For
this Nature iss a fery pig thing; it is pigger than what a man is.
There iss more years to my hett than to the hett of any one here.
It is fery pat, look you, this Going against Nature. It is pat to
make other potties suffer, when there is nothing to pe cot py it.
[A laugh. THOMAS angrily goes on.]
What are ye laughing at? It is pat, I say! We are fighting for a
principle; there is no potty that shall say I am not a peliever in
principle. Putt when Nature says "No further," then it is no coot
snapping your fingers in her face.
[A laugh from ROBERTS, and murmurs of approval.]
This Nature must pe humort. It is a man's pisiness to pe pure,
honest, just, and merciful. That's what Chapel tells you. [To
ROBERTS, angrily.] And, look you, David Roberts, Chapel tells you ye
can do that without Going against Nature.
JAGO. What about the Union?
THOMAS. I ton't trust the Union; they haf treated us like tirt.
"Do what we tell you," said they. I haf peen captain of the
furnace-men twenty years, and I say to the Union--[excitedly]--"Can you
tell me then, as well as I can tell you, what iss the right wages for
the work that these men do?" For fife and twenty years I haf paid my
moneys to the Union and--[with great excitement]--for nothings! What
iss that but roguery, for all that this Mr.
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