“Sometimes ’e used to get pitiful over it, and sit shaking ’is ’ead at ’em for drowning theirselves in beer, as he called it, when they ought to be giving the money to their wives and families. He sat down and cried one night over Bill Chambers’s wife’s toes being out of ’er boots. Bill sat struck all of a ’eap, and it might ’ave passed off, only Henery White spoke up for ’im, and said that he scarcely ever ’ad a pint but wot somebody else paid for it. There was unpleasantness all round then, and in the row somebody knocked one o’ Henery’s teeth out.
“There was unpleasantness all round then.”
“And that wasn’t the only unpleasantness, and at last some of the chaps put their ’eads together and agreed among theirselves to try and help Job Brown to give up the drink. They kep’ it secret from Job, but the next time ’e came in and ordered a pint Joe Gubbins—’aving won the toss—drank it by mistake, and went straight off ’ome as ’ard as ’e could, smacking ’is lips.
“He ’ad the best of it, the other chaps ’aving to ’old Job down in ’is chair, and trying their ’ardest to explain that Joe Gubbins was only doing him a kindness. He seemed to understand at last, and arter a long time ’e said as ’e could see Joe meant to do ’im a kindness, but ’e’d better not do any more.
“He kept a very tight ’old o’ the next pint, and as ’e set down at the table he looked round nasty like and asked ’em whether there was any more as would like to do ’im a kindness, and Henery White said there was, and he went straight off ’ome arter fust dropping a handful o’ sawdust into Job’s mug.
“I’m an old man, an’ I’ve seen a good many rows in my time, but I’ve never seen anything like the one that ’appened then. It was no good talking to Job, not a bit, he being that unreasonable that even when ’is own words was repeated to ’im he wouldn’t listen. He behaved like a madman, an’ the langwidge ’e used was that fearful and that wicked that Smith the landlord said ’e wouldn’t ’ave it in ’is house.
“Arter that you’d ha’ thought that Job Brown would ’ave left off ’is talk about being teetotaler, but he didn’t. He said they was quite right in trying to do ’im a kindness, but he didn’t like the way they did it. He said there was a right way and a wrong way of doing everything, and they’d chose the wrong.
“It was all very well for ’im to talk, but the chaps said ’e might drink hisself to death for all they cared. And instead of seeing ’im safe ’ome as they used to when ’e was worse than usual he ’ad to look arter hisself and get ’ome as best he could.