six in
the morning
Absurdly easy to raise yourself to be the idol of a crowd that fancies itself canny ! Incredibly easy ! I used to take their part against the works-manager as often as I could ; he was a fiend ; he hated me ; but then I was a fiend , too , and I hated him more . I used often to come on at six in the morning , when they did , and ` sign on ' . It is n't really signing on now at all ; there 's a clock dial and a whole machine for catching you out . They loved to see me doing that . And I worked the lathes sometimes , just for a bit , just to show that I was n't ashamed to work .