Some few among them had been taken up for assaulting men who wanted to go to work in the empty docks, for all who went in while the strike lasted were looked upon as traitors by the rest. It was for interfering with these that two or three men got sent to prison; but for the most part they acted in as orderly and becoming a manner as any company of men could do, and the example of brotherly kindness and helpfulness that Chaplin and Brown learned to practise towards each other beforehand, they and their companions learned to extend to those beyond their immediate circle, so that each man restrained his own selfish impulses and greed for revenge for the sake of others, and in memory of help so freely given to them in their hour of need. CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION. THE closing of the dock gates put a stop to every other industry as well as that of the dock labourers, for all the smaller trades and occupations were dependent, more or less, upon the shipping of the port of London, and with that practically closed, these came to an end. It was a sore trial to those usually so busy to have to sit at home with folded hands and look at their denuded homes, or wander aimlessly about the dull streets, for after the procession of men had gone by on their usual perambulations, there was nothing to break the monotony of their lives, and it was a hard test of their patience to sit dumb and idle. And yet, the women felt that if they broke out into loud-voiced complaints, there was danger that the men might be goaded into some act of violence, and if once this was done there was no telling what the end might be. So every woman did her best to bear uncomplainingly the hardship of her lot, and when father, brother, or husband came home, to make the place as bright and cheery as they could. In this way, women like Mrs. Chaplin and weak girls like Winny, saved London from riot and bloodshed, and gained for themselves a name of imperishable honour, setting the whole world an example of patient endurance and the divine might of doing the duty that lay nearest to them. Every mission room was busy from morning till night, for meals, free or a farthing each, for the starving women and children, were going on all day and half the night too. These cheap meals made the Chaplins better off than most of their neighbours, and practically independent of the strike fund, for although Mrs. Chaplin only got one day's work a fortnight with Mrs. Rutter now, still, with the money sent every week by Annie Brown to help them through the trouble, they were able to get along fairly well. And when Mrs. Chaplin got a little to do in helping Miss Lavender with the meals and entertainments at the mission room, she was a good deal more content.