Mary Barton: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

The narrator notes that, though readers may not believe it, there are working-class men throughout Lancashire whose beloved hobby is natural science. Margaret’s grandfather Job Legh is one such: his room is full of specimens. When Mary comes to visit him with Margaret, she asks one question about the specimens, and Job bombards her with all their scientific names. To rescue Mary, Margaret cuts in with an anecdote about how Job once bought what he thought was a dead scorpion that turned out only to be in cold hibernation. When Mary goes home, she thinks how odd the two are: plain Margaret with her beautiful voice and druid-like Job.

Over the course of the winter, Mary and Margaret become close friends. Mary is perhaps attracted to Margaret’s common sense. Mary admits many of her flaws to Margaret, but she hides that she has been flirting with a good-looking young man on her walks home from work—a young man whom she doesn’t love but whom she hopes to marry. Meanwhile, Jem Wilson desperately loves Mary and hopes to marry her, though her coolness toward him daunts him.

In late February, Mary is walking home from work one evening when she runs into Margaret. Margaret mentions she’s sewing mourning clothes, and Mary offers to help. While the girls set up the work at Mary’s house, Margaret explains the clothes are for a new widow and her three older daughters, who are too busy preparing for their father’s funeral to sew their own clothes. The family is poor, but the wife is still trying to give him a lavish funeral.

When Mary comments that Alice Wilson wouldn’t grieve in such a fashion, Margaret says that Alice is different: she believes all ills are “sent” for some good. Margaret is about to tell Mary about some ill of her own about which Alice comforted her—but then she cuts herself off. Regardless, she relates to Mary that Alice told her anxiety is irreligious, which has helped her stop complaining about her woes.

Mary asks whether Margaret will be paid for sewing the mourning clothes. Margaret says she intends to do it for free to help the mourners who can’t really afford to pay for it. Then she laments that sewing black cloth is hard on the eyes, admits she’s going blind, and bursts into tears. When Mary tries to comfort her by suggesting she’s wrong, Margaret tells her that she visited a doctor who told her that her vision would fail unless she stopped working—but she and her grandfather Job need the money. Her only comfort is that the old weaver who gives her singing lessons tells her she might make money by her singing.

The girls hear many people running past outside. Mary goes outside to ask about the commotion and learns that a nearby mill is on fire. To distract Margaret from her grief, Mary insists that they go see the fire. When they arrive at the burning mill and the surrounding crowd, they realize that two workers are still trapped in the building. Mary, terrified, wants to go home, but the girls are too hemmed in by the crowd to move.

Jem and another man arrive with a ladder; they push it from the upper floor of a neighboring building and through a mill window to create a bridge. Jem walks across the “bridge,” enters the burning mill, and carries out one of the trapped men—his father Mr. Wilson, who works at the mill. Jem goes to fetch the second trapped man, but on his way back across the bridge, he loses his balance and nearly falls. Mary, watching, faints. Jem manages to make it safely back to the neighboring building with the second worker. 

The crowd disperses. Margaret lowers Mary to the cool pavement, where she regains consciousness. Margaret assures her that everyone is safe. The girls go ask a nearby fireman for more information. When Margaret asks why they let Jem rescue both men, the fireman says they couldn’t stop him from going. When the girls get back to Mary’s house, John is home. They tell him what happened, and he vows that he'd consent right away if Jem asked for Mary’s hand in marriage. Margaret laughs, but Mary is annoyed.