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![Preface
In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins notes, “Great vision without great
people is irrelevant.” In a sense, this quote gets at the heart of human
resources—attracting, hiring, motivating, training, and retaining the best
people for your organization. However, to be truly successful in this mission,
organizations have to invest in technology to support all aspects of their
human resources. In this fourth edition of Human Resource Information
Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, we have several goals.
First, we want to update the text to reflect the current use of technology in
organizations. The core human resource information system (HRIS),
although still the center of any human resources (HR) technology
investments, is no longer the only technology supporting HR. New
technologies such as mobile devices and social media are driving changes in
how organizations deploy technology in HR. Second, we wish to continue to
improve the content and the usefulness of the content for faculty and
students. Third, we continue with our goals of presenting a broad-based
perspective on HRIS, one which includes a focus on developing and
implementing these systems, an understanding of how these systems impact
the practice of HR across a number of functions, and finally, a discussion of
timely and important developments in these systems (e.g., metrics, social
media, international human resource management [HRM]). Although there
have been several books on HRIS published, most authors have focused only
on one aspect or dimension of the HRIS field, for example, on e-HRM, Web-
based HR, or the strategic deployment of HRIS in a global context.
In the preface to the first edition of this book, we note that Kavanagh et al.
(1990) stated that “among the most significant changes in the field of human
resources management in the past decade has been the use of computers to
develop what have become known as human resource information systems
(HRIS)” (p. v). We also argued that the introduction of computers to the field
of HRM during the 1980s and early 1990s was a revolutionary change. That
is, HRM paper systems in file cabinets were replaced by HRM software on
mainframes and PCs. To keep up with these technological changes in HRM,
companies were forced to adapt, even though it was quite expensive, in order
to remain competitive in their markets. Although we have previously
suggested that the changes since the early 1990s were evolutionary, it is clear
that in the past five years, we have entered another period of revolutionary](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/13474-250207174416-d5ff5cf3/75/Download-full-eBook-PDF-Human-Resource-Information-Systems-Basics-Applications-and-Future-Directions-4th-Edition-ebook-all-chapters-22-2048.jpg)
![This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.
Title: Chambers's Journal of popular literature, science, and art,
fifth series, no. 133, vol. III, July 17, 1886
Author: Various
Release date: December 30, 2023 [eBook #72547]
Language: English
Original publication: Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers,
1853
Credits: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S
JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH
SERIES, NO. 133, VOL. III, JULY 17, 1886 ***](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/13474-250207174416-d5ff5cf3/75/Download-full-eBook-PDF-Human-Resource-Information-Systems-Basics-Applications-and-Future-Directions-4th-Edition-ebook-all-chapters-28-2048.jpg)
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- 6. Brief Contents Preface Acknowledgments PART I• HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HRIS): THE BACKBONE OF MODERN HR Chapter 1 • A Brief History and Overview of Technology in HR Chapter 2 • Database Concepts and Applications in HRIS Chapter 3 • Systems Considerations in the Design of an HRIS: Planning for Implementations PART II • MANAGING HRIS IMPLEMENTATIONS Chapter 4 • The Systems Development Life Cycle and HRIS Needs Analysis Chapter 5 • System Design and Acquisition Chapter 6 • Change Management and Implementation Chapter 7 • Cost Justifying HRIS Investments PART III • ELECTRONIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (EHRM) Chapter 8 • HR Administration and HRIS Chapter 9 • Talent Management Chapter 10 • Recruitment and Selection in an Internet Context Chapter 11 • Training and Development: Issues and HRIS Applications Chapter 12 • Performance Management, Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, and HRIS PART IV • ADVANCED HRIS APPLICATION AND FUTURE TRENDS Chapter 13 • HRIS and International HRM Chapter 14 • HR Metrics and Workforce Analytics Chapter 15 • HRIS Privacy and Security Chapter 16 • HRIS and Social Media Chapter 17 • The Future of HRIS: Emerging Trends in HRM and IT Glossary References Author Index Subject Index
- 7. About the Editors Aboutthe Contributors
- 8. Detailed Contents Preface Acknowledgments PART I• HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HRIS): THE BACKBONE OF MODERN HR Chapter 1 • A Brief History and Overview of Technology in HR Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction HR Activities Technology and Human Resources What Is an HRIS? eHRM and HRIS The Value and Risks of HRIS Types of HRIS Evolution of HRM and HRIS Pre–World War II Post–World War II (1945–1960) Social Issues Era (1963–1980) Cost-Effectiveness Era (1980–Early 1990s) ERPs and Strategic HRM (1990–2010) “The Cloud” and Mobile Technologies (2010–Present) HRIS Within the Broader Organization and Environment Themes of the Book Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Position Description and Specification for an HRIS Administrator Chapter 2 • Database Concepts and Applications in HRIS Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives Introduction Data, Information, and Knowledge Database Management Systems
- 9. Early DBMSs Relational DBMSs DataSharing Between Different Functions Data Sharing Between Different Levels Data Sharing Across Locations Key Relational Database Terminology Entities and Attributes Tables Relationships, Primary Keys, and Foreign Keys Queries Forms Reports MS Access—An Illustrative Personal Database Designing an MS Access Database HR Database Application Using MS Access Other HR Databases Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Big Data and NOSQL Databases Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Building an Application Database Chapter 3 • Systems Considerations in the Design of an HRIS: Planning for Implementations Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction HRIS Customers/Users: Data Importance Employees Nonemployees Important Data HRIS Architecture HRIS Evolution Client-Server (Two-Tier) Architecture Three-Tier and N-Tier Architecture
- 10. Cloud Computing—Back tothe Future?! Mobile Access Security Challenges Best of Breed Talent Management Time and Attendance Payroll Benefits Planning for System Implementation Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Vignette Revisited Industry Brief PART II • MANAGING HRIS IMPLEMENTATIONS Chapter 4 • The Systems Development Life Cycle and HRIS Needs Analysis Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction The Systems Development Life Cycle Analysis Needs Analysis 1. Needs Analysis Planning 2. Observation 3. Exploration 4. Evaluation 5. Reporting Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: “Planning the Needs of Other Organizations” Industry Brief Chapter 5 • System Design and Acquisition Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives
- 11. HRIS in Action Introduction DesignConsiderations During the Systems Development Life Cycle Logical Design Two Ways to View an HRIS: Data Versus Process Logical Process Modeling With Data Flow Diagrams Creating and Using the DFD Physical Design Working With Vendors Vendor Selection Assessing System Feasibility Technical Feasibility Operational Feasibility Legal and Political Feasibility Economic Feasibility Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Vignette Continued Industry Brief Chapter 6 • Change Management and Implementation Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Change Management The Change Management Process: Science and Art Models of the Change Process Overview of Organizational Change Selected Change Models Lewin’s Change Model Change Equation Formula Nadler’s Congruence Model Kotter’s Process of Leading Change Important Reminders Regarding Change Models Why Do System Failures Occur?
- 12. Leadership Planning Communication Training HRIS Implementation Data Migration SoftwareTesting System Conversion Documentation Training Resistance to Change User Acceptance Critical Success Factors in HRIS Implementation Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: The Grant Corporation Chapter 7 • Cost Justifying HRIS Investments Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Justification Strategies for HRIS Investments Evolution of HRIS Justification Approaches to Investment Analyses Make a Difference: Some Guidelines HRIS Cost-Benefit Analysis Identifying Sources of Value for Benefits and Costs Direct Benefits Indirect Benefits Implementation Costs Estimating the Value of Indirect Benefits Estimating Indirect Benefit Magnitude Direct Estimation Benchmarking Internal Assessment Mapping Indirect Benefits to Revenues and Costs
- 13. Methods for Estimatingthe Value of Indirect Benefits Average Employee Contribution Estimating the Timing of Benefits and Costs The Role of Variance in Estimates Avoiding Common Problems Packaging the Analysis for Decision Makers Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Justifying an HRIS Investment at Investment Associates Industry Brief PART III • ELECTRONIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (EHRM) Chapter 8 • HR Administration and HRIS Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Technical Support for Job Analysis Approaches and Techniques HRIS Applications The HRIS Environment and Other Aspects of HR Administration HRM Administration and Organizing Approaches Service-Oriented Architecture and eXtensible Markup Language Advantages of XML-Enhanced SOA Theory and HR Administration Self-Service Portals and HRIS Shared-Service Centers and HRIS Outsourcing and HRIS Offshoring and HRIS Summary of HR Administration Approaches Legal Compliance and HR Administration HR Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, and the EEO-1
- 14. Report EEO-1 Report (StandardForm 100) EEO-1 and HRIS Occupational Safety and Health Act Record Keeping OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and HRIS Technology, HR Administration, and Mandated Governmental Reporting Summary of Government-Mandated Reports and Privacy Requirements HR Strategic Goal Achievement and the Balanced Scorecard HRM and the Balanced Scorecard HR Scorecard and Balanced Scorecard Alignment Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Talent Management at CalleetaCO Chapter 9 • Talent Management Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Defining Talent Management Importance of Talent Management The Talent Management Life Cycle Attributes for Talent Job Analysis and Human Resource Planning: Part of TM Job Analysis Human Resource Planning (HRP) Phase 1: Setting HRP Objectives Phase 2: Planning HR Programs Phase 3: Evaluation and Control Workforce Management/Human Resource Planning With an HRIS Long- and Short-Term Strategic Importance of Talent Management Talent Management and Corporate Strategy
- 15. Anticipating Change andCreating an Adaptable Workforce Talent Management and Corporate Culture Talent Management and Information Systems The Link Between Talent Management and Human Resource Information Systems Talent Management Software Packages Trends in Talent Management Software Recruiting Top Talent Using Social Networking Sites (SNSs) Using Information Systems to Set Goals and Evaluate Performance Using Analytics for Talent Management Workforce Analytics and Talent Management Measuring the Success of Talent Management Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Vignette Case Continued Industry Brief Chapter 10 • Recruitment and Selection in an Internet Context Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Recruitment and Technology The Impact of Online Recruitment on Recruitment Objectives Attributes of the Recruiting Website Recruitment Strategies and Social Networking The Relationship of e-Recruiting and HRIS Online Recruitment Guidelines Selection and Technology What Are Selection Tests and Assessments, and Why Are They Used? Why Is Understanding Assessment Important for HRIS? Technology Issues in Selection Applying HRIS to Selection and Assessment
- 16. Demonstrating the HRM’sValue With HRIS Selection Applications Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Recruitment and Selection in a Global Organization Chapter 11 • Training and Development: Issues and HRIS Applications Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Training and Development: Strategic Implications and Learning Organizations Systems Model of Training and Development Training Metrics and Cost-Benefit Analysis HRIS Applications in Training HRIS/Learning Applications: Learning Management Systems HRIS T&D Applications: Implementation Issues Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Training and Development at Meddevco Industry Brief Chapter 12 • Performance Management, Compensation, Benefits, Payroll, and HRIS Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction The Meaning of Work Performance Management Overview Typical Data Inputs Typical Reports
- 17. Data Outflows Decision Support Compensation Overview TypicalData Inputs Typical Reports Data Outflows Decision Support Benefits Overview Typical Data Inputs Typical Reports Data Outflows Decision Support Payroll Overview Typical Data Inputs Typical Reports Data Outflows Decision Support Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Grandview Global Financial Services, Inc. PART IV • ADVANCED HRIS APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS Chapter 13 • HRIS and International HRM Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Types of International Business Operations Going Global Differences in HRM in MNEs Key HR Management Issues in MNEs HR Programs in Global Organizations International Staffing
- 18. Selecting Global Managers:Managing Expatriates Training and Development of Expatriates Performance Appraisal in MNEs Managing International Compensation HRIS Applications in IHRM Introduction Organizational Structure for Effectiveness IHRM–HRIS Administrative Issues HRIS Applications in MNEs Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Global Issues in a Multinational Company Chapter 14 • HR Metrics and Workforce Analytics Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction A Brief History of HR Metrics and Analytics Limitations of Historical Metrics Contemporary HR Metrics and Workforce Analytics Understanding Workforce Analytics Practices HR Metrics Workforce Analytics HR Metrics, Workforce Analytics, and Organizational Effectiveness A Common and Troublesome View Maximizing the Impact of Workforce Analytics Efforts Triage in Evaluating Workforce Analysis Opportunities So Where Are the Best Workforce Analytics Opportunities Likely to Be Found? HR Process Efficiency Operational Effectiveness Strategic Realignment Starting With the End in Mind An Example Analysis: The Case of Staffing Evaluating Recruitment Effectiveness (D3)
- 19. Evaluating the Effectivenessof Job Offer Decisions (D4) Evaluating Job Acceptance Performance (D5) Assessing the Financial Impact of Staffing Decisions: Utility Analysis Building a Workforce Analytics Function Getting Started Understanding Why Putting HR Metrics and Analytics Data in Context Reporting What We Find HR Dashboards Useful Things to Remember About HR Metrics and Analytics Don’t “Do Metrics” Bigger Is Not Always Better HR Metrics and Analytics Is a Journey—Not a Destination Be Willing to Learn Avoid the Temptation to Measure Everything Aggressively Workforce Analytics and the Future Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Regional Hospital Chapter 15 • HRIS Privacy and Security Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives HRIS in Action Introduction Employee Privacy Unauthorized Access to Information Unauthorized Disclosure of Information Data Accuracy Problems Stigmatization Problems Use of Data in Social Network Websites Lack of Privacy Protection Policies Components of Information Security Brief Evolution of Security Models
- 20. Security Threats Information Policyand Management Fair Information Management Policies Effective Information Security Policies Contingency Planning Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Case Study: Practical Applications of an Information Privacy Plan Chapter 16 • HRIS and Social Media Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives Introduction Global Usage of Social Media Social Media and HR Practices Organizational Recruitment and Selection Training and Development Internal Communication and Engagement Concerns Over Social Media Corporate Social Media Policies Recruitment and Selection Validity of SMWs in Selection Privacy Concerns Diversity Concerns Federal and State Guidelines Research-Based Tips for the Use of Social Media in HR Summary Key Terms Discussion Questions Chapter 17 • The Future of HRIS: Emerging Trends in HRM and IT Editors’ Note Chapter Objectives Introduction Future Trends in HRM Health and Wellness
- 21. Business Intelligence andPeople Analytics Demographic Workforce Changes Employee Engagement Growing Complexity of Legal Compliance Virtualization of Work Future Trends in HRIS Bring Your Own Device Gamification Web 2.0 and Social Networking Internet of Things Open-Source Software An Evolving Industry Evolving HRIS Technology Strategy HRIS Moves to Small Businesses Future Trends in Workforce Technologies Summary Key Terms Glossary References Author Index Subject Index About the Editors About the Contributors
- 22. Preface In his bookGood to Great, Jim Collins notes, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” In a sense, this quote gets at the heart of human resources—attracting, hiring, motivating, training, and retaining the best people for your organization. However, to be truly successful in this mission, organizations have to invest in technology to support all aspects of their human resources. In this fourth edition of Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, we have several goals. First, we want to update the text to reflect the current use of technology in organizations. The core human resource information system (HRIS), although still the center of any human resources (HR) technology investments, is no longer the only technology supporting HR. New technologies such as mobile devices and social media are driving changes in how organizations deploy technology in HR. Second, we wish to continue to improve the content and the usefulness of the content for faculty and students. Third, we continue with our goals of presenting a broad-based perspective on HRIS, one which includes a focus on developing and implementing these systems, an understanding of how these systems impact the practice of HR across a number of functions, and finally, a discussion of timely and important developments in these systems (e.g., metrics, social media, international human resource management [HRM]). Although there have been several books on HRIS published, most authors have focused only on one aspect or dimension of the HRIS field, for example, on e-HRM, Web- based HR, or the strategic deployment of HRIS in a global context. In the preface to the first edition of this book, we note that Kavanagh et al. (1990) stated that “among the most significant changes in the field of human resources management in the past decade has been the use of computers to develop what have become known as human resource information systems (HRIS)” (p. v). We also argued that the introduction of computers to the field of HRM during the 1980s and early 1990s was a revolutionary change. That is, HRM paper systems in file cabinets were replaced by HRM software on mainframes and PCs. To keep up with these technological changes in HRM, companies were forced to adapt, even though it was quite expensive, in order to remain competitive in their markets. Although we have previously suggested that the changes since the early 1990s were evolutionary, it is clear that in the past five years, we have entered another period of revolutionary
- 23. change. No longerare companies purchasing an HRIS, customizing it to fit their needs, and installing it locally. Instead, today organizations are moving to cloud computing where they “rent” space to maintain their data and rely on the vendors to manage and support the system. In addition, HR is taking advantage of systems outside of organizational control, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more to support employees throughout the employment life cycle. Thus, managers and organizations must develop policies to address this vastly different environment, where much of the data supporting HRIS is accessed remotely and often is stored on systems not under the direct control of the organization. Along with these changes in technology, a revolution has come to the practice of human resources. By adopting software to support HR functioning, HR now has more information on employees, and can use this understanding to better attract candidates, hire better employees, and more effectively manage them. In other words, these changes have meant that there have been significant advances in the use of people resources in managerial decisions. Thus, the role of HRM has evolved so that now it is increasingly viewed as a strategic partner in the organization. In addition, the role of an HR professional is changing, and the most successful HR professionals will have both HR expertise, as well as strong knowledge and appreciation for a how a variety of technology tools can support “people practices” within HR and within the firm. What do these changes mean for the new learner with a background in HRM or information technology (IT), who is trying to understand the HRIS field? Although it may be tempting to think that the optimal approach is to train students on the latest HRIS software and the latest trends in HRIS, in reality this would be like starting with Chapter 17 of this book and then proceeding backward through the book. Unfortunately, many people do, in fact, focus on learning the actual software tool itself (e.g., the HRIS) and the technological advances in HRIS without understanding the basics first. The approach we take in this book, and one we recommend, is to start with an understanding of the evolutional changes to technology and how these changes have transformed HR practices (e.g., how HRM moved from using paper records in file cabinets to the computerization of the HR function), and how this interplay between technology and human resources has changed, and will continue to change, the field of HRIS. Only after understanding these changes will the learner be able to effectively understand how advances in
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- 27. The Project GutenbergeBook of Chambers's Journal of popular literature, science, and art, fifth series, no. 133, vol. III, July 17, 1886
- 28. This ebook isfor the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Chambers's Journal of popular literature, science, and art, fifth series, no. 133, vol. III, July 17, 1886 Author: Various Release date: December 30, 2023 [eBook #72547] Language: English Original publication: Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1853 Credits: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 133, VOL. III, JULY 17, 1886 ***
- 29.
- 30. CONTENTS MODERN SLAVERY. IN ALLSHADES. SOME PET LIZARDS. WHERE THE TRACKS LED TO. A TALE OF NASEBY FIELD. THE GORSE.
- 31. No. 133.—Vol. III.Price 1½d. SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1886.
- 32. MODERN SLAVERY. A WORDFOR OUR SHOP-ASSISTANTS. That we, as a nation, are not lovers of change for the sake of change, can hardly be disputed; indeed, our conservatism in minor matters may justify the reflection cast upon us by our neighbours. But although we may be willing to continue patronising forms and institutions that may justly be considered antiquated and effete, yet it is nevertheless a fact that once get the public ear, and the cry of the oppressed will never be raised in vain, even though redress involves uprooting of old-established customs. Opposition to sudden and violent changes there may be; but the familiar instance of our factory laws shows that there is help for the poorest and weakest, let the need for help once be made known. But, unhappily, those who most need assistance are just those least able to plead their own cause, either from ignorance or from fear of the consequences of complaint. Such was the case with the children, who needed an outsider’s voice to raise their ‘cry;’ and with those women-labourers, the story of whose underground toils and miseries needed but to be heard, to awake indignant protest against the whole system which could produce such results. In the latter case, so sweeping was the reform, that the recurrence of the evil is impossible; and though the working of the Factory and Workshop Act may not be altogether perfect, it affords a considerable measure of protection to the helpless, and stands as a wholesome check between oppressor and oppressed. By the Factory Act, not only are factories proper placed under government inspection, but all proprietors of workshops or workrooms are liable to the salutary visit of the inspector, whose duty it is to see that the terms of the Act are complied with; that is, that the ‘hands’ work only a certain specified number of hours; and
- 33. that due regardis paid to ventilation and sanitary precautions. But the inspector’s boundary is the workshop or workroom, and beyond this he is powerless to interfere; although on his way to his department he frequently passes by large numbers of those who need supervision and protection fully as much as those on whose behalf his visit is paid, yet who, as the law now stands, are utterly and hopelessly in the power of employers, who are free if they will to work their victims to death with impunity. Not, of course, that all employers are deaf to the claims of humanity and think only of their own gain; on the contrary, many large establishments are remarkable for the attention given to the comfort of employees, who work only a fair number of hours, are well housed, and treated generally with consideration. But even in such cases, the restrictions and regulations are purely voluntary, and it is quite conceivable that a change of proprietorship might involve a complete reversion of the order of things; and as a fact, the vastly larger part of retail business is carried on in a manner that makes the position of the shop-assistant practically one of cruel slavery. Not that the work is in itself laborious; though, as it involves of necessity an unusual amount of standing, it is not suited to the naturally feeble or delicate. The assistant’s chief hardships centre round the abnormal length of his working-day, a day so protracted that none but the strongest can bear the strain. The standing itself becomes very much a matter of habit to the robust, provided the hours are reasonable, and that sufficient time is allowed for meals to enable the worker to get a real rest at least twice during a day of twelve hours, in addition to a regular weekly half-holiday. The assistant’s working hours should number about sixty per week, certainly not a low percentage; but, as matters now stand, it is no exaggeration to say that a very large majority of shop-assistants work from eighty to ninety hours a week, out of which, in many cases, no regular meal- times are allowed, food being hastily eaten, and work resumed as soon as the too hasty meal is finished. Nominally, indeed, there are stated times for meals in most establishments, in the better classes of which the assistants enjoy the meal in comfort; but in too many
- 34. cases the unfortunateassistant has to accommodate his appetite to suit the tide of customers. Thirteen or fourteen hours daily, with scarcely a break, would be considered hard work, were it carried on under the invigorating influence of fresh air, or were the work of a varied or partly sedentary nature; but when, in addition to the length of hours, there is the weary monotony of standing, the pain of which increases with every hour of violence to nature, and the fact that, in the large majority of cases, the air breathed is vitiated and impure, it needs but a little foresight to predict that a few years of such slavery will put an end to the working-power of its victims. Let any impartial observer take note of the ages of shop-assistants— especially in poor, crowded neighbourhoods—and he can hardly fail to be struck by the fact that the very large majority are young, and that the apprentice-age predominates. Indeed, it is not the least sad part of the picture that the crushing influence of habitual overwork is brought to bear most heavily upon the young man or woman, hardly more than boy or girl, who begins the new career full of the illusions of youth, and finds, long before the years of apprenticeship are over, that the capital of health and strength is either entirely gone or fast declining. Cases have come within our own experience in which the rosy cheeks and exuberant spirits of fifteen or sixteen have at nineteen or twenty given way to the pale face and languid, artificial smile habitual to the overworked, who, in spite of pain and weariness, are forced to keep up the semblance of cheerfulness. In one instance, the gradual lowering of tone caused such a susceptibility to disease, that an ordinary cold was sufficient to extinguish the feeble flame of life; and in other cases, tendencies to special ailments have arisen, distinctly traceable to the overtaxing of immature strength. This personal experience is fully corroborated by many who have taken sufficient interest in the question to study the causes and effects of a system involving such a large amount of avoidable suffering to an important section of society. To take but one
- 35. instance. The Rev.J. S. Webber, chaplain of University College Hospital, writing to the President of the Shop Hours’ Labour League, says: ‘I have noticed the result of long hours amongst the assistants employed at the smaller houses of business—have met with many a young girl, broken down in health, with the brain weakened. Instead of getting a walk after business, or enjoying some other healthy recreation, they have resorted to stimulants in the shape of intoxicating drinks, to keep up, as they fancy, the poor fragile frame. We find in our Sunday schools that the poor teachers who are assistants in shops cannot get to school on Sunday morning. This also applies to church. The shop-assistant is at a terrible disadvantage compared with the mechanic. Many of the former cannot leave business until nine or ten every evening, and twelve o’clock on Saturday, with body and mind so exhausted, whatever educational advantages might offer, they are too exhausted to do anything but rest.’ This testimony from a man of large experience touches upon two or three of the incidental but by no means slight effects of overwork. Sunday, to the aching body and weary brain of the shop-assistant, whose Saturday, instead of being a half-holiday, is the crowning point to a week of toil, may bring with it something of physical refreshment; it certainly has little chance of affording that quiet time for reflection and spiritual exercise essential to the development of noble life. Again, as to innocent recreation—the health-giving walk, stimulating game, and harmless musical entertainment, are as entirely beyond the reach of the shop-assistant as are the educational advantages offered by public lecture, picture-gallery, or library. His, or her, life is, in fact, an example of the ‘all work and no play’ which in the nature of things produces ‘a dull boy’—or girl. And with whatever ability or education the shop career is begun, it is a pretty sure thing that the mind will become so stupefied with the burden of physical weariness, that the inclination towards self-culture will quickly vanish, and the overworked assistant sinks into a state of apathy, which, especially in the case of the male assistant, reduces him to the dead-level of hopeless existence; and not only is his present life
- 36. a burden, butthe ordinary castle-building of the young man has very limited play in his case; for every dream of future bliss is checked by the reflection that should he dare to face poverty and found for himself a home, his services will very probably be at a discount, the married assistant standing a worse chance of employment than the single. Who shall wonder if, under such circumstances, the young man or woman is not always proof against the temptations of those more than doubtful pleasures which present the only substitute for natural and rational enjoyments? What is the medical voice on this question of overwork, need hardly be said. Whenever a doctor writes or speaks on the subject, he is sure to give unequivocal testimony as to the premature failure of health amongst shop-assistants in general, and especially amongst growing boys and girls, whose immature frames cannot, without injury, be made to habitually violate every physiological law. And yet, in face of all this, the market is so overstocked with volunteers for slavery, that the master has matters completely in his own hands, and is perfectly safe in defying rebellion, sure that were the whole of his assistants to leave to-day, their places could with ease be filled to-morrow. Much of this over-supply is due to ignorance on the part of parents and guardians, who, finding a ‘genteel’ employment for the boy or girl, do not stop to inquire what goes on behind the curtain of gentility. And by the time his apprenticeship is over, the assistant is not at an age to mark out for himself a new career, and is bound to make the best of a bad bargain. Not only so, but one of the special drawbacks to shop-labour is the fact that if the employee offends his employer in any way, even to such matters as attending a meeting or taking in a paper that is disapproved of, he is liable to dismissal without a reason and without a character; so that virtually the shop- assistant gives into his employer’s hands the absolute control of his time, his health, and his character; and whatever may be the results of that surrender, escape or redress is equally unattainable.
- 37. Again, we repeatthat many employers refrain from taking advantage of their power; but nevertheless the fact remains, that a master who, through thoughtlessness or greed, overworks, under-pays, badly houses and badly feeds his employees, or dismisses them without a character, is at perfect liberty to do so, and is in no danger of being called to account for his actions! The Early Closing Association has done something towards procuring at least an amelioration of the shop-assistant’s condition, by seeking to establish a universal half-holiday. It works on the persuasive line, and in some parts of London and in many provincial towns has succeeded in securing this boon of half a day’s rest; but persuasion alone will never be able to treat with an evil so widespread; for, as long as the early closing is purely voluntary, so long it will be in the power of any one man to compel a whole neighbourhood to refuse or abolish the half-holiday. If his shop is open when others are closed, he will to a certainty obtain customers; and this is an advantage his neighbours dare not allow him; therefore, they must follow suit and keep open at his pleasure. In this one-man power lies the secret of the present abnormal length of hours; for it is a matter of experience that as long as shops are open, so long customers will continue to come; and hence competition has suggested lengthening of hours with a view to checkmating neighbours. Yet no method of doing business ever brought with it more disadvantage, for less gain. The public is certainly no better off than if shopping had to be got through in reasonable time; and beyond dispute, the shopkeeping class is not only no better, but very much worse off for this tyranny of custom, which compels even the unwilling employer to keep his assistants at work far beyond the ordinary limits of labour. And so deep-seated and established has the slavery become, that there remains nothing for it but an appeal to the State to interfere with an extension of the Factory and Workshop Act; and although we are by no means of those who believe in ‘grandmotherly legislation,’ this is a case, if ever there was one, in which the strong hand of the law alone can lift a whole section of society out of the misery in which it now lies, and
- 38. from which, unaided,it can never escape. An extension of the Factory Act, although it would of necessity leave the shop-assistant’s hours longer than those of most workers, would at least protect him from unlimited labour, and would insure his work being carried on under fairly healthy conditions. The grumbling section of the public would doubtless raise many objections to a shopping day of only twelve hours; but we confidently prophesy that a year’s probation would show the new order of things to be no hardship to the purchaser; and as regards employers, although, doubtless, many will make great capital out of the grievance of coercion, the more sensible and far-sighted will recognise the fact that on this question at least the interests of employer and employed are identical. Once insure that all shops shall be limited to the same number of hours, and there need be no anxiety as to loss of business. The consumer’s wants must be met, and if he has only a limited (and reasonable) number of hours in which to do his shopping, he will have no choice but to adapt his habits to the new order of things. Hardship, of course, it would be if the law were limited to certain neighbourhoods, or if clashing trades were not all under the same restriction; but as long as there was one uniform code for all, the only difference to the shopkeeper would be greater personal leisure without loss of business. To those heads of large establishments to whom reference has already been made, this may seem a trifling matter; but many and many a small shopkeeper will rejoice, fully as much as his assistants, in freedom from the excessive toil which makes his life as much a slavery as theirs, and from which he is equally powerless to escape. Under the name of the ‘Shop Hours’ Labour League,’ a scheme has been set on foot having for its object the presentation to parliament of such a bill as has been suggested; and the interest of every individual member of society is earnestly invited, in the hope of creating a public conscience on a question affecting thousands of workers, whose services are essential to the comfort of the
- 39. community. The Presidentof the League, Thomas Sutherst, Esq., barrister-at-law, has compiled a shilling volume on the subject, which, under the somewhat sensational title of Death and Disease behind the Counter, contains a large amount of sober fact, and can scarcely fail to awaken strong feeling in the mind of every reader who takes an interest in the welfare of his fellows. The League needs help, not in money, but in personal effort and influence; and Mr Sutherst (3 Dr Johnson’s Buildings, London), whose work is purely a labour of love, is ready to give information, or to suggest methods by which help may be rendered to a cause which thoroughly deserves the heartiest support.
- 40. IN ALL SHADES. CHAPTERXXXV. At the dinner that evening, Macfarlane, the Scotch doctor, took in Nora; while Harry Noel had handed over to his care a dowager- planteress from a neighbouring estate; so Harry had no need to talk any further to his pretty little hostess during that memorable Tuesday. On Wednesday morning he had made up his mind he would find some excuse to get away from this awkward position in Mr Dupuy’s household; for it was clearly impossible for him to remain there any longer, after he had again asked Nora and been rejected; but of course he couldn’t go so suddenly before the dinner to be given in his honour; and he waited on, impatiently and sullenly. Tom Dupuy was there too; and even Mr Theodore Dupuy himself, who knew the whole secret of Harry’s black blood, and therefore regarded him now as almost beyond the pale of human sympathy, couldn’t help noticing to himself that his nephew Tom really seemed quite unnecessarily anxious to drag this unfortunate young man Noel into some sort of open rupture. ‘Very ill advised of Tom,’ Mr Dupuy thought to himself; ‘and very bad manners too, for a Dupuy of Trinidad. He ought to know well enough that whatever the young man’s undesirable antecedents may happen to be, as long as he’s here in the position of a guest, he ought at least to be treated with common decency and common politeness. To-morrow, we shall manage to hunt up some excuse, or give him some effectual hint, which will have the result of clearing him bodily off the premises. Till then, Tom ought to endeavour to treat him, as far as possible, in every way like a perfect equal.’
- 41. Even during thetime while the ladies still remained in the dining- room, Tom Dupuy couldn’t avoid making several severe hits, as he considered them, at Harry Noel from the opposite side of the hospitable table. Harry had happened once to venture on some fairly sympathetic commonplace remark to his dowager-planteress about the planters having been quite ruined by emancipation, when Tom Dupuy fell upon him bodily, and called out with an unconcealed sneer: ‘Ruined by emancipation!—ruined by emancipation! That just shows how much you know about the matter, to talk of the planters being ruined by emancipation! If you knew anything at all of what you’re talking about, you’d know that it wasn’t emancipation in the least that ruined us, but your plaguy parliament doing away with the differential duties.’ Harry bit his lip, and glanced across the table at the young planter with a quiet smile of superiority; but the only word he permitted himself to utter was the one harmless and neutral word ‘Indeed!’ ‘O yes, you may say “Indeed” if you like,’ Tom Dupuy retorted warmly. ‘That’s just the way of all you conceited English people. You think you know such a precious lot about the whole subject, and you really and truly know in the end just less than absolutely nothing.’ ‘Pardon me,’ Harry answered carelessly, with his wine-glass poised for a moment half lifted in his hand. ‘I admit most unreservedly that you know a great deal more than I do about the differential duties, whatever they may be, for I never so much as heard their very name in all my life until the present moment.’ Tom Dupuy smiled a satisfied smile of complete triumph. ‘I thought as much,’ he said exultantly; ‘I knew you hadn’t. That’s just the way of all English people. They know nothing at all about the most important and essential matters, and yet they venture to talk about them for all the world as if they knew as much as we do about the whole subject.’ ‘Really,’ Harry answered with a good-humoured smile, ‘I fancied a man might be fairly well informed about things in general, and yet
- 42. never have heardin his pristine innocence of the differential duties. I haven’t the very faintest idea myself, to tell you the truth, what they are. Perhaps you will be good enough to lighten my darkness.’ ‘What they are!’ Tom Dupuy ejaculated in pious horror. ‘They aren’t anything. They’re done away with. They’ve ceased to exist long ago. You and the other plaguy English people took them off, and ruined the colonies; and now you don’t as much as know what you’ve done, or whether they’re existing still or done away with!’ ‘Tom, my boy,’ Mr Theodore Dupuy interposed blandly, ‘you really mustn’t hold Mr Noel personally responsible for all the undoubted shortcomings of the English nation! You must remember that his father is, like ourselves, a West Indian proprietor, and that the iniquitous proceedings with reference to the differential duties— which nobody can for a moment pretend to justify—injured him every bit as much as they injured ourselves.’ ‘But what are the differential duties?’ Harry whispered to his next neighbour but one, the Scotch doctor. ‘I never heard of them in my life, I assure you, till this very minute.’ ‘Well, you know,’ Dr Macfarlane responded slowly, ‘there was a time when sugar from the British colonies was admitted into Britain at a less duty than sugar from Cuba or other foreign possessions; and at last, the British consumer took the tax off the foreign sugar, and cheapened them all alike in the British market. Very good, of course, for the British consumer, but clean ruination and nothing else for the Trinidad planter.’ For the moment, the conversation changed, but not the smouldering war between the two belligerents. Whatever subject Harry Noel happened to start during that unlucky dinner, Tom Dupuy, watching him closely, pounced down upon him at once like an owl on the hover, and tore him to pieces with prompt activity. Harry bore it all as good-naturedly as he could, though his temper was by no means naturally a forbearing one; but he didn’t wish to come to an open
- 43. rupture with TomDupuy at his uncle’s table, especially after that morning’s occurrences. As soon as the ladies had left the room, however, Tom Dupuy drew up his chair so as exactly to face Harry, and began to pour out for himself in quick succession glass after glass of his uncle’s fiery sherry, which he tossed off with noisy hilarity. The more he drank, the louder his voice became, and the hotter his pursuit of Harry Noel. At last, when Mr Theodore Dupuy, now really alarmed as to what his nephew was going to say next, ordered in the coffee prematurely, to prevent an open outbreak by rejoining the ladies, Tom walked deliberately over to the sideboard and took out a large square decanter, from which he poured a good-sized liqueur-glassful of some pale liquid for himself and another for Harry. ‘There!’ he cried boisterously. ‘Just you try that, Noel, will you. There’s liquor for you! That’s the real old Pimento Valley rum, the best in the island, double distilled, and thirty years in bottle. You don’t taste any hogo about that, Mr Englishman, eh, do you?’ ‘Any what?’ Harry inquired politely, lifting up the glass and sipping a little of the contents out of pure courtesy, for neat rum is not in itself a very enticing beverage to any other than West Indian palates. ‘Any hogo,’ Tom Dupuy repeated loudly and insolently—‘hogo, hogo. I suppose, now, you mean to say you don’t even know what hogo is, do you?—Never heard of hogo? Precious affectation! Don’t understand plain language! Yah, rubbish! ‘Why, no, certainly,’ Harry assented as calmly as he was able; ‘I never before did hear of hogo, I assure you. I haven’t the slightest idea what it is, or whether I ought rather to admire or to deplore its supposed absence in this very excellent old rum of yours.’ ‘Hogo’s French,’ Tom Dupuy asserted doggedly, ‘Hogo’s French, and I should have thought you ought to have known it. Everybody in Trinidad knows what hogo is. It’s French, I tell you. Didn’t you ever learn any French at the school you went to, Noel?’
- 44. ‘Excuse me,’ Harrysaid, flushing up a little, for Tom Dupuy had asked the question very offensively. ‘It is not French. I know enough of French at least to say that such a word as hogo, whatever it may mean, couldn’t possibly be French for anything.’ ‘As my nephew pronounces it,’ Mr Dupuy put in diplomatically, ‘you may perhaps have some difficulty in recognising its meaning; but it’s our common West Indian corruption, Mr Noel, of haut goût—haut goût, you understand me—precisely so; haut goût, or hogo, being the strong and somewhat offensive molasses-like flavour of new rum, before it has been mellowed, as this of ours has been, by being kept for years in the wood and in bottle.’ ‘Oh, ah, that’s all very well! I suppose you’re going to turn against me now, Uncle Theodore,’ Tom Dupuy exclaimed angrily—he was reaching the incipient stage of quarrelsome drunkenness. ‘I suppose you must go and make fun of me, too, for my French pronunciation as well as this fine-spoken Mr Noel here. But I don’t care a pin about it, or about either of you, either. Who’s Mr Noel, I should like to know, that he should come here, with his fine new-fangled English ways, setting himself up to be better than we are, and teaching us to improve our French pronunciation?—O yes, it’s all very fine; but what does he want to go stopping in our houses for, with our own ladies, and all that, and then going and visiting with coloured rubbish that I wouldn’t touch with a pair of tongs—the woolly- headed niggers!—that’s what I want to know, Uncle Theodore?’ Mr Dupuy and Harry rose together. ‘Tom, Tom!’ Mr Dupuy cried warningly, ‘you are quite forgetting yourself. Remember that this gentleman is my guest, and is here to-day by my invitation. How dare you say such things as that to my own guest, sir, at my own table? You insult me, sir, you insult me!’ ‘I think,’ Harry interrupted, white with anger, ‘I had better withdraw at once, Mr Dupuy, before things go any further, from a room where I am evidently, quite without any intention on my own part, a cause of turmoil and disagreement.’
- 45. He moved hastilytowards the open window which gave upon the lawn, where the ladies were strolling, after the fashion of the country, in the silvery moonlight, among the tropical shrubbery. But Tom Dupuy jumped up before him and stood in his way, now drunk with wine and rum and insolence and temper, and blocked his road to the open window. ‘No, no!’ he cried, ‘you shan’t go yet!—I’ll tell you all the reason why, gentlemen. He shall hear the truth. I’ll take the vanity and nonsense out of him! He’s a brown man himself, nothing but a brown man!— Do you know, you fine fellow you, that you’re only, after all, a confounded woolly-headed brown mulatto? You are, sir! you are, I tell you! Look at your hands, you nigger, look at your hands, I say, if ever you doubt it.’ Harry Noel’s proud lip curled contemptuously as he pushed the half- tipsy planter aside with his elbow, and began to stride angrily away towards the moonlit shrubbery. ‘I daresay I am,’ he answered coolly, for he was always truthful, and it flashed across his mind in the space of a second that Tom Dupuy was very possibly right enough. ‘But if I am, my good fellow, I will no longer inflict my company, I tell you, upon persons who, I see, are evidently so little desirous of sharing it any further.’ ‘Yes, yes,’ Tom Dupuy exclaimed madly, planting himself once more like a fool in front of the angry and retreating Englishman, ‘he’s a brown man, a mulatto, a coloured fellow, gentlemen, own cousin of that precious nigger scamp, Isaac Pourtalès, whose woolly head I’d like to knock this minute against his own woolly head, the insolent upstart! Why, gentlemen, do you know who his mother was? Do you know who this fine Lady Noel was that he wants to come over us with? She was nothing better, I swear to you solemnly, than a common brown wench over in Barbadoes!’ Harry Noel’s face grew livid purple with that foul insult, as he leapt like a wild beast at the roaring West Indian, and with one fierce blow sent him reeling backward upon the floor at his feet like a senseless lump of dead matter. ‘Hound and cur! how dare you?’ he hissed out
- 46. hoarsely, planting hisfoot contemptuously on the fallen planter’s crumpled shirt-front. ‘How dare you?—how dare you? Say what you will of me, myself, you miserable blackguard—but my mother! my mother!’ And then, suddenly recollecting himself, with a profound bow to the astonished company, he hurried out, hatless and hot, on to the darkling shrubbery, casting the dust of Orange Grove off his feet half instinctively behind him as he went. Next moment a soft voice sounded low beside him, to his intense astonishment. As he strode alone across the dark lawn, Nora Dupuy, who had seen the whole incident from the neighbouring shrubbery, glided out to his side from the shadow of the star-apple tree and whispered a few words earnestly in his ear. Harry Noel, still white with passion and trembling in every muscle like a hunted animal, could not but stop and listen to them eagerly even in that supreme moment of righteous indignation. ‘Thank you, Mr Noel,’ she said simply—‘thank you, thank you!’ CHAPTER XXXVI. The gentlemen in the dining-room stood looking at one another in blank dismay for a few seconds, and then Dr Macfarlane broke the breathless silence by saying out loud, with his broad Scotch bluntness: ‘Ye’re a fool, Tom Dupuy—a very fine fool, ye are; and I’m not sorry the young Englishman knocked you down and gave you a lesson, for speaking ill against his own mother.’ ‘Where has he gone?’ Dick Castello, the governor’s aide-de-camp, asked quickly, as Tom picked himself up with a sheepish, awkward, drunken look. ‘He can’t sleep here to-night now, you know, and he’ll have to sleep somewhere or other, Macfarlane, won’t he?’ ‘Run after him,’ the doctor said, ‘and take him to your own house. Not one of these precious Trinidad folk’ll stir hand or foot to befriend him anyhow, now they’ve been told he’s a brown man.’
- 47. Castello took uphis hat and ran as fast as he could go after Noel. He caught him up, breathless, half-way down to the gate of the estate; for Harry, though he had gone off hurriedly without hat or coat, was walking alone down the main road coolly enough now, trying to look and feel within himself as though nothing at all unusual in any way had happened. ‘Where are you going to, Noel?’ Castello asked, in a friendly voice.—‘By Jove! I’m jolly glad you knocked that fellow down, and tried to teach him a little manners, though he is old Dupuy’s nephew. But of course you can’t stop there to-night. What do you mean now to do with yourself?’ ‘I shall go to Hawthorn’s,’ Harry answered quietly. ‘Better not go there,’ Dick Castello urged, taking him gently by the shoulder. ‘If you do, you know, it’ll look as if you wanted to give a handle to Tom Dupuy and break openly with the whole lot of them. Tom Dupuy insulted you abominably, and you couldn’t have done anything else but knock him down, of course, my dear fellow; and he needed it jolly well, too, we all know perfectly. But don’t let it seem as if you were going to quarrel with the whole lot of us. Come home to my house now at Savannah Garden. I’ll walk straight over there with you and have a room got ready for you at once; and then I’ll go back to Orange Grove for Mrs Castello, and bring across as much of your luggage as I can in my carriage, at least as much as you’ll need for the present.’ ‘Very well, Captain Castello,’ answered Noel submissively. ‘It’s very kind of you to take me in. I’ll go with you; you know best about it. But hang it all, you know, upon my word I expect the fellow may have been telling the truth after all, and I daresay I really am what these fools of Trinidad people call a brown man. Did ever you hear such absurd nonsense? Calling me a brown man! As if it ever mattered twopence to any sensible person whether a man was black, brown, white, or yellow, as long as he’s not such a confounded cad and boor as that roaring tipsy lout of a young Dupuy fellow!’
- 48. So Harry Noelwent that Tuesday night to Captain Castello’s at Savannah Garden, and slept, or rather lay awake, there till Wednesday morning—the morning of the day set aside by Louis Delgado and Isaac Pourtalès for their great rising and general massacre. As for Nora, she went up to her own boudoir as soon as the guests had gone—they didn’t stay long after this awkward occurrence—and threw herself down once more on the big sofa, and cried as if her heart would burst for very anguish and humiliation. He had knocked down Tom Dupuy. That was a good thing as far as it went! For that at least, if for nothing else, Nora was duly grateful to him. But had she gone too far in thanking him? Would he accept it as a proof that she meant him to reopen the closed question between them? Nora hoped not, for that—that at anyrate was now finally settled. She could never, never, never marry a brown man! And yet, how much nicer and bolder he was than all the other men she saw around her! Nora liked him even for his faults. That proud, frank, passionate Noel temperament of his, which many girls would have regarded with some fear and no little misgiving, exactly suited her West Indian prejudices and her West Indian ideal. His faults were the faults of a proud aristocracy; and it was entirely as a member of a proud aristocracy herself that Nora Dupuy lived and moved and had her being. A man like Edward Hawthorn she could like and respect; but a man like Harry Noel she could admire and love—if, ah if, he were only not a brown man! What a terrible cross- arrangement of fate that the one man who seemed otherwise exactly to suit her girlish ideal, should happen to belong remotely to the one race between which and her own there existed in her mind for ever and ever an absolutely fixed and irremovable barrier! So Nora, too, lay awake all night; and all night long she thought but of one thing and one person—the solitary man she could never, never, never conceivably marry. And Harry, for his part, thinking to himself, on his tumbled pillow, at Savannah Garden, said to his own heart over and over and over
- 49. again: ‘I shalllove her for ever; I can never while I live leave off loving her. But after what occurred yesterday and last night, I mustn’t dream for worlds of asking her a third time. I know now what it was she meant when she spoke about the barrier between us. Poor girl! how very wild of her! How strange that she should think in her own soul a Dupuy of Trinidad superior in position to one of the ancient Lincolnshire Noels!’ For pride always sees everything from its own point of view alone, and never for a moment succeeds in admitting to itself the pride of others as being equally reasonable and natural with its own.
- 50. SOME PET LIZARDS. BYCATHERINE C. HOPLEY. Those who live near commons and turfy heaths may in the spring- time espy the lizards peeping cautiously out from among the weeds to court the sunshine after their winter’s sleep; or, on a warm day, boldly flitting across the grass, but hiding again on the slightest alarm. Much may the amateur naturalist find to interest and amuse him in these tiny lizards; to admire also, for their colours are often very beautiful, their eyes bright and watchful, their form and actions anything but ungraceful. Among these native lizards, the Slow-worm (Anguis fragilis) is included—the ‘deaf adder’ or ‘blindworm,’ as it is commonly but wrongly called. As a pet, Anguis fragilis has many recommendations. Small, clean, unobtrusive, inoffensive, and easily fed, are more than can be said of most pets: domestic qualifications which, indeed, may be extended to its little four-legged cousins, the British lizards, often found in the same habitat, and all of which can be caught and transferred to a large glass bowl with ease and satisfaction. One of the bell-shaped glasses with a perforated knob at the top answers capitally. Reversed and furnished with moss, turf, and sand, the hole serves for drainage, because water is indispensable for the lizards, and the moss and turf should be sprinkled occasionally. A stand into which the reversed glass fits can be purchased with it, and a large china plate completes the arrangement, which, with its pretty occupants, is an ornament for any window or conservatory. By an accident, I soon discovered that a slow-worm—my first and then only pet reptile—requires water. Knowing that it fed on slugs, I was hunting in the garden, and at length found some small ones under a flower-pot saucer, and conveyed them undisturbed to a place in the cage. The slow-worm soon discovered the addition, but
- 51. instead of selectinga slug for supper, began to lick the cold, damp saucer, putting out its tongue repeatedly, as if refreshed; and forthwith the saucer was reversed and filled with the beverage, which the little reptile soon lapped eagerly, continuing to do so for some minutes. After this discovery, fresh water was supplied daily. That little creature became quickly tamed, a fact which her history will easily explain. ‘Do you want a live viper?’ a friend in the Reading Room of the British Museum asked me, one day. ‘A viper! Here?’ ‘Yes, a deaf viper. It was caught in Surrey last week. We had a field- day.’ My friend was a member of a Natural History Society, as was also the gentleman who had found the so-called ‘viper.’ His hobby being geology rather than zoology, he had been breaking and turning over fragments of rock in a sort of dell, when he had discovered the harmless little creature, which he—a scholarly man, by the way— would have immediately put to death, as a dangerous viper, had not my friend—also a learned man, though not versed in snakes— reserved it for me, and with much caution transferred it to a tin box. It was subsequently consigned to a bottle, and tightly corked until I could see it. My friend now promised me he would not put the ‘deaf viper’ to death, as his lady relatives were daily entreating him to do; and a few days afterwards, he shook out of its narrow prison on to my table—not a viper, but a feeble slow-worm, the poor little thing having had no food during those eight or ten days of captivity. No wonder, then, that the half-famished reptile grew easily reconciled to an improved home with fresh grass and moss and other luxuries, and soon learned to recognise its preserver. Soon a companion was brought for it, one freshly caught and full of health and vigour. This one was not so easily reconciled to a glass house, and only by slow degrees would it allow itself to be taken up and handled.
- 52. Another year, mysaurian family increased to nine, including all the three British species, and all living amicably together in one large bell-glass. I will not trouble my readers with the nine names by which the nine lizards were known in the domestic circle. Scientifically, they were Anguis fragilis, Lacerta agilis, and Zootica vivipara; the last so called from its giving birth to live young. Anguis fragilis also produces its young alive; or, as in the case of one of my own, in a membranous case or ‘shell,’ quite entire, but easily ruptured. The specific name agilis has been applied to the larger lacertine; but a more agile, swift, and flashing little creature than Zootica vivipara can scarcely exist; so that the true names of these three species of lizard are not, after all, so truly descriptive. Zootica is much smaller, and must have acquired its astonishing celerity protectively, the wee animal having no other safeguard than in flight. And its suppleness equals its activity. Caught and held in the closed hand so tightly that one almost feared to crush it, it would nevertheless turn itself round, or rather double itself completely back and escape the other way, where no outlet seemed possible; or between the fingers, where you least expected. It is extremely restless and timid, and less easily tamed than lacerta. One of my zooticas had a peculiar dread of being handled, and was so ever on the alert, watching my slightest approach, and looking up sideways out of one eye, and with its head on one side in such a bird-like manner, that it acquired the name of ‘Birdie.’ Birdie seemed guided by intellect more than any of the family; and the devices she practised in order to escape me, when she anticipated my intentions to get hold of her, were truly intelligent. She vanished somewhere, but presently you caught sight of one bright eye peeping up from the depths of the moss, as if saying: ‘Ah, I know what you’re up to!’ Perhaps I did try to circumvent Birdie somewhat heartlessly, just to observe her manœuvres. She would peep at me and watch me through the glass, when I was sitting far away and had no intention of going near; but at last she learned to stay in my open hand, and I sometimes suspected there was as much play as fear in her hiding.
- 53. The lizards werealso thirsty little creatures, and eagerly refreshed their tongues by lapping the wet moss, until they learned to lap out of a saucer. The male lacerta is of a handsome iridescent green, pale and delicate on the throat and belly, and a rich dark colour on the back. Lacerta is easily tamed. It soon learns to settle itself comfortably in a warm hand, and is quite appreciative of caresses in the form of a gentle stroking with the finger. In intelligence, both species certainly rank above Anguis fragilis; they more easily recognise the voice and the owner of the voice, looking up when addressed in the peculiar tone which was reserved for lizard training. A large and handsome female lacerta that lived in a smaller glass by itself, escaped one day, and fell out of the window near which it was placed. It must have sustained some internal injury, and had, no doubt, suffered from cold and terror during the two days and nights it was lost, until found on a neighbour’s balcony. I had reason to suspect she would soon deposit eggs, but she grew gradually thin and feeble, refusing food, and was evidently suffering, though showing no outward appearance of injury. It exhibited a strong desire to climb against the side of its cage, or whatever upright surface it was near, and remain in a perpendicular position; or if it could find no such leaning-place, it threw up its head and thus held it, as if to relieve itself of some pain. Then, more and more it kept its eyes closed, or opened them only to seek some object against which it could rest in that perpendicular position. As winter approached, I allowed the little sufferer to lie on a table near the fire, and covered it over for warmth; but it never remained contented on the level. Though its eyes were usually closed, whenever I spoke to it in the peculiar tone with which it was familiar, it invariably opened them and came towards me. If it could not reach me, it would even jump from the table to my lap in order to gain its favourite perpendicular position on my dress, where it remained quiet until removed. It grew more and more feeble, until one could scarcely detect life in it, except in the effort to open its eyes and try to approach when I spoke to it, and this to the very last.
- 54. These little lizardsare easily procured; and I trust the perusal of these memoirs may induce some kind and patient individual to try them as pets, when it will be found that their sense of hearing and intelligence is in no way exaggerated. Lizards cast their skins at uncertain intervals during the summer, being greatly influenced by temperature. One very warm season, when they were much in the sunshine, mine changed their dress on an average once in three weeks. Some of the sloughs came off entire, even to the tips of the tiny, delicate fingers, like a perfect glove. Sometimes they were shed in fragments. The head shields are not regularly renewed with the skin, which was always reversed. Anguis fragilis on one occasion cast its skin entire and unreversed, a very unusual occurrence. All begin at the mouth, as snakes do; and you will see when the process is about to commence by the little creatures rubbing their mouths and their heads against whatever they are near, the loosening cuticle no doubt causing irritation. To watch the process is exceedingly interesting, especially when the lacertines free their limbs of the old garment, shaking off and dragging themselves out of it as you get off a tight sleeve. A word about the voice of lizards, on which so much has been written. That these do utter a sound is certain; but it is very feeble; though, perhaps, in comparison with their size, not more feeble than the hiss of a snake. And only when much disturbed and annoyed do they ejaculate even this little sound, which is as if you half pronounced and whispered the letter t or th. Sometimes it resembles ts, only audible when quiet prevails. Both the lizards and the slow- worms expressed their displeasure by this same little expulsion of breath, scarcely to be called a hiss. But once when a slow-worm fell from a high stand to the floor, there was a singular sort of loud chirp or chuckle, as if the breath were forced suddenly from the lungs by the fall. It was wholly unlike its regular ‘voice,’ and was so remarkable, that if it had not been ejaculated simultaneously with the ‘flop’ on the carpet that announced ‘Lizzie’s’ fall, I might have thought a young bird or a frog was in the room. The slow-worms often got out of their cage and fell to the floor, seeming to be none
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