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028 - Ch 28 - Comfort in Sorrow · North and South (version 2)

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
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Speaker 1: This libribox recording is in the public domain. Read by
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Speaker 1: Mirianne Chapter twenty eight. Comfort in sorrow, through Cross to Crown,
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Speaker 1: and though thy spirits, life trials untold. A sail with
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Speaker 1: giant strength, good cheer, good cheer soon ends the bitter strife,
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Speaker 1: and thou shalt reign in peace with Christ at length
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Speaker 1: cosegartun ay sooth. We feel too strong in weal to
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Speaker 1: need thee on that road. But woe being come, the
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Speaker 1: soul is dumb, that crieth not on God, Missus Browning.
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Speaker 1: That afternoon she walked swiftly to the Higgins's house. Mary
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Speaker 1: was looking out for her with a half distrustful face.
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Speaker 1: Margaret smiled into her eyes to reassure her. They passed
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Speaker 1: quickly through the house, place upstairs, and into the quiet
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Speaker 1: presence of the dead. Then Margaret was glad that she
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Speaker 1: had come. The face, often so weary with pain, so
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Speaker 1: restless with troubulous thoughts, had now the faint, soft smile
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Speaker 1: of eternal rest upon it. The slow tears gathered into
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Speaker 1: Margaret's eyes, but a deep calm entered into her soul,
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Speaker 1: and that was death. It looked more peaceful than life.
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Speaker 1: All beautiful scriptures came into her mind. They rest from
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Speaker 1: their labors. The weary art rest he giveth his beloved
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Speaker 1: sleep slowly, slowly, Margaret turned away from the bed. Mary
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Speaker 1: was humbly sobbing in the background. They went downstairs without
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Speaker 1: a word, resting his hand upon the house table. Nicholas
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Speaker 1: Higgins stood in the midst of the floor, his great
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Speaker 1: eyes darted open by the news he had heard as
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Speaker 1: he came along the court from many busy tongues. His
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Speaker 1: eyes were dry and fierce, studying the reality of her death,
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Speaker 1: bringing himself to understand that her place should know her
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Speaker 1: no more, for she had been sickly dying so long
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Speaker 1: that he had persuaded himself she would not die, that
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Speaker 1: she would pull through. Margaret felt as if she had
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Speaker 1: no business to be there, familiarly acquainting herself with the
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Speaker 1: surroundings of death which he the father, had only just learnt.
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Speaker 1: There had been a pause of an instant on the steep,
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Speaker 1: crooked stair when she first saw him, But now she
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Speaker 1: tried to steal past his abstracted gaze and to leave
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Speaker 1: him in the solemn circle of his household misery. Mary
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Speaker 1: sat down on the first chair she came to, and,
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Speaker 1: throwing her apron over her head, began to cry. The
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Speaker 1: noise appeared to rouse him. He took sudden hold of
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Speaker 1: Margaret's arm and held her till he could gather words
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Speaker 1: to speak. They came up thick and choked and hoarse.
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Speaker 1: Were YO with her? Did YO see her die? No,
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Speaker 1: replied Margaret, standing still with the utmost patience. Now she
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Speaker 1: found herself perceived. It was some time before he spoke again,
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Speaker 1: but he kept his hold on her arm. Old men
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Speaker 1: must die, said he at last, with a strange sort
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Speaker 1: of gravity, which first suggested to Margaret the idea that
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Speaker 1: he had been drinking, not enough to intoxicate himself, but
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Speaker 1: enough to make his thoughts bewildered. But she were younger
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Speaker 1: than me. Still, he pondered over the event, not looking
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Speaker 1: at Margaret, though he grasped her tight. Suddenly he looked
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Speaker 1: up at her with a wild, searching inquiry in his glance.
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Speaker 1: You're sure and certain she's dead. Not in the dwam
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Speaker 1: as faint. She's been so before often she is dead,
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Speaker 1: replied Margaret. She felt no fear in speaking to him,
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Speaker 1: though he hurt her arm with his grip, and wild
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Speaker 1: gleams came across the stupidity of his eyes. She is dead,
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Speaker 1: she said. He looked at her still with that searching look,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to fade out of his eyes as he gazed.
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Speaker 1: Then he suddenly let go his hold of Margaret, and
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Speaker 1: throwing his body half across the table, he shook it
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Speaker 1: and every piece of furniture in the room with his
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Speaker 1: violent sobs. Mary came trembling towards him. Get thee gone,
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Speaker 1: Get thee gone, he cried, striking wildly and blindly at her.
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Speaker 1: What do I care for thee? Margaret took her hand
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Speaker 1: and held it softly in hers. He tore his hair.
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Speaker 1: He beat his head against the hard wood. Then he lay,
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Speaker 1: exhausted and stupid still, his daughter and Margaret. It did
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Speaker 1: not move. Mary trembled from head to foot. At last,
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Speaker 1: it might have been a quarter of an hour. It
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Speaker 1: might have been an hour. He lifted himself up. His
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Speaker 1: eyes were swollen and bloodshot, and he seemed to have
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Speaker 1: forgotten that any one was by. He scowled at the watchers.
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Speaker 1: When he saw them, he shook himself heavily gave them
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Speaker 1: one more sullen look, spoke never a word, but made
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Speaker 1: for the door. Oh father, father, said Mary, throwing herself
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Speaker 1: upon his arms. Not to night any night, but to night.
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Speaker 1: Oh help me, he's going out to drink again. Father.
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Speaker 1: I'll not leave yo. Yo may strike me, but I'll
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Speaker 1: not leave yo. She told me last of all, to
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Speaker 1: keep ye from drink. But Margaret stood in the doorway,
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Speaker 1: silent yet commanding. He looked up at her, defyingly, it's
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Speaker 1: my own house. Stand out of the way, wench or
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Speaker 1: make yo. He had shaken off Mary with violence. He
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Speaker 1: looked ready to strike Margaret, but she never moved a feature,
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Speaker 1: never took her deep, serious eyes off him. He stared
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Speaker 1: back on her with gloomy fierceness. If she had stirred
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Speaker 1: hand or foot, he would have thrust her aside with
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Speaker 1: even more violence than he had used to his own daughter,
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Speaker 1: whose face was bleeding from her fall against a chair.
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Speaker 1: What are YO lookin at me in that way? For?
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Speaker 1: Asked he, at last, daunted and awed by her severe calm,
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Speaker 1: If yo'll think for to keep me from goin? What gate?
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Speaker 1: I choose? Because she loved yo? And in my own
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Speaker 1: house too? Where I never asked? Yo? To come. You're mistayin'.
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Speaker 1: It's very hard upon a man that he can't go
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Speaker 1: to the only comfort left. Margaret felt that he acknowledged
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Speaker 1: her power. What could she do next? He had seated
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Speaker 1: himself on a chair close to the door, half conquered,
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Speaker 1: half resenting, intendye to go out as soon as she
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Speaker 1: left her position, but unwilling to use the violence he
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Speaker 1: had threatened. Not five minutes before, Margaret laid her hand
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Speaker 1: on his arm. Come with me, she said, come and
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Speaker 1: see her. The voice in which she spoke was very
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Speaker 1: low and solemn, but there was no fear or doubt
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Speaker 1: expressed in it, either of him or of his compliance.
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Speaker 1: He sullenly rose up. He stood uncertain, with dogged irresolution
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Speaker 1: upon his face. She waited him there quietly and patiently
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Speaker 1: waited for his time to move. He had a strange
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Speaker 1: pleasure in making her wait. But at last he moved
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Speaker 1: towards the stairs. She and he stood by the corpse.
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Speaker 1: Her last words to Mary were, keep my father for drink.
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Speaker 1: It cannot hurt her, now, muttered he naught can hurt
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Speaker 1: her now. Then, raising his voice to a wailing cry,
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Speaker 1: he went on, we may quarrel and fall out. We
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Speaker 1: may make peace and be friends. We may clem to
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Speaker 1: skin and bone, and not of all our griefs will
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Speaker 1: ever touch her more. Who's had her portion on 'em?
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Speaker 1: What we hard work first and sickness at last? Who's
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Speaker 1: led the life of a dog, And to die without
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Speaker 1: knowing one good piece a rejoicing in all her days? Nay,
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Speaker 1: wench whatever who has said? Who can know nought about it?
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Speaker 1: And I'm unhat a super drink just to steady me again. Sorrow, No,
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Speaker 1: said Margaret, softening with his softened manner. You shall not
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Speaker 1: if her life has been what you say. At any rate,
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Speaker 1: she did not fear death as some do. Oh you
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Speaker 1: should have heard her speak of the life to come,
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Speaker 1: the life hidden with God that she is now gone to.
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Speaker 1: He shook his head, glancing sideways up at Margaret. As
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Speaker 1: he did so, his pale, haggard face struck her painfully.
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Speaker 1: You are sorely tired. Where have you been all day?
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Speaker 1: Not at work? Not at work, sure enough, said he,
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Speaker 1: with a short, grim laugh. Not at what you call work.
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Speaker 1: I were at the committee till I were sickened out
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Speaker 1: with trying to make fools. Hear reason, I were fetched
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Speaker 1: to Boucher's wife of four seven. This morning she's bedfast,
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Speaker 1: but she were raving and raging to know where her
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Speaker 1: dunder headed brute of a chap was, as if I'd
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Speaker 1: to keep him, as if he were fit to be
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Speaker 1: ruled by me, the damned fool who has put his
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Speaker 1: foot in all our plans. And I've walked my feet
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Speaker 1: sore with going about for to see men who wouldn't
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Speaker 1: be seen. Now the law is raised again us and
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Speaker 1: I were sore hearted too, which is worse than sore footed.
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Speaker 1: And if I did see a friend who oust to
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Speaker 1: treat me, I never knew who lay a dye here,
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Speaker 1: bess alas thou'd believe me, thou wouldst wouldst thou turning
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Speaker 1: to the poor dumb form with wild appeal, I am sure,
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Speaker 1: said Margaret. I am sure. You did not know. It
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Speaker 1: was quite sudden, But now you see it would be different.
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Speaker 1: You do know you see her lying there, You hear
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Speaker 1: what she said with her last breath. You will not
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Speaker 1: go no answer. In fact, where was he to look
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Speaker 1: for comfort? Come home with me, she said, at last,
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Speaker 1: with a bold venture, half trembling at her own proposal
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Speaker 1: as she made it. At least you shall have some
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Speaker 1: comfortable food, which I'm sure you need. Your father's a
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Speaker 1: parson asked, He with a sudden turn in his ideas
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Speaker 1: he was, said Margaret shortly, I'll go and take a
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Speaker 1: dish o tea with him, since you've asked me, I've
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Speaker 1: many a thing I often wished to say to a parson,
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Speaker 1: and I'm not particular as to whether he's preaching now
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Speaker 1: or not. Margaret was perplexed his drinking tea with her father,
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Speaker 1: who would be totally unprepared for his visitor. Her mother
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Speaker 1: so ill seemed utterly out of the question, and yet
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Speaker 1: if she drew back now it would be worse than ever.
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Speaker 1: Sure to drive him to the gin shop, she thought
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Speaker 1: that if she could only get him to their own house,
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Speaker 1: it was so great a step gained that she would
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Speaker 1: trust to the Chapter of Accidents for the next good
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Speaker 1: By old Wench, we've parted company at last, we have,
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Speaker 1: But thou'st been a blessin to thy father ever sin
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Speaker 1: thou wert born bless thy white lips lass. They've a
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Speaker 1: smile on em now, and I'm glad to see it
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Speaker 1: once again, though I'm lone and forlorn for evermore. He
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Speaker 1: stooped down and fondly kissed his daughter, covered up her face,
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Speaker 1: and turned to follow Margaret. She had hastily gone downstairs
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Speaker 1: to tell Mary of the arrangement, to say it was
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Speaker 1: the only way she could think to keep him from
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Speaker 1: the gin palace, to urge Mary to come too, for
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Speaker 1: her heart smote her at the idea of leaving the
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Speaker 1: poor affectionate girl alone. But Mary had friends among the neighbors,
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Speaker 1: she said, who would come in and sit a bit
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Speaker 1: with her. It was all right, But father, he was
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Speaker 1: there by them. As she would have spoken more, He
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Speaker 1: had shaken off his emotion, as if he was ashamed
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Speaker 1: of having ever given way to it, and had even
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Speaker 1: overleaped himself so much that he assumed a sort of
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Speaker 1: bitter mirth, like the crackling of thorns under a pot.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to take my tea with her, father, I am.
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Speaker 1: But he slouched his cap low over his brow as
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Speaker 1: he went out into the street, and looked neither to
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Speaker 1: the right nor to the left while he tramped along
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Speaker 1: by Margaret's side. He feared being of upset by the words,
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Speaker 1: still more the looks of sympathizing neighbors. So he and
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Speaker 1: Margaret walked in silence. As he got near the street
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Speaker 1: in which he knew she lived, he looked down at
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Speaker 1: his clothes, his hands, and shoes. I should mayhappen? He
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Speaker 1: cleaned myself first, It certainly would have been desirable, But
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Speaker 1: Margaret assured him that he should be allowed to go
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Speaker 1: into the yard and have soap and towel, provided she
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Speaker 1: could not let him slip out of her hands. Just then,
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Speaker 1: while he followed the house servant along the passage and
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Speaker 1: through the kitchen, stepping cautiously on every dark mark in
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Speaker 1: the pattern of the oilcloth in order to conceal his
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Speaker 1: dirty footprints, Margaret ran upstairs. She met Dixon on the landing.
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Speaker 1: How is Mamma? Where's Papa? Miss was tired and gone
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Speaker 1: into her own room. She had wanted to go to bed,
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Speaker 1: but Dixon had persuaded her to lie down on the
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Speaker 1: sofa and have her tea brought to her there. It
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Speaker 1: would be better than getting rest by being too long
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Speaker 1: in bed. So far, so good. But where was mister Hale?
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Speaker 1: In the drawing room, Margaret went in half breathless with
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Speaker 1: the hurried story she had to tell. Of course, she
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Speaker 1: told it incompletely and her father was rather taken aback
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Speaker 1: by the idea of the drunken weaver awaiting him in
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Speaker 1: his quiet study, with whom he was expected to drink tea,
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Speaker 1: and on whose behalf Margaret was anxiously pleading. The meek,
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Speaker 1: kind hearted mister Hale would have readily tried to console
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Speaker 1: him in his grief, But unluckily, the point Margaret dwelt
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Speaker 1: on most forcibly was the fact of his having been drinking,
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Speaker 1: and her having brought him home with her as a
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Speaker 1: last expedient to keep him from the gin shop. One
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Speaker 1: little event had come out of another, so naturally that
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Speaker 1: Margaret was hardly conscious of what she had done till
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Speaker 1: she saw the slight look of repugnance on her father's face. Oh, Papa,
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Speaker 1: he really is a man you will not dislike, if
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Speaker 1: you won't be shocked to begin with. But Margaret, to
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Speaker 1: bring a drunken man home and your mother so ill.
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Speaker 1: Margaret's countenance fell. I am sorry, Papa. He is very quiet.
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Speaker 1: He is not tipsy at all. He was only rather
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Speaker 1: strange at first, but that might be the shock of
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Speaker 1: poor Bessy's death. Margaret's eyes filled with tears. Mister Hale
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Speaker 1: took hold of her sweet, pleading face in both his hands,
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Speaker 1: and kissed her forehead. It's all right, dear, I'll go
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Speaker 1: and make him as comfortable as I can. And do
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Speaker 1: you attend to your mother? Only? If you can come
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Speaker 1: in and make a third in the study. I shall
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Speaker 1: be glad. Oh, yes, thank you. But as mister Hale
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Speaker 1: was leaving the room, she ran after him. Papa, you
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Speaker 1: must not wonder at what he says. He's an I mean,
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Speaker 1: he does not believe in much of what we do,
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Speaker 1: Oh dear, a drunken, infidel weaver, said mister Hale to
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Speaker 1: himself in dismay. But to Margaret he only said, if
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Speaker 1: your mother goes to sleep, be sure you come directly.
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Speaker 1: Margaret went into her mother's room. Missus Hale lifted herself
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Speaker 1: up from a doze. When did you write to Frederick,
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Speaker 1: Margaret yesterday or the day before yesterday? Mamma, yesterday? And
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Speaker 1: the letter went yes. I took it myself, Oh Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I am so afraid of his coming, if he should
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Speaker 1: be recognized, if he should be taken, if he should
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Speaker 1: be executed, after all these years that he has kept
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Speaker 1: away and lived in safety. I keep falling asleep and
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Speaker 1: dreaming that he is caught and being tried. Oh, Mamma,
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Speaker 1: don't be afraid. There will be some risk, no doubt,
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Speaker 1: but we will lessen it as much as ever we can.
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Speaker 1: And it is so little now. If we were at Helstone,
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Speaker 1: there would be twenty a hundred times as much there.
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Speaker 1: Everybody would remember him, and if there was a stranger
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Speaker 1: known to be in the house, they would be sure
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Speaker 1: to guess it was Frederick. While here nobody knows or
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Speaker 1: cares for us enough to notice what we do. Dixon
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Speaker 1: will keep the door like a dragon, won't you, Dixon?
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Speaker 1: While he is here. They'll be clever if they come
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Speaker 1: in past me, said Dixon, showing her teeth at the
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Speaker 1: bare idea. And he need not go out except in
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Speaker 1: the dusk. Poor fellow, Poor fellow, echoed missus Hale. But
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Speaker 1: I almost wish you had not written. Would it be
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Speaker 1: too late to stop him if he wrote again, Margaret?
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Speaker 1: I am afraid it would, Mamma, said Margaret, remembering the
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Speaker 1: urgency with which she had entreated him to come directly
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Speaker 1: if he wished to see his mother alive. I always
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Speaker 1: dislike that doing things in such a hurry, said missus Hale,
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Speaker 1: Margaret was silent. Come now, ma'am, said Dixon with a
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Speaker 1: kind of cheerful authority. You know, seeing Master Frederick is
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Speaker 1: just the very thing of all others you're longing for.
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Speaker 1: And I'm glad Miss Margaret rode off straight without shilly shalllying.
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Speaker 1: I've had a great mind to do it myself, and
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Speaker 1: we'll keep him snug, depend upon it. There's only Martha
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Speaker 1: in the house that would not do a good deal
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Speaker 1: to save him on a pinch. And I've been thinking
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Speaker 1: that she might go and see her mother, just at
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Speaker 1: that very time. She's been saying once or twice she
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Speaker 1: should like to go, for her mother has had a
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Speaker 1: stroke since she came here. Only she didn't like to ask.
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Speaker 1: But I'll see about her being safe off as soon
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Speaker 1: as we know when he comes, God bless him. So
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Speaker 1: take your tea, ma'am, in comfort, and trust to me.
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Speaker 1: Missus Hale did trust in Dixon more than in Margaret.
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Speaker 1: Dixon's words quieted her for the time. Margaret poured out
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Speaker 1: the tea in silence, trying to think of something agreeable
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Speaker 1: to say, But her thoughts made answer something like Daniel
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Speaker 1: O'Rourke when the man in the Moon asked him to
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Speaker 1: get off his reaping hook. The more you ax us,
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Speaker 1: the more we won't stir. The more she tried to
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Speaker 1: think of something, anything, besides the danger to which Frederick
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Speaker 1: would be exposed, the more closely her imagination clung to
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Speaker 1: the unfortunate idea presented to her. Her mother prattled with
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Speaker 1: Dixon and seemed to have utterly forgotten the possibility of
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Speaker 1: Frederick being tried and executed, utterly forgotten that at her wish,
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Speaker 1: if by Margaret's deed, he was summoned into this danger.
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Speaker 1: Her mother was one of those who throw out terrible possibilities,
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Speaker 1: miserable probabilities, unfortunate chances of all kinds, as a rocket
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Speaker 1: throws out sparks, But if the sparks light on some
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Speaker 1: combustible matter, they smolder first and burst out into a
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Speaker 1: frightful flame. At last, Margaret was glad when her filial
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Speaker 1: duties gently and carefully performed, she could go down to
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Speaker 1: the study. She wondered how her father and Higgins had
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Speaker 1: got on in the first place. The decorous, kind hearted,
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Speaker 1: simple old fashioned gentleman had unconsciously called out by his
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Speaker 1: own refinement and courteousness of manner all the latent courtesy
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Speaker 1: in the other mister Hale treated all his fellow creatures alike.
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Speaker 1: It never entered into his head to make any difference
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Speaker 1: because of their rank. He placed a chair for Nicholas,
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Speaker 1: stood up till he, at mister Hale's request, took a seat,
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Speaker 1: and called him invariably mister Higgins, instead of the curt
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Speaker 1: Nicholas or Higgins to which the drunken infidel Weaver had
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Speaker 1: been accustomed. But Nicholas was neither a habitual drunkard nor
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Speaker 1: a thorough infidel. He drank to drown care as he
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Speaker 1: would have himself expressed it, and he was an infidel
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Speaker 1: so far as he had never yet found any form
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Speaker 1: of faith to which he could attach himself heart and soul.
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Speaker 1: Margaret was a little surprised and very much pleased when
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Speaker 1: she found her father and Higgins in earnest conversation, each
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Speaker 1: speaking with gentle politeness to the other, however their opinions
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Speaker 1: might clash. Nicholas, clean, tidied, if only at the pump trough,
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Speaker 1: and quite spoken, was a new creature to her, who
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Speaker 1: had only seen him in the rough independence of his
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Speaker 1: own hearthstone. He had slicked his hair down with the
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Speaker 1: fresh water. He had adjusted his neck handkerchief and borrowed
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Speaker 1: an odd candle end to polish his clogs with, And
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Speaker 1: there he sat enforcing some opinion on her father with
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Speaker 1: a strong darkshire accent, it is true, but with a
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Speaker 1: lowered voice and a good earnest composure on his face.
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Speaker 1: Her father, too was interested in what his companion was saying.
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Speaker 1: He looked round as she came in, smiled, and quietly
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Speaker 1: gave her his chair, and then sat down afresh as
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Speaker 1: quickly as possible, with a little bow of apology to
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Speaker 1: his guest for the interruption. Higgins nodded to her as
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Speaker 1: a sign of greeting, and she softly adjusted her working
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Speaker 1: materials on the table and prepared to listen. As I
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Speaker 1: was a sayin, sir, I reckon, you'd not have much
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Speaker 1: belief in ye if ye lived here, if you'd been
22:10
Speaker 1: bred here, I axe yer, pardon if I use wrong words,
22:14
Speaker 1: But what I mean by belief just now is a
22:16
Speaker 1: thinkin on sayins and maxims and promises made by folk
22:20
Speaker 1: YO never saw about the things and the life YO
22:24
Speaker 1: never saw nor no one else. Now, YO say all
22:28
Speaker 1: these are true things and true sayins and a true life.
22:33
Speaker 1: I just say, where's the proof. There's many and many
22:36
Speaker 1: a wiser one an scores better learned than I am.
22:39
Speaker 1: Around me, folk who've had time to think on these things,
22:43
Speaker 1: while my time has had to begin not to get
22:45
Speaker 1: my bread. Well, I sees these people. Their lives is
22:50
Speaker 1: pretty much open to me. They're real folk. They don't
22:54
Speaker 1: believe I the Bible, not they they may say they
22:57
Speaker 1: do for form's sake, Lord sir, d'ye think their first
23:02
Speaker 1: cry I the morning is what shall I do to
23:05
Speaker 1: get hold on eternal life? Or what shall I do
23:08
Speaker 1: to fill my purse this blessed day? Where shall I go?
23:12
Speaker 1: What bargain shall I strike? The purse and the gold
23:15
Speaker 1: and the notes? Is the real things, things as can
23:18
Speaker 1: be felt and touched. Them's realities and eternal life is
23:23
Speaker 1: all a talk very fit for I axe yer, pardon,
23:26
Speaker 1: sir yer, a parson out o work. I believe well,
23:31
Speaker 1: I'll never speak disrespectful of a man in the same
23:33
Speaker 1: fix as I'm in my cell. But I'll just axe
23:37
Speaker 1: you another question, sir, and I dunnot want yo to
23:40
Speaker 1: answer it, only to put it in your pipe and
23:42
Speaker 1: smoke it afore you go for to set down us,
23:45
Speaker 1: who only believe in what we see as fools and noddies.
23:49
Speaker 1: If salvation and life to come and what not was true,
23:55
Speaker 1: not in men's words, but in men's heart's core, don't
23:59
Speaker 1: ye think they they din us with it, as they
24:01
Speaker 1: do with political economy. They're mighty anxious to come round
24:06
Speaker 1: us with that peace of wisdom. But t'other would be
24:08
Speaker 1: a greater conversation if it were true. But the masters
24:13
Speaker 1: have nothing to do with your religion. All that they
24:16
Speaker 1: are connected with you in is trade, so they think,
24:21
Speaker 1: and all that it concerns them. Therefore, to rectify your
24:24
Speaker 1: opinions in is the science of trade. I'm glad, sir,
24:30
Speaker 1: said Higgins, with a curious wink of his eye, that
24:32
Speaker 1: YO put in so they think had he thought you
24:36
Speaker 1: a hypocrite, I'm afeared if you hadn't, for all you're
24:39
Speaker 1: a parson, or rather because you're a parson. Ye see,
24:44
Speaker 1: if y'd spoken a religion as a thing, that, if
24:46
Speaker 1: it was true, it didn't concern all men to press
24:49
Speaker 1: on all men's attention above everything else in this vassal earth.
24:53
Speaker 1: I should ha thought you a knave for to be
24:55
Speaker 1: a parson, And I'd rather think you a fool than
24:58
Speaker 1: a knave. No offense, I hope, sir, none at all.
25:03
Speaker 1: You consider me mistaken, and I consider you far more
25:07
Speaker 1: fatally mistaken. I don't expect to convince you in a day,
25:12
Speaker 1: not in one conversation. But let us know each other
25:15
Speaker 1: and speak freely to each other about these things, and
25:19
Speaker 1: the truth will prevail. I should not believe in God
25:22
Speaker 1: if I did not believe that, mister Higgins, I trust
25:27
Speaker 1: whatever else you have given up. You believe, mister Hale's
25:32
Speaker 1: voice dropped low in reverence. You believe in him. Nicholas
25:38
Speaker 1: Higgins suddenly stood straight, stiff up. Margaret started to her feet,
25:43
Speaker 1: for she thought, by the working of his face he
25:46
Speaker 1: was going into convulsions. Mister Hale looked at her, dismayed.
25:50
Speaker 1: At last, Higgins found words, Man, I could fell you
25:55
Speaker 1: to the ground for tempting me? What in business had
25:58
Speaker 1: yo to try me with your doubts? Think o her
26:02
Speaker 1: lion there after the life who's led? And think then,
26:06
Speaker 1: how yo'd deny me the one soul comfort left that
26:09
Speaker 1: there is a God and that he set her her life.
26:14
Speaker 1: I dunnot believe she'll ever live again, said he, sitting
26:17
Speaker 1: down and drearily, going on, as if to the unsympathizing fire.
26:22
Speaker 1: I dunnot believe in any other life than this, in
26:25
Speaker 1: which she'd dread such trouble and had such never ending care.
26:30
Speaker 1: And I cannot bear to think it were all a
26:32
Speaker 1: set o chances that might be altered with a breath
26:35
Speaker 1: o wind. There's many a times when I've thought I
26:38
Speaker 1: dinna believe in God, but I've never put it fair
26:41
Speaker 1: out before me in words, as many men do. I
26:45
Speaker 1: may have laughed at those who did to brave it
26:48
Speaker 1: out like, but I have looked round at after to
26:51
Speaker 1: see if he heard me. If so, there was a he.
26:55
Speaker 1: But to day, when I'm left desolate, I wunnot listen
26:59
Speaker 1: to yo with yr questions and your doubts. There's but
27:02
Speaker 1: one thing, steady and quiet I owe this reeling world,
27:06
Speaker 1: and reason or no reason, I'll cling to that. It's
27:10
Speaker 1: ay very well for happy folk. Margaret touched his arm
27:14
Speaker 1: very softly. She had not spoken before, nor had he
27:18
Speaker 1: heard her rise. Nicholas, we do not want to reason,
27:23
Speaker 1: you misunderstand, my father. We do not reason. We believe,
27:29
Speaker 1: and so do you. It is the one sole comfort
27:32
Speaker 1: in such times. He turned round and caught her hand.
27:37
Speaker 1: Ay it is, it is brushing away the tears with
27:42
Speaker 1: the back of his hand. But yo, no, she's lyin
27:46
Speaker 1: dead at home. And I'm welly, dazed with sorrow, and
27:50
Speaker 1: at times I hardly know what I'm saying. It's as
27:53
Speaker 1: if speeches. Folks, they made clever and smart things, as
27:57
Speaker 1: I have thought at the time. Come up, now, my
27:59
Speaker 1: hearts weely brozen. The strikes failed as well, dun yo
28:04
Speaker 1: know that miss I were comin woam to ask her
28:08
Speaker 1: like a beggar as I am for a bit of comfort.
28:11
Speaker 1: I that's trouble. And I were knocked down by one
28:14
Speaker 1: who telled me she were dead, just dead, That were all.
28:19
Speaker 1: But that were enough for me. Mister Hale blew his
28:23
Speaker 1: nose and got up to snuff the candles in order
28:26
Speaker 1: to conceal his emotion. He's not an infidel, Margaret. How
28:31
Speaker 1: could you say so, muttered he reproachfully. I've a good
28:35
Speaker 1: mind to read him the fourteenth chapter of Job. Not yet, Papa,
28:40
Speaker 1: I think, perhaps not at all. Let us ask him
28:44
Speaker 1: about the strike and give him all the sympathy he
28:46
Speaker 1: needs and hoped to have from poor Bessy. So they
28:50
Speaker 1: questioned and listened. The workmen's calculations were based, like too
28:55
Speaker 1: many of the masters, on false premises. They reckoned on
28:59
Speaker 1: their fellow men, as as if they possessed the incalculable
29:01
Speaker 1: powers of machines, no more, no less, no allowance for
29:06
Speaker 1: human passions, getting the better of reason, as in the
29:09
Speaker 1: case of Boucher and the Rioters, and believing that the
29:12
Speaker 1: representations of their injuries would have the same effect on
29:15
Speaker 1: strangers far away as the injuries fancied or real had
29:19
Speaker 1: upon themselves. They were consequently surprised and indignant at the
29:23
Speaker 1: poor Irish who had allowed themselves to be imported and
29:26
Speaker 1: brought over to take their places. This indignation was tempered
29:30
Speaker 1: in some degree by contempt for them Irishers, and by
29:34
Speaker 1: pleasure at the idea of the bungling way in which
29:37
Speaker 1: they would set to work and perplex their new masters
29:39
Speaker 1: with their ignorance and stupidity, strange exaggerated stories of which
29:44
Speaker 1: were already spreading through the town. But the most cruel
29:47
Speaker 1: cut of all was that of the Milton workmen, who
29:50
Speaker 1: had defied and disobeyed the commands of the Union to
29:52
Speaker 1: keep the peace whatever came, who had originated discord in
29:57
Speaker 1: the camp and spread the panic of the law being
29:59
Speaker 1: arrayed again them. And so the strike is at an end,
30:03
Speaker 1: said Margaret. Ay miss, it's save as safe can. The
30:09
Speaker 1: factory doors will need open wide tomorrow to let in
30:11
Speaker 1: all who'll be axing for work, if it's only just
30:14
Speaker 1: to show they'd not to do wi a measure which,
30:17
Speaker 1: if we'd been made o the right stuff, would a
30:19
Speaker 1: brought wages up to a point they not been at
30:22
Speaker 1: this ten year. You'll get work, sha'n't you, asked Margaret.
30:28
Speaker 1: You're famous workmen, are not you? Humper? Let me work
30:32
Speaker 1: at his mill when he cuts off his right hand,
30:35
Speaker 1: not before and not after, said Nicholas quietly. Margaret was
30:40
Speaker 1: silenced and sad about the wages, said mister Hale, you'll
30:46
Speaker 1: not be offended, but I think you make some sad mistakes.
30:50
Speaker 1: I should like to read you some remarks in a
30:52
Speaker 1: book I have. He got up and went to his
30:54
Speaker 1: book shelves. YO needn't trouble yerselves, sir, said Nicholas. Their
31:00
Speaker 1: book stuff goes in at one ear and out at t'other.
31:03
Speaker 1: I can make nought on it. Afore hamperin me had
31:07
Speaker 1: this split. The overlooker telled him. I were stern up
31:10
Speaker 1: the men to ask for higher wages, and Hamper met
31:13
Speaker 1: me one day in the yard Edith in book ye
31:15
Speaker 1: his hand an, he says, Higgins, I'm told yo, one o,
31:19
Speaker 1: those damned fools that think ye can get higher wages
31:21
Speaker 1: for askin for em? Aye an keep 'em up too
31:25
Speaker 1: when YO forced em up. Now, I'll give you a
31:28
Speaker 1: chance to try, if ye've any sense in Yo. Here's
31:31
Speaker 1: a book written by a friend O mine. An, if
31:33
Speaker 1: ye'll read it, ye'll see how wages find their own
31:36
Speaker 1: level without either masters or men havin aught to do
31:39
Speaker 1: with em, except the men cut their own throats, wi
31:42
Speaker 1: strikin' like the confounded noodles. They are well now, sir,
31:47
Speaker 1: I put it to yo, beIN a parson, and have
31:50
Speaker 1: him been in the preachin' line, and having had to
31:53
Speaker 1: try to bring folk or to what YO thought was
31:55
Speaker 1: a right way O thinkin', did yo begin by callin'
31:58
Speaker 1: em fools and such like? Or didn't ye rather give
32:01
Speaker 1: 'em some kind word at first to make 'em ready
32:04
Speaker 1: for to listen and be convinced if they could? And
32:07
Speaker 1: in your preachin, did yo stop every now and then
32:10
Speaker 1: and say half to them and half to yersel. But
32:14
Speaker 1: y're such a pack o fools that I've a strong notion.
32:17
Speaker 1: It's no use my tryin to put sense into yo.
32:21
Speaker 1: I were not I the best state I'll own for
32:24
Speaker 1: takin in what Hamper's friend had to say. I were
32:26
Speaker 1: so vexed at the way it were put to me,
32:29
Speaker 1: But I thought, come, I'll see what those chaps has
32:32
Speaker 1: got to say, and try if it's them or me
32:35
Speaker 1: as is the noodle. So I took the book and
32:38
Speaker 1: tugged at it. But Lord bless ya, it went on
32:42
Speaker 1: about capital and labor, and labor and capital till it
32:45
Speaker 1: fair sent me off to sleep. I ne'er could rightly
32:48
Speaker 1: fix ee my mind which was which, And it spoke
32:51
Speaker 1: on 'em as if they were vartues or vices. And
32:55
Speaker 1: what I wanted for to know were the rights o men,
32:57
Speaker 1: whether they were rich or poor, be they only were men.
33:02
Speaker 1: But for all that said mister Hale, and granting to
33:06
Speaker 1: the full the offensiveness, the folly, the unchristianness of mister
33:11
Speaker 1: Hamper's way of speaking to you in recommending his friend's book,
33:15
Speaker 1: yet if it told you what he said, it did
33:18
Speaker 1: that wages find their own level and that the most
33:21
Speaker 1: successful strike can only force them up for a moment,
33:24
Speaker 1: to sink in far greater proportion afterwards in consequence of
33:28
Speaker 1: that very strike. The book would have told you the truth, well, sir,
33:34
Speaker 1: said Higgins, rather doggedly. It might or it might not.
33:39
Speaker 1: There's two opinions go to settle in that point. But
33:43
Speaker 1: suppose it was truth double strong, it were no truth
33:46
Speaker 1: to me if I couldna take it in, I dare
33:49
Speaker 1: say there's truth in Yon Lattin book on your shelves,
33:52
Speaker 1: but it's gibberish and not truth to me unless I
33:55
Speaker 1: know the meaning of the words. If Yo, Sir, or
33:58
Speaker 1: any other knowledgeable patient man came to me and says
34:02
Speaker 1: he'll larn me what the words mean and not blow
34:05
Speaker 1: me up. If I'm a bit stupid or forget how
34:08
Speaker 1: one thing hangs on another, why in time I may
34:12
Speaker 1: get to see the truth of it or I may not.
34:15
Speaker 1: I'll not be bound to say. I shall end up
34:17
Speaker 1: thinking the same way as any man. And I'm not
34:21
Speaker 1: one who think truth can be shaped out of words,
34:24
Speaker 1: all neat and clean as the men at the foundry
34:27
Speaker 1: cut out sheet iron. Same bones won't go down wi
34:30
Speaker 1: every one, It'll stick here e this man's throat, and
34:35
Speaker 1: there in toothers. Let alone that when down it may
34:39
Speaker 1: be too strong for this one, too weak for that
34:43
Speaker 1: folk who sets up to doctor the world wi their truth.
34:46
Speaker 1: Mun suit different for different minds, and be a bit
34:50
Speaker 1: tender in the way a giving it too, or the
34:52
Speaker 1: poor sick fools may spit it out to the faces.
34:56
Speaker 1: Now Hamper first gives me a box on my ear.
34:59
Speaker 1: Then he throws his big bluse at me and says
35:02
Speaker 1: he reckons it'll do me good. I'm such a fool,
35:05
Speaker 1: But there it is. I wish some of the kindest
35:10
Speaker 1: and wisest of the masters would meet some of you
35:13
Speaker 1: men and have a good talk on these things. It
35:17
Speaker 1: would surely be the best way of getting over your difficulties,
35:21
Speaker 1: which I do believe arise from your ignorance. Excuse me,
35:26
Speaker 1: mister Higgins, on subjects which it is for the mutual
35:29
Speaker 1: interest of both masters and men should be well understood
35:33
Speaker 1: by both. I wonder half to his daughter if mister
35:38
Speaker 1: Thornton might not be induced to do such a thing.
35:42
Speaker 1: Remember Papa said she in a very low voice, what
35:46
Speaker 1: he said one day about governments. You know she was
35:50
Speaker 1: unwilling to make any clearer allusion to the conversation they
35:53
Speaker 1: had had on the mode of governing work people by
35:56
Speaker 1: giving men intelligence enough to rule themselves, or by a
35:59
Speaker 1: wise despot on the part of the master. For she
36:02
Speaker 1: saw that Higgins had caught mister Thornton's name, if not
36:05
Speaker 1: the whole part of the speech. Indeed, he began to
36:08
Speaker 1: speak of him, Thornton. He's the chap as wrote off
36:13
Speaker 1: at once for those irishers and led to the riots
36:16
Speaker 1: that ruined the strike. Even Hamper we all his bullying
36:20
Speaker 1: would have waited a while. But it's a word and
36:23
Speaker 1: a blow wi Thornton. And now when the union would
36:26
Speaker 1: he thanked him for following up the chase after Boucher,
36:30
Speaker 1: and then chaps as went right against our commands. It's
36:33
Speaker 1: Thornton whose steps forward and coolly says, as the strike's
36:37
Speaker 1: at an end, he as party injured and doesn't want
36:41
Speaker 1: to press the charge against the rioters. I thought he'd
36:44
Speaker 1: had more pluck. I thought he'd had carried his point
36:48
Speaker 1: and had his revenge in an open way. But says he,
36:52
Speaker 1: one in court telled me his very words. They are
36:55
Speaker 1: well known. They will find the natural punishment of their
36:57
Speaker 1: conduct in the difficulty they will meet. We get an
37:01
Speaker 1: employment that will be severe enough. I only wish they
37:05
Speaker 1: cotched Boucher and had him up before Hemper. I see
37:10
Speaker 1: the old tiger settin on him. Would he have let
37:13
Speaker 1: him off? Not he? Mister Thornton was right, said Margaret.
37:19
Speaker 1: You are angry against Boucher, Nicholas or else. You would
37:22
Speaker 1: be the first to see that where the natural punishment
37:25
Speaker 1: would be severe enough for the offense, any farther punishment
37:28
Speaker 1: would be something like revenge. My daughter is no great
37:32
Speaker 1: friend of mister Thornton's, said mister Hale, smiling at Margaret,
37:36
Speaker 1: while she as red as any carnation, began to work
37:40
Speaker 1: with double diligence. But I believe what she says is
37:44
Speaker 1: the truth. I like him for it, well, sir, This
37:49
Speaker 1: strike has been a weary piece of business to me,
37:52
Speaker 1: and ye'll not wonder if I'm a bit put out.
37:54
Speaker 1: We see in it fail for just a few men
37:57
Speaker 1: who wouldn't suffer in silence. And how dow brave and
38:01
Speaker 1: firm you forget, said Margaret. I don't know much of Boucher,
38:06
Speaker 1: but the only time I saw him, it was not
38:09
Speaker 1: his own sufferings he spoke of, but those of his
38:11
Speaker 1: sick wife and his little children. True, but he were
38:16
Speaker 1: not made of iron, himsel he'd he cried out for
38:20
Speaker 1: his own sorrows. Next, he were not one to bear.
38:24
Speaker 1: How came he into the Union, asked Margaret innocently, you
38:29
Speaker 1: don't seem to have much respect for him, nor gained
38:31
Speaker 1: much good from having him in Higgins's brow clouded, he
38:36
Speaker 1: was silent for a minute or two, then he said,
38:38
Speaker 1: shortly enough, it's not for me to speak of the Union.
38:43
Speaker 1: What they does. They does them that is of a trade.
38:47
Speaker 1: Mun hang together, and if they're not willing to take
38:49
Speaker 1: their chance, along wi the rest, the Union has ways
38:53
Speaker 1: and beans. Mister Hale saw that Higgins was vexed at
38:57
Speaker 1: the turn the conversation had taken, and was silent. Not
39:01
Speaker 1: so Margaret, though she saw Higgins's feeling as clearly as
39:04
Speaker 1: he did by instinct. She felt that if he could
39:08
Speaker 1: but be brought to express himself in plain words, something
39:11
Speaker 1: clear would be gained on which to argue for the
39:14
Speaker 1: right and the just. And what are the Union's weighs
39:17
Speaker 1: and means? He looked up at her as if on
39:21
Speaker 1: the point of dogged resistance to her wish for information.
39:25
Speaker 1: But her calm face fixed on his patient and trustful
39:29
Speaker 1: compelled him to answer, well, if a man doesn't belong
39:34
Speaker 1: to the union, them as work's next looms has orders
39:37
Speaker 1: not to speak to him if he's sorry or ill,
39:41
Speaker 1: it's a the same. He's out abounds, he's none of us.
39:45
Speaker 1: He comes among us, he works among us, but he's
39:48
Speaker 1: none o us. He some places Them's fine who speaks
39:52
Speaker 1: to him? Yo? Try that, miss, Try live in a
39:57
Speaker 1: year or two among them as looks away if you
40:00
Speaker 1: you look at'em, try workin within two yards O. Crowds
40:03
Speaker 1: of men who you know have a grinding grudge at
40:06
Speaker 1: you in their hearts. To whom if ye say you're glad,
40:10
Speaker 1: not an eye brightens, nor a lip moves to whom
40:14
Speaker 1: if your heart's heavy, ye can never say naught, because
40:17
Speaker 1: they'll ne'er take notice on your sighs or sad looks.
40:20
Speaker 1: And a man's no man who'll grown out loud bout
40:23
Speaker 1: folk asking him what's the matter? Just yoll Try that
40:28
Speaker 1: miss ten hours for three hundred days, and you'll know
40:32
Speaker 1: a bit o what the union is? Why said Margaret?
40:37
Speaker 1: What tyranny? This is? Nay, Higgins, I don't care one
40:41
Speaker 1: straw for your anger. I know you can't be angry
40:44
Speaker 1: with me if you would, And I must tell you
40:47
Speaker 1: the truth that I never read in all the history,
40:50
Speaker 1: I have read of a more slow, lingering torture than this.
40:55
Speaker 1: And you belong to the Union, and you talk of
40:58
Speaker 1: the tyranny of the masters, Nay, said Higgins, Yo may
41:03
Speaker 1: say what you like. The dead stand between YO and
41:06
Speaker 1: every angry word. O mine, d'ye think I forget who's
41:09
Speaker 1: lion there? And how who loved you? And it's the
41:13
Speaker 1: masters as made us sin. If the Union is a sin,
41:16
Speaker 1: not this generation maybe, but their fathers. Their fathers ground
41:22
Speaker 1: our fathers to the very dust, ground us to powder. Parson,
41:27
Speaker 1: I reckon. I've heard my mother read out a text.
41:30
Speaker 1: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth
41:33
Speaker 1: are set on edge. It's so wi them in those days,
41:38
Speaker 1: a sore oppression. The unions began. It were a necessity.
41:42
Speaker 1: It's a necessity now. According to me. It's a withstanding
41:46
Speaker 1: of injustice past present or to come. It may be
41:51
Speaker 1: like war along we it come crimes, But I think
41:55
Speaker 1: it were a greater crime to let it alone. Our
41:58
Speaker 1: only chance is binding meant gather in one common interest,
42:02
Speaker 1: and if some are cowards and some are fools, they
42:05
Speaker 1: mun come along and join the great march, whose only
42:08
Speaker 1: strength is in numbers. Oh, said mister Hale, sighing. Your
42:14
Speaker 1: union in itself would be beautiful, glorious. It would be
42:19
Speaker 1: Christianity itself if it were but for an end which
42:22
Speaker 1: affected the good of all, instead of that of merely
42:26
Speaker 1: one class as opposed to another. I reckon, it's time
42:31
Speaker 1: for me to be going, sir, said Higgins, as the
42:33
Speaker 1: clock struck ten. Home, said Margaret, very softly. He understood
42:39
Speaker 1: her and took her offered hand. Home, Miss, you may
42:44
Speaker 1: trust me, though I am one o the union, I
42:48
Speaker 1: do trust you most thoroughly. Nicholas, stay, said mister Hale,
42:53
Speaker 1: hurrying to the book shelves. Mister Higgins, I'm sure you'll
42:57
Speaker 1: join us in family prayer. Higgins looked at Margaret doubtfully.
43:02
Speaker 1: Her grave, sweet eyes met his. There was no compulsion,
43:06
Speaker 1: only deep interest in them. He did not speak, but
43:10
Speaker 1: he kept his place. Margaret, the churchwoman, her father, the dissenter,
43:16
Speaker 1: Higgins the infidel, knelt down together. It did them no harm.
43:23
Speaker 1: End of Chapter twenty eight