an hour or so in the morning
before going to work. The poor devil needed the produce of his garden
to supplement his wages, for he had a wife and three children to
provide for and he earned only--or rather, to be correct, he was paid
only--fourpence an hour.

There was an old house to which they were making some alterations and
repairs, and there was a lot of old wood taken out of it: old, decayed
floorboards and stuff of that kind, wood that was of no use whatever
except to burn.

Bundy and his mate were working there, and one night, Misery came a few
minutes before half past five and caught Dawson in the act of tying up
a small bundle of this wood. When Hunter asked him what he was going
to do with it he made no attempt at prevarication or concealment: he
said he was going to take it home for fire-wood, because it was of no
other use. Misery kicked up a devil of a row and ordered him to leave
the wood where it was: it had to be taken to the yard, and it was
nothing to do with Dawson or anyone else whether it was any use or not!
If he caught anyone taking wood away he would sack them on the spot.
Hunter shouted very loud so that all the others might hear, and as they
were all listening attentively in the next room, where they were taking
their aprons off preparatory to going home, they got the full benefit
of his remarks.

The following Saturday when the hands went to the office for their
money they were each presented with a printed card bearing the
following legend:

Under no circumstances is any article or material, however
trifling, to be taken away by workmen for their private use,
whether waste material or not, from any workshop or place where
work is being done. Foremen are hereby instructed to see that
this order is obeyed and to report any such act coming to their
knowledge. Any man breaking this rule will be either dismissed
without notice or given into custody.
Rushton & Co.

Most of the men took these cards with the envelopes containing their
wages and walked away without making any comment--in fact, most of them
were some distance away before they realized exactly what the card was
about. Two or three of them stood a few steps away from the pay window
in full view of Rushton and Misery and ostentatiously tore the thing
into pieces and threw them into the street. One man remained at the
pay window while he rea