t be as it will,"
Says the "heroic" watchman of Calversyke Hill.
So, many brave thanks to this "heroic" knave,
For thousands of lives no doubt he did save;
And but for this "hero" the disaster had spread
And smothered the nation while sleeping in bed;
But to save all His people it was the Lord's will,
Through the "heroic" watchman of Calversyke Hill!

CHAPTER XVIII
THE GREAT TICKET-OF-LEAVE STRIKE

This great dispute in the iron trade of Keighley, about the year 1871,
was known as the "ticket-of-leave" strike. The "Iron Lords" of Keighley
amalgamated and practised a system of boycotting upon their workpeople.
If a workman left one firm and took up with another, the latter would
enquire of the man's late employers what were the reasons of his leaving,
&c. The reply took the form of a "Ticket," sent under cover, of course,
and practically decided the fate of the workman. Containing as this
ticket usually did particulars as to the class to which the workman in
question belonged; as to the wages he was worth, &c., the scale of
ironworkers' wages in the town got to an unbearably low ebb. The masters
held the full sway for a while; then the workpeople broke out in open
revolt against the pernicious system of their masters, and thus commenced
the great "ticket-of-leave" strike. Early in the dispute I was applied to
by the strike authorities to write and expose the unfair dealings of the
"Iron Lords" of Keighley, and on the first day of the strike I composed
several verses to go to the tune of the National Anthem. This was sung at
the first great meeting of the strikers held in the Temperance Hall. The
verses were as follow:--

Men of the iron trade,
Whose hands have England made
Greater than all!
How can you quietly stand
With the chains on your hands?
Hear you not through the land
Liberty's call?

Long have you been the slaves
Of these conniving knaves
Now's your relief.
Swear you no longer will,
Neither in shop nor mill,
Tremble for pen or quill,
Or ticket-of-leave!

Strike while the iron's hot,
And let it not be forgot
'Tis sweet liberty.
Stand like true Britons, then,
Show you are Englishmen,
Make your shouts ring again,
"We will be free!"

This is only one of the many effusions I manufactured at the request of
the Strike Committee. I wrote pamphlet after pamphlet (some sixteen pa