From Workhouse to Westminster Part 7

She made a large jug of cocoa and gave her out-of-work husband that and the loaf to take round to the other man's family.

"It's all we have in the house," she said; "but we've had our breakfast, and they haven't."

Work came at last in an unexpected way. He was returning home after another empty day when he hailed a carman and asked for a lift.

"All right, mate, jump up," was the response.

As they sat chatting side by side, the carman learnt that his companion was seeking work.

"What's yer trade?" he inquired.

"A cooper."

"Why, the guv'nor wants a cooper."

So instead of dropping off at Poplar, Crooks accompanied the carman to the works, and he who had tramped the country and London so long in search of a job was at last driven triumphantly to work in a conveyance, "like a Lord Mayor or a judge," as he afterwards described it.

On the first pay day, glad at heart, he was about to start for home. The men stopped him.

"We always go to 'The Railway Tavern' on Sat.u.r.days. A decent chap keeps the 'Railway.' Come and join us."

"Not me."

"Won't the missus let you?"

"No, she won't."

Throughout the next week he was mercilessly "chipped" in the workshop and referred to as the man whose missus was waiting for him at the other end. At the close of the next week he was asked after pay-time--

"Did the missus meet you last week?"

"Yes, and she'll meet me this week too."

"Come along, old chap, no kid, have a parting gla.s.s."

"No, I can part without the gla.s.s."

At the end of the third week a fellow-workman whispered: "What time are you going home, Will?"

"Same time."

"Let me leave with you, will you?"

"Certainly. Your missus been at you?"

"Yes; the fact is, Will, I stayed drinking down here until I'd blown eight bob last week. It meant my two little girls had to go without their promised pairs of new boots."

"All right, Jim; I'll give you a whistle when it's time to go."

At the end of six weeks the "Railway" was without a customer from that shop.

That work was a stepping-stone to another and a better job at Wandsworth. His new employer urged him to leave Poplar and take a house near the works.

"But suppose you pay me off when the busy time pa.s.ses?" said Crooks.

"I shan't do that," was the answer. "I like your work too well."

The day came when Crooks was offered work nearer Poplar. When he handed in his notice the Wandsworth employer became wrathful.

"Never mind, I'll come back here when I'm out of work again," said Crooks good-naturedly.

"Will you? I can promise you there'll be no more work for you here.

Leaving me like this!"

"Oh, yes, there will. You haven't kept me on for love, you know. I like you, and I'll come here for another job directly I'm out of work again."

It was not to be. Crooks was never out of work again in his life.

Years later he found himself sitting next to his old Wandsworth employer at a public dinner.

"You never came back to claim that job," said the good-natured old man.

"I will when I'm out of work--as I promised."

"Ah! you don't know how often I wished you would come back. You may have talked to the men a good deal about the rights of Labour, but I never knew the rights of employers to be observed so honourably. You seemed to keep the men more sober and the work up to a higher level of efficiency than I had ever known before. That's why I wanted you to come and live near, thinking to make sure of you. That's why I was so angry when you handed in your notice."

CHAPTER VIII

THE COLLEGE AT THE DOCK GATES

Commending himself to his Employers--"Crooks's College"--His Style of Teaching--Specimens of his Humour--Admonitions against Drink and Betting.

With regular work well a.s.sured, Crooks was able to give more time and study to public affairs and to the Labour Movement. For an unbroken period of ten years he held a good position in a large coopering establishment in East London, where he was held in high esteem by men and masters alike, the latter more than once intimating to him they would make it worth his while to remain in their service all his life.

Crooks was always proud of the good standing he held in his employers'

eyes. He knew it was due solely to his skill as a workman, for it certainly did not tell in his favour that he was beginning to be known more widely than ever as a Labour agitator. This, as a term of derision, used to be applied to all Labour leaders in the 'eighties and long afterwards. Certain writers and speakers who wished to be particularly derisive would refer to them as paid agitators. Even to this day an occasional echo of the cry reaches the ears. The offenders belong to the same school as the lady who withdrew her money from the bank after the General Election of 1906 because so many Labour members had been returned.

It was during these years of regular work that Crooks founded his famous College. He began a series of Sunday morning Labour meetings outside the East India Dock Gates, which have been continued ever since. The place in a.s.sociation with these Sunday meetings came to be known among Poplar workmen as Crooks's College.

Many a useful lesson has he driven home to his working cla.s.s audiences at his College at the Dock Gates. He generally leads off with some little humorous fancy.

"If you fellows only have a quid a week, don't despise your share in the country's government. You needn't go the length of the c.o.c.kney taxpayer who rowed out to a man-o'-war at Portsmouth.

"'Ship ahoy!' he shouts. 'Ship ahoy!'