His sole enjoyment--such as it was--consisted in
recalling "'the glorious times before the war . . . when there was
more food than there were mouths, and more work than were hands.'
"'I say, vather,' drawled out some one, 'they say there's a sight
more money in England now than there was afore the war-time.'
"'Ees, booy,' said the old man, 'but _it's got into too few hands_.'"
The system of 'sweating' among the London tailors had grown to such
an extent that Kingsley was determined, if possible, to put an end
to it, and with this purpose in view he wrote _Cheap Clothes and
Nasty_.
The Government itself, he declares, does nothing to prevent
sweating; the workmen declare that "Government contract work is the
worst of all, and the starved-out and sweated-out tailor's last
resource . . . there are more clergymen among the customers than any
other class; and often we have to work at home upon the Sunday at
their clothes in order to get a living."
He followed this up with _Alton Locke_, dealing especially with the
life and conditions of work of the journeymen tailors, and the
Chartist riots. Both sides receive some hard knocks, for Kingsley
was a born fighter, and his courage and fearlessness won him many
friends, even among the most violent of the Chartists.
The character of Alton Locke was probably drawn from life, and was
intended to be William Lovett, at one time a leader in the Chartist
ranks.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53