“I wish I was cleverer at it,” rejoined a girl, who was working near this woman. “I’ve never troubled to make myself a first-class worker, nor I ain’t cared a bit about the work except for the pay; but now I shall go to those evening classes, and learn all I can, and see whether I can’t do credit to Mr. Knight. I’ve never took pains before, but I’ll take pains now, as sure as my name is Sarann.”
Many other “Saranns” made the same resolution, and Arthur Knight was touched to see how gentle all his people seemed to become; and how they continued to manifest their gratitude in a dozen ways, though many were too shy to endeavour to express it in words.
He was himself profoundly thankful for all that had been accomplished.
But he was exceedingly solicitous as to the future. He took into his confidence some of his helpers, and consulted them as to the best means of meeting certain emergencies which he feared would arise.
“The men will work in their gardens or go down to the shore, and perhaps be quite happy for a time,” he said; “but afterward there may be a reaction, and I am afraid their thoughts may go back a little regretfully to the public-house bar where they sat and smoked and drank and swore in perfect freedom. Perhaps if we cannot let them have the beer they must have the skittles and the smoking. It is no use to try to wind them up too high. You must help me to find some ways in which they can all be amused.”
“I am going to try to get them interested in gardening,” said Mr. Wythburn. “Coming as I do from the country, I have been able to bring with me a quantity of splendid peas and beans, as well as cabbages and potatoes; and I have talked to a lot of the fellows this week about what they can do with their bits of ground. The soil isn’t bad, and in a fortnight’s time there will be some home-grown cress at the family tea-tables, which will be a sort of first-fruits, and will encourage them to get on with the planting or sowing of other things. I have undertaken to give practical advice on the subject of crops to the community, and am not without hope that digging will—for the present, at all events—quite take the place of drinking.”
“I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Wythburn,” said Mr. Knight, “and to you all, for what you are doing for me. It will, I think, be a good plan to call in the aid of those who happen to have been born in villages, and get them to lend a hand to their more inexperienced neighbours.”
“I have some creeping plants which will grow rapidly. We shall put them outside the houses, and in a little time they will cover the new walls with beauty. A word of commendation from you, Mr. Knight, will go a long way to encourage the men.”
“It shall certainly be spoken,” said Arthur Knight.
But the men were even less interested in the outside of their homes than were the women in the inside. It was the first time that they had ever had a real home in the lives of many. And every woman took a pride in making the best of what she had. The houses were plainly furnished—there was nothing answering to a drawing-room so far as Mr. Knight’s arrangements went; but there were two rooms besides the scullery, and one of them, intended to be the living room of the family, was large, light, and comfortable. There was plenty to be done still in order to beautify the places, and add to their convenience; and the women, especially the young ones, were eager to use up their Saturday half-holiday for this purpose.