CONCLUSION.
THE closing of the dock gates put a stop to every other industry as
well as that of the dock labourers, for all the smaller trades and
occupations were dependent, more or less, upon the shipping of the port
of London, and with that practically closed, these came to an end.
It was a sore trial to those usually so busy to have to sit at home
with folded hands and look at their denuded homes, or wander aimlessly
about the dull streets, for after the procession of men had gone by on
their usual perambulations, there was nothing to break the monotony of
their lives, and it was a hard test of their patience to sit dumb and
idle. And yet, the women felt that if they broke out into loud-voiced
complaints, there was danger that the men might be goaded into some act
of violence, and if once this was done there was no telling what the
end might be.
So every woman did her best to bear uncomplainingly the hardship of
her lot, and when father, brother, or husband came home, to make the
place as bright and cheery as they could. In this way, women like
Mrs. Chaplin and weak girls like Winny, saved London from riot and
bloodshed, and gained for themselves a name of imperishable honour,
setting the whole world an example of patient endurance and the divine
might of doing the duty that lay nearest to them.
Every mission room was busy from morning till night, for meals, free
or a farthing each, for the starving women and children, were going on
all day and half the night too. These cheap meals made the Chaplins
better off than most of their neighbours, and practically independent
of the strike fund, for although Mrs. Chaplin only got one day's work a
fortnight with Mrs. Rutter now, still, with the money sent every week
by Annie Brown to help them through the trouble, they were able to get
along fairly well. And when Mrs. Chaplin got a little to do in helping
Miss Lavender with the meals and entertainments at the mission room,
she was a good deal more content.
The coming of Annie Brown's letter every week came to be looked forward
to as the red-letter day of the seven, for besides the words of
cheerful hope the girl always sent herself, it often contained a kindly
message and a few pence from some of her fellow-workers.
But one day there came a letter with news that set the little household
in a quiver of excitement.
"My master wants a carpenter," she wrote, "a man who can turn his hand
to anything—make boxes, put up shelves, or build a shed. I told him
about Winny's father, and about Winny too, and he says if he would
not mind living in the country, and could do the work, there would be
steady wages for him all the year round."
"Mother, mother, what does it mean?" asked Letty when she heard the
letter read, while Winny lay with clasped hands and shining eyes, too
deeply moved to utter her thoughts to anyone but God, in the swift
uprising of thanksgiving for this fresh proof of his love.
"Letty, we must go and find father!" exclaimed Mrs. Chaplin, as soon as
she could find her tongue. "Mr. Brown, do you know where he is?" she
exclaimed turning to him, for he had brought the letter and still stood
looking from one to the other, for he knew that to get work in the
country had long been his friend's wish for the sake of poor Winny.
He shook his head to Mrs. Chaplin's question, and turning to the
invalid on the couch, he said: "Well, what do you think of it, my dear?"
"Oh, I am so glad!" she replied. "It was kind of Annie to think of
father and send to tell him."
"I wouldn't own her for my 'little un' again if she didn't do all she
could for you, Winny," he replied. "But we shall miss you, my dear; we
shall all miss you. But look here, if you hadn't give my gal the chance
you did, why she couldn't have done this for you, so you see after
all, it's just your own kindness coming back to you again. The seed
you sowed is just bearing the right kind of fruit. That's what it is,
my lass, you may depend upon that. We heard something like it down at
the mission-hall the other day, when Miss Lavender give us that tea.
She stood up afterwards and warned us against losing our patience or
our temper, telling us in good plain words that the seed we sowed would
bring the same kind of fruit to us."
"I wish I could have heard Miss Lavender speak like that," said Winny
with glowing cheeks.
The girl almost worshipped her teacher, and now, as the thought crossed
her mind that if her father got this work in the country, it would
separate her from this dear friend, the tears rose to her eyes tears of
regret this time, not of thankfulness and she wondered how she could
have forgotten for a moment what going to live in the country would
mean to her.
Meanwhile Letty had gone one way and her mother another in search of
Chaplin, to tell him the good news. But they both came back in the
course of a quarter of an hour to see if he had returned, as neither of
them had been able to find him.
Brown had gone upstairs to perform the laborious task of answering
Annie's letter, for she always insisted that he should do this, as she
could not read any writing but his; and he said that Chaplin would come
and see the master at once, and that Winny was very glad.
There was no more to tell according to the way Brown looked at things,
and even this was a difficult task to him, and took him a long time to
perform, so that he knew very little of what was going on downstairs.
Mrs. Chaplin, having failed to find her husband close at hand, put
on her bonnet to go to the mission room, for she thought he might be
doing something for Miss Lavender, as there was always so much going
on. But as she hurried down the street, tying her bonnet strings as she
went along, a neighbour asked: "Are you looking for your husband, Mrs.
Chaplin?"
"Yes. Have you seen him? I want him at once."
"You'll find him down by the dock gates, I think," replied her friend;
"he was there a few minutes ago."
"Thank you," called Mrs. Chaplin, and she hurried along the street
as fast as she could, for fear her husband should be gone before she
should find him.
But as soon as she came within sight of the gates, she saw him talking
to a man on the opposite side of the road. Her business was of too much
importance, she thought, to brook any delay, and so she went up to him
and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Wait a minute, mother," he said, turning to the stranger again and
resuming his talk in an undertone.
She waited a minute, but not more, and then she went to her husband
again. "You must come home at once," she said a little sharply, for she
did not like to be put off for a stranger like this.
Chaplin looked at her anxiously. "Is anybody ill?" he asked.
"No, no, it isn't that; but we've had a letter from Annie Brown, and
she says there is constant work for you in the country if you like to
go and see about it."
This would make him give up his talk with the stranger and go home
with her, she thought. She had not meant to tell him so quickly, but
she wanted to get him away, and thought that this would do it, if
everything else failed.
But to her surprise, he only said in a low tone, "Thank God for his
goodness," and then went to the stranger again and resumed his talk
once more.
Mrs. Chaplin thought he must be mad not to hurry back with her, and
stood there impatiently enough until the stranger went away, and then
she went to her husband again.
"Are you coming?" she asked in a cross tone.
"I can't, mother; didn't they tell you I am on picket duty?"
"Picket nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Chaplin, losing all patience with her
husband now. "Come along home and let us arrange how you are to go down
to the country. You ought to go this afternoon or to-morrow morning
early."
"To-morrow morning will do, I should think," said Chaplin anxiously.
"You see, I can't get away from here until someone comes to take my
place."
"Well, there are plenty to do that, I should think," replied his wife,
who was anxious that her husband should go and secure this good fortune
for himself.
"Yes, yes, there are plenty of men about as you say; but look here,
we want to keep strangers from going to take our work, and to do that
somebody must be at hand to talk to any stranger who would go in, just
to tell them what we are holding out for and persuade them to go home
again. But, don't you see, we have to be very careful how we do this,
for if we got in a passion over it, there might be fighting, and then
we should get into the hands of the police. They know what we are doing
well enough, but so long as we are peaceable, they don't interfere; but
if we gave them any trouble, we should get three months, and that might
be the beginning of a row all round. The committee know the men pretty
well by this time, and as they have appointed me to this duty till four
o'clock this afternoon, here I must stay."
"I'll send Brown down to take your place," said Mrs. Chaplin.
"Brown won't come, and I shouldn't leave if he did," replied the man
with something like a smile parting his thin lips.
"Do you want this work at all, Tom Chaplin?" asked his wife.
She could not see that just lounging about the dock gates, walking up
and down, speaking occasionally to the policeman, taking with a smile
some ugly epithet thrown at them by the dock foreman who might be
passing, was by any means so important as her husband seemed to think,
and she was more angry with him than ever she had been in her life
before.
Tears of vexation stood in her eyes as she turned to go home again, and
as she went by the mission room she thought she would go in and see if
Miss Lavender was there, to tell her what had happened, and how her
husband was neglecting this opportunity of benefiting all of them.
The lady heard the poor woman's story, and could well sympathize with
her impatience at what seemed like her husband's apathy. But having
done so, she said, "He could not have left his post without leave from
those who placed him there. You see it is not every man who could be
trusted to do such duty, for these pickets must be careful, steady
men. No, no, Mrs. Chaplin, he could not leave such a post as that for
anything," added the lady.
"And yet he may lose a good chance of work through it," said the poor
woman with a gasp.
"We must take care he does not do that," said the lady. "I will write a
telegram and give you the money to send it to the country." And as she
spoke, the lady took a pencil from her pocket, and wrote on the leaf of
her pocket-book:
"Chaplin will come to-morrow—cannot leave post of duty."
"There, that will be enough, if the gentleman is a reasonable man," she
said. "Now go and get the address, and send it off." And she gave her
the message and a shilling as she spoke.
Mrs. Chaplin was not long performing her errand, and felt greatly
relieved when it was done.
Chaplin came home soon after four, very tired but full of eager
expectation.
How he was to go into the country decently attired had been thought of
by their friend Miss Lavender. And soon after Chaplin got home, Letty
ran in with a large bundle in her arms.
"It's new clothes for daddy," she announced, setting her burden down on
the table and beginning to untie the handkerchief.
But Mrs. Chaplin soon took it from her, for she was all eagerness to
see whether her husband had a chance of making a decent appearance at
the place he was going to. To see him once more clad like a decent
carpenter was the highest ambition of her life. Her friend knew this,
and felt that the man would stand a much better chance of success in
his new venture, if he could go down in trim, tidy clothes instead of
the poor rags he wore as a dock labourer. So she had managed to get a
decent gray suit about his size, and a clean white shirt, and a pair of
boots, so that nothing was wanting to complete his attire.
To see them all when these were laid out for inspection can better be
imagined than described. Letty danced round the table, bumping her head
against the bedstead in the process, while Winny clapped her hands, and
insisted that her father should dress himself in them at once that they
might have time to admire him in them before he went away the next day.
Then Brown must be fetched to see them, and he must walk with Letty to
the mission room for the loaf of bread that was to be given out at six
o'clock.
Never was a family so elated, for, to crown their joy, instead of
having to tramp to this new place of work as he had made up his mind to
do, one of the men brought him the price of the railway fare from the
strike committee, and a promise to look after his family until he could
send up money to take them down to him, if he was likely to stay.
When her mother went out with Letty to get something for breakfast in
the morning, Winny contrived to have a word or two with her father.
"Do you remember the talk we had a long time ago, daddy?" she said.
"Don't you know, when we talked about it first, I said God would help
us somehow, that he would help people put things right if they were
wrong?"
"Ah! My girl, I do remember something about it; but it seems a long
time ago, as you say, for so much has happened since then."
"Yes, God has been busy in a good many people's hearts. I asked him
that very night about it, and I have prayed to him every night since,
for the old way seemed wrong for everybody. Men like Rutter could not
help getting hard and cross, it seemed. But now that will be done away
at least, and the men may get a penny an hour more, and the four hours'
work a day, for they won't be able to make twenty or thirty men do the
work of sixty."
"I hope that's over, my lass, though it won't make the difference to us
I thought it would, if I get this work at my old trade."
"What would have been the difference, daddy?" asked the girl.
"Why, we might have had a front room as well as this one, and you
might have been able to look out into the street sometimes and see the
children at play when they came home from school. That's what Brown and
I used to talk about, and when he found out that you had given up your
holiday ticket for Annie, he set himself to give up the drink, and be
as steady and sober as he could, so that he might be able to keep the
rest steady too, when the strike came, that nothing might spoil it, and
prevent you from having a front window to look out of."
"How kind of him!" exclaimed Winny smiling through her tears. "But God
is kinder, father, for he is going to let us live in the country, which
is ever so much better than having a front window even."
"Yes, dear, I hope we may be able to live in the country for your sake.
We owe this good fortune to you, my girl, for if Annie Brown had not
gone to work at this jam factory, we should not have heard of this."
"You will take it, father? Though I am sure Mr. Brown will be very
sorry if we go away."
"But more sorry if we stayed, my lass, after having such a chance as
this. Don't you see every one who leaves this overcrowded London for
work in the country gives those who stay a better chance, and so I hope
I shall be able to do this work, though what I am going to do without
tools is rather a puzzle, for of course they will expect me to take
them with me."
"Oh, daddy! We never thought of that," said Winny in a tone of dismay.
"I thought when you had got those nice clothes you had got all you
wanted."
But before they went to bed, this want was supplied. Brown knew a man
who wanted to sell a basket of carpenter's tools, and went to see him
about them. Money was scarce enough just now with everybody, but he had
found a friend who was willing to lend the price of these to be repaid
in small instalments, if somebody would be responsible for the debt,
and this Brown promised to do himself.
So before they were in bed, Brown brought the basket of tools ready
for him to take in the morning. But the pleasure of handling the old
familiar things was too keen for Chaplin to be content with just
looking at them. They were a little rusty in places, and this was
enough for an excuse. He must sit up for an hour to clean them, and
never did a duchess handle her diamonds more tenderly and lovingly,
than Chaplin did the planes and gimlets, screw-drivers and hammers.
They must all be rubbed and cleaned before he could go to bed, and
Winny lay in her little bed watching her father and thanking God for
his great goodness to them.
Early the next morning, Chaplin started on his journey, bearing all
sorts of kind messages to Annie Brown, for everybody was willing to
forget and forgive her offence now.
A day or two afterwards came the eagerly expected letter from the
traveller. Chaplin could write better than Annie or her father, and so
the letter was quite a long one, or seemed so to the little family who
gathered round to hear it read.
First he told them he had begun work, and thought he should get on very
well. His master was satisfied with him, and to get back to his old
trade with regular work and regular wages more than satisfied himself.
He never felt so thankful for anything in his life as to get back to
the country again, and he hoped to get a place ready for them to come
into in the course of a day or two. Annie Brown was looking so well, so
rosy and happy at her work of fruit-picking, that he hardly knew her,
and she quite failed to recognize him in his smart new suit and the
carpenter's basket over his shoulder. It was plain enough that he was
proud of being regarded as a carpenter again, and his wife shared his
feeling, and told her neighbours how well her husband was getting on
down in the country.
No one grudged the Chaplins their good fortune, for among the men he
had proved himself steady and reliable, and was therefore chosen for
the most difficult and delicate work picketing which no man coveted,
but which Chaplin was always ready to do, and never known to forsake a
post when once he had taken it.
Among their more immediate neighbours there was genuine rejoicing, for
now Winny would get the chance of growing strong which she had given up
to Annie Brown. This action of hers had not met with the unqualified
approval of her friends and neighbours. They could not understand the
high standard Winny set before her—even that of the Lord Jesus Christ
himself, who came to give up his life for those who were ignorant and
out of the way, that they might be brought to a knowledge of the love
of the Father, thus leaving all who would call themselves his disciples
an example that they should follow in his steps.
They had thought such a sacrifice as Winny had made was altogether too
much for a girl like Annie Brown. If she had been respectable now, they
could have understood it, but for a girl who had been to prison, and
who felt ashamed to meet her neighbours when she came back, well, it
was altogether too much.
Now, however, everything had turned out so well for everybody, and
Annie had proved to be worthy of the help given to her, why, it was
just what might be expected to happen.
Some said Annie Brown would stop in the country now she liked it so
well, and Letty came and told Brown what had been said.
He did not seem to be at all pleased at the suggestion. "I hope my
'little un' won't leave her old dad," he said. "The country is all very
well for some people, but I was bred and born in London, and I could
never do without its noise and bustle. No, no, my gal must come home to
me when the strike is over; I can't do without her much longer."
The next letter that came from Annie had almost the same words.
"I can't do without you much longer, daddy. I should like to come home
at once, but of course I must wait till the strike is over. The rooms
that the Chaplins are to have are almost ready, and Winny will be
coming here next week I expect, so I shall wait and see her and help
Mrs. Chaplin get things straight, and then I can tell you all how she
is when I come home."
This plan of Annie's was adopted as being the best that could be
devised, and the very Monday that the men went back to work in the
docks again, Mrs. Chaplin, Winny, and Letty set out on their journey to
their country home.
All sorts of little comforts had been provided by Miss Lavender to
lighten the invalid's journey, and give her strength to endure what she
feared would be a very painful experience to the girl.
It certainly did try her very much, and, in spite of all her mother's
care and her teacher's forethought, she fainted two or three times
before she got to her journey's end. But when at last the station was
reached, her troubles were over, for there was her father, looking so
stout and strong, ready to lift her out of the carriage to a little
swing-bed he had contrived for her between some boxes in the wagon his
master had lent him to fetch them home in.
The furniture had been sent on from London the week before, and Annie
had been all day getting things comfortable for the travellers.
Letty fairly screamed with delight when she saw her new home, but Winny
was too tired to do more than look round at the sunny fields and up at
the window which her father told her was to be her own, and then with a
feeble smile at Annie she said: "God is very good to everybody. I shall
have a front window after all."