Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-03-03

= head.
London" I says and then 1 began t.
think about what going to London meant
For, mind yer, it did mt mean a chap il
u rough jacket, making up a bundle in ,
clean blue handkerchief. aud then shown
his stick through the knot and sticking i
over his shoulder, and then stuting hi,
hands in his pockets, and taking the road
uppards, whistlin' like d blackbird. No:
it meant something else. Itmeant break
ing up a tidy little home as two young
foiks-common people, in course-had
been a~-saving up Tor years 10 make snug
it meant half breaking a poor simple lass :
heart to part with this little thing and
that little thing tearing up the nest that
took soslong a-building, and was allus so
snug urter a cold days work. l looked at
the clean little winders, and then at the
bright kettle on the shiny black hob, and
then at the VERY small ire as there was,
and then fust at one thing, and then at
another, all 50 clean and neat and ho'nely,
and all showing how proud my lass was OF
en- all, and then | thought a little more
Of what going up, to London really did
mean, and / suppose it must nave been
through feeling low and faint and poorly,
and I'm almost ashamed to tell 1t, for l m
such a big strong chap but truths truth.
Well, somehow a blind seemed to come
over my eyes, and my head went down
upon my knees, and 1 cried like a school
boy. But it went off. for my lass was
kneeling aside sme in a minute, and got
my thick old head upon her shoulder, and
began adding all she could to make be
lieve ittwas all right, and she wouldn't
i mind - "a lf4 HIT p-alA grar on yrarAarfrI
well up there; and 90 we talked it over for
long enough, while she made believe to
be so cheerful, and knelt at my side,
a-ciphering away,-a putting down
naught for herself, a-carrying l don't
know how much for me,-til 1 glowed up
under the discovery that whether work
was plenty, or whether work was slack,
1, Bill Stock-christened William-was
rich in my good wife.
That was something like a thought, that
was, and seemed to stitien me up and put
bone and muscle into a fellow till he felt
strong as a lion; so we set TO talking over
the arrangements; and two DAYS arter,
Polly and l was in a lodging in London.
Mex morning l was up at five, and
made myself smart; not fine but clean,
looking as if l warnC afraid Of work and
| finds my way to one 0 the big work
shops, where the bell was ~a-ringing for
six o'clock, and the men was a-scutiling in,
while a chap with a book was on the
lookout to time the late ones, for stopping
on payday out of their wages,-which Is
but fair, yer know, for if two hundred men
lost q quarter Of an hour apiece in a week,
it would come to something stiff in a year.
Well, there was a couple more chaps like
me standing at the gate, come to see if
they could get took on and one Of EN-
slips in and comes out again directly a
swearing and growing like anything, and
then tother goes in and he comes out
a-swearing too, and then I feels my heart
90 sinking down ever so low. So l says
to the fust-
"Any cnance of a job2' l says.
go to" somewhere, he says, cutting
up rough, 50 l asks tother one.
AMY chance of a iob?" l says.
Not a ha' pOrth,n he SAYS, turning his
back, and going off with the fust one; and
] must say as they looked a pretty pair of
blacks.
30 l stood there for quite five minutes
wondering what to do; whether l should
20 in and ask for myself, or 90 and try
s~Omewheres else. l didn't like TO try,
arter seeing two men refused. All at
once a tall sharp-eyed man comes out Of
a side place and looks at me quite fierce.
"Now, my man." he says, whats your
business? What do YOU want2'
"Job, sir" says 1.
"Then why didn't you come in and
ask" he says.
Saw two turned back, l says.
40, we don't want such as them here"
he SAYS, "but there's plenty of work for
men who mean it, and then he looks
through me Almost. a. suppose you do
mean it, eh2'
"Give us hold of a trowel,' says l,
splitting in both hands.
"Bricklayer ~ says he, smiling.
Fright says l..
"From the country ?' says he.
Yes, says 1.
Work slack there % says he.
awful says 1.
you'll do says he. Here, Jones,
put this fellow in number four lot
If you'll believe me, l could have taken
hold OF him and Rugged him but l didn't,
for l KEEP it for Polly.
WE'LL wonder how many times I've
said well, since | begun was in work
now, and ] meant TO keep it. Didn't l
make the bricks and mortar fly My
holman did his days work that day, if
he never did it afore. Then some of the
men began to take it up, and got to chaff-
ing; one says there'd soon be no work
left; and another says, Id better have a
couple O Paddles to keep me going, one
for bricks, and another for mortar; while
one fellow makes hisself precious I'M
pleasant, by keeping on going puff!
puff! puff like a steam-ingin', because l
worked so fast. But | let them chatf as
long as they liked; and bime-by l comes
to be alongside my steam-ingin' friend,
and Jest as he'd been going 1t u little ex-
ira, 1 says to him quietly
Ever been out o work, matey ~
"Not TO signify, he says.
"'Cause if ever you are, and come down
very close to the ground, you'll be as
glad to handle the trowel again as 1 am"
lie didn't puff any more that day, not as
1 heerd.
London work was something fresh to
me. l used to think that ID been about
some tidy buildings down our way, but
what was the tidiest on EN- to the London
Jobs I was put on Jobs where the scat
folding must have cost hundreds upon
hundreds Of pounds more than the house,
land, and everything else put together, of
the biggest place I had ever worked upon.
l used, too, TO think I was pretty strong
in the head but l soon began to sing
small here ,-specially when l had been
up about a week and was put on at a big
hotel. Right up so high that one turned
quite creepy, and used to get thinking of
what would be the consequences if a
sharp puff of wind come and upset ones
balance. I could never have believed,
neither. that such a Jacobs Ladder of
scaffold poles could have been built up to
stand without crushing and swapping
those at the bottom like so many reeds or
tobacco pipes; but l suppose them as
builds them knows best what should be
done, and what they'll bear. But though
l did not like it much, l took good care
not to mention it to my lass, for I knew
she'd have been on the fdget all day If l
had told her.
By degrees I got TO stand it all pretty
well, and we began TO feel a bit settled in
our one room. Not that We much liked
it, but then it was VERY pleasant to 90 in
the crowd one payday and draw your
weeks wage,-goOd wage too, Jest as l had
seen it when settin' in my own place at
home. We still called it home, for we
couldn't get to feel that we were at home