They answered his request almost as
automatically as the looms answered the signal for their movement or
stoppage; for music quickly fires a Yorkshire heart and a hymn led by
Jonathan Greenwood was a temptation no man or woman present could
resist. Very soon he gave them the word "_Home_," and they scattered in
every direction, singing the last verse. Then Greenwood's voice rose
higher and higher, jubilant, triumphant in its closing lines,
"Yea, amen! Let all adore Thee,
High on thy eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for thine own.
Jah Jehovah!
Everlasting God come down."
Greenwood's joyful enthusiasm was more than John could encounter at that
hour. He did not stop to speak with him, but rode swiftly home. He saw
and felt the brooding trouble and knew the question of more wage and
shorter hours, though now a smoldering one, might at any hour become a
burning one, only there was the coming war. If the men went on strike,
he could then reasonably lock his factory gates.
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