EIGHT
Late
July 1904
Throughout the second half of the month of July, Florence thought
about little, other than the week she had spent with Tommy in Blackpool, and
his impending departure to Plymouth to join the Royal Navy.
One day during the third week in July she left home as usual to go
to work, taking her shawl from the hook by the kitchen door and wrapping it
loosely around her shoulders, the weather was far too warm to contemplate
wearing it over her head.
'I’m off to work Ma,' she called up stairs to her mother who was
just starting to rise from her bed. William Henry was stumbling with sleep
filled eyes around the bedroom and Harriet was still snuggled down under the
blankets, wisely keeping out of her husband’s way.
'Right love.' she called down to her.
'Ma,' Florence added, 'I’m going to the
library after work so don’t worry if I’m a bit late home today.' Florence
waited for a moment for her mother’s reply, but there was none. Whilst Harriet
had heard the words, she was too sleepy to take them in properly. Florence
closed the front door behind her quietly stepping out into the early morning
air which was already warmer than the warmest spring day.
As she started to walk up the street to the
mill on Blackburn Road, almost immediately the front door of her neighbour
Hettie opened. Hettie had been listening for and had heard the front door of
her friends’ house open and then close. The two young women joined arms
and gossiped together as they made their
way to the mill.
During that day in the mill Florence told her
friend Hettie of her plans to visit the library in the Exchange Building on
Victoria Square to try and find any information on the royal Navy. The
excitement made the day go quicker for Florence. She intended to become a wife
who was involved with her husband and his job. She had interests which could be
fostered and assuaged only by books and knowledge.
When the hooter sounded for the end of the working day, Florence
left the mill alone and crossed over the road from the main entrance to the
mill. She stood at the tram stop outside the Iron Church, tapping gently
against the iron tram stop, and idly picking at paint which was flaking off the
post, completely lost in thought. Crowds of noisy people from the mill brushed
past her as she waited, and soon the street was quiet again as the mill
emptied. The late afternoon sun was pleasantly warm, drifting her gently
towards sleep, had she not been excitedly looking forward to her visit to the
library. When finally the tram pulled up alongside her, she climbed aboard,
giving the conductor her fare, before taking her seat close to a window. The
trip into town did not take long and under normal circumstance she would not
take the tram, but she felt justified today as she was going during the late
afternoon, and there would be little enough time for her to search the books
and periodicals before the library closed. Since its opening over fifty years
earlier the Exchange Building on Victoria Square now housed over ten thousand
books, and it was this treasury of knowledge and information which Florence
needed to tap into to enlighten herself about her future husband's career.
Florence sat quietly almost alone for over an hour at a reading
table in the library. The table was a long dark wooden affair with chairs made
of the same hard material, which made the back of her knees numb after a time.
She shifted restlessly from time to time when her legs threatened to ‘go to
sleep,’ and turned the pages of the three books in front of her which she had
found on the shelves. The male librarian had tried at first to point her in the
direction of ‘women’s books,’ but she was determined, and searched for herself
amongst the shelves, causing more than a few sideways glances from the other
users of the library. Eventually a young woman librarian guided her to the only
area of the library which might carry the information she sought, but even that
was not really satisfying her needs. So she sat with three boys adventure books
in front of her on the table, flicking through one to the other in search of
information about life in the Royal Navy. The facts she gleaned from the books
was minimal and aimed at a readership of excitement seeking youth, so she was
not altogether disappointed when the librarian announced that the library was
closing. She closed the books and left them on the table by the entrance, to be
replaced by the staff, then left the building by the impressive solid wooden
doors onto Victoria Square.
It was shortly after seven in the evening when she left. The sun
was still high in the sky, a pleasant time, she thought, and a good time to
walk home, though her stomach was telling her that it was long past her tea
time. She left the town centre and walked along Higher Bridge Street and then
onto Waterloo Street, her mind turning over the few facts she had learned. After
some twenty minutes her feet had started to ache and her legs become tired. She
stopped for a moment to rest on a low wall in front of a long line of houses,
like hers, and gazed idly at the sky to the west. Between two large cotton
mills opposite her the sky was starting to change from its cloudless clear light
blue, to the almost rainbow coloured selection of tints which told her that evening
was fast approaching. Along a line of roofs between and beyond the two mills,
the sky was still a clear blue, but rising from that were the beginnings of
night clouds, tipped with a broad range of colours which mesmerised her. The
colours started from the lightest most delicate pink, onto light brownish greys
and then changed once more to white and darker grey, but still very pleasant to
see. Finally above the bank of clouds forming in the west the sky became a
darker blue. It crossed her mind that the sky at the south coast where her
Tommy was going to go would look different than here in the north, maybe, maybe
not. The thought of joining him in marriage when he had signed up for the navy
made her stomach tingle with excitement. She clicked her feet together as the
thought made her smile, and she hopped down from the wall and continued home to
244 Waterloo Street.
Florence was over fifty yards from her front door when she
realised that her mother’s head was peeping around the corner of the front door
searching down the street towards where Florence was walking. Fearing that
something was amiss, Florence quickened her pace. Harriet saw her coming and
stepped down from the front step onto the street and beckoned with her
outstretched arm for her to hurry home. Florence broke into a trot, her head
down and her arms pulling the shawl tighter around her shoulders. 'What’s up
Ma?' she asked breathlessly and with some level of fear in her voice.
'Your Tommy’s here to see you lass. He’s been here for an hour
waiting. You should have said you were going to be this late, we had no idea.' Her
mother took her by the arm and shepherded her through the front door, closing
it behind her as Florence walked quickly through the hallway into the kitchen. Tommy
was sat at the table talking to her father who was occupying his normal seat by
the fire, which even though it was now well after seven in the evening, had
still not been lit.
Tommy rose when she entered the room.
'What’s up Tommy?' she asked fearfully. He smiled broadly at her.
'I’ve got my papers,' he replied. She looked at him with a puzzled
expression on her face.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
'I’ve been accepted into the Navy, and they want me to join on the
first of August in Devonport.' Florence gasped and took a step towards him and
slid her hand into his. He squeezed it gently. 'Good news eh love?' he said
quietly.
'But it’s only a couple of weeks off Tommy.' She stuttered. 'I
thought we were to be wed first.' Tears formed in her eyes and overflowed onto
her cheeks.
'Eh love, don’t be worrying yourself. We’ll be wed soon enough, it
just means they want me quickly,' he said to her gently. Florence stood before
him, soft sobbing noises hiccupped from her throat as she took in the news, and
her mind whirled to try and put the plans they had made into some sort of new
order. Relieved that there was nothing amiss, she slumped down on one of the
chairs by the table, and pulled Tommy back down to the one he had been seated
on when she had entered the room.
'So what’s going to happen then?' she finally asked. Tommy smiled
at her and glanced over her shoulder at Harriet standing in the doorway. Mrs
Hadfield was stood with her arms folded, one hand loosed itself and she stroked
a lock of stray grey hair back from her forehead.
'Well, I can’t tell them to hang on and I’ll be there when I can,
now can I?' he joked. 'I’ll have to go there for the start of August and start
my Seaman’s training, but then I will be going on to do some specialised training
to become an Artificer.' He paused to let this sink in, which it did, but
slowly. The fearful look on Florence’s face eased a little. She dabbed at the
tears on her cheeks with the corner of her shawl.
'Then what?' she asked.
'Well,' he said. 'I suppose they might give me a few days off at
the end of all that, ‘cos I’ll be living onboard HMS Warrior in Devonport when
I first start, that’s what they’ve said anyway. Then I’ll be going to some
other training ship for the electrical training, and I thought that’s when we
could be married.' He smiled at her warmly, his eyes lit up with anticipation. Florence
gasped at his news, then allowed a smile to reply to his, and wiped another
tear from her face.
'So, when do you think this is going to be then Tommy?' she asked.
He let her hand drop and threw his hand up in the air in frustration.
'I don’t know love, but it’ll be as soon as I can make it. You can
be sure of that. I don’t want to leave it any longer than I have to do I?' She
took his hand again.
'No, no. Of course not Tommy. It’s just, I
thought we would be married before you went away.' She paused and then carried
on. 'If you’re sure love, then that’s what we’ll do.' Tommy smiled warmly at
her and pulled her gently towards her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her
and kiss her, but not in front of her parents.
'As soon as I get to Devonport I’ll write,
and I’ll write at least twice a week whilst I’m at HMS Warrior. As soon as I
know anything about married quarters and such, then we’ll get wed.' She smiled
once more at him. 'Is that alright then love?' he asked. She grinned
mischievously at him.
'Suppose it’ll have to won’t it?' she
muttered, her head dropping down into her chest so he could not properly see
her teasing grinning face. She turned around to face her mother.
'So, it looks like my sailor boy is leaving
me for another woman Ma.' she said. Harriet let out a shocked gasp.
'He said nothing of the kind young lady. What
on earth do you mean?' Florence turned back to Tommy.
'Well,' she said, grinning once again. 'They
always say a ship is a woman don’t they?' Tommy burst out into loud laughter
and taking her in his arms squeezed her tightly.
'You minx!' he said. 'One of these days,' he
left the sentence unfinished. Everyone was pleased with the news, and the outcome
which Tommy had proposed. Though it was only a week or two before he would
leave the town where he was born, Florence felt it would not be long before she
would be married to him and would join him in his new life. Her new life, away
from the mills of the north.
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