Factories -- Fiction; London (England) -- Fiction; Love stories; Strikes and lockouts -- Fiction
The first week had enabled Sartwell to make repairs and to add machinery
that had long been needed; but it had another effect which he considered
more important still. It allowed Mr. Monkton and Mr. Hope to recover
their second wind, as it were. These good but timorous men had been
panic-stricken by the going out of their employees, and by the adverse
comments of the press. As nothing happened during the week they
gradually regained what they called their courage, and, although they
perhaps did not realize it, they were more and more committed to the
fight when it did come on. They could hardly with decency, after keeping
silence for a week during which there was peace, give way if afterwards
there should be violence.
The vigilance of the pickets perhaps relaxed a little as time went on
and there was nothing to do. But one morning they had a rude awakening.
When they arrived at the gates they saw smoke once more pouring from the
chimneys; there was a hum of machinery; the works were in full blast;
and the former workers were outside the gates.
The news spread quickly, and the men gathered around the gates from all
quarters. Gibbons was early on the ground, like an energetic general,
ready to lead his men to the fray. He saw that the fight was now on, and
he counselled moderation when he spoke to the excited men. It was all
right, he answered them; he had expected this, and was prepared for it.
The gates were closed, and when Gibbons asked admittance to speak with
the manager his request was curtly refused. This refusal did not tend to
allay the excitement, nor to improve the temper of the men. The police
kept the throng on the move as much as possible, but the task became
more and more difficult as the crowd increased.
At noon a wagon, evidently loaded with provisions, drove down the
street, and when the mob learned that its destination was the works, a
cry went up that the vehicle should be upset.
Again the pacifying influence of Gibbons made itself felt, and the
wagon, amidst the jeers of the bystanders, drove in, while the gates
were speedily closed after it.
Gibbons retired with his captains to headquarters, where a consultation
was held. There was a chance that Sartwell, during the first week, when
it was supposed he was putting in new machinery, had also been building
dormitories for his new men, and that he was going to keep them inside
the gates, free from the influence of the Union.
This plan had not been foreseen by Gibbons, and he was unprepared for
it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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