Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life

Barton returns home early as Parliament refuses to listen to the workmen’s petition. Mary is unable to distract her father from his despair at this. Even the news of his best friend’s death seems meaningless to him. She gets Margaret and Job to come and cheer her father, and within an hour he is speaking passionately about his cause. Job tells Mary about how he visited London after his daughter, Margaret’s mother, and her husband had died of a fever. Job and Margaret’s other grandfather took her back to Manchester when she was a baby and relied on local women to help take care of her.

The suffering of the Manchester mill workers worsens, and John Barton is unable to get work. He and Mary sell many of their things to buy food, but John Barton is concerned for those around them who need it more. John and Mary argue often, and Barton beats Mary during one of these disagreements. John Barton begins using opium and meeting with members of Trades’ Unions in the middle of the night to offer what help he can. At her father’s insistence, Mary goes to visit Jane Wilson, with whom Alice now lives.