"Oh, aye--but what'll mak' up to' us for what we'll lose?
Nine weeks I've been oot.

All that pay I've lost.
It would have kept the wean well fed and the wife could ha' had the medicine she needs.

Much good it will do me to win the strike and the shillin' or twa extra a week we're striking for if I lose them!" I'm ashamed to say I hadn't thought of the strike in that licht before.

It had been a grand chance to be idle wi'oot havin' to reproach myself; to enjoy life a bit, and lie abed of a morn wi' a clear conscience.

But I could see, the noo Jamie talked, how it was some of the older men did not seem to put much heart into it when they shouted wi' the rest of us: "We'll never gie in!" It was weel enough for the boys; for them it was a time o' skylarkin' and irresponsibility.