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028 - Comfort In Sorrow · North and South

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight of North and South. This is a
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Speaker 1: Recording by jem of Life North and South by Elizabeth
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Speaker 1: Cleghorn Gaskell, Chapter twenty eight. Comfort in sorrow, through grass
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Speaker 1: to ground and through thy spirit's life trials untold A
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Speaker 1: sail with charred strength, good cheer, good cheer soon ends
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Speaker 1: the bitter strife, and thou shalt reign in peace with
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Speaker 1: grost at length cosegarden as sooth. We feel too strong
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Speaker 1: in will to meet THEE on that road, but well
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Speaker 1: being come. The soul is dumb, that grath not on God.
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Speaker 1: Missus Browning. That afternoon she walks swiftly to the Higgins's house.
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Speaker 1: Mary 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 troublous 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 rested from
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Speaker 1: their labors. The weary are at rest. He giveth his
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Speaker 1: beloved sleep. Slowly, slowly, Margaret turned away from the bed.
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Speaker 1: Mary was humbly sobbing in the background. They went downstairs
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Speaker 1: without a word, resting his hand upon the house table.
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Speaker 1: Nicholas here and stood in the midst of the floor,
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Speaker 1: his great eyes startled open by the news he had
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Speaker 1: heard as he came along the court from many busy tongues.
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Speaker 1: His eyes were dry and fierce, studying the reality of
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Speaker 1: her death, bringing himself to understand that her place should
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Speaker 1: know her no more, for she had been sickly dying
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Speaker 1: so long that he had persuaded himself she would not die,
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Speaker 1: that she would pull through. Margaret felt as if she
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Speaker 1: had no business to be in there, familiarly acquainting herself
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Speaker 1: with the surroundings of death which he the father, had
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Speaker 1: only just learnt. There had been a pause of an
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Speaker 1: instant on the steep crooked stair when she first saw him.
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Speaker 1: But now she tried to steal past his abstracted gaze
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Speaker 1: and to leave him in the solemn circle of his
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Speaker 1: household misery. Mary sat down on the first chair she
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Speaker 1: came to, and, throwing her apron over her head, began
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Speaker 1: to cry. The noise feared to rouse him. He took
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Speaker 1: sudden hold of Margaret's arm and held her till he
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Speaker 1: could gather words to speak. Seemed dry. They came up
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Speaker 1: thick and choked an hoarse. Were you with her? Did
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Speaker 1: you see her die? No, replied Margaret, standing still with
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Speaker 1: the utmost patience. Now she found herself perceived. It was
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Speaker 1: some time before he spoke again, but he kept his
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Speaker 1: hold on her arm. All men must die, said he
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Speaker 1: at last, with a strange sort of gravity, which first
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Speaker 1: suggested to Margaret the idea that he had been drinking,
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Speaker 1: not enough to intoxicate himself, but enough to make his
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Speaker 1: thoughts bewildered. But she were younger than me. Still, he
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Speaker 1: pondered over the event, not looking at Margaret, though he
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Speaker 1: grasped her tight. Suddenly he looked up at her with
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Speaker 1: a wild search and inquiry in his glance. You sure
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Speaker 1: and certain? She dead, not in a dwell, a faint.
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Speaker 1: She's binsa before often she is dead, replied Margaret. She
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Speaker 1: felt no fear in speaking to him, though he hurt
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Speaker 1: her arm with his grip, and wild gleams came across
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Speaker 1: the stupidity of his eyes. She is dead, she said.
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Speaker 1: He looked at her still with that certain look, which
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Speaker 1: seemed to fade out of his eyes as he gazed.
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Speaker 1: Then he suddenly let go as 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, Strike him wildly and blindly
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Speaker 1: at her, What do I care for thee? Margaret took
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Speaker 1: her hand and held it softly in hers. He tore
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Speaker 1: his hair. He beat his head against the hard wood.
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Speaker 1: Then he lay, exhausted and stupid still his daughter and Margaret.
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Speaker 1: It did not move. Mary trembled from head to foot.
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Speaker 1: At last, it might have been a quarter of an hour.
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Speaker 1: It might have been an hour. He lifted himself up.
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Speaker 1: His eyes were swollen in bloodshot, and he seemed to
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Speaker 1: have forgotten that any one was by. He scouted 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 arm. Not to night, any night, but not
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Speaker 1: to night. Oh help me, he's going out to drink again. Father,
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Speaker 1: I'll not leave you. You may strike, but I'll not
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Speaker 1: leave you. She told me last of all, to keep
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Speaker 1: you from drink. But Margaret stood in the doorway, silent
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Speaker 1: yet commanding. He looked up at her, defyingly, it's my
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Speaker 1: own house. Stand out of the way, wench or I'll
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Speaker 1: make you. 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 stood
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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 you looking 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 you'd think for it to keep me from goin
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Speaker 1: what gate I choose because she loved you, and in
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Speaker 1: my own house too, where I never asked you to come.
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Speaker 1: You're mistaken. It's very hard upon a man that he
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Speaker 1: can't go to the only comfort left. Margaret felt that
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Speaker 1: he had acknowledged her power. What could she do next?
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Speaker 1: He had seated himself on a chair close to the door,
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Speaker 1: half conquered, half intending to go out as soon as
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Speaker 1: she left her position, but unwilling to use the violence
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Speaker 1: he had threatened. Not five minutes before, Margaret laid her
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Speaker 1: hand on his arm. Come with me, she said, come
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Speaker 1: and see her. The voice in which she spoke was
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Speaker 1: very low and solemn, but there was no fear of
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Speaker 1: doubt 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: toward the stairs. She and he stood by the corpse.
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Speaker 1: Her last words to marry were, keep my father from drink.
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Speaker 1: It cannot hurt her. Now muttered he not can hurt
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Speaker 1: her now? Then, raising his voice to a wail and cry,
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Speaker 1: he went on, we may quarrel and follow, we may
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Speaker 1: make peace and be friends, we may climb the skin
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Speaker 1: and bone, and not all our griefs will ever touch
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Speaker 1: her more? Who's had her portion on 'em? What we
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Speaker 1: hard work first? And sickness at last? Who's left the
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Speaker 1: life of a dog, and to die without knowing one
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Speaker 1: good piece of rejoicing in all? It is nay wench
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Speaker 1: whatever said? Who can know nought about it? Now? And
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Speaker 1: her mamow supper drink just to steady me again? Sorrow, no,
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Speaker 1: said Margaret, softening with his softened manner, Ye shall not
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Speaker 1: if her love had 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 live 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 eyed face struck her painfully.
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Speaker 1: You are sore that died. Where have you been all day?
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Speaker 1: Not at work? Not a work, sure enough, he said,
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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 was sickened out
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Speaker 1: with trying to make fools here reason I were fetched
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Speaker 1: a boucher's wife afore seven this mornin' she's bedfast, But
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Speaker 1: she went raving and raging to know where I had
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Speaker 1: done to headed root of a chap was as if
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Speaker 1: ought to keep him, as if he were fit to
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Speaker 1: be ruled by me. That damned fool. He has put
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Speaker 1: his foot in all our plans. And I've walked up
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Speaker 1: feet sore, were going about for to see men who
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Speaker 1: wouldn't be seen. Now the law is raised again us.
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Speaker 1: And I was so hearted too, which is worse than
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Speaker 1: sore footed. And if I did see a friend who
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Speaker 1: ought to treat me, I never knew who layah diing here,
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Speaker 1: bear slass, thou'd leave me? Thou would'st wouldst thou turning
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Speaker 1: to the boy do form with wild beeal? 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, and now you see it would be different.
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Speaker 1: You do know you do see her lying there. You
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Speaker 1: hear what she said with her last breath. You will
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Speaker 1: not go no answer? In fact, where was he to
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Speaker 1: look for comfort? Come home with me? Said she at
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Speaker 1: last with a bold venture, half trembling at her own
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Speaker 1: proposal as she made it. At least you shall have
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Speaker 1: some comfortable food, which I'm sure you need if father's
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Speaker 1: a parson, asked, He, with a sudden turn in his
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Speaker 1: ideas he was, said Margaret shortly, I'll go and take
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Speaker 1: a dish of tea with him, since you ask me,
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Speaker 1: I'm many a thing I often wish to say to
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Speaker 1: a parson, and I'm not particular as to whether he's
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Speaker 1: preaching now or not. Margaret was perplexed. He's drinking tea
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Speaker 1: with her father. It would be totally unprepared for his visitor,
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Speaker 1: her mother said, seemed utterly out of the question, and
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Speaker 1: yet if she drew back now it would be worse
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Speaker 1: than ever. Sure to drive him to the gin shop,
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Speaker 1: she thought that if she could only get him to
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Speaker 1: their own house, it was her great a step gain
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Speaker 1: that she would trust to the Chapter of Accidents for
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Speaker 1: the next Goodbye, O Wench, we've fought at company at last,
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Speaker 1: we have, but thus had been a blessing to thy
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Speaker 1: father ever since thou were born. Bless the white lips
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Speaker 1: last never smile on him now, and I'm glad to
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Speaker 1: see it once again, though, I'm lone and forlorn for evermore.
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Speaker 1: He stooped down and fondly kissed his daughter, covered up
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Speaker 1: her face, and turned to follow Margaret. She had hastily
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Speaker 1: gone downstairs to tell Mary of the arrangement, to say
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Speaker 1: it was the only way she could think of to
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Speaker 1: keep him from the Gin palace, to urge Mary to
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Speaker 1: come too, for her heart's murder, of the idea of
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Speaker 1: leaving the poor affectionate girl alone. Mary had friends among
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Speaker 1: the neighbors, she said, who had come in and sit
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Speaker 1: a bit with her. It was all right, but father,
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Speaker 1: he was there by them. As she would have spoken more,
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Speaker 1: He had shaken off his emotion as if he was
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Speaker 1: ashamed of having ever given way to it, and had
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Speaker 1: even overleaped himself so much that he assumed a sort
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Speaker 1: of 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 scalp low down over his brow
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Speaker 1: as he went out into the street, and looked neither
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Speaker 1: to the right nor to the left while he tramped
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Speaker 1: along by Margaret's side. He feared being 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? I
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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 he would be allowed to go into
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Speaker 1: the yard and have soap and dale, provided she could
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Speaker 1: 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 dock mark in
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Speaker 1: the pattern of the oil cloth in order to conceal
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Speaker 1: his dirty the prince Margaret ran upstairs. She met Dixon
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Speaker 1: on the landing How is Mamma? Where is Baba? Missus
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Speaker 1: Wistard and gone into her own room. She had wanted
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Speaker 1: to go to bed, but Dixon had persuaded her to
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Speaker 1: lie down on the sofa and have her tea brought
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Speaker 1: to her there. It would have been better than getting
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Speaker 1: restless by being too long in bed. So far, so good.
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Speaker 1: But where was mister Hale? In the drawing room? Margaret
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Speaker 1: went in half breathless with the herd story she had
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Speaker 1: to tell. Of course, she told it him completely, and
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Speaker 1: her father was rather taken aback by the idea of
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Speaker 1: the drunken weaver awaiting him in his quiet study, with
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Speaker 1: whom he was expected to drink tea, and on whose
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Speaker 1: behalf Margaret was anxiously pleading. The meek, kind hearted mister
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Speaker 1: Hale would have readily tried to console him in his grief.
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Speaker 1: But unluckily, the boy Margaret dwelt upon most forcibly was
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Speaker 1: the fact of his having been drinking, and her having
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Speaker 1: brought him home with her as the last expedient to
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Speaker 1: keep him from the chin shop. One little event had
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Speaker 1: come out of another, so naturally then Margaret was hardly
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Speaker 1: conscious of what she had done till she saw the
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Speaker 1: slight look of repugnance on her father's face. Oh, Baba,
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Speaker 1: he really is a manual, not dislike if you won't
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Speaker 1: be shocked to begin with, But Margaret, to bring a
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Speaker 1: drunken man home and your mother so ill Margaret's countenance fell.
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Speaker 1: I am sorry, baba. He is very quiet. He is
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Speaker 1: not tipsy at all. He was only rather strange at first,
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Speaker 1: But that might be the shock of poor Bessy's death.
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Speaker 1: Margaret's eyes filled with deers. Mister Hale took hold of
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Speaker 1: her sweet, bleeding face in both his hands and kissed
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Speaker 1: her forehead. It is all right, dear. I'll go and
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Speaker 1: make him as comfortable as I can. And do you
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Speaker 1: attend to your mother? Only? If you can come in
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Speaker 1: and make a third in the study. I shall be glad. Oh, yes,
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Speaker 1: thank you. And as mister Hale was leaving the room,
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Speaker 1: she ran after him. Papa, you must not wonder at
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Speaker 1: what he says. He an, I mean, he does not
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Speaker 1: believe in much of what we do, Oh dear, a drunken,
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Speaker 1: infidel weaver, said mister Hale to himself in dismay. But
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Speaker 1: to Margaret he only said, if your mother goes to sleep,
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Speaker 1: be sure you come directly. Margaret went into her mother's room.
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Speaker 1: Missus Hale lifted herself up from a doze. When did
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Speaker 1: you ride to Frederick, Margaret? Yesterday? Or the day before? Yesterday? Mamma, yesterday?
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Speaker 1: And the letter went yes, I took it myself, Oh, Margaret,
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Speaker 1: I'm so afraid of his common if he should be recognized,
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Speaker 1: if he should be taken, if he should be executed.
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Speaker 1: After all, these years that he has kept away and
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Speaker 1: lived in safety. I keep falling asleep and dreaming that
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Speaker 1: he is caught and being tried. Oh, Mamma, don't be afraid.
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Speaker 1: There'll be some risk, no doubt, but we will lessen
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Speaker 1: it as much as ever we can. And it is
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Speaker 1: so little now. If we were at Helstone, there would
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Speaker 1: be twenty a hundred times as much there. Everybody would
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Speaker 1: remember him, and if there was a stranger known to
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Speaker 1: be in the house, they would be sure to guess
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Speaker 1: it was Frederick. While here nobody knows or cares for
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Speaker 1: us enough to notice what we do. Dixon will keep
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Speaker 1: the door like a dragon, won't you, Dixon? While he
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Speaker 1: is here, they'll be clever if they comin past me,
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Speaker 1: said Dixon, showing her teeth at the bare idea. And
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Speaker 1: he need not go out except in the dusk. Poor fellow,
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Speaker 1: Poor fellow, echoed missus Hale. But I must wish you
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Speaker 1: had not written. Would it be too late to stop
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Speaker 1: him if you wrote again, Margaret, I'm afraid it would, Mamma,
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Speaker 1: said Margaret, remembering the urgency with which he had entreated
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Speaker 1: him to come directly if he wished to see his
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Speaker 1: mother alive. I always dislike the doin things in such
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Speaker 1: a hurry, said missus Hale. Margaret was silent. Come now, ma'am,
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Speaker 1: said Dixon, with a kind o cheerful authority. You know,
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Speaker 1: seeing Master Frederick is just the very thing of all
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Speaker 1: others you're longing for. An I'm glad Miss Margaret rode
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Speaker 1: off straight without she'lly shall in. I'd a great mind
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Speaker 1: to do it myself, but we'll keep him snug, depend
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Speaker 1: upon it. There's only Martha in the house that would
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Speaker 1: not do a good deal to save him on a pinch.
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Speaker 1: And I've been thinking she might go and see her
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Speaker 1: mother just at that very time. She's been saying once
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Speaker 1: or twice she should like to go, for her mother
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Speaker 1: has had a stroke since she came here. Only she
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Speaker 1: didn't like to ask. But I'll see about her being
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Speaker 1: safe off as soon as we know when he comes.
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Speaker 1: God bless hm. So take a tea, ma'am in comfort,
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Speaker 1: and trust to me. Missus Hale did trust in Dixon
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Speaker 1: more than and Margaret Dixon's words quieted her for the time.
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Speaker 1: Margaret poured out the teen's silence, trying to think of
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Speaker 1: something agreeable to say, but her thoughts made answers something
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Speaker 1: like Daniel l'our when the man in the moon asked
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Speaker 1: him to get off his reaping hook. The more you
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Speaker 1: asks us, the more we won't stir. The more she
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Speaker 1: tried to think of something, anything, besides the danger to
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Speaker 1: which Frederick would be exposed, the more closely her imagination
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Speaker 1: clung to the unfortunate idea presented to her. Mother prattled
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Speaker 1: with Dixon, and seemed to have utterly forgotten the possibility
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Speaker 1: of Frederick's being tried and executed, utterly forgotten that at
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Speaker 1: her wish, if by Margaret's deed, he was summoned into
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Speaker 1: this danger. Her mother was one of those who threw
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Speaker 1: out terrible possibilities, miserable probabilities, unfortunate chances, of all cons
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Speaker 1: as a rocket throws out sparks. But if the sparks
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Speaker 1: lot on some combustible matter, they smoked a first and
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Speaker 1: burst out into a frightful flame. At last, Margaret was
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Speaker 1: glad when her filial duties gently and carefully performed, she
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Speaker 1: could go down into the study. She wondered how Father
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Speaker 1: and Higgins had got on in the first place. The decorous,
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Speaker 1: sky dotted, simple old fashioned gentleman had unconsciously called out
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Speaker 1: by his own refinement and courteousness of man all the
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Speaker 1: latent courtesy in the other. Mister Hale treated all his
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Speaker 1: fellow creatures alike. It never entered into his head to
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Speaker 1: make any difference because of their rank. He placed a
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Speaker 1: jail for Nicholas, stood up till he, at mister Hale's request,
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Speaker 1: took a seat, and called him invariably mister Higgins, instead
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Speaker 1: of the Nicholas or Higgins to which the drunken infidel
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Speaker 1: Weaver had been accustomed. But Nicholas was neither an habitual
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Speaker 1: drunkard nor a thorough infidel. He drank the drowned care
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Speaker 1: as he would have himself expressed it, and he was
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Speaker 1: infidel so far as he had never 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 been tidied if only at the punk trial,
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Speaker 1: and Quart 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 heart stone. He had slicked his hair down with
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Speaker 1: the fresh water. He had adjusted his neck handkerchief, and
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Speaker 1: borrowed an odd candle and to polish his clogs with.
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Speaker 1: And there he sat and forcing some opinion on her father,
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Speaker 1: with a strong Dogshire accent, it is true, but with
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Speaker 1: a lowered voce and a good earnest composure on his face.
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Speaker 1: His 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, and with a little bow of apology
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Speaker 1: to his guest for the interruption. Higgins nodded to her
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Speaker 1: as a sign of greeting, and she softly adjusted her
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Speaker 1: working materials on the table and prepared to listen. As
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Speaker 1: I was saying, sir, I reckon, you not have much
22:01
Speaker 1: belief in you if you lived here, if you've been
22:04
Speaker 1: bred here. I ask your pardon if I use wrong words.
22:08
Speaker 1: But what I mean by belief just now is a
22:11
Speaker 1: thinking out sayings and maxims and promises made by folks
22:14
Speaker 1: you never saw about the things and the life you
22:17
Speaker 1: never saw, nor no one else. Now you say these
22:21
Speaker 1: things are true and true sayings and a true life.
22:25
Speaker 1: I just say, where's the proof. There's many and many
22:28
Speaker 1: a one wiser and scores better alone than I am.
22:32
Speaker 1: Around me, folks who had time to think on these things,
22:37
Speaker 1: while my time has had to begin up to be
22:39
Speaker 1: getting my bread. Well, I seize these people. Their lives
22:43
Speaker 1: is pretty much open to me. They're real folk. They
22:47
Speaker 1: don't believe in the Bible, not they They may say
22:50
Speaker 1: they do for form's sake, But lord, sir, do you
22:53
Speaker 1: think their first cry in the morning is what shall
22:56
Speaker 1: I do to get hold of eternal life? Or what
22:59
Speaker 1: shall I do to fill my purse this blessed day?
23:02
Speaker 1: Where shall I go? What bargain shall I strike? The
23:05
Speaker 1: bus in the gold in the notes is real things,
23:08
Speaker 1: things as can be felt and touched. Them's realities, and
23:13
Speaker 1: eternal life is all at dark, very fit for I
23:17
Speaker 1: asks your pardon, sir, you are passing out of work.
23:20
Speaker 1: I believe well. I'll never speak disrespectful of a man
23:25
Speaker 1: in the same fix as I'm in myself. But I'll
23:28
Speaker 1: just ask you another question, sir, And I do not
23:32
Speaker 1: want you to answer it, only to put it in
23:34
Speaker 1: your pop and smoke it. Afore you go for it
23:36
Speaker 1: to set down us, who only believe in what we
23:39
Speaker 1: see is fools and no is if salvation and life
23:43
Speaker 1: to come and what not was true, not in men's words,
23:47
Speaker 1: but in men's heart's core. Don't you not think they
23:50
Speaker 1: did us with it, as they do with political economy.
23:54
Speaker 1: They're mighty anxious to come round us with that piece
23:56
Speaker 1: of wisdom. But the other would be a greater converse
24:00
Speaker 1: if it were true. But the masters have nothing to
24:03
Speaker 1: do with your religion. All that they are connected with
24:06
Speaker 1: you in is trade, so they think, and all that
24:10
Speaker 1: it concerns them. Therefore to rectify your opinions in is
24:14
Speaker 1: the science of trade. I'm glad, sir, said Higgins, with
24:18
Speaker 1: a curious wink in his eye, that you put it
24:21
Speaker 1: so they think. I'd have thought you a hypocrite. I
24:24
Speaker 1: feared if you hadn't, for all your a Paulson, or
24:29
Speaker 1: rather because you're a Paulson. You see, if you'd spoken
24:33
Speaker 1: a religion is a thing that, if it was true,
24:36
Speaker 1: it didn't concern all men to press on all men's
24:39
Speaker 1: attention above everything else in this fossil earth. I should
24:43
Speaker 1: have thought you're a knave, for to be a Paulson,
24:46
Speaker 1: but I'd rather think you're a fool than a knave.
24:49
Speaker 1: No offense, I hope, sir, none at all. You consider
24:54
Speaker 1: me mistaken, and I consider you far more fatally mistaken.
24:58
Speaker 1: I don't expect to con you in a day, not
25:01
Speaker 1: in one conversation. But let us know each other and
25:05
Speaker 1: speak freely to each other about these things, and the
25:08
Speaker 1: truth will prevail. I should not believe in God if
25:12
Speaker 1: I did not believe that, mister Higgins, I trust whatever
25:17
Speaker 1: else you have given up. You believe. Mister Hale's voice
25:21
Speaker 1: dropped low in reverence. You believe in him. Nicholas Higgins
25:26
Speaker 1: suddenly stood straight, stiff up. Margaret started to her feet,
25:30
Speaker 1: for she thought, by the working of his face he
25:33
Speaker 1: was going into convulsions. Mister Hale looked at her, dismayed.
25:38
Speaker 1: At last, Higgins found words, Man, I could fail you
25:43
Speaker 1: to the ground for tempting me. What in business have
25:46
Speaker 1: you to try me with your doubts? Think of her
25:49
Speaker 1: lion there after the life who's led, And think then
25:53
Speaker 1: how you'd deny me the only sole comfort left that
25:57
Speaker 1: there is a God and that he set her for life.
26:00
Speaker 1: I dunno believe she'll ever live again, said he, sitting
26:04
Speaker 1: down and drearily going on, as if to the unsympathizing fire.
26:09
Speaker 1: I dunnot believe in any other life than this, in
26:13
Speaker 1: which she dreamed such trouble and had such never end
26:17
Speaker 1: and care. And I cannot bear to think it were
26:20
Speaker 1: all a set of chances that might have been altered
26:23
Speaker 1: with a breath of wind. There's many a time when
26:26
Speaker 1: I've thought I did not believe in God, but I
26:29
Speaker 1: never put it fair out before me in words, as
26:32
Speaker 1: many men do. I may have laughed at those who
26:35
Speaker 1: did to brave it out life, but I have looked
26:38
Speaker 1: round out after to see if he heard me. If
26:42
Speaker 1: so be there was a he. But to day, when
26:45
Speaker 1: I'm left desolate, I will not listen to you with
26:49
Speaker 1: your questions and your doubts. There's but one thing, steady
26:53
Speaker 1: and quiet, and all this reeling world, and reason or
26:56
Speaker 1: no reason, I'll cling to that. It's a very well
27:00
Speaker 1: for happy folk. Margaret touched his arm very softly. She
27:05
Speaker 1: had not spoken before, nor had he hurt her eyes. Nicholas,
27:10
Speaker 1: we do not want to reason, you misunderstand, my father.
27:15
Speaker 1: We do not reason. We believe, and so do you.
27:19
Speaker 1: It is the one sole comfort in such times. He
27:22
Speaker 1: turned round and caught her hand. Eh it is it is,
27:26
Speaker 1: brushing away the tears with the back of his hand.
27:29
Speaker 1: But you know she's lying dead at home, and I'm well,
27:32
Speaker 1: he dazed with sorrow, and at times I hardly know
27:36
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's as if speechless folk have made
27:40
Speaker 1: clever and smart things as I've thought of the time.
27:43
Speaker 1: Come up, now, my heart's welly Brozen. The strikes failed
27:47
Speaker 1: as well. Don't you know that miss I was coming
27:51
Speaker 1: whom to ask her like a beggar as I am,
27:55
Speaker 1: for a bit of comfort in their trouble. And I
27:57
Speaker 1: will knock down by one who tell me she were dead,
28:01
Speaker 1: just dead, That were all. But that were enough for me.
28:06
Speaker 1: Mister Hale blew his nose and got up to snuff
28:09
Speaker 1: the candles in order to conceal his emotion. He's not
28:12
Speaker 1: an infidel, Margaret. How could you say so, muttered he reproachfully.
28:18
Speaker 1: I've a good mind to read in the fourteenth chapter
28:20
Speaker 1: of Job. Not yet, Papa, I think, perhaps not at all.
28:26
Speaker 1: Let us ask him about the stroke and give him
28:29
Speaker 1: all the sympathy he needs and hope to have from
28:32
Speaker 1: poor Bessie. So they questioned and listened. The workmen's calculations
28:37
Speaker 1: were based, like too many of the masters, on false premises.
28:41
Speaker 1: They reckoned on their fellow men, as if they possessed
28:44
Speaker 1: the calculable powers of machines, no more, no less, no
28:48
Speaker 1: allowance for human passions, getting the better of reason, as
28:52
Speaker 1: in the case of Boucher and the writers, and believing
28:55
Speaker 1: that the representations of their injuries would have the same
28:59
Speaker 1: effect unstrained far away, as the injuries Fancied or Reel
29:03
Speaker 1: had upon themselves. They were consequently surprised and indignant at
29:08
Speaker 1: the poor Irish, who had allowed themselves to be imported
29:11
Speaker 1: had brought over to take their places. This indignation was
29:15
Speaker 1: tempered in some degree by contemp for with them Irishers,
29:20
Speaker 1: and by pleasure at the idea of the bundling way
29:23
Speaker 1: in which they would set to work and perplex their
29:26
Speaker 1: new masters with their ignorance and stupidity, strange exaggerated stories
29:31
Speaker 1: of which were already spreading through the town. But the
29:34
Speaker 1: most cruel cut of all was that of the Milton workmen,
29:38
Speaker 1: who had defied and disobeyed the commands of the Union
29:41
Speaker 1: to keep the peace whatever came, who had originated discord
29:46
Speaker 1: in the camp and spread the panic of the law
29:49
Speaker 1: being arrayed against them. And so the strike is at
29:53
Speaker 1: an end, said Margaret Amos. It's save as safe can
29:58
Speaker 1: the factor. Doors will need open wide tomorrow to let
30:02
Speaker 1: in all who be asking for work, if it's only
30:05
Speaker 1: just to show they'd nought to do with a measure which,
30:09
Speaker 1: if we've been made of the right stuff, would have
30:11
Speaker 1: brought wages up to a barn. They'd not been at
30:14
Speaker 1: this ten year. You'll get work, sha'n't you, asked Margaret.
30:19
Speaker 1: You're a famous workman, are you not hampering? Let me
30:23
Speaker 1: work at his mill? But he cuts off his right hand,
30:26
Speaker 1: not before and not after, said Nicholas quietly. Margaret was
30:31
Speaker 1: silenced and sad about the wages, said miss tre Hale.
30:36
Speaker 1: You'll not be offended, but I think you made some
30:38
Speaker 1: sad mistakes. I should like to read you some remarks
30:42
Speaker 1: in a book I have. He got up and went
30:44
Speaker 1: to his bookshelves. You needn't trouble yourself, sir, said Nicholas.
30:49
Speaker 1: They're book stuff goes in one ear and out of
30:52
Speaker 1: the other. I can make nought on it. Afore Hamper
30:56
Speaker 1: and me have the split. The overlooker telled him. I
30:59
Speaker 1: was stern up men to ask for higher wages, and
31:02
Speaker 1: hamp'am met me one day in the yard. He'd a
31:05
Speaker 1: thin book in his hand, and says he Higgins, I'm
31:09
Speaker 1: told yo, one of those damn fools that think you
31:12
Speaker 1: can get higher wages for asking for them. An keep
31:16
Speaker 1: em up too when you're forced em up. Now, I'll
31:19
Speaker 1: give you a chance and try, if you've any sense
31:22
Speaker 1: in you. Here's a book written by a friend o mine. An,
31:25
Speaker 1: if you'll read it, you'll see how wages find their
31:28
Speaker 1: own level without our masters or men havint aught to
31:32
Speaker 1: do with them, except the men cut their own throats
31:35
Speaker 1: with strikin, like the confounded noodles that are well now, Sir,
31:40
Speaker 1: I put it to ye, beIN a parson an havin't
31:42
Speaker 1: been in the preachin' line, and havn't had to try
31:45
Speaker 1: and bring folk over to what you thought was a
31:48
Speaker 1: right way of thinking. Did you begin by callin em
31:51
Speaker 1: fools and such like? Or didn't ye rather give 'em
31:54
Speaker 1: some kind o words at first to make em ready
31:57
Speaker 1: for to listen and to be convinced if they could.
32:01
Speaker 1: And in your preaching did you stop every now and
32:04
Speaker 1: then and say half to them and half to yourself.
32:07
Speaker 1: But jest such a pack o fools that I've a
32:10
Speaker 1: strong notion. It's no use my trying to put sense
32:13
Speaker 1: into yo. I were not in the best state I'll
32:16
Speaker 1: own for taking in what Hamper's friend had to say.
32:20
Speaker 1: I was so vexed at the way it were put
32:22
Speaker 1: to me, But I thought, come, I'll see what these
32:25
Speaker 1: chaps has got to say, and dry if it's them
32:29
Speaker 1: on me as is the noodle. So I took the
32:31
Speaker 1: book and tugged at it. But Lord bless it. It
32:35
Speaker 1: went on about capital and labor, and labor and capital
32:38
Speaker 1: till if they are set me off to sleep. I
32:41
Speaker 1: never could write the fix of my mind, which was which?
32:45
Speaker 1: And it spoke on em as if they were vultures
32:47
Speaker 1: and bosses. And what I wanted to know where the
32:51
Speaker 1: rots and men, whether they were rich or poor? So
32:55
Speaker 1: be they only were men. But for all that said
32:59
Speaker 1: mister Hale, and grant him to the folly, offensiveness, the folly,
33:04
Speaker 1: the unchristianness of mister Amber's way of speaking to you
33:08
Speaker 1: and recommending his friend's book. Yet if it told you
33:12
Speaker 1: what he said, it did that wages find their own level,
33:16
Speaker 1: and that the most successful strike can only force them
33:19
Speaker 1: up for a moment to sink in far greater proportion
33:23
Speaker 1: afterwards in consequence of that very strike. The book would
33:28
Speaker 1: have told you the truth, well, sir, said Higgins, rather doggedly.
33:33
Speaker 1: It might, Oh, it might not. There's two opinions go
33:37
Speaker 1: to settle in that point. But suppose it was truth
33:41
Speaker 1: double strong, it were no truth to me. If I
33:44
Speaker 1: couldn't take it in, I dare say there's truth in
33:47
Speaker 1: yon Latin book on your shelves, but it's chibberish and
33:50
Speaker 1: not truth to me unless I know the meaning of
33:53
Speaker 1: the words. If you, sir, or any other knowledgeable patient man,
33:58
Speaker 1: come to me and says, O me what the world's mean,
34:01
Speaker 1: and not blow me up. If I'm a bit stupid
34:05
Speaker 1: or forget how one thing hangs another, why in time
34:08
Speaker 1: I may get to see the truth of it, or
34:11
Speaker 1: I may not. I'll not be bound to say. I
34:13
Speaker 1: shall end in thinking the same as any man. And
34:17
Speaker 1: I'm not one who think truth can be shaped out
34:19
Speaker 1: of words, all neat and clean as the man at
34:23
Speaker 1: the foundry cut our sheet on sain bones. Won't go
34:26
Speaker 1: down with every one. It'll stick here in this man's throat,
34:31
Speaker 1: and there and the others. Let alone that when down
34:34
Speaker 1: it may be too strong for this one to you a
34:37
Speaker 1: week for that folk who sets up to doctor the
34:40
Speaker 1: world with that truth. One sooth different for different minds,
34:44
Speaker 1: and be a bit tender in the way of giving
34:47
Speaker 1: it too, or the poor sick fools may spit it
34:50
Speaker 1: out in their faces. Now Hamper first gives me a
34:53
Speaker 1: box on my ear, and then he throws his big
34:56
Speaker 1: bullets at me and says, he reckons it'll do me
34:58
Speaker 1: no good. I'm such a fool, But there it is.
35:02
Speaker 1: I wish some of the kindest and wisest of the
35:05
Speaker 1: masters would meet some of you men and have a
35:07
Speaker 1: good talk on these things. It would surely be the
35:11
Speaker 1: best way of getting over your difficulties, which I do
35:14
Speaker 1: believe arise from your ignorance. Excuse me, mister Higgins, on
35:20
Speaker 1: subjects which it is for the mutual interest of both
35:23
Speaker 1: masters and men should be well understood by both. I
35:27
Speaker 1: wonder after his daughter if mister Thornton might not be
35:31
Speaker 1: induced to do such a thing. Remember Papa, she said,
35:35
Speaker 1: in a very low voice what he said one day
35:38
Speaker 1: about governments. You know she was unwilling to make any
35:42
Speaker 1: clear allusion to the conversation they had held on the
35:45
Speaker 1: mode of governing workpeople by giving men intelligence enough to
35:50
Speaker 1: rule themselves, or by a wise despotism on the part
35:54
Speaker 1: of the masters. For she saw that Higgins had caught
35:57
Speaker 1: mister Thornton's name, if not the whole of the speech. Indeed,
36:01
Speaker 1: he began to speak of him. Thornton, he's the chap
36:06
Speaker 1: as rode off as one for those hourishers and led
36:09
Speaker 1: it to the riot that ruined the strike, even happening
36:12
Speaker 1: with all his bullying, would have waited a while. But
36:15
Speaker 1: it's a word and a blow with Thornton. And now
36:18
Speaker 1: when the Union would have thanked him for following up
36:21
Speaker 1: the chase after Boucher and then chaps As went right
36:24
Speaker 1: against our commands. If Thornton steps forward and coolly says
36:28
Speaker 1: that as the strike's at an end, he is party injured,
36:33
Speaker 1: doesn't want to press the charge against the writers. I
36:36
Speaker 1: thought he'd had more luck. I thought he'd had carried
36:39
Speaker 1: his port and had his revenge in an open way.
36:42
Speaker 1: But says he, one in court telled me his very words.
36:46
Speaker 1: They are well known. They will find the natural punishment
36:50
Speaker 1: of their conduct. In the difficulty. They will meet with
36:53
Speaker 1: in getting employment. That would be severe enough. I only
36:57
Speaker 1: wish they'd catched Boucher and had him up before Hamper.
37:01
Speaker 1: I see that old Tarker sittin on him. Would he
37:04
Speaker 1: have led him off? And not he? Mister Thornton was right,
37:07
Speaker 1: said Margaret. You are angry against Boucher, Nicholas or else.
37:12
Speaker 1: She would be the first to see that when the
37:14
Speaker 1: natural punishment would be severe enough for the offense, and
37:18
Speaker 1: if all the punishment would be something like revenge. My
37:21
Speaker 1: daughter is no great friend of mister Thornton, said mister Hale,
37:25
Speaker 1: smiling at Margaret, while she as red as any carnation,
37:30
Speaker 1: began to work with double diligence. But I believe what
37:33
Speaker 1: she says is the truth. I like him for it, well, sir,
37:38
Speaker 1: this strike has been a weird piece of business to me,
37:41
Speaker 1: and you'll not wonder if I'm a bit put out
37:44
Speaker 1: with seein to fail just for a few men who
37:47
Speaker 1: would nest, suffer in silence and hold out brave and firm.
37:52
Speaker 1: You forget, said Margaret. I don't know much Aboucher, but
37:56
Speaker 1: the only time I saw him, it was not his
37:59
Speaker 1: own sufferings he spoke of, but those of his sick wife,
38:02
Speaker 1: his little children. True, but he were not made of
38:06
Speaker 1: ann himself. He got cried out for his own sorrows.
38:10
Speaker 1: Next he were not one to bear. How came he
38:14
Speaker 1: into the union, asked Margaret innocently, you don't seem to
38:18
Speaker 1: have much respectful and nor gain much good from having
38:21
Speaker 1: him in. Higgins's brow clouded, he was silent for a
38:26
Speaker 1: minute or two. Then he said, shortly enough, it's not
38:30
Speaker 1: for me to speak of the Union. What they does?
38:32
Speaker 1: They does, then there is of a tradement hanged together.
38:37
Speaker 1: And if they're not willing to take their chance along
38:40
Speaker 1: with the rest, the Union has ways and means. Mister
38:44
Speaker 1: Hale saw that Higgins was vexed at the time the
38:46
Speaker 1: conversation had taken and was silent. Not so Margaret, though
38:51
Speaker 1: she saw Higgins feeling as clearly as he did by instinct,
38:56
Speaker 1: she felt that if he could be brought to express
38:59
Speaker 1: himself in playing lords, something clearer be gained on which
39:02
Speaker 1: to argue for the right and the just, and what
39:06
Speaker 1: all the Union's ways and means. He looked up at
39:09
Speaker 1: her as if on the point of dogged resistance to
39:12
Speaker 1: her wish for information, but her calm face fixed on
39:17
Speaker 1: his patient and trustful compelled him to answer, Well, if
39:23
Speaker 1: a man doesn't belong to the union, them his work's
39:26
Speaker 1: next looms has orders not to speak to him. If
39:29
Speaker 1: he's sorry or ill, it's all the same. He's out
39:32
Speaker 1: of bounds. He's none of us. He comes among us,
39:36
Speaker 1: it works among us, but he's none of us. In
39:39
Speaker 1: some places, them's fine to speak to him. You try that, miss,
39:44
Speaker 1: Try living a year or two among them as looks
39:47
Speaker 1: away if you look at him, Try working within two
39:50
Speaker 1: yards at crowds of men who you know have a
39:53
Speaker 1: grind and grudge at you in their hearts. To whom
39:56
Speaker 1: if you say you're glad, Not an eye brightens nor
40:00
Speaker 1: lip moves to whom if your heart's heavy you can
40:03
Speaker 1: never say nought because they'll never take notice on your
40:07
Speaker 1: size or sad looks. And a man's no man who's
40:10
Speaker 1: grown out loud by folk asking him what's the matter.
40:14
Speaker 1: Just to try that, miss, ten hours for three hundred days,
40:19
Speaker 1: and you'll know a bit what the union is. Why
40:22
Speaker 1: said Margaret? What tyranny? This is? Nay Higgins, I don't
40:26
Speaker 1: get one straw for your anger. I know you can't
40:29
Speaker 1: be angry with me if you would. And I must
40:32
Speaker 1: tell you the truth that I never read in all
40:36
Speaker 1: their history. I have read of a more slow, lingering
40:39
Speaker 1: torture than this. And you belong to the Union, and
40:42
Speaker 1: you talk of the tyranny of the masters. Nay, said Higgins.
40:46
Speaker 1: You may say what you like. The dead stand between
40:49
Speaker 1: you and every angry word of mine. Do you think
40:52
Speaker 1: I forgot who's lying there? And how who loved you?
40:55
Speaker 1: And it's the Masters as has made a sin. If
40:58
Speaker 1: the Union is the sin, and not this generation may be.
41:02
Speaker 1: But the father's their father's ground, our fathers to the
41:06
Speaker 1: very dust grounds about a parson I reckon. I've heard
41:11
Speaker 1: my mother read out a text. The fathers have eaten
41:14
Speaker 1: sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
41:17
Speaker 1: It's so with them. In those days of so oppression,
41:21
Speaker 1: the unions began. It were a necessity. It's a necessity now.
41:26
Speaker 1: According to me. It's a withstanding of injustice past, present
41:30
Speaker 1: or to come. It may be like war. Along with
41:33
Speaker 1: it come crimes, But I think it were a greater
41:36
Speaker 1: crime to let it alone. Our only chance is binding
41:40
Speaker 1: men together in one common interest. And if some are
41:44
Speaker 1: cowards and some are fools, they would come along and
41:47
Speaker 1: John the Great March, whose only strength is in numbers. Oh,
41:52
Speaker 1: said mister Hale's sighing. Your union in itself would be beautiful, glorious.
41:57
Speaker 1: It would be Christianity itself if it were but for
42:01
Speaker 1: an end which affected the good of all, instead of
42:04
Speaker 1: that of merely one glass as opposed to another. I reckon,
42:08
Speaker 1: It's time for me to be going, sir, said Higgins.
42:10
Speaker 1: As the clock struck in home, said Margaret very softly.
42:15
Speaker 1: He understood her and took her off at a home. Miss,
42:19
Speaker 1: you may trust me, though I am one of the Union,
42:22
Speaker 1: I do trust you most thoroughly. Nicholas, stay, said mister Hale,
42:27
Speaker 1: hurrying to the bookshelves. Mister Higgins, I'm sure you'll join
42:31
Speaker 1: us in family prayer. Higgins looked at Margaret doubtfully. Her grave,
42:36
Speaker 1: sweet eyes met his. There was no convulsion, only deep
42:40
Speaker 1: interest in them. He did not speak, but he kept
42:43
Speaker 1: his place. Margaret, the churchwoman a five thirty center. Higgins
42:48
Speaker 1: the Infidel kneelt down together. It did them no harm.
42:54
Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty eight, recorded by Jim of Blythe
43:06
Speaker 1: If it