Coal miners -- United States -- Fiction; Coal mines and mining -- United States -- Fiction; Labor movement -- United States -- Fiction
There were the oppressed of many nations in this crowd; they sang in a
score of languages, but it was the same song. They would sing a few
bars, and the yells of others would drown them out. “March on! March on!
All hearts resolved!” Some rushed away in different directions to spread
the news, and very soon the whole population of the village was on the
spot; the men waving their caps, the women lifting up their hands and
shrieking--or standing terrified, realising that babies could not be fed
upon revolutionary singing.
Tim Rafferty was raised up on the shoulders of the crowd and made to
tell his story once more. While he was telling it, his old mother came
running, and her shrieks rang above the clamour: “Tim! Tim! Come down
from there! What’s the matter wid ye?” She was twisting her hands
together in an agony of fright; seeing Hal, she rushed up to him. “Get
him out of there, Joe! Sure, the lad’s gone crazy! They’ll turn us out
of the camp, they’ll give us nothin’ at all--and what’ll become of us?
Mother of God, what’s the matter with the b’y?” She called to Tim again;
but Tim paid no attention, if he heard her. Tim was on the march to
Versailles!
Some one shouted that they would go to the hospital to protect the
injured men from the “damned lawyers.” Here was something definite, and
the crowd moved in that direction, Hal following with the stragglers,
the women and children, and the less bold among the men. He noticed some
of the clerks and salaried employés of the company; presently he saw
Jeff Cotton again, and heard him ordering these men to the office to get
revolvers.
“Big Jack” David came along with Jerry Minetti, and Hal drew back to
consult with them. Jerry was on fire. It had come--the revolt he had
been looking forward to for years! Why were they not making speeches,
getting control of the men and organising them?
Jack David voiced uncertainty. They had to consider if this outburst
could mean anything permanent.
Jerry answered that it would mean what they chose to make it mean. If
they took charge, they could guide the men and hold them together.
Wasn’t that what Tom Olson had wanted?
No, said the big Welshman, Olson had been trying to organise the men
secretly, as preliminary to a revolt in all the camps. That was quite
another thing from an open movement, limited to one camp. Was there any
hope of success for such a movement? If not, they would be foolish to
start, they would only be making sure of their own expulsion.
Jerry turned to Hal. What did he think?
And so at last Hal had to speak. It was hard for him to judge, he said.
He knew so little about labour matters. It was to learn about them that
he had come to North Valley. It was a hard thing to advise men to submit
to such treatment as they had been getting; but on the other hand, any
one could see that a futile outbreak would discourage everybody, and
make it harder than ever to organise them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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