Strife [17]
of pain, the smile returns. She fixes her eyes again on JAN, and moves her lips and finger to the tune.]
The curtain falls.
SCENE II
It is past four. In a grey, failing light, an open muddy space is crowded with workmen. Beyond, divided from it by a barbed- wire fence, is the raised towing-path of a canal, on which is moored a barge. In the distance are marshes and snow-covered hills. The "Works" high wall runs from the canal across the open space, and ivy the angle of this wall is a rude platform of barrels and boards. On it, HARNESS is standing. ROBERTS, a little apart from the crowd, leans his back against the wall. On the raised towing-path two bargemen lounge and smoke indifferently.
HARNESS. [Holding out his hand.] Well, I've spoken to you straight. If I speak till to-morrow I can't say more.
JAGO. [A dark, sallow, Spanish-looking man with a short, thin beard.] Mister, want to ask you! Can they get blacklegs?
BULGIN. [Menacing.] Let 'em try.
[There are savage murmurs from the crowd.]
BROWN. [A round-faced man.] Where could they get 'em then?
EVANS. [A small, restless, harassed man, with a fighting face.] There's always blacklegs; it's the nature of 'em. There's always men that'll save their own skins.
[Another savage murmur. There is a movement, and old THOMAS, joining the crowd, takes his stand in front.]
HARNESS. [Holding up his hand.] They can't get them. But that won't help you. Now men, be reasonable. Your demands would have brought on us the burden of a dozen strikes at a time when we were not prepared for them. The Unions live by justice, not to one, but all. Any fair man will tell you--you were ill-advised! I don't say you go too far for that which you're entitled to, but you're going too far for the moment; you've dug a pit for yourselves. Are you to stay there, or are you to climb out? Come!
LEWIS. [A clean-cut Welshman with a dark moustache.] You've hit it, Mister! Which is it to be?
[Another movement in the crowd, and ROUS, coming quickly, takes his stand next THOMAS.]
HARNESS. Cut your demands to the right pattern, and we 'll see you through; refuse, and don't expect me to waste my time coming down here again. I 'm not the sort that speaks at random, as you ought to know by this time. If you're the sound men I take you for--no matter who advises you against it--[he fixes his eyes on ROBERTS] you 'll make up your minds to come in, and trust to us to get your terms. Which is it to be? Hands together, and victory--or--the starvation you've got now?
[A prolonged murmur from the crowd.]
JAGO. [Sullenly.] Talk about what you know.
HARNESS. [Lifting his voice above the murmur.] Know? [With cold passion.] All that you've been through, my friend, I 've been through--I was through it when I was no bigger than [pointing to a youth] that shaver there; the Unions then were n't what they are now. What's made them strong? It's hands together that 's made them strong. I 've been through it all, I tell you, the brand's on my soul yet. I know what you 've suffered--there's nothing you can tell me that I don't know; but the whole is greater than the part, and you are only the part. Stand by us, and we will stand by you.
[Quartering them with his eyes, he waits. The murmuring swells; the men form little groups. GREEN, BULGIN, and LEWIS talk together.]
LEWIS. Speaks very sensible, the Union chap.
GREEN. [Quietly.] Ah! if I 'd a been listened to, you'd 'ave 'eard sense these two months past.
[The bargemen are seen laughing. ]
LEWIS. [Pointing.] Look at those two blanks over the fence there!
BULGIN. [With gloomy violence.] They'd best stop their cackle, or I 'll break their jaws.
JAGO. [Suddenly.] You say the furnace men's paid enough?
HARNESS. I did not say they were paid enough; I said they were paid as much as the furnace men in similar works elsewhere.
The curtain falls.
SCENE II
It is past four. In a grey, failing light, an open muddy space is crowded with workmen. Beyond, divided from it by a barbed- wire fence, is the raised towing-path of a canal, on which is moored a barge. In the distance are marshes and snow-covered hills. The "Works" high wall runs from the canal across the open space, and ivy the angle of this wall is a rude platform of barrels and boards. On it, HARNESS is standing. ROBERTS, a little apart from the crowd, leans his back against the wall. On the raised towing-path two bargemen lounge and smoke indifferently.
HARNESS. [Holding out his hand.] Well, I've spoken to you straight. If I speak till to-morrow I can't say more.
JAGO. [A dark, sallow, Spanish-looking man with a short, thin beard.] Mister, want to ask you! Can they get blacklegs?
BULGIN. [Menacing.] Let 'em try.
[There are savage murmurs from the crowd.]
BROWN. [A round-faced man.] Where could they get 'em then?
EVANS. [A small, restless, harassed man, with a fighting face.] There's always blacklegs; it's the nature of 'em. There's always men that'll save their own skins.
[Another savage murmur. There is a movement, and old THOMAS, joining the crowd, takes his stand in front.]
HARNESS. [Holding up his hand.] They can't get them. But that won't help you. Now men, be reasonable. Your demands would have brought on us the burden of a dozen strikes at a time when we were not prepared for them. The Unions live by justice, not to one, but all. Any fair man will tell you--you were ill-advised! I don't say you go too far for that which you're entitled to, but you're going too far for the moment; you've dug a pit for yourselves. Are you to stay there, or are you to climb out? Come!
LEWIS. [A clean-cut Welshman with a dark moustache.] You've hit it, Mister! Which is it to be?
[Another movement in the crowd, and ROUS, coming quickly, takes his stand next THOMAS.]
HARNESS. Cut your demands to the right pattern, and we 'll see you through; refuse, and don't expect me to waste my time coming down here again. I 'm not the sort that speaks at random, as you ought to know by this time. If you're the sound men I take you for--no matter who advises you against it--[he fixes his eyes on ROBERTS] you 'll make up your minds to come in, and trust to us to get your terms. Which is it to be? Hands together, and victory--or--the starvation you've got now?
[A prolonged murmur from the crowd.]
JAGO. [Sullenly.] Talk about what you know.
HARNESS. [Lifting his voice above the murmur.] Know? [With cold passion.] All that you've been through, my friend, I 've been through--I was through it when I was no bigger than [pointing to a youth] that shaver there; the Unions then were n't what they are now. What's made them strong? It's hands together that 's made them strong. I 've been through it all, I tell you, the brand's on my soul yet. I know what you 've suffered--there's nothing you can tell me that I don't know; but the whole is greater than the part, and you are only the part. Stand by us, and we will stand by you.
[Quartering them with his eyes, he waits. The murmuring swells; the men form little groups. GREEN, BULGIN, and LEWIS talk together.]
LEWIS. Speaks very sensible, the Union chap.
GREEN. [Quietly.] Ah! if I 'd a been listened to, you'd 'ave 'eard sense these two months past.
[The bargemen are seen laughing. ]
LEWIS. [Pointing.] Look at those two blanks over the fence there!
BULGIN. [With gloomy violence.] They'd best stop their cackle, or I 'll break their jaws.
JAGO. [Suddenly.] You say the furnace men's paid enough?
HARNESS. I did not say they were paid enough; I said they were paid as much as the furnace men in similar works elsewhere.