A SPLENDID VICTORY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1716, 5 April 1913, Page 6

A SPLENDID VICTORY.

A STRIKE IDYLL (By J.D.) "Hurrah!" ho shoutc-d," as ho threw open tho door of his house and fliiup up his hat to the ceiling, from which it descended to tile lioor with a eouplo of cherished vases which were smashed to smithereens! His joy was too great and bubbly, how- ' amped by small disasters.' i,„.l™! ll ? ked , em,. Mary, 'auds down," he shouted as Jus wife came hurriedly in lrom tho yard to see what the sound's of sn , l /\¥- nIU ' Iwllow portended. 1,, l 'J 10 tyrant, Capital," na said; the strike s ended. Tho beast 01 oppression an' ripacity ail' un'oly .greed is now on 'is knees before the *osts of triumphant labour, and all ..we'vo got to »"°) v ] , s ' n the eolar plexus an e s down an' out, an' Labour eut'ers into 'is great • —" Hut Mrs. Tompkins is cool, level-headed and logical, and stopped tho verbal fountarn with upliited hand. Hojd on, Bill," sho said; <f vou're iust repeating fcob Simple now and Over Jordan, or. whatever is. his name, and that fioth doesn t go down with .me.. What's lin I? w hullabaloo about, anyway? U hat has poor tired' and beaten Capital Riven you? '/We've got ten per cent advance." ho said proudly, though he was conscious Hint .his triumphant enthusiasm was beginning to ooze out of his finder and toctips at the prospect of a cold and analytical questioning. iniwj.'.. P 1 ' 1 "your wages was ■'r,' 11 a™*, and you've ;beoneh?" s - lko thirteen weeks, exactly, ?m'} £ rl,n ted acquiescence. Well, wait a " minute till l I get pencil and paper, and we'll see whether tho victory is so splendid as to justify your bioaking my poor grandmother's two vases. "Oh, dam your pencil and paper I" said ■Bill, now thoroughly alarmed "or the permanence of his joy. "I never in my' blessed life seo sicli a wet blanket. If you ro gqin' on that lay I'm off diwn town again. Lr the eyes of Mary Tompkins ilamed tho light of a great resolve. Sho ph-ed her back against the door, and Bill is too kind and . good , to her to think" of pushing her away. So he sat down to aw.nit tlie ordeal, minus enthusiasm, and with' a horrible' presentiment that his spirits were doomed soon to drop to -J'oriv defii'ees below'freezing point. • Jiow, listen to me, .Bill Tompkins,'" said Mary. "It's my turn to have -.i sav. Bob Simple and Over Jordan and tbe rest of them have had thirteen weeks of it,. and you've to listen to mo lor two minutes. I make it up like this, i ;ii've gained an advance of ss. a week?" "\\ e 'ave," said Bill cheerfully. 'And you've lost J;2 10s.. for ■ thirteen weeks?" , - "But," said Bill, "don't you forget m that blessed 'rithinctic of yours that we've 'ad fifteen bob a week strike pay.'' "I don't, forget it. But where did that strike pay,come from?" "From the lodge funds, o' course.'" "And who put that money in tho lodge funds, Bill? Was it Bob Simple and Over. Jordan?" "Well," admitted Bill, "I s'poso we'vo all done our bit towards it." "Oh, have you now?"' said sarcastic Mary. "It wasn't put in the lodge funds b,y soma kind gentleman ■ with wings to his tongue, it seems. It was your cwn savings, Bill Tompkins,-you've had Landed out to yon every week, and, no- matter "what you saved it up for, you've spent it!" "In a manner, I s'pose you're right." Bill gloomily admitted. . "Very well, then, it conies to ' J! s. (1. Cash lost and spent per week, ,C 2 • 10v plus. 155., is 3 5 0 Multiplied by thirteen, tho number of'.w&ltS' idle,<and a nuisanro ' . '13 Total loss ....:. 42 5 0 Bill was wilting liko a snow man in a hot sun, but Mary had not finished. ; "I'm sure now, Bill, you'd like to seo tho full extent of your victory," sho said, "so we'll see how long that glorious ten per cent will take to.pull you up—.£42.ss. is eight hundred and forty-five shillings. • So, dividing that by S)SIJ(IG9 , 5 .31 I 30 ■15 «• by your ten per cent, shows that you'vo got to put in full time for, 10!) weeks before, you reach crowing and' crockerysmashing time. And before that time, your precious leaders will lead you into another such victory just as easily as that old decoy wether at the freezing works leads his trusting 'woolly friends into the butchers. Ha'says' "Baa!" and they say . "Baa," _ and they're liko you. They don't think there's another side to tho story till they feel itlie knife. I remember when' I was at school read- ■ ing about a scrap that a sort of Grqek people called the Masons, or something like that, had. with the Romans Jonf? ago. The Greeks beat the Dagoes all rijrhft, but when tho time camo to shout'mid' break crockery, the victors were nearly all stone dead. I think-they'called that a Pickivick victory. That's what your's is, Bill, i Pickwick victory. So if you can shout, :lo it now." But Bill mode no reply. Ho was looking gloomily down over his rioso into tho interminable vista of weeks through which ho must toil boforo he reached-the status IUO ante bellum. And his shouting wind ivas gone as though he had suffered a puncture.