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2OO John Galsworthy
the wants of the men I spoke for. ... I have this to
say and first as to their condition. . . . Ye can t
squeeze them any more. Every man of us is well nigh
starving. Ye wonder why I tell ye that? Every man
of us is going short. We can t be no worse off than
we ve been these weeks past. Ye needn t think that by
waiting ye ll drive us to come in. We ll die first, the
whole lot of us. The men have sent for ye to know,
once and for all, whether ye are going to grant them their
demands. . . . Ye know best whether ye can afford your
tyranny but this I tell ye: If ye think the men will
give way the least part of an inch, ye re making the worst
mistake ye ever made. Ye think because the Union is
not supporting us more shame to it ! that we ll be
coming on our knees to you one fine morning. Ye think
because the men have got their wives an families to
think of that it s just a question of a week or
two . . .
The appalling state of the strikers is dem
onstrated by the women: Anna Roberts, sick with
heart trouble and slowly dying for want of
warmth and nourishment; Mrs. Rons, so accus
tomed to privation that her present poverty seems
easy compared with the misery of her whole life.
Into this dismal environment comes Enid, the
President s daughter, with delicacies and jams for
Annie. Like many women of her station she im
agines that a little sympathy will bridge the chasm
between the classes, or as her father says,
"
You
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