Lawrence, the son of a miner and an ex-teacher, did not work in the mines, but obviously knew them. In his story, “Strike-Pay,” a group of men collect their strike pay at the Methodist chapel, and then go off for a day of fun. Lawrence crafts the story as adroitly as an architect designs a building (or perhaps more as a writer crafts a novel than a short story), with dense background details and dialogue skillfully enhancing the form.