LUTHER: Yi, I do.

  MINNIE: No — no! I’d rather have married a tramp off the streets than you. And — and I don’t believe you can have children.

  LUTHER: Theer tha knows tha’rt a liar.

  MINNIE: I hate you.

  LUTHER: Alright.

  MINNIE: And I will leave you, I will.

  LUTHER: Tha’s said so afore.

  MINNIE: And I mean it.

  LUTHER: Alright.

  MINNIE: But it’s your mother’s doing. She mollycoddled and marded you till you weren’t a man — and now — I have to pay for it.

  LUTHER: Oh ah!

  MINNIE: No, you’re not a man!

  LUTHER: Alright. They’s plenty of women as would say I am.

  MINNIE: They’d be lying to get something out of you.

  LUTHER: Why, what could they get outer me?

  MINNIE: Yes — yes — what could they . . . (She stutters to a close.)

  He begins to take off his boots.

  LUTHER: If tha’rt goin’, tha’d better go afore th’ strike begins. We should be on short commons then — ten bob a wik.

  MINNIE: There’s one thing, you’d be on short commons without me. For nobody would keep you for ten shillings a week, unless you went to your mother’s.

  LUTHER: I could live at our Harriet’s, an’ pay ‘er off after. An’ there’d be th’ furniture sold.

  MINNIE: And you’d be delighted if there was a strike, so you could loaf about. You don’t even get drunk. You only loaf. You’re lazy, lazy, and without the stomach of a louse. You want a strike.

  LUTHER: Alright.

  MINNIE: And I hope you’ll get what you deserve, I do.

  LUTHER: Tha’rt gi’en it me.

  MINNIE (lifting her hand suddenly): How dare you say so — how dare you! I’m too good for you.

  LUTHER (sullenly): I know.

  MINNIE: Yes.

  She gets a candle, lights it, and goes to bed. He flings on his scarf and coat and waistcoat, throws the pillow on the hearthrug, wraps himself in the blankets, blows the lamp out, and lies down.

  CURTAIN

  ACT III

  A fortnight later — afternoon. The kitchen of LUTHER GASCOIGNE’S house.

  MRS GASCOIGNE, senior, alone. Enter MINNIE GASCOIGNE, dressed from travelling. She is followed by a CABMAN carrying a bag.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: What — is it you!

  MINNIE: Yes. Didn’t you get my wire?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Thy wire! Dost mean a tallygram? No, we’n had nowt though th’ house ‘as bin shut up.

  MINNIE (to the CABMAN): Thank you. How much?

  CABMAN: Ha’ef-a-crown.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Ha’ef-a-crown for commin’ from th’ Midland station! Why, tha non know what’s talkin’ about.

  MINNIE (paying him): Thank you.

  CABMAN: Thank yer. Good afternoon. The CABMAN goes out.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: My word, tha knows how ter ma’e th’ money fly.

  MINNIE: I couldn’t carry a bag.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha could ha’ come i’ th’ ‘bus ter Eastwood an’ then a man ‘ud ‘a browt it on.

  MINNIE: It is raining.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha’rt neither sugar nor salt.

  MINNIE: I wonder you didn’t get my telegram.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I tell thee, th’ ‘ouse wor shut up last night.

  MINNIE: Oh!

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I dunno wheer ‘e slep’ — wi’ some o’s pals I should think.

  MINNIE: Oh!

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Thinks I to mysen, I’d better go an’ get some dinner ready down theer. So I telled our Joe ter come ‘ere for’s dinner as well, but they’m neither on ‘em bin in yet. That’s allers t’road when it’s strike. They stop mormin’ about, bletherin’ and boomin’ an’ meals, bless yer, they don’t count. Tha’s bin i’ Manchester four days then?

  MINNIE: Yes.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Ay. — Our Luther’s niver bin up ter tell me. If I hadna ha’ met Mrs Pervin fra next door here, I should niver ha’ knowed a word. That wor yisterday. So I sent our Joe down. But it seems ‘e’s neither bin a-whoam yesterday nor th’ day afore. He slep’ i’ th’ ‘ouse by hissen for two nights. So Mrs Sharley said. He said tha’d gone ter Manchester on business.

  MINNIE: Yes.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: But he niver come ter tell me nowt on’t.

  MINNIE: Didn’t he?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: It’s trew what they say:

  “My son’s my son till he ta’es him a wife,

  But my daughter’s my daughter the whole of her life.”

  MINNIE: Do you think so?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I’m sure. An’ th’ men’s been out ten days now, an’ such carryin’s-on.

  MINNIE: Oh! Why — what?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Meetin’s ivry mornin’ — crier for ever down th’ street wi’s bell — an’ agitators. They say as Fraser dursn’t venture out o’ th’ door. Watna’ pit-top’s bin afire, and there’s a rigiment o’ soldiers drillin’ i’ th’ statutes ground — bits o’ things they are, an’ a’, like a lot o’ little monkeys i’ their red coats — Staffordshire men. But wiry, so they say. Same as marched wi’ Lord Roberts to Candyhar. But not a man among ‘em. If you watch out fra th’ gardin end, you’ll see ‘em i’ th’ colliers’ train goin’ up th’ line ter Watna’ — wi’ their red coats jammed i’ th’ winders. They say as Fraser’s got ten on ‘em in’s house ter guard him — an’ they’s sentinels at pit top, standin’ wi’ their guns, an’ th’ men crackin’ their sides wi’ laughing at ‘em.

  MINNIE: What for?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Nay, that I canna tell thee. They’ve got the Black Watch up at Heanor — so they says — great big Scotchmen i’ kilts. They look well, ha’en them i’ Heanor, wi’ a’ them lasses.

  MINNIE: And what is all the fuss about?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Riotin’. I thought tha’d bobbled off ter Manchester ter be i’ safety.

  MINNIE: Oh, no — I never knew there was any danger.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: No more there is, as far as that goes. What’s up atween you an’ our Luther?

  MINNIE: Oh, nothing particular.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I knowed summat wor amiss, when ‘e niver come up. It’s a fortnight last Tuesday, sin’ ‘e’s set foot i’ my house — an’ I’ve niver clapt eyes on him. I axed our Joe, but he’s as stubborn as a jackass, an’ you canna get a word out on ‘im, not for love nor money.

  MINNIE: Oh!

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Talks o’ goin’ t’r Australay. But not if I can help it. An’ hints as if our Luther — you not thinkin’ of it, are you?

  MINNIE: No, I’m not — not that I know of.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: H’m! It’s a rum go, when nobody seems ter know where they are, nor what they’re goin’ ter do. But there’s more blort than bustle, i’ this world. What took thee to Manchester?

  MINNIE: Oh, I just wanted to go, on business.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Summat about thy money, like?

  MINNIE: Yes.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Our Luther wor axin’ me for forty pound, th’ last time ‘e wor up — but I didna see it. No — I fun’ him a’ as ‘e wanted for’s marriage, and gen ‘im ten pound i’ hand, an’ I thought it ‘ud suffice. An’ as for forty pound — it’s ter much, that’s what I think.

  MINNIE: I don’t.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Oh, well, if tha doesna, a’ well an’ good. ‘Appen he’s paid it, then?

  MINNIE: Paid it! Why, wheer was he to get it from?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I thought you had it atween you.

  MINNIE: We haven’t.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Why, how dost mean?

  MINNIE: I mean we’ve neither of us got as much as forty pounds.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Dost mean tha hasna?

  MINNIE: No, I haven’t.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: What’s a-gait now?

  MINNIE: Nothing.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: What hast bin up to?

  MINNIE: I? Nothing. I went to Manchester to settle a little business, that’s all.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: And wheer did ter stop?

  MINNIE: I stayed with my old master.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Wor there no missis, then?

  MINNIE: No — his wife is dead. You know I was governess for his grandchildren, who were born in India.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: H’m! So tha went to see him?

  MINNIE: Yes — I’ve always told him everything.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: So tha went clat-fartin’ ter ‘im about our Luther, did ter?

  MINNIE: Well — he’s the only soul in the world that I can go to.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: H’m! It doesna become thee, methinks.

  MINNIE: Well!

  Footsteps are heard.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Here’s them lads, I s’d think.

  Enter LUTHER and JOE.

  JOE (to MINNIE): Hello! has thee come?

  MINNIE: Yes. I sent a wire, and thought someone might come to meet me.

  JOE: Nay, there wor no wire. We thought tha’d gone for good.

  MINNIE: Who thought so?

  JOE: Well — didna tha say so?

  MINNIE: Say what?

  JOE: As tha’d go, an’ he could do what he liked?

  MINNIE: I’ve said many things.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: So that was how it stood! Tha’rt a fool, our Luther. If ter ta’es a woman at ‘er word, well, tha deserves what ter gets.

  LUTHER: What am I to do, might I ax?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Nay, that thy wits should tell thee. Wheer hast bin these two days?

  LUTHER: I walked ower wi’ Jim Horrocks ter their Annie’s i’ Mansfield.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I’m sure she’d got enough to do, without two men planting themselves on her. An’ how did ter get back?

  LUTHER: Walked.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Trapsein’ thy shoe-leather off thee feet, walkin’ twenty miles. Hast had thy dinner?

  JOE: We’ve both had free dinners at th’ Methodist Chapel.

  LUTHER: I met Tom Heseldine i’ “Th’ Badger Box”, Mother.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Oh ay! Wide-mouthed as iver, I reckon.

  JOE: Just same. But what dost think, Mother? It’s leaked out as Fraser’s got a lot o’ chaps to go to-morrer mornin’, ter see after th’ roads an’ a’ that.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Th’ roads wants keepin’ safe, dunna they?

  JOE: Yi — but if th’ mesters wunna ha’e th’ union men, let ‘em do it theirselves.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha talks like a fool.

  LUTHER: What right ha’ they ter get a lot of scrawdrags an’ blacklegs in ter do our work? A’ th’ pit maun fa’ in, if they wunna settle it fair wi’ us.

  JOE: Then workin’s is ours, an’ th’ mesters’. If th’ mesters wunna treat us fair, then they mun keep ‘em right theirselves. They non goin’ ter ha’e no third body in.

  MINNIE: But even when it’s settled, how are you going back, if the roof has come in, and the roads are gone?

  JOE: Tha mun ax th’ mesters that. If we canna go back ter th’ rotten owd pits no more, we mun look elsewhere. An’ th’ mesters can sit atop o’ their pits an’ stroke ‘em.

  LUTHER (to MINNIE): If I got a woman in to do th’ housework as tha wunna do for me, tha’d sit smilin’, shouldn’t ter?

  MINNIE: She could do as she liked.

  LUTHER: Alright. Then, Mother, ‘appen tha’lt boss this house. She run off ter Manchester, an’ left me ter starve. So ‘appen tha’lt come an’ do for me.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Nay — if ter wants owt tha mun come ter me.

  JOE: That’s right. Dunna thee play blackleg i’ this establishment.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: I s’ll mind my own business.

  JOE (to MINNIE): Now, does thee think it right, Minnie, as th’ mesters should get a lot o’ crawlin’ buggers in ter keep their pits i’ order, when th’ keepin’ o’ them pits i’ order belongs by right to us?

  MINNIE: It belongs to whosoever the masters pay to do it.

  LUTHER: A’ right. Then it belongs to me to ha’e any woman in ter do for me, as I’ve a mind. Tha’s gone on strike, so I ha’e the right ter get anybody else.

  MINNIE: When have I gone on strike? I have always done your housework.

  LUTHER: Housework — yi! But we dunna on’y keep th’ roof from comin’ in. We get as well. An’ even th’ housework tha went on strike wi’. Tha skedaddled off ter Manchester, an’ left me to’t.

  MINNIE: I went on business.

  LUTHER: An’ we’ve come out on strike “on business”.

  MINNIE: You’ve not; it’s a game.

  LUTHER: An’ the mesters’ll ta’e us back when they’re ready, or when they’re forced to. An’ same wi’ thee by me.

  MINNIE: Oh!

  JOE: We got it fr’ Tom Rooke — ’e wor goin’ ter turn ‘em down. At four to-morrer mornin’, there’s ower twenty men goin’ down.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: What a lot of fools men are! As if th’ pits didn’t need ter be kep’ tidy, ready for you to go back to’m.

  JOE: They’ll be kep’ tidy by us, then an’ when we’ve a mind — an’ by nobody else.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha talks very high an’ mighty. That’s because I ha’e th’ feedin’ on thee.

  JOE: You put it like our Luther says, then. He stands for t’mesters, an’ Minnie stands for t’men — cos ‘er’s gone on strike. Now becos she’s went ter Manchester, had he got ony right ter ha’e Lizzie Charley in for a couple o’ nights an’ days?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha talks like a fool!

  JOE: I dunna.

  MINNIE: He’s welcome to Lizzie Charley.

  JOE: Alright. — She’s a nice gel. We’ll ax ‘er to come in an’ manage th’ ‘ouse — he can pay ‘er.

  MINNIE: What with?

  JOE: Niver you mind. Should yer like it?

  MINNIE: He can do just as he likes.

  JOE: Then should I fetch her? — should I, Luther?

  LUTHER: If ter’s a mind.

  JOE: Should I, then, Minnie?

  MINNIE: If he wants her.

  LUTHER: I want somebody ter look after me.

  JOE: Right tha art. (Puts his cap on.) I’ll say as Minnie canna look after th’ house, will ‘er come. That it?

  LUTHER: Ah.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Dunna be a fool. Tha’s had a can or two.

  JOE: Well — ’er’ll be glad o’ the job.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: You’d better stop him, one of you.

  LUTHER: I want somebody ter look after me — an’ tha wunna.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Eh dear o’ me! Dunna thee be a fool, our Joe.

  Exit JOE.

  What wor this job about goin’ ter Manchester?

  LUTHER: She said she wouldna live wi’ me, an’ so ‘er went. I thought ‘er’d gone for good.

  MINNIE: You didn’t — you knew.

  LUTHER: I knowed what tha’d towd me — as tha’d live wi’ me no longer. Tha’s come back o’ thy own accord.

  MINNIE: I never said I shouldn’t come back.

  LUTHER: Tha said as tha wouldna live wi’ me. An’ tha didna, neither, — not for —

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Well, Minnie, you’ve brought it on your own head. You put him off, an’ you put him off, as if ‘e was of no account, an’ then all of a sudden you invited him to marry you —

  MINNIE: Put him off! He didn’t need much putting off. He never came any faster than a snail.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Twice, to my knowledge, he axed thee — an’ what can a man do more?

  MINNIE: Yes, what! A gramophone in breeches could do as much.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Oh, indeed! What ailed him was, he wor in collier’s britches, i’stead o’ a stool-arsed Jack’s.

  MINNIE: No — what ailed him was that you kept him like a kid hanging on to you.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: An’ tha bit thy own nose off, when ter said him nay. For had ter married him at twenty-three, there’d ha’ been none of this trouble.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896 897 898 899 900 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918 919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054 1055 1056 1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088 1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 1099 1100 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 1113 1114 1115 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120 1121 1122 1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131 1132 1133 1134 1135 1136 1137 1138 1139 1140 1141 1142