A WORKING-MAN'S WIFE.

AFEW years ago the Paddlers were the best abused set of working-men in England. They were mere brawny savages, unable to listen to reason, incapable of political economy ; their Ironworkers' Union was a standing conspiracy against the rights of property and of labour, &c. At the present day, thanks to the perseverance of a portion at least of these brawny savages on the one hand, on the other to the friendly help or mediation of such men as Mr. Hughes and Mr. Kettle, a Board of Arbitration and Conciliation has been established for the Iron trade of the North of England, from which only four firms are stated still to hold aloof, and the question of wages has been settled for twelve months. More than this,—the example thus set is just now being followed in Scotland, where a strike at the Blochairn works in April last gave occasion to a general lock-out, which paralyzed the trade for six weeks. Seven propositions on behalf of the men were on the 18th June submitted to the employers, which may serve as a model in similar cases, and which we do not hesitate to quote :— "1st. The Blochairn men agree to resume work, and the employers to withdraw the lock-out decree, at once.

"2nd. The men at each work to make out a statement in writing as to the nature and character of their claims, and to submit the same to their respective employers with each workman's name attached thereto.

"3rd. That there shall be a representative meeting of masters and men, consisting of one workman and one employer from each work, to meet, say, in Glasgow, to investigate the points in dispute, and as far as possible, by conciliatory means, to settle the same.

"4th. That both parties shall agree to submit to an independent referee any question which may be left undecided by the meeting. "5th. That both parties shall pledge themselves to accept the decision of the referee as final for a specified period of time.

"6th. That during the investigation of the disputes now pending, and up to the time the referee gives his final award, the men shall continue to work as if no dispute existed betwixt the workmen and employers. "7th. That the referee's verdict [awardl shall date from the time the men commence work."

To their credit be it said, the employers, one firm only ex- cepted (the Govan Bar Iron Company), accepted these seven propositions, and there is at least fair ground for hoping that a permanent Board of Conciliation and Arbitration for the Iron trade of the West of Scotland will grow out of the settlement of the present dispute. Now, the framer of the seven propositions, —the person who by visiting and holding meetings in every dis- trict obtained the sanction of the men to them,—in short, the leading peacemaker in a dispute which had led to the stoppage of about 400 furnaces, was one of those wicked Trades' Unionists of England, Mr. John Kane, Secretary of the National Amalgamated Association of Ironworkers, but also Operative Secretary to the North of England Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, founded itself in great measure through his exertions. Those who know something of the temper and character of the men by whom our great Trade societies are at present chiefly led, know, indeed, that John Kane is not singular in his deserts,—that there are very likely a dozen men as good as he in similar posts, only working in narrower or less prominent spheres. But he is singular in one respect, —that he has in his work a coadjutor well nigh as effi- cient as himself,—a wife who not only sympathizes heartily in his labours, but has both a tongue and a pen to devote to them.

It is Mrs. Kane, then, whom we wish for a moment to present to our readers, and for this purpose we take a speech of hers de- livered last month (June 25),* on one of those occasions which

• We quote from a report in "The Monthly Journal of the Amalgamated Malleable Ironworkers," for July 1, 1870,—one of those working-men's periodicals which are now frequently set on foot by Trade Societies, and which form by this time a really important element in the social literature of the day.

seem almost worn threadbare, the presentation of a testimonial to her husband and herself from the ironworkers not only of the North of England, but of Staffordshire, South Yorkshire, &c. So she feels herself, for she begins by declaring that she does not "believe in presentations or testimonials." When a man can bear wrath and calumny "without ever flinching from the path of duty, we ought to be very careful lest we tempt him to be unfaithful to his trust by spoiling him with too much kindness." As for herself, she feels as if she were receiving the presents given to her under false pretences :—

"I will tell you what I mean, for I must make a full confession to- night. Picture to yourself a workman's home, at the head of which is one of those men who make home what it ought to be to wife and children,—a haven of rest for the weary body, and a temple of worship to the soul.. . . Love and peace dwelt there, and the secret was this :- It was a sober home, for during the twenty-eight years the head of that house worked for one firm, he never lost one day's work through drink ; therefore, many were the comforts they could surround themselves with. Their chief ambition, however, was to give their children a good education and live free from debt. This they managed to do. . . . Well, this couple worked and studied together, for they managed to accumulate book after book, until they had a pretty good library of their own ; besides, being members of the mechanics' institutes and working-men's reading-rooms, they appeared to be respected by all around them."

Mrs. Kane now describes, in really most eloquent language, the "dark and stormy days" which arose, when "old-fashioned firms, which had been handed down from sire to son from generation to generation, appeared to be dying out," when "the spirit of gold seemed to enter the heart of the nation," when "men entered into the iron trade who could not have stood before a furnace or a pair of rolls for one hour," and "men who were accustomed to use the yard wand, scissors, and needles for their work-tools made laws for hardy sons of toil, who knew what hard work meant, and could do it."

"Then we heard of strikes here and strikes there, misery and want on all sides, where formerly there were peace and plenty. War, nothing. but war. Then it was that this man emerged from the quiet of his home, and tried to teach his fellow-workmen a better and a safer way is settle their disputes ; not to punish their families by starving them, but to establish Boards of Arbitration and Conciliation He was branded as a firebrand There was not one honest proprietor of a daily or weekly paper in this district who ever objected to open his columns to the vile slanders heaped upon his head Scribes and Pharisees gathered their holy robes about them as we passed, fop fear of contagion. Priests and Levites tried to write and preach him down. Even in this town of Darlington, one of the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus recommended the plan of stamping out the men's Union and their leaders as the only cure, and called them the worst rinderpest in England. Anonymous letters were sent to us by cowards,. who stab men's reputations in the dark. The very means of earning their bread was taken from my children ; some thought, if they could not reach the father they might the sons; oh! my friends, it was a fearful struggle' Will any of you forget 1666? God grant in His mercy that such another bitter cup may never be put to our lips again !"

After a contrast between her husband's present position and. that of his accusers, she goes on :—

"But you may ask, what has all this to do with me receiving goods under false pretences? I will tell you. Whilst he stood like some knarled oak and bent not under the storm, I was a very poor specimen of the clinging ivy or the weaker myrtle. I shrank and cowered from the contumely I could not see why we had to be the scapegoats- for the North. I mourned over my domestic happiness, broken and, destroyed, as I thought, for ever. I urged upon him at every convenient season to give up the advocacy of Union and Arbitration, and instead of being the helpmate and comfort I ought, I tried to keep him back, and he took the part of comforter, and buoyed me up with hope,—pointeat me to the great Teacher whom we professed to follow, who went through much persecution and reviling for the truth's sake. Thus, you see, I am afraid that I have not been the faithful servant you had deemed me, and have only looked up after the storm has passed. I have come out into the sunshine to inhale the fragrance of the flowers, after the wins and rain have passed over them."

It seems hardly necessary to remind the reader that if Mrs. Kane had only been the hindrance to her husband which her lowliness professes to have been, she would never have been singled out by his fellow-workers (by no means enthusiasts foe women's rights) as the recipient of an altogether exceptional com- pliment; and indeed, were the materials now to our hand, it. would probably not be difficult for us to pick out from publica- tions of the time she refers to letters written by her to the press which would prove the very contrary. But, indeed, like a true. woman, she contradicts herself in the next sentence :—

" Bat there has been another phase in our history, and it has beep the only time when I cherished hopes that he would leave the work to some- one else; and this has been when traitors have been found in our ranks, —men who have no faith in each other, who are fall of petty jealousies, and suspect every honest man who happens to differ in opinion from them. We have seen whole sections broken up and destroyed by these' marplots. We have had them north and south, east and west. But what is the history of all these factions that have arisen? The firs

of Unionism has never been entirely destroyed. Even in the worst places there has been some spark left which has kindled into a flame, and whenever there is a difficulty to overcome, the cry has been and is to the man they maligned, 'Come and help us,'—as witness Scotland during this last week."

And she concludes by urging her hearers to "strive to do better, and be better ;" to try and respect themselves more, and then they will be the more respected; to be true to each other, and yet to "consider that masters have claims and rights to be ' respected as well as themselves." Why should their class "be reckoned the lowest in the ranks of workmen "? Not because it is the poorest, but because more of the ironworker's money "goes for strong drink than from any other branch of industry." But "we have the power to do better, if we will it."

Now is not this a noble working-man's wife? Allow for a little false taste, a little rhetoric, could the greatest statesman in England wish for a truer helpmeet? We say emphatically, statesman ; for if there be anything short of the management of the affairs of the nation at large which demands real statesmanship, it is the government of one of our large Trade Societies, such as it is generally carried on by their secretaries or other permanent officers, whom it is the fashion to represent as mere ranting, rampagious, and at the same time grasping demagogues.

We do not wish to mar the effect of the above extracts by com- ment. One thing, however, we would point out to those who persist in looking upon or rather in representing Trades' Unionism as a mere machinery for strikes. Here is a woman passionately enthusiastic for Unionism, and yet bitterly opposed to what (in a passage which we have not had space to quote) she calls "starva- tion strikes," and the main theme of whose eulogy on her husband is his advocacy of conciliation and arbitration as against both strikes and lock-outs. Is not the phenomenon worth ponder- ing on by our anti-Union plutonomiste ?