Mr. Craig appeared hopeful; but on Mrs. Mavor’s face there was a look of wistful, tender pity, for she knew how much the words had cost the lad.
Then up rose a sturdy, hard-featured man, with a burr in his voice that proclaimed his birth. His name was George Crawford, I afterwards learned, but every one called him Geordie. He was a character in his way, fond of his glass; but though he was never known to refuse a drink, he was never known to be drunk. He took his drink, for the most part, with bread and cheese in his own shack, or with a friend or two in a sober, respectable way, but never could be induced to join the wild carousals in Slavin’s saloon. He made the highest wages, but was far too true a Scot to spend his money recklessly. Every one waited eagerly to hear Geordie’s mind. He spoke solemnly, as befitted a Scotsman expressing a deliberate opinion, and carefully, as if choosing his best English, for when Geordie became excited no one in Black Rock could understand him.
‘Maister Chairman,’ said Geordie, ‘I’m aye for temperance in a’ things.’ There was a shout of laughter, at which Geordie gazed round in pained surprise. ‘I’ll no’ deny,’ he went on in an explanatory tone, ‘that I tak ma mornin’, an’ maybe a nip at noon; an’ a wee drap aifter wark in the evenin’, an’ whiles a sip o’ toddy wi’ a freen thae cauld nichts. But I’m no’ a guzzler, an’ I dinna gang in wi’ thae loons flingin’ aboot guid money.’
‘And that’s thrue for you, me bye,’ interrupted a rich Irish brogue, to the delight of the crowd and the amazement of Geordie, who went calmly on—
‘An’ I canna bide yon saloon whaur they sell sic awfu’-like stuff—it’s mair like lye nor guid whisky,—and whaur ye’re never sure o’ yer richt change. It’s an awfu’-like place; man!’—and Geordie began to warm up—‘ye can juist smell the sulphur when ye gang in. But I dinna care aboot thae Temperance Soceeities, wi’ their pledges an’ havers; an’ I canna see what hairm can come till a man by takin’ a bottle o’ guid Glenlivet hame wi’ him. I canna bide thae teetotal buddies.’
Geordie’s speech was followed by loud applause, partly appreciative of Geordie himself, but largely sympathetic with his position.
Two or three men followed in the same strain advocating a league for mutual improvement and social purposes, but without the teetotal pledge; they were against the saloon, but didn’t see why they should not take a drink now and then.
Finally the manager rose to support his ‘friend, Mistah—ah—Cwafoad,’ ridiculing the idea of a total abstinence pledge as fanatical and indeed ‘absuad.’ He was opposed to the saloon, and would like to see a club formed, with a comfortable club-room, books, magazines, pictures, games, anything, ‘dontcheknow, to make the time pass pleasantly’; but it was ‘absuad to ask men to abstain fwom a pwopah use of—aw—nouwishing dwinks,’ because some men made beasts of themselves. He concluded by offering $50.00 towards the support of such a club.
The current of feeling was setting strongly against the total abstinence idea, and Craig’s face was hard and his eyes gleamed like coals. Then he did a bit of generalship. He proposed that since they had the two plans clearly before them they should take a few minutes’ intermission in which to make up their minds, and he was sure they would be glad to have Mrs. Mavor sing. In the interval the men talked in groups, eagerly, even fiercely, hampered seriously in the forceful expression of their opinion by the presence of Mrs. Mavor, who glided from group to group, dropping a word here and a smile there. She reminded me of a general riding along the ranks, bracing his men for the coming battle. She paused beside Geordie, spoke earnestly for a few moments, while Geordie gazed solemnly at her, and then she came back to Billy in the corner near me. What she was saying I could not hear, but poor Billy was protesting, spreading his hands out aimlessly before him, but gazing at her the while in dumb admiration. Then she came to me. ‘Poor Billy, he was good to my husband,’ she said softly, ‘and he has a good heart.’
‘He’s not much to look at,’ I could not help saying.