English fiction -- 19th century; Labor unions -- Fiction
“'In our first remarks upon this matter, we merely laid down an
alternative which admits of no dispute; and, abstaining from idle
conjectures, undertook to collect evidence. We have now had an interview
with the victim of that abominable outrage. Mr.---- is one of those
superior workmen who embellish that class for a few years, but
invariably rise above it, and leave it' (there--Mr. Little!)--'He has
informed us that he is a stranger in Hillsborough, lives retired, never
sits down in a public-house, and has not a single enemy in Hillsborough,
great or small. He says that his life was saved by his fellow-workmen,
and that as he lay scorched--'(Oh, dear!')
“Well, go on, Grace.”
“It is all very well to say go on, papa--'scorched and bleeding on the
ground and unable to distinguish faces' (poor, poor Mr. Little!) 'he
heard, on all sides of him, expressions of rugged sympathy and sobs, and
tears, from rough, but--manly fellows, who--'(oh! oh! oh!”)
Grace could not go on for whimpering, and Jael cried, for company. Henry
left off carving, and turned away his head, touched to the heart by this
sweet and sudden sympathy.
“How badly you read,” said Mr. Carden, and took the journal from her.
He read in a loud business-like monotone, that, like some blessed balm,
dried every tear. “'Manly fellows who never shed a tear before: this
disposed of one alternative, and narrowed the inquiry. It was not a
personal feud; therefore it was a Trade outrage, or it was nothing. We
now took evidence bearing on the inquiry thus narrowed; and we found the
assault had been preceded by a great many letters, all of them breathing
the spirit of Unionism, and none of them intimating a private wrong.
These letters, taken in connection, are a literary curiosity; and we
find there is scarcely a manufacturer in the place who has not endured
a similar correspondence, and violence at the end of it. This curious
chapter of the human mind really deserves a separate heading, and we
introduce it to our readers as
“THE LITERATURE OF OUTRAGE.”
“'First of all comes a letter to the master intimating that he is doing
something objectionable to some one of the many Unions that go to make
a single implement of hardware. This letter has three features. It is
signed with a real name. It is polite. It is grammatical.
“'If disregarded, it is speedily followed by another. No. 2 is
grammatical, or thereabouts; but, under a feigned politeness, the
insolence of a vulgar mind shows itself pretty plainly, and the master
is reminded what he suffered on some former occasion when he rebelled
against the trades. This letter is sometimes anonymous, generally
pseudonymous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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