The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of ItDavis, James J. (James John)
Philosophy
The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of It
Davis, James J. (James John)
Blue collar workers -- United States -- Biography; Davis, James J. (James John), 1873-1947; Labor unions -- United States
“What's the use of going any farther? Let's fight here.” It was in front
of a new building--a church-school half completed. We took off our coats
and made belts of our suspenders. Then we squared off and the fight
began. Babe rushed me like a wild boar and tried to thrust his deadly
thumb into my eye. I threw up my head and his thumb gashed my lips and
went into my mouth. The impact almost knocked me over, but my teeth
had closed on his thumb and when he jerked back he put me on my balance
again. I clouted him on the jaw and knocked him down. He landed in the
lime box. The school had not yet been plastered, and the quicklime was
in an open pit. I started in after the bully, but stopped to save my
pants from the lime. There was a hose near by, and I turned the water on
Babe in the lime bath. The lime completely covered him. He was whipped
and in fear of his life. Choking and weeping he hollered, “Nuff.” We got
him out, too weak to stand, and gently leaned him up in a corner of the
school building. There we left the crushed bully and returned to town.
But before I went I gave him this parting shot:
“Do you know why I licked you, Babe? It wasn't what you said in the
tavern that made me mad. I didn't want a glass of beer, and you were
right in saying I was a minor. Where you made your mistake was when you
made fun of my breeches, seven years ago. And do you remember that blue
suit you had on at the time? I know where you got that blue suit of
clothes, and I know who had it before you got it. If you still think
that a bully in charity clothes can make fun of a boy in clothes that he
earned with his own labor, just say so, and I'll give you another clout
that will finish you.”
All bullies, whether nations, parties or individuals, get licked in
the same way. They outrage some one's self-respect, and then the old
primordial cyclone hits them.
CHAPTER II. A TRAIT OF THE WELSH PEOPLE
My family is Welsh, and I was born in Tredegar, Wales. David and Davies
are favorite names among the Welsh, probably because David whipped
Goliath, and mothers named their babies after the champion. The Welsh
are a small nation that has always had to fight against a big nation.
The idea that David stopped Goliath seemed to reflect their own national
glory. The ancient invasions that poured across Britain were stopped in
Wales, and they never could push the Welshmen into the sea.
The Welsh pride themselves on hanging on. They are a nation that has
never been whipped. Every people has its characteristics. “You can't
beat the Irish” is one slogan, “You can't kill a Swede” is another, and
“You can't crowd out a Welshman” is a motto among the mill people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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