Our roads lay together,
and it was natural that we should fall into talk. He was covered
with mud; an inoffensive, ignorant creature, who thought the Atlantic
Cable was a secret contrivance of the masters the better to oppress
labouring mankind; and I confess I was astonished to learn that he
had nearly three hundred pounds in the bank. But this man had
travelled over most of the world, and enjoyed wonderful opportunities
on some American railroad, with two dollars a shift and double pay on
Sunday and at night; whereas my fellow-passenger had never quitted
Tyneside, and had made all that he possessed in that same accursed,
down-falling England, whence skilled mechanics, engineers,
millwrights, and carpenters were fleeing as from the native country
of starvation.
Fitly enough, we slid off on the subject of strikes and wages and
hard times. Being from the Tyne, and a man who had gained and lost
in his own pocket by these fluctuations, he had much to say, and held
strong opinions on the subject. He spoke sharply of the masters,
and, when I led him on, of the men also. The masters had been
selfish and obstructive, the men selfish, silly, and light-headed.
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