From New York he
went to Trenton (New Jersey), which is the Five Towns of America.
A man of his skill in handling clay on a wheel had no difficulty
whatever in wresting a good livelihood from Trenton. When he had
tarried there a year he caused a letter to be written to his wife
informing her that he was dead. He wished to be quite free; and
also (we have our feeling for justice) he wished his wife to be
quite free. It did not occur to him that he had done anything
extraordinary, either in deserting his wife or in forwarding false
news of his death. He had done the simple thing, the casual thing,
the blunt thing, the thing that necessitated the minimum of
talking. He did not intend to return to England.
However, after a few years, he did return to England. The cause of
his return is irrelevant to the history, but I may say that it
sprang from a conflict between the Five Towns temperament and the
Trenton Union of Earthenware Operatives. Such is the power of
Unions in the United States that Toby, if he wished to remain
under the Federal Flag, had either to yield or to starve. He would
not yield. He changed his name and came to England; strolled
calmly into the Crown Porcelain Works at Derby one day, and there
recommenced his career as an artificer of earthenware. He did
well.
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