Part 30 (1/2)
What'll the chafe think? What is it ye'll think av yerself?”
At the same time he turned to find the intruder and demand to knohat hethe crowd that had and was gathering, and that he was likely to encounter more forms of trouble than he had anticipated, he had started down the track toward Mott Haven
”I'll fix ye!” Rourke shouted when he saw hi ”Ye'll pay fer this I'll have ye arristed Wait! Ye'll naht get aaf so aisy this time”
But just the saone, and in a little while Rourke left for his home at Mount Vernon to repair his tattered condition I never saw a man so crestfallen, nor one more determined to ”have the laa on him” in my life Afterwards, when I inquired very cautiously what he had done about it--this was a week or two later--he replied, ”Shehat can ye do with a loafer like that?
He has no money, an' lockin' him up won't help his wife an' children any”
Thus ended a perfect scene out of Kilkenny
It was not so very long after I arrived that Rourke began to tellto erect in Mott Haven Yard, one of its great switching centers It was to be an i to hith, of brick and stone, and was to be built under a tiement by which the company hoped to find out how satisfactorily it could do work for itself rather than by outside contract, which it was always hoping to avoid Froer to get this job, for he had been a contractor of some ability in his day before he ever went to work for the company, and felt, I a him to remain one In addition, he felt a little above the odds and ends of masonry that he was now called on to do, where forer to be a real fore one, and to show the co and thus races, although to what end I could not quite eneral foreman At the same time, he was a little afraid of the clerical details, those terrible nightmares of reports, oks and the like
”How arre ye feelin', Teddy, b'y?” he often inquired of reater show of interest in , I suppose, from time to time because sheer financial necessity was about to compel it
”Fine, Rourke,” I would say, ”never better I'ht ht place now If ye was to sthay a year er two at this work it would be the makin' av ye Ye're too thin Ye need more chist,” and he would tap my bony chest in a kindly ht, Rourke,” I replied pleasantly, feeling keenly the need of staying by so wonderful a la as I can”
”Ye ought to; it'll do ye good If we get the new buildin' to build, it'll be better yet for ye Ye'll have plenty to do there to relave yer ht, but I did not say so On the contrary I felt so much sympathy for this lusty Irishman and his reasonable aet it I suggested indirectly that I would see hirateful creature in his way, but so excitable and so helplessly self-reliant that there was no way of aiding hialone and fail, though I doubt whether real failure could have come to Rourke so essentially capable was he
In another three weeks the as really given hian one of the finest exhibitions of Irish domination and self-sufficiency that I have ever witnessed We reat network of tracks and buildings, in the center of which this new building was to be erected Rourke was given a large force ofHe had asof a number of pseudo-carpenters andto the union, but wasters and failures of another type) who did the preli these, Rourke was in his ele on He would trot to and fro about the place, bea orders that could be heard all over the neighborhood It was delicious to watch hi trenches where the reat line of them, their backs bent over their work, and rub his hands in pleasingly hu fine, Teddy I can jist see me way to the top av the buildin',” and then he would proceed to harass and annoy hisit so, ht; can't ye see that? Hold it this way” Soet down in the trench and dereatly amused some of the workmen Frequently he would exhibit toa trowel ten feet so that it would stick in a piece of wood; turning a shovel over with a lu the lu, ”Ye'll niver be awith the men outside he would co thehis material ready for hi oing right, he would exclaiood bookkeeper If ever I get to be Prisident, I'llwhich really interested and enthralled Rourke was the co world who co no interference Plainly he envied them their reckless independence at the same time that he desired to control their labor in his favor--a task worthy of the shrewdest diploay, ruthless, inconsiderate point of view as these sa lot They were--are, I suppose I should say--ourworld, de al just as little as they dare and yet face their own decaying conscience, dropping any task at thein and disporting themselves in such a way as to annoy the representatives of any corporation great or s theainst union laborers I like the life But when you have to deal with them!
Plainly, Rourke anticipated endless rows Their co promised him the opportunity he in with real, strong, deternacious hts taof them
”Wait till we have thirty er forty av thim on the line,” he once observed to me in connection with them, ”every man layin' his six hundred bricks a day, er takin' aaf his apron! Thim's the times ye'll see what excitement manes, me b'y Thim's the times”
”What'll I see, Rourke?” I asked interestedly
”Throuble enough Shewer, they're no crapin' Eyetalians, that'll let ye taalk to thiht with them fellies”
”Well, that's a queer state of affairs,” I remarked, and then added, ”Do you think you can handle thelorious wrath kindling in anticipation of a possible conflict ”Handle thim, an' the likes av a thousand av thim! I know them aall, every waan av thim, an' their thricks It's naht foolin' me they'll be But, me b'y,” he added instructively, ”it's a fine job ye'll have runnin' down to the ahffice gettin' their time”
(This is the railroad es) ”Ye'll have plenty av that to do, I' to discharge them, Rourke, do you?” I asked
”Shewer!” he exclaimed authoritatively ”Why shouldn't I? They're jist the same as other min Why shouldn't I?” Then he added, after a pause, ”But it's thiivin' it to thim, niver fear They're not the kind that'll let ye taalk back to thiive me me time'
Wait till they'll be coht Thim's the times ye'll find out what masons arre made av, me b'y”
I confess this probability did not seem as brilliant to me as it did to him, but it had its humor I expressed wonder that he would hire theet min?” he demanded to know ”The unions have the best, an' the most av thim Thim outside fellies don't amount to much
They're aall pore, crapin' creatures If it wasn't fer the railroad bein' against the union I wouldn't have thihtfully, and with a keen show of feeling for their point of view, ”they have a right to do as they pl'ase Shewer, it's no coht hundred bricks a day, if they will, an' no advice from any waan If ye was in their place ye'd do the same There's no sinse in allowin' another et another job I don't blame thim I was a mason wanst meself”