Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/34

18 human instincts. Awful, for it portended a war between the marshalled forces of nature, the entrance of the Inorganic world into unnatural rivalry with the Organic, in which war or rivalry a vast advantage was to be on the side of the former, owing to the absence of affections and a nervous system. They argued not thus, these poor artizans, but they felt in their hearts an instinctive horror and apprehension founded in the deepest principles of their common humanity. At length the manager, who had been summoned to the spot, had poor Mr. Hanap removed, and double-locked the doors of the shed, and slowly the throng dispersed to their work. Little enough work was done during the remainder of that day, and the next morning when names were called some half-dozen defaulters were found, a thing never known in the Works since the great strike of 1928. For a week the Works went on, outwardly, much as usual, though without the zeal and enthusiasm which had hitherto animated every employé, until on the 13th it was whispered that another of the engines had been found with a little one at its side, and later in the day the same tale was told of a third. The general un-