Punch (102.1892)

126 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [March 12, 1892.

DANCING MEN.

"What a charming Waltz they're playing Upstairs. (More Champagne, Waiter. Thanks !)"

"I've only just come—not been Upstairs yet. One hears the Music so much better down here. (Cold Cutlet,
please, and salad. thanks i)"

"A LITTLE HOLIDAY!"

[It is proposed that 450,000 colliers belonging to
the Miners' Federation should cease work for a
week or a fortnight. This, it is said, is regarded as an
" amicable " Strike, not against the Masters, but to
raise the price of coal by producing an artificial
scarcity, and thus avoiding a threatened reduction
of wages consequent upon over-production. This
the Miners call, " Going on Play."]

Out-of- Worker to Out-on-Player :—

"Who talks of " Solidarity of Labour,"—

A favourite shibboleth in these our days ?—
To recognise one's duty to one's neighbour

Is that which all—in theory—will praise.
And Unions are upheld, and "Blacklegs"
scouted— [break

Friends of Fraternity their heads must
To prove their loyal brotherhood undoubted!—

But here there seems to be some slight
mistake.

Going on Play, mate, you of the broad
shoulders ?
Take holiday awhile from pick and lamp ?
"Well your hard toil impresses all beholders,
Sweating amidst black seams and choking
"damp."

A " holiday," for rest and recreation,
None would begrudge you. But at the
expense

Of every other worker in the nation ?
I don't quite see it! Maybe I am dense.

A41 friendly " Strike, you call it; " amicable "!
Nice sounding words ! Strikes mostly mean
hot war.

But in to-day's wild Socialistic Babel
Blest if I always know just where we are.

But if I'm out of work, or out of fuel,
Me and a many thousand like me, mate,

Your "friendly " conflict seems a leetle cruel
To us, with idle hands or empty grate.

I 'd like to taste the sweets of " solidarity "
In this connection; so would my pale
friend;

He's a poor Clerk. I fancy human charity,
All round, a lot of bitter strife would end ;

And if that's " solidarity," I'm for it;
But in your "play" are you considering us ?

No need for snivelling bunkum; I abhor it;
But does fraternity shape itself thus f

Must fight for your own hand? Oh, ah!
precisely.

Only that's Ishmael, after all, right out.
Maybe that for yourself you 're acting
wisely,— [doubt,—
Though even that seems open to some
But if your self-advancement means a smasher
To mill-hand, poor mechanic, labourer,
clerk,

Without a fire to fry his slender " rasher,"
Fraternity's outlook still looks rather dark.

With Coal two bob a hundred, and still rising,
Poor folk who buy it by the fourteen pound,
(Dukes at St. James's Hall, this sounds sur-
prising,

But if you'd understand it, j ust look round!)
Dockers and Brickies, charwomen and
"childer,"

With such small deer, mate, as my friend
and me,

Find one more " Social Question " to bewilder
The small brains left us by chill poverty.

Fighting our battle ? Humph! A rather
roundabout [too,
Way of so doing! P'r'aps your Masters,
Would claim the same—there are such
Bosses found about;
Westminsters, Liveseys, Norwoods, and
that crew,

All for our good, not only Strike-Committees,
But Rate-payers' Defence Leagues, and
the like! [pities
Oh, the poor Propertied Classes! How one
Those victims of the School Board, Council,
Strike!

If Miners and Mine-Owners pull together
To raise the price of Coal—well, it may_ suit
Both them and you. But, in this bitter
weather,

Your " Solidarity" brings us bitter fruit.
When our pinched fire dies down to its last
ember,

The picture of you "making holiday " thus
Won't warm our wives and Kids. Strike !—
but remember [to us !

That what is " Play" to you means death

A Poser for Mr. Weatherby.—Mrs. Ram
is not in the least astonished at its being said
that certain horses turn out "regular flyers,"
because, she says, " she has often heard of
mares' nests."

"Miner Premises."—In the Coal Districts.