ABSTRACT
We must now introduce our readers once more into the poverty-stricken home of William Hartley, who, as we stated in a former chapter, had joined the Luddites in a fit of desperation, hoping it might lead to some good. That his condition could not be made worse he was well assured, for his wife and young family were, at the time he made the rash venture which he afterwards bitterly regretted, actually starving in the miserable house they called home. After the Luddites in this district had adopted the Nottingham system of levying subscriptions for the support of their poorest members, Hartley was relieved by an occasional donation, but the doles were but small and were given out at long intervals. The fact was that Hartley was not in favour with the dispensers of these gratuities. He exhibited very little enthusiasm in the cause in which he had so rashly embarked; he did not attend the meetings with any degree of regularity, and was therefore naturally regarded with suspicion by the reckless leaders of the band, who would fain have made an example of him had they not been deterred by some of the more feeling members who knew and pitied the offending brother. The excuse set up for Hartley had 173always been his poor health, and the plea was a true one. Naturally he was not hardy, and hunger and privation had reduced his strength and rendered him incapable of almost any exertion. Work he had little or none, and as he seldom went abroad he was accustomed to sit brooding all day long over his melancholy lot. His wife, too, naturally delicate, had been weak and ailing for some time, and was now confined altogether to bed. Hartley knew well that what she chiefly required was plenty of nourishing food, but he could hardly procure for her a dry crust, and he was daily tortured by witnessing her and her little ones slowly pining away before his eyes. During the early summer months he had secured occasionally a few days’ field work from the farmers around, and now that golden August had come and the grain was ripe for the sickle he hoped again to be able to add a little to the scanty earnings of the family.
