There was a big strike meeting that afternoon, and
I went and listened to the men stating 'their grievances.' They talked a
lot of nonsense, and I told them so. 'Get all you can rightly,' I said,
'but don't expect Stephen Hatton or any other cotton lord to run
factories for fun. They won't do it, and you wouldn't do it yersens!'"
"Did they talk sensibly?"
"They talked foolishness and believed it, too. It was fair capping to
listen to them. There was some women present, slatterns all, and I told
them to go home and red up their houses and comb up their hair, and try
to look like decent cotton-spinners' wives. And when this advice was
cheered, the women began to get excited, and I thought I would be safer
in Hatton Hall. Women are queer creatures."
"Were you ever married, Captain?"
"Not to any woman. My ship is my wife. She's father and mother and
brother and sister to me. I have no kin, and when I see how much trouble
kin can give you, I don't feel lonely. The ship I sail--whatever her
name--is to me 'My Lady,' and I guard and guide and cherish her all the
days of her life with me.
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