OLIVE LEAVES AND LAUREL LEAVES
In a very few weeks after Ralph's death the whole affair of his return
seemed but as a dream, so much had life resumed its old aspect for all
in Phebe's household. But the calm was not to last long; there was first
to be two big pieces of excitement, and then, as the young folks say in
the old game of "Family Coach," a general "change" round.
One glorious spring evening Jim Coates paid Mrs. Waring an unexpected
visit.
"I thought you were at Exton," exclaimed Phebe. She knew that Hugh
Black had started work there on a very large scale, and that he had
given Jim a good berth.
"Yes, I was there; but I have come over specially to see you. I said to
my mates, 'If there's anybody that can help us it's the Little Missis.
And I mean to go and ask her, that I will.' So I've come."
"Are you in trouble? You know I will do whatever I can for you."
"I know you would, Mrs. Waring, I know you would. But, thank God, it's
not anything that is specially _my_ trouble; it has to do with all the
lads. They are threatening to come out on strike. They're just mad
against Mr. Black, and I thought you might go and see him for us, he
would listen to you. It would be no good me going; the lads say now that
I'm afraid to open my mouth against him."
"But I should not know what to say to him!" put in Phebe, feeling
somewhat aghast at the new _role_ which was being thrust upon her.
"I can soon tell you all about it, and then I know right well you'd know
what to say--no one better. Mr. Black's got hisself into a kind of a
corner. He's promised to have the work done by a certain date, and now
he sees he can't do it. P'raps he got the job by making out he could do
it quicker than others, I don't know about that: anyhow, he's in a fix,
and the lads say he means us to get him out of it."
"But how could you?"
"Well, he wants us to work an hour a day extra."
"Yes, you could do that," put in Phebe again in a quick voice, feeling
relieved at this easy way out of the difficulty.
"Yes; but what is he willing to pay us? We work ten hours a day now, and
a long day it is at that heavy work, and to put another hour a day on to
it without anything extra is what the lads won't stand."
"Do you mean to say he wants you to work that hour for nothing? There
must be some mistake!" exclaimed Phebe.
"Oh, yes,--don't make a mistake,--he will pay us the usual money, of
course, but the lads say that is not fair, if we work extra when we're
tired he ought to pay us extra, specially when it's to get him out of a
mess, and--my! he'll make a lot of money out of it too! And what I don't
like," continued Jim, sinking his voice, "the fellows sneer at him so;
they say he's been harder than ever since he's been a bit religious.
'That's what your religion does for a man!--makes him a bigger sneak
than ever.' That's how they talk."
Phebe was silent. If the men did talk like that, then it _was_ her duty
to go and speak to Hugh Black.
"And there is something worse still for you to hear," continued Jim.
"Mr. Black says if the lads throw the job up, he shall put on a gang of
Irishmen, and the fellows say if he does, they will never let them do
any work, and there's sure to be bloodshed!"
Another silence. Certainly if she could prevent bloodshed it was her
duty to do so! And it seemed to her, too, that the men's claim was a
just one; if they were willing to help Hugh Black out of his difficulty
he ought to be willing to pay them something extra.
"Are you willing for me to tell Mr. Black all you have just said?"
"Will you go, then?" asked Jim eagerly.
"Why, yes; how could I refuse?" The words came but very slowly.
"There now!" exclaimed Jim excitedly, slapping his hands vigorously on
his knees. "There, I said you would, and the lads bet all manner of
things you wouldn't; they even said you wouldn't because you couldn't
afford to offend Mr. Black. But I told them to wait and see."
Phebe only answered: "Can you tell me exactly what the men would like
Mr. Black to do?"
"Yes, I could, but I wonder----"
"Do not hesitate to speak out anything that is in your heart. But I
wonder if I could guess what it is you wish to ask me to do! Is it to go
and have a talk to the men first?"
"It is!" exclaimed Jim, more excited than ever. "How could you know what
was in my mind?"
"Oh, very easily," replied Phebe, laughing.
"I know what the lads want, and you are welcome to tell Mr. Black all
I've said; but it will be a heap better if you will talk to the men
theirselves."
"Would they be willing for me to be their spokesman to Mr. Black, do you
suppose?"
"Why, of course I am. They'd only be too proud if you would."
"When could I see them?"
"They have a meeting to-night----" Again he hesitated, feeling he was
asking so much.
Phebe quickly answered, "I will go with you at once," and then added,
"Ah, Mr. Coates, it is not the first time you have induced me to go on
an errand I have shrunk from!"
"And this one," exclaimed Jim, his face all aglow, "is going to be as
well-ended as the other one was, you see if it isn't!"
Half-an-hour's run by the train, and ten minutes' walk brought them to
the place of meeting. Many thoughts passed through Phebe's mind during
that short journey; how came it she should be led into such difficult
positions?--how could she adequately deal with subjects so far removed
from those of her everyday experience?
Several of the men were on the look-out for her; evidently her visit was
expected, for a potato-basket had been turned up for her to stand on,
and a chair provided for her to sit on. The men had gathered, about
sixty of them, just at the junction of some country roads, and were
standing under the shelter of a high barn-wall, for a rather cold wind
was blowing.
Many a rough hand was stretched out in welcome to her, and though she
was a stranger to some, no one seemed in the slightest to resent her
coming.
"I'll speak first and set the ball a-rolling," she said, in her bright
way; "Mr. Coates has told me about the trouble you are in, and it is
very good of you to let me share it."
"It does one good to hear her voice agin," said one old man in a very
audible whisper, which was followed quickly by a loud "Shut up!"
Phebe went on in her calm, low, but incisive voice, commenting on what
Jim had told her, and then she asked, "Who is your spokesman here?"
"Ford!" called out a score of voices, and a thick-set man came forward.
"What do you wish Mr. Black to give you for the extra hour?" she asked.
"A shilling."
"And if he agrees to that, what would become of the Irishmen whom you
say are on their way here?"
"Let them go back to their taters," some one called out.
"Oirishmen are as good as ye are!" The accent was so unmistakable that a
general laugh went up. But it did good.
"Of course they are," replied Phebe, "and sometimes a bit better, and it
is for them I want to plead. If I take any sides at all it will not be
for the rich"--a big cheer, and much clapping of hands--"but for the
poor and unfortunate. Those men come expecting work; if Mr. Black agrees
to your terms you ought to be willing to stretch out a willing hand to
those Irishmen. You all know Mr. Black has made an error in his
calculations"--cries of dissent--"hear me to the end and I am sure you
will agree with me."
"We'll make them listen," called out a strong voice, followed by several
others. "That we will!"
"No, friends," Phebe calmly answered, "I will only have a willing
audience."
"You have! You have!" they all called out.
"I am going to ask Mr. Black to give you fifteenpence for that extra
hour, on condition that you are willing to work 'shifts' with these
Irishmen. Couldn't you manage that?"
"No," said Ford, "the days are not long enough."
"Well, what could you suggest that would show that you were willing to
do the brother's part by these men, and also show Mr. Black that the
English working-man was willing to do as he would be done by?"
Then there followed several little speeches of the usual Socialistic
strain, to which Phebe replied: "Yes, I sympathise with you there, but
those questions are out of order at this gathering. We must be
practical."
"Tell us what you would like us to say to him," said Ford, and another
round of cheers followed this suggestion.
Phebe paused for a moment to ask for guidance; the light from the
blessed stars was very clear, but just then an added glory was given to
the scene by the moon suddenly shining forth. The silver beams brought
Phebe a message. "This is what I would suggest, friends," and as she
spoke it seemed as if a sudden silence came over the men, "that instead
of working the extra hour--for I am sure your day is long enough--you
let the new men work with you, and that Mr. Black pay you a halfpenny an
hour more than the usual rate--that would mount up in the course of the
week; or, if that is not practicable, to work in 'shifts,' as I
suggested before, which could very well be done with the aid of electric
light. If he preferred the latter plan, I should still advise him to let
you work the extra hour at the increased pay I mentioned. Of course this
will greatly aid him in getting the work finished, perhaps long before
the time. I am not, however, forgetting that the plan will shorten the
job for you, but work will surely not be scarce this fine weather. Now,
what do you think of my suggestions?"
"I think they'll do all right," said Ford.
"Do you all agree to them, and empower me to say so to Mr. Black?"
"She speaks fair enough," said one man.
"He'll never cave in to all that," called out another.
"But do you agree?"
A great shout went up: "We all agree."
"And will you go on steadily and quietly with your work till you hear
from me again?"
"Yes, we all agree!" Every man of them must have joined in that shout by
the noise they made.
They all wanted to shake hands with her before she left; several wished
her "luck," but one old man said solemnly: "Eh, missis, you're a clever
'un, but you'll never get anything out of Hugh Black."
Before Jim started to accompany Mrs. Waring to the station he whispered
to Ford: "There now! didn't I tell you she'd manage the men all right? I
knew she'd handle them all neat enough! Trust the Little Missis for
that."
"Yes," assented Ford, "she's just splendid, but she won't succeed."
The visit to Hugh Black was by no means so easy an affair as the one to
the men had been. When he learnt what her errand was he could hardly
believe it. "Whatever will those men get you to do next? I expect the
next thing will be, you will represent them in Parliament. I shouldn't
wonder, though, but that you'd do it better than the fellow who is there
now. But to the point: what have those fellows talked you over to ask
me?"
"I want you to understand, Mr. Black, they have not told me at all what
to say; what I am going to say to you is my own suggestion, to which
they agreed."
"If that is so it will make a considerable difference."
Her first endeavour was to get him to sympathise with the men in their
hard toil. She scored a good point when she expressed her surprise that
clever men like he was did not invent more machinery to save such heavy
toil. "I feel sure you could do it if you tried." From that she passed
on to the fact that the men had some time ago found out he was seeking
to live his life on a higher plane than at one time. "'A bit religious'
is the way they put it."
"Well, what if they do?"
"I want them to see that that bit is real," was her straight answer;
"that God has something to do with your business arrangements."
He made no answer, and then she told him the two suggestions she had
made to the men, and asked him which he preferred.
"You fairly take away my breath!" he exclaimed. "The last one is a
splendid idea! I had never thought of that wrinkle! The men would never
agree working side by side, but the idea of the 'shifts' and the
electric light is a dazzling one. The wonder is, I had never thought of
it myself."
"You think, then, the electric light could be managed?"
"Yes, easily enough. Why, do you know, I should get this contract
finished in time to take on another I was thinking I should have to
decline! I really ought to pay you for the idea--excuse me," seeing a
flush come to her face, "but I am really indebted to you!"
"What may I say to the men, Mr. Black?"
"That I will have the two 'shifts,' and that if they will work the extra
hour I will pay them the sum you have named to them. I could do no other
after the help you have been to me."
"I wish," she said earnestly, "you had agreed to it out of sympathy with
the men, and because you thought God would have you do so."
But he made her no answer.
Early that evening Jim Coates came to receive the message for the men.
He lost no time in returning to his mates. They were assembled in the
same place as before.
Of course the message was received with cheers. Some of the men could
hardly believe their ears.
"Well, I never!" was all Ford and some others could say.
"And I am to tell you," continued Jim, "that when this job is finished,
Mr. Black will have another job on hand."
Another cheer.
"And he couldn't have taken this job but for the Little Missis."
Still a louder cheer.
"But there is something else I have to tell you," went on Jim again,
"which she said I was to be sure to remember. When you asked her to say
what she would have us ask, she took just a moment to ask God for
guidance, and at that very moment the moon came out. It was the clear
moonlight which brought her the message about the electric light. She
says that was God's answer. You know it was all along of the electric
light made Mr. Black so pleased; it made the way easy for two gangs of
us to be at work, and made it possible for him to take on the other job.
So the Little Missis says we are always to remember God will work for us
if we will let Him."
There was no cheering after that part of the speech, but the words, "God
will work for us if we will let Him," rang in those men's ears for many
a long day.
They were repeated to Mr. Black by Jim Coates.
"'God will work for us if we will let Him,'" Hugh Black repeated to
himself, "how real God is to that little woman! I wish He were as real
to me!" The moonlight never fell upon his path but the words came back
to him, and they were always followed by the simple, earnest prayer:
"Undertake for me, O my God."
Hugh Black was Mayor of Hadley that year. One day Jim Coates put a
little packet into his hand in a very mysterious manner. It contained
two pounds in sixpences and threepenny bits, and this little note:
"We'd like you to do something with this that would show our
gratitude to the Little Missis.--A FEW ROUGH NAVVIES."
He mused over it a few days, then he borrowed a photograph of "the
Little Missis" from Bessie, had a coloured enlargement taken from it,
then had it framed in carved oak, with the words in gilt beneath: "The
Little Missis. Subscribed for by a few grateful admirers."
The next step was to ask permission to hang it in the Council Chamber,
which was readily granted. Thus in the very room where she had been
spoken of as "a woman whose husband had been obliged to leave her," the
portrait of "the Little Missis" had a place of honour.
It was months before Phebe knew anything of this, and when she did, so
many other things had come to pass that her mind seemed too full to
either grieve or be glad over it.