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, anticipating 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 amusement.
"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
lass 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."