The second man would applaud these sentiments and say that he wasn't going to tear his out either: and then they would both go back to their respective rooms and tear into the work for all they were worth, making the same sort of `job' as the one they had been criticizing, and afterwards, when the other's back was turned, each of them in turn would sneak into the other's room and criticize it and point out the faults to anyone else who happened to be near at hand.
Harlow was working at the place that had been Macaroni's Cafe when one day a note was sent to him from Hunter at the shop.It was written on a scrap of wallpaper, and worded in the usual manner of such notes -as if the writer had studied how to avoid all suspicion of being unduly civil:
Harlow go to the yard at once take your tools with you.
Crass will tell you where you have to go.
J.H.
They were just finishing their dinners when the boy brought this note;and after reading it aloud for the benefit of the others, Harlow remarked that it was worded in much the same way in which one would speak to a dog.The others said nothing; but after he was gone the other men - who all considered that it was ridiculous for the `likes of us' to expect or wish to be treated with common civility - laughed about it, and said that Harlow was beginning to think he was Somebody:
they supposed it was through readin' all those books what Owen was always lendin' 'im.And then one of them got a piece of paper and wrote a note to be given to Harlow at the first opportunity.This note was properly worded, written in a manner suitable for a gentleman like him, neatly folded and addressed:
Mr Harlow Esq., c/o Macaroni's Royal Cafe till called for.
Mister Harlow, Dear Sir: Wood you kinely oblige me bi cummin to the paint shop as soon as you can make it convenient as there is a sealin' to be wate-woshed hoppin this is not trubbling you to much I remane Yours respeckfully Pontius Pilate.
This note was read out for the amusement of the company and afterwards stored away in the writer's pocket till such a time as an opportunity should occur of giving it to Harlow.
As the writer of the note was on his way back to his room to resume work he was accosted by a man who had gone into Harlow's room to criticize it, and had succeeded in finding several faults which he pointed out to the other, and of course they were both very much disgusted with Harlow.
`I can't think why the coddy keeps him on the job,' said the first man.`Between you and me, if I had charge of a job, and Misery sent Harlow there - I'd send 'im back to the shop.'
`Same as you,' agreed the other as he went back to tear into his own room.`Same as you, old man: I shouldn't 'ave 'im neither.'
It must not be supposed from this that either of these two men were on exceptionally bad terms with Harlow; they were just as good friends with him - to his face - as they were with each other - to each other's faces - and it was just their way: that was all.
If it had been one or both of these two who had gone away instead of Harlow, just the same things would have been said about them by the others who remained - it was merely their usual way of speaking about each other behind each other's backs.
It was always the same: if any one of them made a mistake or had an accident or got into any trouble he seldom or never got any sympathy from his fellow workmen.On the contrary, most of them at such times seemed rather pleased than otherwise.
There was a poor devil - a stranger in the town; he came from London -who got the sack for breaking some glass.He had been sent to `burn off' some old paint of the woodwork of a window.He was not very skilful in the use of the burning-off lamp, because on the firm when he had been working in London it was a job that the ordinary hands were seldom or never called upon to do.There were one or two men who did it all.For that matter, not many of Rushton's men were very skilful at it either.It was a job everybody tried to get out of, because nearly always the lamp went wrong and there was a row about the time the work took.So they worked this job on to the stranger.
This man had been out of work for a long time before he got a start at Rushton's, and he was very anxious not to lose the job, because he had a wife and family in London.When the `coddy' told him to go and burn off this window he did not like to say that he was not used to the work: he hoped to be able to do it.But he was very nervous, and the end was that although he managed to do the burning off all right, just as he was finishing he accidentally allowed the flame of the lamp to come into contact with a large pane of glass and broke it.
They sent to the shop for a new pane of glass, and the man stayed late that night and put it in in his own time, thus bearing half the cost of repairing it.
Things were not very busy just then, and on the following Saturday two of the hands were `stood off'.The stranger was one of them, and nearly everybody was very pleased.At mealtimes the story of the broken window was repeatedly told amid jeering laughter.It really seemed as if a certain amount of indignation was felt that a stranger -especially such an inferior person as this chap who did not know how to use a lamp - should have had the cheek to try to earn his living at all! One thing was very certain - they said, gleefully - he would never get another job at Rushton's: that was one good thing.
And yet they all knew that this accident might have happened to any one of them.
Once a couple of men got the sack because a ceiling they distempered had to be washed off and done again.It was not really the men's fault at all: it was a ceiling that needed special treatment and they had not been allowed to do it properly.
But all the same, when they got the sack most of the others laughed and sneered and were glad.Perhaps because they thought that the fact that these two unfortunates had been disgraced, increased their own chances of being `kept on'.And so it was with nearly everything.
With a few exceptions, they had an immense amount of respect for Rushton and Hunter, and very little respect or sympathy for each other.