[train rattling] [ballroom dance music] [giggling] What a business this wedding has been!

What an expense!

You know sometimes, my dear sister, I envy you, your little country parsonage.

You two married for love, I know.

Now, of course, Edith can afford to do that.

Go on Captain, dance.

Dance with your bride.

You are bored, Miss Margaret?

No.

-I'm tired.

-Oh.

-I'm exhausted.

-[laughs] And a little too grown up for-- [chuckles] ornaments like this.

When I get married, I want to wake up on a sunny day, put on my favorite dress and just walk to the church.

There.

[chuckles softly] There, is that better?

-I think you look very well.

-Hmm.

You would look very well, whatever you wore.

[giggles] I love my cousin dearly.

I've been very happy in this house, but I will be even more happy to go home to Helstone tomorrow.

Oh, the wonderful Helstone.

You cannot be kept away.

No.

I cannot.

It's the best place on earth.

[giggling] [laughing echoes] [birds singing] [Henry] Margaret... is that you?

Mr.

Lennox!

[Henry breathing heavily] What's happened?

Is it Edith-- some accident?!

No-no-no-no.

Calm yourself.

No such calamity I have come to visit Paradise.

As you suggested.

Well... [laughs awkwardly] Mr.

Lennox.

You'd better sit down.

[laughs awkwardly] I could walk this route with my eyes closed.

I've been visiting father's parishioners since I was a very small girl.

Did you hear what I just said?

-[bell ringing] -Sorry-- I was just remembering your prescription for a perfect wedding.

"I should like to walk to church on a sunny morning."

Was this the path you were describing?

Why, yes, I suppose so.

I wasn't actually thinking of my wedding, you understand.

I was wondering, Margaret, whether-- Please-- don't wonder-- Whether you might consider making that walk, sharing that morning, with one, who-- Please, listen, Margaret-- Please, don't continue.

I'm sorry.

E-excuse me.

You led me to believe that such an offer would not be unwelcome.

A London girl would have known not to talk of wedding days -in such ambiguous terms.

-Excuse me-- I said nothing I'm ashamed of.

I'm sorry if you've been mistaken in my affections for you.

Is there someone else?

Someone else you prefer?

No.

I do like you, Henry.

But I'm not ready to marry anyone.

You must believe that I mean what I say.

[Maria coughs] We'll be on the streets!

In a strange place.

Mama, I told you, we will stay at a hotel until we find a house.

It won't take long.

Perhaps Dixon and I could stay on the coast while you look?

Oh, yes, as the missus is so delicate-- [Richard] No, Maria, your place is with us.

It will not take us long to find a house.

My old college friend, Mr.

Bell, has agreed to help.

He's already organized a list of potential pupils.

There'll be plenty of teaching for me.

We will manage, Mother.

It's not another planet.

[train brakes screeching] [porter] Outward Milton!

Outward Milton!

All change!

All change for stations north.

[indistinct chatter] Porter!

Take these please.

[whistle blows] [train whistle blows] [indistinct chatter] [vendors shout indistinctly] [vendor] Vegetables!

Fresh fruits!

Raw vegetables!

[man] Hello, how are you?

[chickens clucking] [vendor 2] Potatoes!

Fresh potatoes!

[vendor 3] Finest fruits!

Fresh today!

[landlord] The living room is quite spacious, as you can see.

The property is not for me.

I am making inquiries on behalf of one of my master's business acquaintances.

Man who is to live here is a clergyman.

Or rather, a former clergyman.

He's used to living simply.

I don't think he's ever been a man of great property or fortune.

A matter of conscience, I believe.

[landlord] Ah, conscience?

Well, that never put bread on the table.

-South, eh?

-[Williams] Mm-hmm.

[landlord] A little indiscretion took place, maybe.

[Williams] Well, they do say the devil makes work for idle hands, don't they?

Maybe his hands weren't so idle?

[landlord and Williams laugh] [landlord] Well, he'll certainly find things quite different up north.

[Williams] Oh, aye, oh aye.

I'll make good the repairs, but the decoration's good enough.

Hey, what a business, eh?

For a man to uproot his wife and child to come all the way to Milton conscience or no conscience, that's strange behavior.

Excuse me, madam?

Can I help you?

My name is Margaret Hale.

Who are you?

I'm Williams, Mr.

Thornton's overseer.

He asked me to look out properties for your father.

How much is the rent for the year?

These are details Mr.

Thornton will discuss with your father.

There's no need to concern yourself with money matters, Ma'am.

I have no idea who your Mr.

Thornton is.

I thank him for his trouble.

But my father and I are sharing the task of securing a property.

I have spent two days viewing what Milton has to offer, so, I have a fairly good idea of price.

Mr.

Thornton thinks this will do very well for your father.

Where is Mr.

Thornton?

Excuse me?

Take me to see this Mr.

Thornton.

If you won't deal with me, I'll have to deal with him.

Does Mr.

Thornton live here?

Aye.

But he'll be at work.

Stay here, Miss.

I'll find Master.

[workers shout indistinctly] [machinery clattering] [coughs] [coughs] [machines clacking] Stephens!

Put that pipe out!

A saw you!

Stephens!

Stephens!

Come here!

[grunts] Smoking again?!

-I wasn't-- -Where is it?

I wasn't smoking, I swear!

Still warm.

I warned you!

No, no, please, Sir!

Please don't-- [grunts] Please-- Please, sir-- -Look at me!

-[Stephens grunting] -Look at me!

-[Margaret] Stop!

Please, stop!

Who are you?

What are you doing in here!

[Margaret] My name is Margaret Hale.

Miss Hale!

I'm sorry, sir, Mr.

Thornton.

I told her to stay in the office.

Get her out of here!

Aye, crawl away on your belly.

And don't come back!

Please, sir, I have little ones.

-[Stephens grunts] -[Thornton] You know the rules!

My children will starve, sir.

Better they starve than burn to death!

Get out before I call the police!

Get that woman out of here!

Please, Miss?

Miss?

Miss, please.

Miss.

Please, Miss!

Please.

[indistinct chatter [horse whinnies] [Edith] My darling, Margaret, We are back, at last, from our honeymoon in Corfu.

We've been away so long I am almost fluent in Greek, or so the Captain says.

but you know everything he says is always so agreeable.

Oh, dear Margaret, now I am going to say something that will make you very angry, but I can't help it.

What was Uncle thinking of, taking you all so far away from home?

what on earth are you doing in that awful place-- Where they make cotton when no one who is anyone wishes to buy it?

I'm sure we'll always wear linen.

[Margaret] Dear Edith, I'm pleased to report that we've replaced the horrible wallpapers with altogether more agreeable colors.

Dixon has only, if you think this possible, grown in energy.

She has set herself the task of engaging an undermaid but as yet, there isn't anyone within a radius of at least fifty miles who is remotely suitable to wait on us hand and foot.

I'll sit, if you don't mind.

[Dixon] Mm.

You'll be expected to be well up before the family to light the fires.

I'm sorry.

I'm not getting up at five in the morning.

And I'm not working for those wages.

I can get four shillings as a piecer up at Hamper's.

Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, where's money coming from to pay for me?

This house must be costing thirty pound a year and there's not much coming in, from what I've heard.

[slams pitcher] I'll come and go as I please!

And I don't need no bossy, jumped-up servant to tell me what's what and how to think and how to behave.

You can keep your rotten job!

[door slams] [footsteps approach] Me!

A servant indeed!

Don't know what the master was thinking of, subjecting us to all this gossip.

Margaret?

[footsteps approach] What's the matter?

[Maria clears throat] There is some talk-- Margaret?

Margaret, what does she mean, talk?

I did hear some people talking when we were house hunting.

[Maria] About why we moved to Milton-- So abruptly-- Why you left the church.

People are talking?

Well, it's only natural, after all, that people should wonder.

It's not usual for clergymen to leave their parish, travel hundreds of miles, as if to escape something.

Just because we follow you without question-- [paper rustling] It's from the Bishop.

-It's not about Frederick-- -No, no.

I keep that letter with me at all times, to reassure me that I made the right decision.

Is this all?

[reading] "I ask that all rectors in the diocese of the New Forest reaffirm their belief in the Book of Common Prayer"?

Yes, there!

Exactly!

The effrontery!

The man's ten years our junior!

He tries to treat us all like children!

[Maria] But this is a formality, surely?

To reaffirm-- My conscience will not let me.

I can, and have, lived quietly with my doubts, well, for some years, now.

But I cannot swear publicly to doctrines I am no longer sure of.

We men of conscience have to make a stand.

We?

Yes.

There are others who have doubts.

We all agreed.

We could not reaffirm.

Are you telling me that all the rectors of the New Forest have decamped to industrial towns?

Well-- Some thought it possible to yield.

But I did not.

How many?

How many refused?!

I could not avoid this, I was forced into it.

You must understand.

I understand.

[quavering sharp breath] I understood-- that the very worst must have happened.

That you had lost your faith.

Or that you felt that God wished you to preach his word in these new places.

[raising voice] That some very great matter must have happened to make you uproot us all dragging us up to this godforsaken place!

Maria!

You gave up your livelihood-- [shaky breath] our source of income-- on a formality?

It was not like that, Maria.

Really, it is not like that.

I already have work, teaching.

And I will find more.

And maybe, I will discover that is my real vocation, after all.

The people here don't want learning.

They don't want books and culture.

It's all money and smoke.

That's what they eat and breathe.

[steam whistle blows] [many footsteps approaching] [man] Watch out, lass!

[Margaret] Oh!

[woman] Excuse us!

[men and women laughing] [Margaret] Please.

Please, don't.

Just stop.

Please.

Please, stop.

[Nicholas] Leave the lass alone.

Here!

[laughs] I said, leave the lass alone.

She shouldn't take on so.

We were only having a bit of fun.

[Nicholas] Come on, Miss.

Be careful where you walk when the whistle sounds for break.

Now, don't worry, they won't harm you.

They just like a bonny face.

And yours is a picture.

Come on.

I'm obliged to you.

Thank you, sir.

You're welcome, lass.

[unlatches door] No charge, Miss.

[driver] Here!

Hup!

Hup!

[hooves clomping] [horse whinnies] So, this century was probably the most productive, simply in terms of the number of... [Margaret] Father is working hard.

He teaches students and also lectures... [yawns] [Margaret] though some of it is unpaid... [snores] [Margaret] And, I fear, unwanted.

But he keeps happy.

Thank you.

[sparse applause] Until next Sunday.

[Margaret] He entertains his private pupils at home.

[Richard] You have to make a choice, John, now, it's difficult, I know.

Margaret, is that you?

Oh, Margaret, come in, Margaret, come in.

Meet my new friend and first proper pupil, Mr.

Thornton.

This is my daughter, Margaret.

I believe your daughter and I have already met.

[Richard] Oh?

Mr.

Thornton can't decide between Aristotle and Plato.

I suggest we start with Plato, and then move on.

What do you think?

I'm afraid Miss Hale and I met under less than pleasant circumstances.

I had to dismiss a worker for smoking in the sorting room.

I saw you beat a defenseless man who was not your equal!

-[Richard] Margaret!

-No, she's right.

I was angry, I have a temper.

Fire is the greatest danger in my mill, I have to be strict.

A gentleman would not use his fists on such a-- pathetic creature, or shout at children.

I daresay, a gentleman has not ought to see three hundred corpses laid out on a Yorkshire hillside, as I did last May, and many of them were children-- And that was an accidental flame.

The whole mill destroyed in twenty minutes.

[sighs] I should go.

You'll join us for dinner next week?

Oh, yes, of course.

Thank you.

And we'll start with Plato next Tuesday?

I will ask my mother to call, when you're settled.

Of course, by all means, we're always here, aren't we, Margaret?

[footsteps fade] [Margaret] I'll admit that Milton doesn't have any grand palaces or works of art, but it does have some pleasant parks where we take our daily walk and meet our friends while the weather holds.

Are you following me?

No.

Well, yes.

I didn't mean any offense, I recognized you from Marlborough Mills.

And I recognize you-- Giving Thornton back as good as he gave.

Don't see that every day.

[Margaret] I don't want to keep you-- And what important appointments might I have?

I'm going to meet my father.

He works at Hamper's, a mile across town.

But you work at Marlborough Mills?

[Bessy] Yes.

It's nearer home.

And the work's easier.

Here's Father, now.

Father, the young woman I told you about.

-Day Thornton beat up Stephens -[Nicholas] Miss.

-[Bessy] and sent him packing.

-[Nicholas] He deserved it.

Fool put everyone at risk.

You're not from this part of the world, are you?

No.

I'm from the South.

From Hampshire.

Mm.

That's beyond London, I reckon.

Mm.

[giggles] Where do you live?

We put up Frances Street in Princeton.

Behind Golden Dragon.

[Margaret] And your name?

My name is Margaret Hale.

My name is Nicholas Higgins.

This is my daughter, Bessy Higgins.

Why do you ask?

Well, I thought that I might come and bring a basket?

Excuse me.

At home, when my father was a clergyman, of course-- A basket?

[laughs] What would we want with a basket?

We've little enough to put in it.

[both laughing] I don't much like strangers in my house.

I daresay, in the South, where you come from, a young lady, such as yourself, feels she can wander into anyone's house whenever they feel like it.

But up here, we wait to be asked into someone's parlor before we go charging in.

Excuse me, Mr.

Higgins.

Bessy.

I didn't mean any offense.

So, I reckon you can come, if you want, -[thunder rumbles] -but you'll not remember us, I'll bet on that.

[thunder rumbles] [Maria] Margaret!

What's the matter?

Are you unwell?

It must be Mr.

Thornton's mother.

[Margaret] There's no mistaking that stern brow.

And that must be the sister.

What a deal of starch!

It would take someone all day to iron that petticoat!

Where will we put them, Mama?

I don't think the two of them will fit in here.

[laughing nervously] [clock ticking] [indistinct voices outside] How exquisite.

I haven't seen English pointwork quite like that, for years.

Our Milton craftsmanship can compare with the very best.

I suppose you are not musical, as I see no piano.

I am fond of music, but I cannot play well, myself.

As you can see, this house would hardly bear a grand instrument.

[Fanny chuckles] We sold ours when we moved.

Yes.

These rooms are far too small for entertaining.

Our staircases are wider than the whole width of this room.

I wonder how you can exist without a piano.

It almost seems to me, a necessity of life.

There are concerts here, I believe.

Oh, yes!

Rather crowded!

They let in anybody.

But we have whatever is the fashion in London, a little later, unfortunately.

But it's a very easy journey to London and not half so far.

Yes.

But Mama has never been to London.

She cannot understand why I long to go.

She is very proud of Milton.

[whispers] Dirty, smoky, place that it is.

I can't wait to leave.

[Hannah] May I ask why you chose to come and live in Milton?

I mean, why did you leave, wherever it was?

Helstone.

Well-- it was my husband's decision.

It was a matter of conscience.

But Mr.

Hale is no longer a clergy man, I thought?

My husband very much enjoys his lessons with Mr.

Thornton.

I think it makes him feel young again.

[Hannah] Classics are all very well for men who loiter their lives away in the country or in colleges, but Milton men ought to have all their energies absorbed by today's work.

They should have one aim only.

Which is to hold and maintain an honorable place amongst the merchants of this country.

Go where you will, the name of John Thornton in Milton, manufacturer and magistrate, is known and respected amongst all men of business.

And sought after by all the young women in Milton.

[small laugh] Not all of them, surely!

If you had a son like mine, Mrs.

Hale, you wouldn't be embarrassed to sing his praises.

If you can bear to visit our dirty, smoky home, we shall receive you next week.

[laughing] [man coughs] [Slickson] Did I tell you, Thornton, about the price of raw cotton I found in Le Havre?

I believe you did.

Come on, Thornton, even you can spot a bargain when you see it.

Cotton's a great deal cheaper from the Caribbean than from America.

Nonsense.

I'll bet you Egyptian cotton is still much cheaper.

[Thornton] I don't believe they can offer at those prices for long.

They'll be bankrupt in a year and we'll have our supply interrupted.

I'd rather pay more and have a steady supply through Liverpool.

Others can do as they wish, we'll all lose in the end.

Thornton's as straight as they come.

He won't risk Marlborough Mill in any risky enterprise, even if it means he passes up the chance to speculate.

But that's the best way, surely.

With so many lives depending on the factory's continued success.

Well, that would be the Christian way.

[Watson] By the way, everyone, have you heard the latest over clamoring for a new wheel?

I thought you had agreed to the wheel?

[Watson] I had.

First the men threatened to turn out if I didn't install the infernal wheel, which would have cost me six hundred pound.

The wheel blows away the strands of cotton that flies off in the sorting rooms, helps keep the fluff off the worker's lungs-- it doesn't stop it, but it does help.

So, what was the problem?

Some of the workers started claiming they'd need more money to work in a place with a wheel.

-[Hamper] What?

-Yes, believe me.

They'd heard it'd make them hungry.

-[Slickson] No!

-[Watson] Even hungrier than they claim they always are.

The wheel would make them hungry?

Yes, I swear.

Some of them said that if I put the wheel in, there wouldn't be so much fluff to swallow so their bellies would be emptier.

[all laugh] Yes, so-- Oh, and this is the beautiful part, they were saying I'd have to pay them more.

And now the men are split amongst themselves and can't agree to what they want.

So, I've been spared six hundred pound, and the men have only themselves to thank for the carding rooms being like Christmas every day -with all that sneezing.

-[men laugh] Oh, come on, Thornton, surely you wouldn't approve of your workers telling you what to pay them.

[Thornton] I've had a wheel in all my sheds for these past two years.

Well, more fool you.

I can't see profit in it.

There is no immediate profit.

None that you can count in pounds, shillings and pence.

But?

Well, there is a "but," isn't there?

But... my workers are healthier.

Their lungs don't clog so easily.

They work for me longer.

Their children work for me longer.

Even you can see the profit in that.

But surely, it's the right path, also.

[Thornton] Sound business sense, Mr.

Hale, and I cannot operate under any other moral law.

I do not run a charitable institution.

My workers expect me to be hard but truthful.

I always tell them how things are and they either take it or they leave it.

Harkness is always trying little tricks with his workers.

You've got to keep them on their toes.

It's a war, and we masters have to win it or go under.

-[men laugh] -[Watson] Here, here.

[baby crying] [dog barking] Excuse me.

I'm looking for Bessy Higgins.

I must have come in the wrong direction.

She lives along the way.

Just round corner.

[girl crying] [woman] It's all right.

She's not frightened of you.

She's hungry, that's why she cries.

Bessy's just round corner.

[indistinct chatter] [clatters] [baby crying continues] Excuse me, I thought Bessy Higgins lived here.

I'm sorry I didn't come earlier.

To tell you the truth, I didn't know that I would be welcome.

I thought the groceries would be offensive.

But then if I had come without anything-- If there's a remote possibility of us finding offense, you can be sure we will.

We're very good at that in Milton.

I feel I've lived in Milton for quite some time now.

But I still find myself constantly at fault, whichever way I turn.

How long do you think it will take for that to change?

Oh, a couple of years, at least, in your case.

[laughs] [Bessy snorts, laughs] [coughs] Sorry.

[coughing] It's just a bit of cold I can't seem to shift.

[door opens] [door closes] She were right.

She said you'd come.

[Bessy] How was the meeting, Father?

Oh.

Do not worry on my account.

I have no one to tell any secrets to.

Your father, the parson, has been seen supping with the bosses.

Mr.

Thornton is his pupil.

He is certainly not my friend.

[Bessy] And Boucher?

He's our neighbor down the way.

He's holding up, just.

But he'll be with us when the fire goes up, right enough, if he knows what's good for him.

Miss Margaret, your father teaches at the Lyceum Hall, doesn't he?

Yes, he does.

Sunday afternoons.

[piano playing] [Fanny singing notes flatly] Mother, remember I go to the Hales this evening.

I will be home to dress but then out until late.

Dress?

Why should you dress up to take tea with an old parson?

Ex-parson.

Mr.

Hale is a gentleman.

And his daughter is an accomplished young lady.

Don't worry Mother, I'm in no danger from Miss Hale.

She is very unlikely to consider me a catch.

She's from the South.

She doesn't care for our northern ways.

[Hannah scoffs] Airs and graces.

What business has she, a renegade clergyman's daughter, who's now only fit to play at giving useless lectures to those who do not wish to hear them.

What right has she to turn up her nose at you!

Board up the windows.

-[kisses] There'll be a storm later.

[thunder rumbles] [knocks on door] All motion and energy, but truly, a thing of beauty.

Classics will have to be rewritten to include it.

[Richard chuckles softly] Ah, I'm afraid we're boring Miss Hale with our enthusiasm for Arkwright's invention.

[Margaret] No.

Indeed, I'm sure it's fascinating.

I am a little tired, that's all.

[liquid pouring] [tea service clinking] Mr.

Thornton has been admiring our newly redecorated rooms, Maria.

Oh, yes, Mr.

Thornton, well, there wasn't a great deal of choice, but these papers are of a similar shade to our drawing room in Helstone, but not quite.

[Thornton] Well, on behalf of Milton taste, I'm glad we've almost passed muster.

-[Richard chuckles] -[Maria] Yes.

Yes, well-- Very clearly, you are very proud of Milton.

My husband admires its energy and its-- Its people are very busy making their businesses successful.

I won't deny it.

I'd rather be toiling here, success or failure, than leading a dull, prosperous life in the South, with their slow, careless days of ease.

You are mistaken.

You don't know anything about the South.

It may be a little less energetic in its pursuit of competitive trade, but then, there is less suffering than I've seen in your mills.

And all for what?

We make cotton.

[scoffs] Which no one wants to wear!

I think that I might say you do not know the North.

We masters are not all the same whatever your prejudice against Milton men and their ways.

I have seen the way you treat your men.

You treat them as you wish because they are beneath you.

No.

I do not.

You have been blessed with good luck and fortune, but others have not.

I do know something of hardship.

Sixteen years ago, my father died in very miserable circumstances.

I became the head of the family very quickly, I was taken out of school.

I think that I might say that my only "good luck" was to have a mother of such strong will and integrity.

I went to work in a draper's shop and my mother managed so that I could put three shillings aside a week.

It taught me self denial.

Now, I am able to keep my mother in such comfort as her age requires, and I thank her, every day, for that early training.

So, Miss Hale, I do not think that I was especially blessed with good fortune or luck.

I've overstayed my welcome.

Oh, no, John.

Come, Miss Hale, let us part friends despite our differences.

If we become more familiar with each other's traditions, we may learn to be more tolerant, I think.

I'll see myself out.

[Richard] Please, please come again.

-[thunder rumbles] -[door closes] [tea service clinking] Margaret!

The handshake is used up here in all forms of society.

I think you gave Mr.

Thornton real offense by refusing to take his hand.

[quietly] I'm sorry, Father.

I'm sorry I am so slow to learn the rules of civility in Milton.

But I'm tired.

I have spent the whole day washing curtains so that Mr.

Thornton should feel at home.

So, please excuse me if I misunderstood the handshake.

I'm sure in London, a gentleman would never expect a lady to take his hand like that, all unexpectedly.

And I'm sure I didn't know where to look when he talked about his past.

His father might have died in the workhouse!

I think it might have been worse than that.

According to my friend, Mr.

Bell, his father speculated wildly and lost.

He was swindled by a business partner in London.

He, um-- He killed himself.

Because he couldn't bear the disgrace.

Mother and son, and daughter lived on nothing for years so that the creditors could be repaid, long after they had given up any hope of settlement.

Margaret?

[quietly] I think it very fine, Father.

I am sorry to have offended your friend.

And I must go to bed.

[hooves clomping] [indistinct chatter] Ah, put him down.

He's one of ours, isn't he?

[overseer] Boucher?

He's Thornton's.

[Hamper] Aren't you interested, Thornton?

All the mills together, if you please.

We need to show them.

We know what they're up to and we know who they are.

Let them meet.

If that's how they want to spend their leisure time.

We're all trying to work together, Thornton.

Are we?

What does that mean?

I overheard some of my men talking.

It seems you're planning to give into them.

We agreed we'd all be in line so that the men would know we meant business and know that we kept our word.

Well, I-- [scoffs] [Margaret] Father?

[indistinct chatter amongst men] My pupils asked if they could use the hall for a special meeting.

Who am I to force ecclesiastical architecture on them?

[chuckles] [men yelling] [Nicholas] Quiet, please!

Friends.

Welcome.

Now, this is the first time we have ever gathered together.

[cheers] Don't worry, we'll all get a chance to speak as long as we take our turn.

Now, I'm Nicholas Higgins.

I work up at Hamper's Mill.

There's quite a few of us!

[men cheer] And there's some men from Thornton's -and Marlborough Mill.

-[cheers] -Where's Hendersons?

-[cheers] -What about Slickson's?

-[cheers] Now, up at Hamper's, we've got a lot of work.

Orders are flooding in and cheap cotton to meet them.

Now, there's those of us that know that soon, bosses'll be telling us, although they're making a fat profit, they can't make our pay what it were five years ago!

[men grumble] Now, they'll have a load of excuses-- It's all because cotton's suddenly became expensive-- [men grumble] This or that bit of machinery's packed up-- The buyers can't pay, so there's no money to pay us!

You've all heard it before!

Aye, but bosses make their own rules.

Henderson says one thing, Hampers another, different from one week to the next.

But what's to stop them cutting pay again, eh?

[men] Aye!

Aye!

And if we quit over wages, there's more'll take our places.

[men] Aye!

Aye!

And that is why we must all work together.

Because next time one of our bosses plays tricks, we'll all know about it.

If we all decide on a fair wage, and none of us, none of us work for less, then, for once, we'll have a say!

-[cheers] -And if bosses don't like it?

What if they don't like it?

What do we do then?

What do we do then?

Boucher.

It's, uh-- It's all right, some of you talking brave.

Nicholas here earns, what, fifteen, sixteen shilling a week.

He's only three to keep on it.

My wife's sick.

I've six children, none of them old enough for factory work.

If I turn out, we'll not be able to live on five shillings strike pay from the union.

My children, they'll starve.

Look, I'm not saying that we're coming out today.

I'm not saying that we're coming out tomorrow.

I'm saying is, when the time comes, we will be ready, and we will stick together!

[cheers and applause] Master?

What are you doing here?

-I beg you to take me back.

-[Thornton] Get out!

I were at meeting this evening.

I can tell you what they're planning, what's in their thoughts.

Please, sir, I beg you-- Get out and don't come near this mill again!

Who's there?!

It's only us.

I promise I'll-- Get away from here!

[dog barking in distance] [breathing heavily] Couldn't you show a little mercy?

Mr.

Hale-- Please, do not try to tell me my business.

Remember, they do things differently, here.

Come, Father.

[Margaret] I wish I could tell you, Edith, how lonely I am, how cold and harsh it is here.

Everywhere, there is conflict and unkindness.

I think God has forsaken this place.

I believe I've seen hell.

And it's white.

It's snow white.

♪♪♪