'WE DAR'NT."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.".1 SIR,—An extract, given below, from a letter written by the manager of a colliery may interest some of your readers from the naturalness of its language, which I have left un- altered except as regards the capital letters of two words, and from the bald plainness with which it proclaims that a certain section of British working men are content to march under a flag with a new motto, not very British—
"The strike made things very awkward and uncomfortable.
Mr. was determined we would work and would not believe our men could not be persuaded to do so, when as a body they were satisfied with their jobs, but, of course, came out on strike same as all others. I was to reason with them and persuade them to work. I told him they said they dar'nt. I could not make him believe it, and afterwards it got rumoured about we were working, and one day about five to six hundred mob came on the pit bank, threw things about, and insisted on a deputation going down into the pit and seeing for themselves. We had only three or four men in that day repairing roads, &e., and they were satisfied and went away, but watched the next few days. Then Mr. got his monkey up and said he should send for a lot of police, and would work. They Caine, about forty, and we had them in hiding in the various engine houses and buildings, and in Plantations near. It was laughable, for they were as merry as sandboys, playing cards and doing anything to kill time. Not a inau would work they BARE max go down, of course, until the strike was settled."
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