The original staff of the _Tocsin_ consisted of Armitage, Kosinksi,
and myself, with Short occupying the well-nigh honorary post of printer,
aided by occasional assistance or hindrance from his hangers-on. But our
staff gradually increased in number if not in efficiency; old M'Dermott
was a frequent and not unwelcome visitor, and as time went on he gradually
settled down into an inmate of the office, helping where he could with the
work, stirring up lagging enthusiasms, doing odd cobbling jobs whenever he
had the chance, and varying the proceedings with occasional outbursts of
Shakespearian recitation. These recitations were remarkable performances,
and made up in vigour for what they perhaps lacked in elegance and
_finesse_. Carter would at times put in an appearance, mostly with a
view to leaning up against a type-rack or other suitable article of
furniture, and there between one puff and another at his pipe would
grumble at the constitution of the universe and the impertinent exactions
of landlords. Another Englishman who in the earlier days frequented the
_Tocsin_ was a tall, thoughtful man named Wainwright, belonging to
the working-classes, who by the force of his own intelligence and will had
escaped from the brutishness of the lowest depths of society in which he
had been born.
Thus with little real outside assistance we worked through the spring and
early summer months. Besides bringing out our paper we printed various
booklets and pamphlets, organised Anarchist meetings, and during some six
weeks housed a French Anarchist paper and its staff, all of whom had fled
precipitately from Paris in consequence of a trial.
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