aldson, as they moved off down the row and
stopped before Jock Graham's door. Tam, clearing his throat, led of:

Hey, Johnnie Graham, are ye wauken yet,
Or is yer fire no' ken'lt yet?
If you're no wauken we will wait,
An' tak' ye to the pit in the mornin'.

Black Jock sent a message in the dark,
Sayin': Johnny Graham, come to your wark,
For tho' ye've been locked in for a lark,
Ye maun come to the pit in the mornin'.

You an' Fleeming, an' Robertson tae,
Had better a' gang doon the brae,
An' you'll get your pay for ilka day
That ye gang to your work in the mornin'.

Then, leading off on to another, Tam, with great gusto, swung into a
song that carried the others along uproariously:

O' a' the airts the win' can blaw,
It canna blaw me free,
For I am high an' dry in bed,
When workin' I should be;
But ropes are stronger faur than is
Desire for work wi' me,
An' sae I lie, baith high an' dry--
I'll hae to bide a wee.

I canna say on whatna day
I'll gang again to work,
For sticks an' stanes may break my banes,
As sure's my name's McGurk.
Gie me the best place in the pit,
Then happy I shall be,
Just wi' yae wife to licht oor life,
Big dirty Jock an' me!

After a round or two of applause and some shouts from the children, Tam
broke out in a new air:

This is no' my ain lassie,
Kin' though the lassie be,
There's a man ca'd Black Jock Walker,
Shares this bonnie lass wi' me.
She's sweet, she's kin', her ways are fine,
An' whiles she gies her love to me.
She's ta'en my name, but, oh, the shame,
That Walker shares the lass wi' me.

This is no' my ain lassie,
She is changefu' as the sea,
Whiles I get a' her sweet kisses,
Whiles Black Jock shares them wi' me.
She's fat and fair, she's het and rare,
She's no' that trig, but ay she's free,
It pays us baith, as sure as daith,
That Walker shares the lass wi' me.

This sent the crowd wild with delight, and cries of "Good auld Tam!"
were raised. "Damn'd guid, Tam! Ye're as guid as Burns." All of which
made Tam feel that at last his genius was being recognized. The
explanation of the joke was to be found in the fact, as one song had
hinted, that the strikers had securely fastened the doors of all the
blacklegs' houses with ropes, and jammed the windows with sticks, so
that the inmates could not get out. Even the children could not get out
to go to school. It was late in the a