Ralph the Heir Part 20

Gentlemen, of all efforts this is the most n.o.ble. It is a sacrifice of self, a martyrdom, a giving up on the part of him who strikes of himself, his little ones, and his wife, for the sake of others who can only thus be rescued from the grasp of tyranny. Gentlemen, were it not for strikes, this would be a country in which no free man could live. By the aid of strikes we will make it the Paradise of the labourer, an Elysium of industry, an Eden of artizans." There was much more of it,--but the reader might be fatigued were the full flood of Mr. Moggs's oratory to be let loose upon him. And through it all there was a germ of truth and a strong dash of true, n.o.ble feeling;--but the speaker had omitted as yet to learn how much thought must be given to a germ of truth before it can be made to produce fruit for the mult.i.tude. And then, in speaking, grand words come so easily, while thoughts,--even little thoughts,--flow so slowly!

[Ill.u.s.tration: "The battle has been fought since man first crawled upon the earth," continued Moggs, stretching himself to his full height and pointing to the farthest confines of the inhabited globe . . .]

But the speech, such as it was, sufficed amply for the immediate wants of the denizens of the Ches.h.i.+re Cheese. There were men there who for the half-hour believed that Ontario Moggs had been born to settle all the difficulties between labourers and their employers, and that he would do so in such a way that the labourers, at least, should have all that they wanted. It would be, perhaps, too much to say that any man thought this would come in his own day,--that he so believed as to put a personal trust in his own belief; but they did think for a while that the good time was coming, and that Ontario Moggs would make it come. "We'll have 'im in parl'ament any ways,"

said a st.u.r.dy, short, dirty-looking artizan, who shook his head as he spoke to show that, on that matter, his mind was quite made up.

"I dunno no good as is to c.u.m of sending sich as him to parl'ament,"

said another. "Parl'ament ain't the place. When it comes to the p'int they won't 'ave 'em. There was Odgers, and Mr. Beale. I don't b'lieve in parl'ament no more." "Kennington Oval's about the place," said a third. "Or Primrose 'ill," said a fourth. "Hyde Park!" screamed the little wizen man with the gin and water. "That's the ticket;--and down with them gold railings. We'll let' em see!" Nevertheless they all went away home in the quietest way in the world, and,--as there was no strike in hand,--got to their work punctually on the next morning. Of all those who had been loudest at the Ches.h.i.+re Cheese there was not one who was not faithful, and, in a certain way, loyal to his employer.

As soon as his speech was over and he was able to extricate himself from the crowd, Ontario Moggs escaped from the public-house and strutted off through certain narrow, dark streets in the neighbourhood, leaning on the arm of a faithful friend. "Mr. Moggs, you did pitch it rayther strong, to-night," said the faithful friend.

"Pitch it rather strong;--yes. What good do you think can ever come from pitching any thing weak? Pitch it as strong as you will, find it don't amount to much."

"But about rebellion, now, Mr. Moggs? Rebellion ain't a good thing, surely, Mr. Moggs."

"Isn't it? What was Was.h.i.+ngton, what was Cromwell, what was Rienzi, what was,--was,--; but never mind," said Ontario, who could not at the moment think of the name of his favourite Pole.

"And you think as the men should be rebels again' the masters?"

"That depends on who the masters are, Waddle."

"What good 'd c.u.m of it if I rebelled again' Mr. Neefit, and told him up to his face as I wouldn't make up the books? He'd only sack me. I find thirty-five bob a week, with two kids and their mother to keep on it, tight enough, Mr. Moggs. If I 'ad the fixing on it, I should say forty bob wasn't over the mark;--I should indeed. But I don't see as I should get it."

"Yes you would;--if you earned it, and stuck to your purpose. But you're a single stick, and it requires a f.a.ggot to do this work."

"I never could see it, Mr. Moggs. All the same I do like to hear you talk. It stirs one up, even though one don't just go along with it.

You won't let on, you know, to Mr. Neefit as I was there."

"And why not?" said Ontario, turning sharp upon his companion.

"The old gen'leman hates the very name of a strike. He's a'most as bad as your own father, Mr. Moggs."

"You have done his work to-day. You have earned your bread. You owe him nothing."

"That I don't, Mr. Moggs. He'll take care of that."

"And yet you are to stay away from this place, or go to that, to suit his pleasure. Are you Neefit's slave?"

"I'm just the young man in his shop,--that's all."

"As long as that is all, Waddle, you are not worthy to be called a man."

"Mr. Moggs, you're too hard. As for being a man, I am a man.

I've a wife and two kids. I don't think more of my governor than another;--but if he sacked me, where 'd I get thirty-five bob a-week?"

"I beg your pardon, Waddle;--it's true. I should not have said it.

Perhaps you do not quite understand me, but your position is one of a single stick, rather than of the f.a.ggot. Ah me! She hasn't been at the shop lately?"

"She do come sometimes. She was there the day before yesterday."

"And alone?"

"She come alone, and she went home with the governor."

"And he?"

"Mr. Newton, you mean?"

"Has he been there?"

"Well;--yes; he was there once last week."

"Well?"

"There was words;--that's what there was. It ain't going smooth, and he ain't been out there no more,--not as I knows on. I did say a word once or twice as to the precious long figure as he stands for on our books. Over two hundred for breeches is something quite stupendous.

Isn't it, Mr. Moggs?"

"And what did Neefit say?"

"Just snarled at me. He can show his teeth, you know, and look as bitter as you like. It ain't off, because when I just named the very heavy figure in such a business as ours,--he only snarled. But it ain't on, Mr. Moggs. It ain't what I call,--on." After this they walked on in silence for a short way, when Mr. Waddle made a little proposition. "He's on your books, too, Mr. Moggs, pretty tight, as I'm told. Why ain't you down on him?"

"Down on him?" said Moggs.

"I wouldn't leave him an hour, if I was you."

"D'you think that's the way I would be down on,--a rival?" and Moggs, as he walked along, worked both his fists closely in his energy. "If I can't be down on him other gait than that, I'll leave him alone.

But, Waddle, by my sacred honour as a man, I'll not leave him alone!"

Waddle started, and stood with his mouth open, looking up at his friend. "Base, mercenary, false-hearted loon! What is it that he wants?"

"Old Neefit's money. That's it, you know."

"He doesn't know what love means, and he'd take that fair creature, and drag her through the dirt, and subject her to the scorn of hardened aristocrats, and crush her spirits, and break her heart,--just because her father has sc.r.a.ped together a ma.s.s of gold.

But I,--I wouldn't let the wind blow on her too harshly. I despise her father's money. I love her. Yes;--I'll be down upon him somehow.

Good-night, Waddle. To come between me and the pride of my heart for a little dirt! Yes; I'll be down upon him." Waddle stood and admired.

He had read of such things in books, but here it was brought home to him in absolute life. He had a young wife whom he loved, but there had been no poetry about his marriage. One didn't often come across real poetry in the world,--Waddle felt;--but when one did, the treat was great. Now Ontario Moggs was full of poetry. When he preached rebellion it was very grand,--though at such moments Waddle was apt to tell himself that he was precluded by his two kids from taking an active share in such poetry as that. But when Moggs was roused to speak of his love, poetry couldn't go beyond that. "He'll drop into that customer of ours," said Waddle to himself, "and he'll mean it when he's a doing of it. But Polly 'll never 'ave 'im." And then there came across Waddle's mind an idea which he could not express,--that of course no girl would put up with a bootmaker who could have a real gentleman. Real gentlemen think a good deal of themselves, but not half so much as is thought of them by men who know that they themselves are of a different order.

Ontario Moggs, as he went homewards by himself, was disturbed by various thoughts. If it really was to be the case that Polly Neefit wouldn't have him, why should he stay in a country so ill-adapted to his manner of thinking as this? Why remain in a paltry island while all the starry west, with its brilliant promises, was open to him?

Here he could only quarrel with his father, and become a rebel, and perhaps live to find himself in a jail. And then what could he do of good? He preached and preached, but nothing came of it. Would not the land of the starry west suit better such a heart and such a mind as his? But he wouldn't stir while his fate was as yet unfixed in reference to Polly Neefit. Strikes were dear to him, and oratory, and the noisy applauses of the Ches.h.i.+re Cheese; but nothing was so dear to him as Polly Neefit. He went about the world with a great burden lying on his chest, and that burden was his love for Polly Neefit.

In regard to strikes and the ballot he did in a certain way reason within himself and teach himself to believe that he had thought out those matters; but as to Polly he thought not at all. He simply loved her, and felt himself to be a wild, frantic man, quarrelling with his father, hurrying towards jails and penal settlements, rus.h.i.+ng about the streets half disposed to suicide, because Polly Neefit would have none of him. He had been jealous, too, of the gasfitter, when he had seen his Polly whirling round the room in the gasfitter's arms;--but the gasfitter was no gentleman, and the battle had been even. In spite of the whirling he still had a chance against the gasfitter.

But the introduction of the purple and fine linen element into his affairs was maddening to him. With all his scorn for gentry, Ontario Moggs in his heart feared a gentleman. He thought that he could make an effort to punch Ralph Newton's head if they two were ever to be brought together in a spot convenient for such an operation; but of the man's standing in the world, he was afraid. It seemed to him to be impossible that Polly should prefer him, or any one of his cla.s.s, to a suitor whose hands were always clean, whose s.h.i.+rt was always white, whose words were soft and well-chosen, who carried with him none of the stain of work. Moggs was as true as steel in his genuine love of Labour,--of Labour with a great L,--of the People with a great P,--of Trade with a great T,--of Commerce with a great C; but of himself individually,--of himself, who was a man of the people, and a tradesman, he thought very little when he compared himself to a gentleman. He could not speak as they spoke; he could not walk as they walked; he could not eat as they ate. There was a divinity about a gentleman which he envied and hated.

Now Polly Neefit was not subject to this idolatry. Could Moggs have read her mind, he might have known that success, as from the bootmaker against the gentleman, was by no means so hopeless an affair. What Polly liked was a nice young man, who would hold up his head and be true to her,--and who would not make a fool of himself.

If he could waltz into the bargain, that also would Polly like.

On that night Ontario walked all the way out to Alexandria Cottage, and spent an hour leaning upon the gate, looking up at the window of the breeches-maker's bedroom;--for the chamber of Polly herself opened backwards. When he had stood there an hour, he walked home to Bond Street.