before. You best know how long you can hold out. Don't let it be too
long, lads, for the sake of your wives and children; remember that the
time may come, when, thinking over some empty chair, recalling some
little face you will never see again, you will curse your folly and
obstinacy in ruining your homes, and destroying those dependent upon you
in a struggle in which it was from the first certain that you could not
win, and in which, even if you won, the amount at stake is not worth one
day of the suffering which you are inflicting upon those you love."

Left to themselves the men would have much sooner given in, would indeed
never have embarked on the strike, but the influence of the union being
over them, they feared to be called "black sheep," and to be taunted
with deserting the general cause, and so the strike went on.

The tale of the suffering over the wide district affected by the strike
was told through the land, and the subscriptions of the benevolent
flowed in. Public opinion was, however, strongly opposed to the strike,
and for the most part the money was subscribed wholly for soup-kitchen,
for children, and for relief of the sick. But the area was wide, there
were scores of villages as badly off as Stokebridge, and the share of
each of the general fund was very small. A local committee was formed,
of which the vicar was at the head, for the management of the funds, and
for organizing a body of nurses. All the women who had no children of
their own were enrolled upon its lists, and many of the girls of the
sewing-class volunteered their services.

No one during this sad time devoted herself more untiringly and
devotedly than Nelly Hardy. The quiet manner, the steady and resolute
face, rendered her an excellent nurse, and as her father and mother
were, perforce, sober, she could devote her whole time to the work. A
portion of the funds was devoted to the preparation of the articles of
food and drink necessary for the sick, and the kitchen of the schoolroom
was freely employed in making milk-puddings, barley-water, and other
things which brought pleasure and alleviation to the parched little lips
for which they were intended.

The distress grew daily more intense. The small traders could no longer
give credit; the pawnbrokers were so overburdened with household goods
that they were obliged absolutely to decline to receive more; the
doctors were worn out with work; the guardians of the poor were nearly
b