If the workman returned home with strength to spare,
employers would soon find it out, and workshop legislation would be
revised--because of course it's the capitalists that make the laws.
The principle is that a man shall have no strength left for himself;
it's all paid for, every scrap of it, bought with the wages at each
week end. What religion can such men have? Religion, I suppose,
means thankfulness for life and its pleasures--at all events, that's
a great part of it--and what has a wage-earner to be thankful for?'
'It sounds very shocking,' observed Mrs. Waltham, somewhat disturbed
by the speaker's growing earnestness. Richard paid no attention and
continued to address Adela.
'I dare say you've heard of the early trains--workmen's trains--that
they run on the London railways. If only you could travel once by
one of those! Between station and station there's scarcely a man or
boy in the carriage who can keep awake; there they sit, leaning over
against each other, their heads dropping forward, their eyelids that
heavy they can't hold them up. I tell you it's one of the most
miserable sights to be seen in this world. If you saw it, Miss
Waltham, you'd pity them, I'm very sure of that! You only need to
know what their life means. People who have never known hardship
often speak more cruelly than they think, and of course it always
will be so as long as the rich and the poor are two different races,
as much apart as if there was an ocean between them.
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