The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1866-03-28

That was something like a thought,
that was, and seemed to stiffen me up,
and put bone and muscle into a fellow till
he felt strong as Il lion SO we set 10 talk
ing over the arrangements and two
days arter, Polly and l was lodging in
London.
Mex morning l was up at five, and
made myself smart not fine, but clean,
and looking rs if warn't afraid of work;
AMI finds my way to one of the big
workshops, where the bell was ringing
for six o'clock and the men was a scufflin
in; while chap with book was on the
lookout to time the late ones, for stopping
out Of their wages on payday out of their
wages-whch is fair play, yer know, for
II two hundred men lost quarter of an
honr apiece in a week, it would come to
SOM ihing stiff in Il year Well, there
was Il couple more chaps like me stand
ing at the gate, come to see if they could
get took on, and one on EN- slips in AMI
comes out again directly swearing and
growing like anything, and then 'tother
goes in, and he comes oat a swearing too,
and then | feels my heart 20 sinking
down ever SO low. So | says to the fust !:
"Any chance of a job!"
$50 To-" somewhere he says, cut
ting up rough; so | asks tothcr one
ANY chance of a job ?"
"Not haporth," he says, turning his
back and going off with the first one ;
and | must say as they looked pretty
pair of blacks.
SO | stood there for five minutes won
dcring what to do; whether | should 90
and try somewhere else. | didnt like to
try arter seeing two men refused. All at
once tall, sharp-eyed man comes out of
side place and looks at me quite fierce.
"Now, my man." ho says, "whats
your business What do you want ?"
"Job, sir" says |.
"rhen why didn't you come in and
ask ?"
'''Saw two turned back" / says.
go, we don't want such as them here,
but there's plenty of work for men who
mean it," and then he. looks through me
Almost. 81 suppose you do mean it,
ell ?"
"Give us hold of trowel" says /,
splitting in both hands.
"Bricklayer p says he, smiling.
"Right," says l.
''From the country? ?" says he
eyes" says l.
"Work slack there"
"Awful :" says l.
"Iou'l do" says he. "TIerc, Jones.
put this fcller in number four lot"
If you'll believe me, could have taken
hold of him and hugged him; but
didn't. for | KEEP it for Polly.
Well wonder how many times Eve
said well, since 1 begun was in work
now, and meant TO keep it. Didn't
make tie bricks and mortar fly! My
holman did his days work that day if he
never did it before. Then some of the
men began to take it up, and got to chat
fling one says there'd soon be no work
left and another says I'd better have a
couple o Paddles TO keep me going, one
for bricks and another for mortar; while
one fellow makes hisself precious unpleas-
ant, by keeping going on 'putf, puff
like steam insin', because | worked so
fast.
But | let them chaff as long as they
liked and bime-by | comes TO be workin
alongside of my steam ingin friend, and
jest as he had been going it little extra,
says to him quietly:
''Ever been out o work, matey ?"
"Not TO signify" he says.
"CauSc if you ever are, and come
down VERY close to the ground, you'll be
as glad to handle the trowel again as |
am
lie didn't puff any more that day, not
as hccrd.
London work was something fresh to
me. used to think thal I'd been about
some tidy buildings down our way, but
what was the tidiest on 'em to the Lon
don jobs Jobs where the scatloldinn
must have cost hundreds upon hundred,
of pounds more than the house, land,
and everything else put together, of the
biggest place | ever worked upon.
used to think | was pretty strong in the
head but | soon began to sing small
here-speciallv when I'd been up about
a W elk and was put on at big hotel.
Right up so high that one turned quite
creepy, and used TO get thinking of what
would be the consequences if II sharp puff
of wind should come and upset ones bal.
ance. | could never have believed, neith-
er, that such Jacobs ladder of scatfold-
poles could have been built up to stand
without crushing and swapping those at
the bottom like SO many reeds or tobacco
pipes but though | did not like it much,
! took good care not to mention it to my
lass, for knew she'd have been on the
iidget all day if had told her.
by degrees | got to stand it pretty
well; and we began to feel bit settled
in our own one room. Not that we much
liked it, but then it was VERY pleasant to
go in the crowd on payday and draw
your wage, good wage, too, jest as | had
seen it when settin' in my own room at
home. We still called it home, for we
couldn't get TO feel that we were at home
in London, and Polly she said she never
should, after having little house of her
own; but as there was only our two
selves, we made tnings pretty comfortable.
The big hotel was getting on at tre-
mendous rate, for there was strong body