless to you. It is like a dumb show, a dream, a
phantasm. So, for a little while after you withdraw your head from the
boiler, you can hear nothing. You do not know whether you are upon your
head or your heels, which is the floor and which is the roof. The ground
rises rapidly underneath you and you seem to be going up, up, up, you
know not where. Then, after a little while, when you have removed from
the immediate vicinity of the boiler, you feel to come to earth again.
Your senses rush upon you and you are suddenly made aware of the
terrific noise you have encountered. Even now, it will be some time
before the faculty of hearing is properly restored; the fearful noise
rings in your ears for hours and days afterwards.
And what of the men who have to perform the work? It is said that they
are used to it. That is plainly begging the question. They have to do
it, whether they are used to it or not. It is useless for them to
complain; into the boiler they must go, and face the music, for good or
ill. All the men very soon become more or less deaf, and it is
inconceivable but that other ailments must necessarily follow. The
complete nervous system must in time be shattered, or seriously
impaired, and the individual become something of a wreck. This is one of
the many ills resulting from progress in machinery and modern
manufacturing appliances.
The personnel of the frame shed is individual and distinct in a very
marked degree. Most of the men seem to have been chosen for their great
strength and fine physique, or to have developed these qualities after
their admission to the work. The very nature of the toil tends to
produce strong limbs and brawny muscles. It is certain that continual
exercise of the upper parts of the body by such means as the lifting of
heavy substances tends to improve the chest and shoulders, and many of
those who are engaged in lifting and carrying the plates and sole-bars
are very stout and square in this respect. There is a number of “heavy
weights,” and a few positive giants among them, though the majority of
the men are conspicuous, not so much by their bulk, as by their
squareness of limb and muscularity. A proof of the strength of the frame
shed men may be seen in the success of their tug-of-war teams. Wherever
they have competed--and they have gone throughout the entire south of
England--they have invariably beaten their opponents and carried off the
trophies.
There was formerly a workman, an ex-Hussar, named Bryan, in the shed,
who could perform extraordinary feats of strength. He was nearly seven
feet in height and he was very erect. His arms and limbs were solid and
strong; he was a veritable Hercules, and his shoulders must have been as
broad as those of Atlas, who is fabled to have borne the world on his
back. It was striking to see him lift the heavy headstocks, that weighed
two hundredweights and a quarter, with perfect ease and carry them about
on his shoulder--a task that usually required the powers of two of the
strongest men. This he continued to do for many years, not out of
bravado, but because he knew it was within his natural powers to
perform. Notwithstanding his tremendous normal strength, however, he was
subject to attacks of ague, and you might have seen him sometimes
stretched out upon the ground quite helpless, groaning and foaming at
the mouth. If he had been working in the shed recently, since the
passing of the new Factory Acts, he would have been promptly discharged,
for no one is kept at the works now who is subject to any infirmity that
might incapacitate him in the shed among the machinery. Later on, when
work got slack, Bryan was turned adrift from the factory, a broken and a
ruined man. All his past services to the firm were forgotten, he was
cast off like an old shoe. However valuable and extraordinary a man may
have proved himself to be at his work, it counts for little or nothing
with the foremen and managers; the least thing puts him out of favour
and he must go.
The men of the frame shed are of a cosmopolitan order, though to a less
extent than is the case in some departments. The work being for the most
part rough and requiring no very great skill, there has consequently
been no need of apprenticeships, though there are a few who have served
their time as waggon-builders or boiler-smiths. They are not recognised
as journeymen here, however, and so must take their chance with the rank
and file. Promotion is supposed to be made according to merit, but there
are favourites everywhere who will somehow or other prevail. The normal
order of promotion is from labourer to “puller-up,” from puller-up to
riveter, and thence to the position of chargeman. Here he must be
content to stop, for foremen are only made about once or twice in a
generation, and when the odds on any man for the post are high, surprise
and disappointment always follow. The first is usually relegated to the
rear, and the least expected of all is brought forward to fill the
coveted position. It may be design, or it may be judgment, and perhaps
it is neither. It very often looks as though the matter had been
decided by the toss of a coin, or the drawing of lots, and that the lot
had fallen upon the least qualified, but there is no questioning the
decision. The old and tried chargeman, who knows the scale and
dimensions of everything that has been built or that is likely to be
built in the shed in his lifetime, must stand aside for the raw youth
who has not left school many months, but who, by some mysterious means
or other, has managed to secure the favour and indulgence of his
foreman, or other superior. Perhaps he is reckoned good at arithmetic,
or can scratch out a rough drawing, though more than likely his father
was gardener to someone, or cleaned the foreman’s boots and did odd jobs
in the scullery after factory hours.
Another reason for the selection of young and comparatively unknown men
for the post of foreman is that they will have a smaller circle of
personal mates in the shed, and, consequently, a less amount of human
kindness and sympathy in them. That is to say, they will be able to cut
and slash the piecework prices with less compunction, and so the better
serve the interests of the company. The young aspirant, moreover, will
be at the very foot of the ladder, hot and impetuous, while the elder
one will have passed the season of senseless and unscrupulous ambition.
A feature of the frame shed is the rivet boy. It is his duty to hot the
rivets in the forge for his mates and to perform sundry other small
offices, such as fetching water from the tap in the shed, or holding a
nail bag in front of the rivet head which is being cut away, in order to
keep it from flying and causing injury to any of the workmen. The forges
for hotting the rivets are fixtures and are supplied with air through
pipes laid beneath the ground from the fan under the wall. Several boys
usually work from one fire, and there is often a scramble for the most
advantageous position in the coals. An iron plate is used to facilitate
the heating. This has been perforated with holes at the punch to allow
its receiving as many rivets as are required. It is then placed over the
whitehot coke in the forge and the rivets inserted. Each boy has a
certain number of holes allotted to him and he must not trespass on his
mates’ territory.
It sometimes happens that one of the boys proves to be a bully and a
terror and plays ducks and drakes with the rights and privileges of the
others. This is always a matter of great concern to the juveniles, and
they will not be satisfied till the tyrant has been humbled and
punished. They have many minor differences and quarrels among
themselves, and challenges to fight are frequent. Honour looms big in
the eyes of the rivet boys, and they are quick to resent a taunt or
affront and to wipe off all aspersions. Perhaps a sneer has been
levelled at one by reason of his name, his father’s occupation, or the
name of the street or locality in which he lives. With true pluck the
matter is taken up. An hour and a place for the meeting are fixed: it is
generally--“Meet me in the Rec at dinner-time.” There they accordingly
assemble with their mates and supporters and fight the matter out. It is
usually a rough-and-tumble proceeding, but they do not desist till one
or the other has been worsted and honour satisfied. More than once it
has happened that they have been so intent on the match they have lost
count of the time and have all--a dozen or more--got locked out for the
afternoon. This requires some explanation, and the next day the whole
circumstance has to be related. Here the boys’ fathers might interfere
and administer a sound corrective lesson to each one of them.
Getting locked out is also very often the result of over-staying at
football, which is regularly practised by the youngsters in the
recreation field all the year round. The boys club together and buy a
ball and race out to play every dinner-time. There, for three-quarters
of an hour, they exert themselves to the utmost and are forced to run
back to the shed at the top of their speed, often returning in an
exhausted condition. A spell of five minutes puts them right, however,
and they go on with their work as though they had enjoyed an infinite
period of refreshment. In the evening they race home to tea and
afterwards go out again while it is daylight, never seeming too tired
for sport and play.
Many queer nicknames, such as “Bodger,” “Snowball,” “Granny,” “Chucky,”
and “Nanty Pecker,” are in vogue among the boys. These become fixtures
and remain with them for many years. It must not be thought that all the
rivet boys submit to become permanent hands in the shed. A good many of
them, as soon as they are sufficiently old and big, go to the recruiting
sergeant and try to enlist. Some enter the Army and others the Navy;
some go this way and some that. Very often boys who spent their early
days at rivet-hotting in the shed and enter the Service, return in after
years to obtain another start in the old quarters, and grow old amid the
scenes of their boyhood. Some never return at all, but die, either in
battle, of sickness, or other accident. More than one, too, has gone the
wrong way in life and ended in suicide.
The boys are much given to reading cheap literature of the “dreadful”
type, and they revel in the deeds of Buffalo Bill, Deadwood Dick, and
other well-known heroes of fiction. Sometimes a boy, unknown to his
parents, actually possesses a firearm--a pistol or revolver--and, with a
group of companions, scours the countryside round about in search of
“game.” Once, at least, mischief was done in the shape of bursting open
a letter-box with bullets, and at another time a poor calf received a
bullet-shot through the hedgerow. This last-named deed, however, was
purely accidental. Great fear fell upon the juveniles after this
untoward experience and the pistol was forthwith cast into the canal. At
another time a careless lad shot himself through the hand with a pistol
and inflicted a dangerous wound.
A great change has come over the frame shed during the last twelve
years. The old foreman has gone; a great many of the old hands have
disappeared also, and the methods of work have been revolutionised. The
prices have been cut again and again; a different spirit prevails
everywhere; it is no longer as it used to be. Considerable liberty and
many small privileges were allowed to the men by the governing staff in
those days, and the foreman, if he felt disposed, could do much to make
them comfortable and satisfied. Then the overseer was practically master
of his shed and could make his own terms with the workmen, though it is
only fair to remember that under those conditions he was sometimes
inclined to be summary and despotic.
The old foreman of the frame shed was an excellent example of this kind
of overseer. As an engineer he was clever, intelligent, sharp-sighted,
and energetic. In addition to this he was a good judge of character, a
natural leader of men, and one strongly sympathetic. If he was in want
of new hands he needed not to ask a dozen ridiculous questions, or to
stand upon any kind of ceremony; he came, saw, and decided at once. One
glance was sufficient for him; he had summed the man up in an instant.
In the shed he was free, easy and spontaneous, praising and blaming in
the same breath. At one moment he was livid with passion; the next he
was kind, conciliative, and condescending. His temper was hot and fiery.
When he frowned at you his expression was as black as a thunder-cloud,
but you knew that everything would soon be well again. His behaviour was
at least open and genuine, and whatever his attitude to his superiors
might have been, he was free from dissimulation with the workmen.
Nothing escaped his attention in the shed. As he walked his eagle eye
comprehended all. If a stanchion or girder was in the least out of
square he perceived it, and it had to be put right immediately.
He never made himself too cheap and common with the workmen, but held
himself in such a relation to them that he could always command respect.
He often came to the shed late and left early, but there was then no
rigid law compelling the foreman to be for ever at his post, and the
work usually proceeded the same. He was an inventor himself, and he was
always ready to encourage independent thought and action among his
workmen. He recognised merit and rewarded it. He was not jealous of his
workmen’s brains, and he was at all times willing to consider an opinion
and to act upon it if it seemed preferable to his own. He was a mixture
of the fatherly ruler and the despot, but he was very proud of his men
and he lauded them up to the skies to outsiders, whenever an opportunity
presented itself. There was nothing they could not make, and make well,
according to him. If he blamed them to themselves he stoutly defended
them against others, and he would not have dreamed of selling and
betraying them to the management, as is commonly done at this time.
Of the boys he was extremely fond, and especially of such as were
well-behaved and attentive, however ragged and rough their dress might
be, and he often stood and talked to them with his hand on their
shoulder, or gave them pennies or marbles. But if he saw one of the
“terribles” bullying a younger lad he ran up to him and gave him a sound
cuff, or a vigorous kick. Under his foremanship work was plentiful and
wages were high. The shed was nearly always on overtime, and money
flowed like water. The men bore the strain of the overtime complacently.
They worked without fear and turned out a hundred, or a hundred and
twenty waggon frames a week. Those were prosperous days for the frame
shed and many a one saved a little pile from his earnings.
Together with all this, however, the foreman discovered some remarkable
characteristics and he was possessed of the most amazing effrontery. If
strangers connected with other firms came in to inspect the plant and
process and to know the prices of things, he hoodwinked them in every
possible manner and told them astounding fables. He would take up an
article in his hand, describe it with pride, and tell them it was made
for a fifth of what it actually cost to produce. If the manager came
through and any awkward questions were asked, he skilfully turned the
point aside and motioned secretly to the men to support him if they
should be consulted. He hated all interference and would not stand
patronage even from his superiors, and where argument failed clever
manœuvring saved the situation.
Whatever he saw in the shape of machinery he coveted for his own shed.
More than once he was known actually to purloin a machine from the
neighbour foreman’s shop in the night and transfer it to his own
premises. Once a very large drilling machine, new from the maker and
labelled to another department at the works, came into the yard by
mistake, but it never reached its proper destination. Calling a gang of
men, he removed the drill from the truck, caused a foundation to be made
for it, fixed it up in a corner half out of sight, and had it working
the next morning. A hue and cry was raised up and down and around the
yard for the missing machine, but it was not discovered till a long time
afterwards. It still stands in the shed, a proof of one of the most
brazen and impudent thefts possible.
At another time three large drop-hammers were shunted near the shed, and
on seeing them he quickly had them unloaded, but he was not successful
in retaining them. On being discovered he made profuse apologies for his
“mistake” and there the matter ended. At last he fell into the disfavour
of someone and defiantly handed in his resignation. Now everything
proceeds upon formally approved lines, though many a one wishes the old
foreman were still in his place, grumbling and scolding, and pushing
things forward as in the days ago.