The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
whole, there was 'plenty of work'. Nearly all Rushton's old hands were back again, and several new ones, including the Semi-Drunk, several cheap 'light-weight' men, and a few improvers, also cheap, because they were paid at a reduced rate.
It was about the beginning of June that Crass, after due consultation with several of the others, including Philpot, Harlow, Bundy, Slyme, Easton and the Semi-Drunk, decided to call a meeting of the hands for the purpose of considering the advisability of holding the usual beano later on in the summer. The meeting was held in the carpenters' shop down at the yard one evening at six o'clock, which allowed time for those interested to attend after leaving work.
The hands sat on the benches or carpenters' stools, or reclined upon heaps of shavings. On a pair of trestles in the centre of the work-shop stood a large oak coffin which Crass had just finished polishing.
When all those who were expected to turn up had arrived, Payne, the foreman carpenter, was voted to the chair, and then a solemn silence ensued, which was broken at last by the chairman, who, in a lengthy speech, explained the object of the meeting. He took the trouble to explain this several times, going over the same ground and repeating the same words over and over again, whilst the audience waited in a deathlike and miserable silence for him to stop. Payne, however, did not appear to have any intention of stopping, for, like a man in a trance, he continued to repeat what he had said before, evidently under the impression, that he had to make a separate explanation to each individual member of the audience. At last the crowd could stand it no longer, and began to shout 'hear, hear,' and to bang bits of wood and hammers on the floor and the benches, and then, after a final repetition of the statement, that the object of the meeting was to consider the advisability of holding an outing or beanfeast, the chairman collapsed on to a carpenter's stool and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Crass then reminded the meeting that the last year's beano had been an unqualified success, and for his part he would be very sorry if they did not have one this year. Last year they had four brakes, and they went to Tubberton Village. It was true that there was nothing much to see at Tubberton, but there was one thing they could rely on getting there that
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