"I shall go with you, then," said Fred.

"No, no; stay where you are. I don't want your young blood. I can

take care of myself."

Caleb was a powerful man and knew little of any fear except the fear of

hurting others and the fear of having to speechify. But he felt it his

duty at this moment to try and give a little harangue. There was a

striking mixture in him--which came from his having always been a

hard-working man himself--of rigorous notions about workmen and

practical indulgence towards them. To do a good day's work and to do

it well, he held to be part of their welfare, as it was the chief part

of his own happiness; but he had a strong sense of fellowship with

them. When he advanced towards the laborers they had not gone to work

again, but were standing in that form of rural grouping which consists

in each turning a shoulder towards the other, at a distance of two or

three yards. They looked rather sulkily at Caleb, who walked quickly

with one hand in his pocket and the other thrust between the buttons of

his waistcoat, and had his every-day mild air when he paused among them.

"Why, my lads, how's this?" he began, taking as usual to brief phrases,

which seemed pregnant to himself, because he had many thoughts lying

under them, like the abundant roots of a plant that just manages to

peep above the water. "How came you to make such a mistake as this?

Somebody has been telling you lies. You thought those men up there

wanted to do mischief."

"Aw!" was the answer, dropped at intervals by each according to his

degree of unreadiness.

"Nonsense! No such thing! They're looking out to see which way the

railroad is to take. Now, my lads, you can't hinder the railroad: it

will be made whether you like it or not. And if you go fighting

against it, you'll get yourselves into trouble. The law gives those

men leave to come here on the land. The owner has nothing to say

against it, and if you meddle with them you'll have to do with the

constable and Justice Blakesley, and with the handcuffs and Middlemarch

jail. And you might be in for it now, if anybody informed against you."

Caleb paused here, and perhaps the greatest orator could not have

chosen either his pause or his images better for the occasion.

"But come, you didn't mean any harm. Somebody told you the railroad

was a bad thing. That was a lie. It may do a bit of harm here and

there, to this and to that; and so does the sun in heaven. But the

railway's a good thing."




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