Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell (read novel full TXT) 📖

question

was covered with a clean white cloth.

 

`Christmas pudding,’ replied Bert, promptly.

 

`Guessed right first time!’ cried Frankie. `We got the things out of

the Christmas Club on Saturday. We’ve been paying in ever since last

Christmas. We’re going to mix it now, and you can have a stir too if

you like, for luck.’

 

Whilst they were stirring the pudding, Frankie several times requested

the others to feel his muscle: he said he felt sure that he would soon

be strong enough to go out to work, and he explained to Bert that the

extraordinary strength he possessed was to be attributed to the fact

that he lived almost exclusively on porridge and milk.

 

For the rest of the week, Owen continued to work down at the yard with

Sawkins, Crass, and Slynie, painting some of the ladders, steps and

other plant belonging to the firm. These things had to have two coats

of paint and the name Rushton & Co. written on them. As soon as they

had got some of them second-coated, Owen went on with the writing,

leaving the painting for the others, so as to share the work as fairly

as possible. Several times during the week one or other of them was

taken away to do some other work; once Crass and Slyme had to go and

wash off and whiten a ceiling somewhere, and several times Sawkins was

sent out to assist the plumbers.

 

Every day some of the men who had been `stood off’ called at the yard

to ask if any other `jobs’ had `come in’. From these callers they

heard all the news. Old Jack Linden had not succeeded in getting

anything to do at the trade since he was discharged from Rushton’s,

and it was reported that he was trying to earn a little money by

hawking bloaters from house to house. As for Philpot, he said that he

had been round to nearly all the firms in the town and none of them

had any work to speak of.

 

Newman - the man whom the reader will remember was sacked for taking

too much pains with his work - had been arrested and sentenced to a

month’s imprisonment because he had not been able to pay his poor

rates, and the Board of Guardians were allowing his wife three

shillings a week to maintain herself and the three children. Philpot

had been to see them, and she told him that the landlord was

threatening to turn them into the street; he would have seized their

furniture and sold it if it had been worth the expense of the doing.

 

`I feel ashamed of meself,’ Philpot added in confidence to Owen, `when

I think of all the money I chuck away on beer. If it wasn’t for that,

I shouldn’t be in such a hole meself now, and I might be able to lend

‘em a ‘elpin’ ‘and.’

 

`It ain’t so much that I likes the beer, you know,’ he continued;

`it’s the company. When you ain’t got no ‘ome, in a manner o’

speakin’, like me, the pub’s about the only place where you can get a

little enjoyment. But you ain’t very welcome there unless you spends

your money.’

 

`Is the three shillings all they have to live on?’

 

`I think she goes out charin’ when she can get it,’ replied Philpot,

`but I don’t see as she can do a great deal o’ that with three young

‘uns to look after, and from what I hear of it she’s only just got

over a illness and ain’t fit to do much.’

 

`My God!’ said Owen.

 

`I’ll tell you what,’ said Philpot. `I’ve been thinking we might get

up a bit of a subscription for ‘em. There’s several chaps in work

what knows Newman, and if they was each to give a trifle we could get

enough to pay for a Christmas dinner, anyway. I’ve brought a sheet of

foolscap with me, and I was goin’ to ask you to write out the heading

for me.’

 

As there was no pen available at the workshop, Philpot waited till

four o’clock and then accompanied Owen home, where the heading of the

list was written. Owen put his name down for a shilling and Philpot

his for a similar amount.

 

Philpot stayed to tea and accepted an invitation to spend Christmas

Day with them, and to come to Frankie’s party on the Monday after.

 

The next morning Philpot brought the list to the yard and Crass and

Slyme put their names down for a shilling each, and Sawkins for

threepence, it being arranged that the money was to be paid on payday -

Christmas Eve. In the meantime, Philpot was to see as many as he

could of those who were in work, at other firms and get as many

subscriptions as possible.

 

At pay-time on Christmas Eve Philpot turned up with the list and Owen

and the others paid him the amounts they had put their names down for.

From other men he had succeeded in obtaining nine and sixpence, mostly

in sixpences and threepences. Some of this money he had already

received, but for the most part he had made appointments with the

subscribers to call at their homes that evening. It was decided that

Owen should accompany him and also go with him to hand over the money

to Mrs Newman.

 

It took them nearly three hours to get in all the money, for the

places they had to go to were in different localities, and in one or

two cases they had to wait because their man had not yet come home,

and sometimes it was not possible to get away without wasting a little

time in talk. In three instances those who had put their names down

for threepence increased the amount to sixpence and one who had

promised sixpence gave a shilling. There were two items of threepence

each which they did not get at all, the individuals who had put their

names down having gone upon the drunk. Another cause of delay was

that they met or called on several other men who had not yet been

asked for a subscription, and there were several others - including

some members of the Painters Society whom Owen had spoken to during

the week - who had promised him to give a subscription. In the end

they succeeded in increasing the total amount to nineteen and

ninepence, and they then put threehalfpence each to make it up to a

pound.

 

The Newmans lived in a small house the rent of which was six shillings

per week and taxes. To reach the house one had to go down a dark and

narrow passage between two shops, the house being in a kind of well,

surrounded by the high walls of the back parts of larger buildings -

chiefly business premises and offices. The air did not circulate very

freely in this place, and the rays of the sun never reached it. In

the summer the atmosphere was close and foul with the various odours

which came from the back-yards of the adjoining buildings, and in the

winter it was dark and damp and gloomy, a culture-ground for bacteria

and microbes. The majority of those who profess to be desirous of

preventing and curing the disease called consumption must be either

hypocrites or fools, for they ridicule the suggestion that it is

necessary first to cure and prevent the poverty that compels badly

clothed and half-starved human beings to sleep in such dens as this.

 

The front door opened into the living-room or, rather, kitchen, which

was dimly lighted by a small paraffin lamp on the table, where were

also some tea-cups and saucers, each of a different pattern, and the

remains of a loaf of bread. The wallpaper was old and discoloured; a

few almanacs and unframed prints were fixed to the walls, and on the

mantelshelf were some cracked and worthless vases and ornaments. At

one time they had possessed a clock and an overmantel and some framed

pictures, but they had all been sold to obtain money to buy food.

Nearly everything of any value had been parted with for the same

reason - the furniture, the pictures, the bedclothes, the carpet and

the oilcloth, piece by piece, nearly everything that had once

constituted the home - had been either pawned or sold to buy food or

to pay rent during the times when Newman was out of work - periods

that had recurred during the last few years with constantly increasing

frequency and duration. Now there was nothing left but these few old

broken chairs and the deal table which no one would buy; and upstairs,

the wretched bedsteads and mattresses whereon they slept at night,

covering themselves with worn-out remnants of blankets and the clothes

they wore during the day.

 

In answer to Philpot’s knock, the door was opened by a little girl

about seven years old, who at once recognized Philpot, and called out

his name to her mother, and the latter came also to the door, closely

followed by two other children, a little, fragile-looking girl about

three, and a boy about five years of age, who held on to her skirt and

peered curiously at the visitors. Mrs Newman was about thirty, and

her appearance confirmed the statement of Philpot that she had only

just recovered from an illness; she was very white and thin and

dejected-looking. When Philpot explained the object of their visit

and handed her the money, the poor woman burst into tears, and the two

smaller children - thinking that this piece of paper betokened some

fresh calamity - began to cry also. They remembered that all their

troubles had been preceded by the visits of men who brought pieces of

paper, and it was rather difficult to reassure them.

 

That evening, after Frankie was asleep, Owen and Nora went out to do

their Christmas marketing. They had not much money to spend, for Owen

had brought home only seventeen shillings. He had worked thirty-three

hours - that came to nineteen and threepence - one shilling and

threehalfpence had gone on the subscription list, and he had given the

rest of the coppers to a ragged wreck of a man who was singing a hymn

in the street. The other shilling had been deducted from his wages in

repayment of a `sub’ he had had during the week.

 

There was a great deal to be done with this seventeen shillings.

First of all there was the rent - seven shillings - that left ten.

Then there was the week’s bread bill - one and threepence. They had a

pint of milk every day, chiefly for the boy’s sake - that came to one

and two. Then there was one and eight for a hundredweight of coal

that had been bought on credit. Fortunately, there were no groceries

to buy, for the things they had obtained with their Christmas Club

money would be more than sufficient for the ensuing week.

 

Frankie’s stockings were all broken and beyond mending, so it was

positively necessary to buy him another pair for fivepence

three-farthings. These stockings were not much good - a pair at

double the price would have been much cheaper, for they would have

lasted three or four times longer; but they could not afford to buy

the dearer kind. It was just the same with the coal: if they had been

able to afford it, they could have bought a ton of the same class of

coal for twenty-six shillings, but buying it as they did, by the

hundredweight, they had to pay at the rate of thirty-three shillings

and fourpence a ton. It was just the same with nearly everything