Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-11-28
LABOR LEADERS, WIVES.

| NoDie women who Are of Such Assist
ance to Three Brave Britishers.
l know very well, writes contributor
to Woman, that every man who ad-
dresses a strike meeting claims to be
labor leader. Therefore l say at once
that the leaders whose wives form the
subject of this article are John Burns,
member of parliament; Tom Mann,
labor commissioner, and Ben Tillett,
alderman of the London city council.
10 his wife John Burns owes no small
amount of his success. She is not only
peculiarly beautiful and ladylike
woman, but she has qualities both of
head and heart which under other cir
cumstances would have made her
heroine. Every one during the great
dock strike heard of John Burns and his
straw hat. Comparatively few knew
that while he was parading the streets
and addressing the dockers she was at
the Wade Arms battling with accounts
and feeding starving women who crowd
ed daily into the offices. Often she was
there for twenty-four hours at time,
and sometimes when work was done it
was too late to get any conveyance other
than the expensive cab. Upon such oc-
casions she would walk from Poplar to
Battersea.
1t need hardly be added that John
Burns is very proud of his wife. At
labor meetings she is constantly to be
seen by his side, and if for moment
he misses her his cry is instantly,
"Where is my wife?" He believes that
he can confer no greater honor upon his
comrades than by introducing them to
her, and there are cozy little tea parties
arranged in the home at Battersea,
mainly that she may know his friends.
If Mrs. Tom Mann is less seen in pub
lie 1t is because she has, what Mrs. Burns
has not, children. There are four little
girls in the home in the Mile-end road.
Had Tom Mann chosen almost any other
profession than that of labor leader his
abilities would have placed him in a
position of independence, but the little
money he had formerly received from the
Dockers union, on which he was largely
dependent, did not suffice for servant.
Mrs. Mann has worked just as hard, just
as conscientiously and just as bravely as
Mrs. John Burns, although her work
has been altogether different. She is the
home loving woman, sweet and silent.
As she said, it would not do for husband
and wife to be both takers, and Tom
Mann chatters to his children even when
he is writing One of his girls is born
orator. She is never happy unless upon
chair making a speech. When she has
exhausted her limited vocabulary she
begins, "Golly, golly, golly, golly, golly,
golly," and stamps her tiny foot and
brings her clinched fist down upon the
table in imitation of her famous father.
Unfortunately, unlike him, she is not
robust, and has only just recovered from
a serious illness, which it was at one
time feared would have fatal results.
Tom Mann's children inherit the
dogged determination which is charac-
early years he was anxious to visit
America. He accomplished his wish,
and paid the passage money by living
for month upon bread and water.
Mrs. Ben Tillett is philosophical. She
does not worry very much over what
she cannot help, and usually takes things
quietly. Evidently in earlier years, both
before and after her marriage, she
worked very hard. She is by no means
silent, but a tireless talker and singer,
with voice which, had it been trained,
might have brought her fame and for
tune. OF the seven children she has had
only the two youngest survive. Partly
for this reason and partly because in the
Mile-end road Mrs. Tillett was subject
to unceremonious calls from dockers at
all hours of the day and night, the fam
lily recently removed to the healthier
suburb of Leytonstone. There she is
very much alone, for her husband is
nearly always in some distant portion of
Great Britain. Once when told that
friend was about to be married she said:
"Tll congratulate her if she isn't going
to marry public man. If any of my
children were dying / should not dare
to call my husband away from the work
he was engaged upon, for who knows
what might be dependent upon his pres
ence. Half the time | do not know
where he is. l would never like any
friends of mine to marry labor leader"