| Show THE ITHE FACTORY LASSES SKETCHES OF THEIR LIVES LIVES IN THE GREAT lancashire MILLS provisions made by the oxford factory owners for the Ite recreation creation tit f their employees how the girls dress dream and conduct themselves for the recreation of their hands mills have no provision whatever as a rule that is there are a few exceptions and only a few unique certainly are the oxford mills at ashton under lyne in connection with which the late mr hu hugh h mason founded a little colony for outdoor sports there is ia a large amarge play ground with swings etc and a bowling green attached when the weather is unfavorable the hands can go to the recreation rooms on the of these is a reading room liberally supplied with newspapers and periodicals and having a library 0 of volumes A coffee room leads off it and from that again the baths are reached reach ci up stairs is is a largo large lecture room fitted with desks and with a platform at th the e end busts of great men are on pedestals round the walls scott and burns Burn sare are in a niche che together as is fitting and near them are homer shakespeare dante and milton michael angelo looks at raphael bright and cobden newton and watt franklin and washington all are there and at intervals there ther e are also hung portraits of inventors and improvers im of cotton machinery in connection with these rooms there is it a good brass band sewing aud and other classes too are held while during the winter m months concerts and lec leb tures are of frequent occurrence of all this it should be noted thomas mason son defray the expenses from other portions of the district we take the following the secretary of a cotton operative spin spinners nere association is stated to have said any amy girl who wants work wi rk can have itin it in the mills that labor market is never overstocked over stocked at the present time pa particularly in the spinning department some sam e firms are shorthanded nowadays many girls in manchester do not care caie to go 90 into the mills they would rather work in the warehouses and shops there has been an improvement in the lot of the factory workers asked the interviewer yes replied the secretary in every way wa wages are higher hours shorter but mind you hands have to work harder while they are at it because the machine machinery ry runs faster and they have to look after more of it why in my young days a weaver tended only two looms now she tends four spinners the writer adds work with as little clothing as possible and generally in their bare feet though some wear slippers hands wear straight pinafores cut away at the n neck ec k and with short sleeves the distinctive tive parts of the mill girls dress are clogs on the feet and a small shawl 11 handkerchief they are called on the s shoulders h on I 1 der 8 weavers though there is nothing peculiar about their dress can generally be distinguished from other factory girls they have a personal trade mark their front teeth are often badana bad and besides many of them have at times a peculiar gesture drawing in the breath to suck weft through a shuttle causes the teeth to decay the mannerism is similarly explained in a weaving shed the noise is deafening you cannot hear your own voice so the weavers attract one an others attention by a shrill and converso coute conte te so by means of signs and by watching the movements of if the lips they are so BO proficient in that they can follow a private conversation anywhere if they c cin can in seethe see the speakers faces this thia circumstance explains a common observation that is otherwise enigmatical mind what sayin one gossip will remark to another glancing suspiciously at the object of their talk 11 oos a wayver some mill girls never do any housework their ignorance in which branch of female education edn cation is consequently colossal hundreds cannot make a pudding or a pie for the life of them and the writer has hag heard of a lass putting fig a rabbit in a dish whole and making a crust for it with suet there are factory girls on the other hand and these are in the majority who take their full share of cleaning cookery needlework etc As a rule too the lasses are in every way respectable when a factory lass and her sweetheart theart go off on a trip gr or take a rat blackpool brackpool Black pool or southwort southport South port or the isle of man as often as not she pays the expenses she it is who in due course buys bilys the furniture aye and perhaps therin the ring andall and all thorest the rest whether eho sho will stand treat in this or not the four loom coln weaver need never remain single in le among fac factory tory girls she corresponds to the heiress of ordinary life and as ruch euch has baa no difficulty in obtaining a husband when offs offspring prin gs become old enough they are sent to the mill as their parents were before them the typical lancashire woman does not like the idea of their aiming higher As they theyeron eoon receive good wages their parents are rapidly placed in comfortable circumstances more comfortable than they ever knew perhaps this state is the factory operatives summum bonum the position beyond which he or she very rarely goes cassel Cass elPs journal |
