So they questioned and listened. The workmen"s calculations werebased (like too many of the masters") on false premises. They reckonedon their fellow-men as if they possessed the calculable powers ofmachines, no more, no less; no allowance for human passions gettingthe better of reason, as in the case of Boucher and the rioters; andbelieving that the representations of their injuries would have the sameeffect on strangers far away, as the injuries (fancied or real) had uponthemselves. They were consequently surprised and indignant at the poorIrish, who had allowed themselves to be imported and brought over totake their places. This indignation was tempered, in some degree, bycontempt for "them Irishers," and by pleasure at the idea of the bunglingway in which they would set to work, and perplex their new masterswith their ignorance and stupidity, strange exaggerated stories of whichwere already spreading through the town. But the most cruel cut of allwas that of the Milton workmen, who had defied and disobeyed thecommands of the Union to keep the peace, whatever came; who hadoriginated discord in the camp, and spread the panic of the law beingarrayed against them.
"And so the strike is at an end," said Margaret.
"Ay, miss. It"s save as save can. Th" factory doors will need open wide tomorrowto let in all who"ll be axing for work; if it"s only just to showthey"d nought to do wi" a measure, which if we"d been made o" th" rightstuff would ha" brought wages up to a point they"n not been at this tenyear."
"You"ll get work, shan"t you?" asked Margaret. "You"re a famousworkman, are not you?"
"Hamper"ll let me work at his mill, when he cuts off his right hand--notbefore, and not after," said Nicholas, quietly. Margaret was silenced andsad.
"About the wages," said Mr. Hale. "You"ll not be offended, but I thinkyou make some sad mistakes. I should like to read you some remarks ina book I have." He got up and went to his book-shelves.
"Yo" needn"t trouble yoursel", sir," said Nicholas. "Their book-stuff goesin at one ear and out at t"other. I can make nought on"t. Afore Hamperand me had this split, th" overlooker telled him I were stirring up themen to ask for higher wages; and Hamper met me one day in th" yard.
He"d a thin book i" his hand, and says he, "Higgins, I"m told you"re oneof those damned fools that think you can get higher wages for askingfor "em; ay, and keep "em up too, when you"ve forced "em up. Now, I"llgive yo" a chance and try if yo"ve any sense in yo". Here"s a book writtenby a friend o" mine, and if yo"ll read it yo"ll see how wages find theirown level, without either masters or men having aught to do with them;except the men cut their own throats wi" striking, like the confoundednoodles they are." Well, now, sir, I put it to yo", being a parson, andhaving been in th" preaching line, and having had to try and bring folko"er to what yo" thought was a right way o" thinking--did yo" begin bycalling "em fools and such like, or didn"t yo" rayther give "em some kindwords at first, to make "em ready for to listen and be convinced, if theycould; and in yo"r preaching, did yo" stop every now and then, and say,half to them and half to yo"rsel", "But yo"re such a pack o" fools, that I"vea strong notion it"s no use my trying to put sense into yo"?" I were not i"
th" best state, I"ll own, for taking in what Hamper"s friend had to say--Iwere so vexed at the way it were put to me;--but I thought, "Come, I"llsee what these chaps has got to say, and try if it"s them or me as is th"
noodle." So I took th" book and tugged at it; but, Lord bless yo", it wenton about capital and labour, and labour and capital, till it fair sent meoff to sleep. I ne"er could rightly fix i" my mind which was which; and itspoke on "em as if they was vartues or vices; and what I wanted for toknow were the rights o" men, whether they were rich or poor--so be theyonly were men."
"But for all that," said Mr. Hale, "and granting to the full theoffensiveness, the folly, the unchristianness of Mr. Hamper"s way ofspeaking to you in recommending his friend"s book, yet if it told youwhat he said it did, that wages find their own level, and that the mostsuccessful strike can only force them up for a moment, to sink in fargreater proportion afterwards, in consequence of that very strike, thebook would have told you the truth."
"Well, sir," said Higgins, rather doggedly; "it might, or it might not.
There"s two opinions go to settling that point. But suppose it was truthdouble strong, it were no truth to me if I couldna take it in. I daresaythere"s truth in yon Latin book on your shelves; but it"s gibberish andnot truth to me, unless I know the meaning o" the words. If yo", sir, orany other knowledgable, patient man come to me, and says he"ll larn mewhat the words mean, and not blow me up if I"m a bit stupid, or forgethow one thing hangs on another--why, in time I may get to see the truthof it; or I may not. I"ll not be bound to say I shall end in thinking thesame as any man. And I"m not one who think truth can be shaped out inwords, all neat and clean, as th" men at th" foundry cut out sheet-iron.
Same bones won"t go down wi" every one. It"ll stick here i" this man"sthroat, and there i" t"other"s. Let alone that, when down, it may be toostrong for this one, too weak for that. Folk who sets up to doctor th"
world wi" their truth, mun suit different for different minds; and be a bittender in th" way of giving it too, or th" poor sick fools may spit it out i"
their faces. Now Hamper first gi"es me a box on my ear, and then hethrows his big bolus at me, and says he reckons it"ll do me no good, I"msuch a fool, but there it is."
"I wish some of the kindest and wisest of the masters would meet someof you men, and have a good talk on these things; it would, surely, bethe best way of getting over your difficulties, which, I do believe, arisefrom your ignorance--excuse me, Mr. Higgins--on subjects which it isfor the mutual interest of both masters and men should be wellunderstood by both. I wonder"--(half to his daughter), "if Mr. Thorntonmight not be induced to do such a thing?"