The Henson Journals

[209]

Wednesday, October 20th, 1926

Today Ella and I complete 24 years of married life. The weather is bitterly cold with intervals of sunshine, & this interminable "stoppage" continues. After lunch Ella, Mrs Fortescue, Ernest and I motored to Escombe, in order to see what progress had been made in the work of reparation. Three men were employed on the building. Ernest and I walked back to the Castle. We passed groups of men, and exchanged friendly greetings with them. They have a dejected aspect, as of men who know themselves to be beaten. It is said that their wives are now beginning to weary of their presence at home. While the weather was mild and fine, the inconvenience was comparatively slight, but with the advent of severe weather, they are mostly within doors, and are felt as a nuisance! Then the rapid rise of the rates, brought home now by the circulation of the demand notes, is beginning to irritate the townsfolk, and this irritation finds expression in sharp criticism of the miners, whose persistent idleness is immersing the community in such great expenditure. These miners feel themselves to be unpopular, & they do not like the experience. Whether the frenzied oratory of Mr Cook can outweigh these factors remains to be seen.

A son was born to Dr Cecil McCullagh today. I sent him a note of hearty & genuine congratulation.

I made a final revision of the Lock Memorial Lecture, with which I am now thoroughly disgusted!

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