great cruelty was practised upon the children employed in some of
the factories, by the workmen called "slubbers," for whom the young
creatures act as piecers. Thomas Hough, a trimmer and dyer, who had
worked at Robinson's factory, deposed—
"'The children were beaten at the factory; I complained, and they
were turned away. If I could have found the man at the time there
would have something happened, I am sure. I knew the man; it was
the slubber with whom they worked. His name was Smith. Robinson
had the factory then. I had my second son in to Mr. Robinson,
and stripped him, and showed him how cruelly he had been beaten.
There were nineteen bruises on his back and posteriors. It was
not with the billy-roller. It was with the strap. He has often
been struck with the billy-roller at other times, over the head.
Robinson rebuked the man, and said he should not beat them any
more. The children were beat several times after that; and on
account of my making frequent complaints they turned the children
away. They worked with Smith till they left. Smith was of a nasty
disposition, rather. I would say of the slubbers generally, that
they are a morose, ill-tempered set. Their pay depends on the
children's work. The slubbers are often off drinking, and then
they must work harder to get the cardings up. I have seen that
often. That is in the lamb's-wool trade. Mr. Gamble is one of the
most humane men that ever lived, by all that I hear, and he will
not allow the slubbers to touch the children, on any pretence;
if they will not work, he turns them away. There gets what they
call flies on the cardings, that is, when the cardings are not
properly pieced; and it is a general rule to strike the children
when that happens too often. They allow so many ratched cardings,
as they call them, in a certain time; and if there are more, they
call the children round to the billy-gate and strap them. I have
seen the straps which some of them use; they are as big as the
strap on my son's lathe yonder, about an inch broad, (looking
at it.) Oh, it is bigger than this, (it measured 7-8ths.) It is
about an inch. I have seen the children lie down on the floor,
and the slubber strike on them as they lay. It depends entirely
on the temper of the man; sometimes they will only swear at them,
sometimes they will beat them. They will be severe with them
at one time, and very familiar at another, and run on with all
sorts of debauched language, and take indecent liberties with the
feeders and other big girls, before the children. That is the
reason why they call the factories hell-holes. There are some
a good deal different. The overlookers do not take much notice
generally. They pick out bullies, generally, for overlookers. It
is very necessary to have men of a determined temper to keep the
hands in order.
"'I have known my children get strapped two or three times
between a meal. At all times of the day. Sometimes they would
escape for a day or two together, just as it might happen. Then
they get strapped for being too late. They make the children
sum up, that is, pick up the waste, and clean up the billies
during the meal-time, so that the children don't get their time.
The cruelty complained of in the factories is chiefly from the
slubbers. There is nobody so closely connected with the children
as the slubbers. There is no other part of the machinery with
which I am acquainted where the pay of the man depends on the
work of the children so much.'"
"Joseph Badder, a slubber, deposed: 'Slubbing and spinning is
very heavy. Those machines are thrown aside now. The spinners did
not like them, nor the masters neither. They did not turn off
such stuff as they expected. I always found it more difficult
to keep my piecers awake the last hours of a winter's evening.
I have told the master, and I have been told by him that I did
not half hide them. This was when they were working from six to
eight. I have known the children hide themselves in the store
among the wool, so that they should not go home when the work was
over, when we have worked till ten or eleven. I have seen six or
eight fetched out of the store and beat home; beat out of the
mill. However, I do not know why they should hide themselves,
unless it was they were too tired to go home. My piecers had
two hours for meals. Other parts of the work I have known them
work children, from seven to twelve in age, from six in the
morning till ten or eleven at night, and give no time for meals;
eat their victuals as they worked; the engines running all the
time. The engine never stopped at meal-times; it was just as the
spinner chose whether the children worked on or not. They made
more work if they went on. I never would allow any one to touch
my piecers. The foreman would come at times, and has strapped
them, and I told him I would serve him the same if he touched
them. I have seen the man who worked the other billy beat his
piecers. I have seen children knocked down by the billy-rollers.
It is a weapon that a man will easily take up in a passion. I
do not know any instance of a man being prosecuted for it. The
parents are unwilling, for fear the children should lose their
work. I know Thorpe has been up before the magistrate half a
dozen times or more, on the complaint of the parents. He has been
before the bench, at the Exchange, as we call it, and I have seen
him when he came back, when the magistrates have reprimanded
Thorpe, and told the parents they had better take the children
away. After that he has been sometimes half drunk, perhaps, and
in a passion, and would strap them for the least thing, more
than he did before. I remember once that he was fined; it was
about two years and a half ago; it was for beating a little
girl; he was fined 10_s._ I have seen him strap the women when
they took the part of the children. The master complained he was
not strict enough. I know from Thorpe that the master always
paid his expenses when he was before the magistrate. I believe
they generally do in all the factories. I have frequently had
complaints against myself by the parents of the children, for
beating them. I used to beat them. I am sure no man can do
without it who works long hours; I am sure he cannot. I told them
I was very sorry after I had done it, but I was forced to do it.
The master expected me to do my work, and I could not do mine
unless they did theirs. One lad used to say to me frequently,
(he was a jocular kind of lad,) that he liked a good beating at
times, it helped him to do his work. I used to joke with them to
keep up their spirits. _I have seen them fall asleep, and they
have been performing their work with their hands while they were
asleep, after the billy had stopped, when their work was done. I
have stopped and looked at them for two minutes, going through
the motions of piecening, fast asleep, when there was really
no work to do, and they were really doing nothing._ I believe,
when we have been working long hours, that they have never been
washed, but on a Saturday night, for weeks together.
"Thomas Clarke, (examined at request of Joseph Badder:) 'I am
aged eleven, I work at Cooper's factory; the rope-walk. I spin
there. I earn 4_s._ a week there. I have been there about one
year and a half. I was in Ross's factory before that. I was
piecener there. I piecened for Joseph Badder one while, then
for George Castle. I piecened for Badder when he left. Badder
told me I was wanted here. We have not been talking about it. I
remember that Jesse came to the machine, and Badder would not let
him go nigh, and so they got a scuffling about it. I was very
nigh nine years of age when I first went to piecen. I got 2_s._
6_d._ a week, at first. I think I was a good hand at it. When I
had been there half a year I got 3_s._ Badder used to strap me
some odd times. Some odd times he'd catch me over the head, but
it was mostly on the back. He made me sing out. He has taken
the billy-roller to me sometimes; about four times, I think. He
used to take us over the shoulders with that; he would have done
us an injury if he had struck us over the head. I never saw any
one struck over the head with a billy-roller. He would strap us
about twelve times at once. He used to strap us sometimes over
the head. He used to strap us for letting his cards run through.
I believe it was my fault. If we had had cardings to go on with
we would have kept it from running through. It was nobody's fault
that there were no cardings, only the slubber's fault that worked
so hard. I have had, maybe, six stacks of cardings put up while
he was out. When he came in, he would work harder to work down
the stacks. Sometimes he would stop the card. He used to strap
us most when he was working hardest. He did not strap us more at
night than he did in the daytime. He would sometimes stay half a
day. When he was away, as soon as we had six stacks of cardings
up, the rule was to stop, and then we'd pick up the waste about
the room, and take a play sometimes, but very seldom. Mr. Ross
paid me. Badder never paid me when he was out. I never got any
money from Badder. I used sometimes to fall asleep. The boy next
to me used often to fall asleep: John Breedon; he got many a
stroke. That was when we were working for Castle; that would be
about six o'clock. He was about the size of me; he was older than
I was. They always strapped us if we fell asleep. Badder was a
better master than Castle. Castle used to get a rope, about as
thick as my thumb, and double it, and put knots in it, and lick
us with that. That was a good bit worse than the strap. I was to
no regular master afterward; I used to do bits about the room.
I ran away because Thorpe used to come and strap me. He did not
know what he was strapping me for; it was just as he was in his
humours. I never saw such a man; he would strap any one as did
not please him. I only worked for him a week or two. I didn't
like it, and I ran away. He would strap me if even there was a
bit of waste lying about the room. I have had marks on my back
from Castle's strapping me.'"
In Nottingham, also, there is much cruelty shown in the treatment of
the children, as will appear from the following evidence taken by Mr.
Power:—
"Williamson, the father: 'My two sons, one ten, the other
thirteen, work at Milnes's factory, at Lenton. They go at
half-past five in the morning; don't stop at breakfast or
tea-time. They stop at dinner half an hour. Come home at a
quarter before ten. They used to work till ten, sometimes
eleven, sometimes twelve. They earn between them 6_s._ 2_d._ per
week. One of them, the eldest, worked at Wilson's for 2 years
at 2_s._ 3_d._ a week. He left because the overlooker beat him
and loosened a tooth for him. I complained, and they turned him
away for it. They have been gone to work sixteen hours now;
they will be very tired when they come home at half-past nine.
I have a deal of trouble to get 'em up in the morning. I have
been obliged to beat 'em with a strap in their shirts, and to
pinch 'em, in order to get them well awake. It made me cry to be
obliged to do it.'
"'Did you make them cry?' 'Yes, sometimes. They will be home
soon, very tired, and you will see them.' I preferred walking
toward the factory to meet them. I saw the youngest only, and
asked him a few questions. He said, 'I'm sure I shan't stop to
talk to you; I want to go home and get to bed; I must be up at
half-past five again to-morrow morning.'
"G— — and A— —, examined. The boy: 'I am going fourteen: my
sister is eleven. I have worked in Milnes's factory two years.
She goes there also. We are both in the clearing-room. I think we
work too long hours; I've been badly with it. We go at half-past
five, give over at half-past nine. I'm now just come home. We
sometimes stay till twelve. We are obliged to work over-hours. I
have 4_s._ a week; that is, for staying from six till seven. They
pay for over-hours besides. I asked to come away one night,
lately, at eight o'clock, being ill; I was told if I went I must
not come again. I am not well now. I can seldom eat any breakfast;
my appetite is very bad. I have had a bad cold for a week.'
"Father: 'I believe him to be ill from being over-worked. My
little girl came home the other day, cruelly beaten. I took her
to Mr. Milnes; did not see him, but showed Mrs. Milnes the marks.
I thought of taking it before a magistrate, but was advised
to let it drop. They might have turned both my children away.
That man's name is Blagg; he is always strapping the children.
I shan't let the boy go to them much longer; I shall try to
apprentice him; it's killing him by inches; he falls asleep
over his food at night. I saw an account of such things in the
newspaper, and thought how true it was of my own children.'
"Mother: 'I have worked in the same mills myself. The same man
was there then. I have seen him behave shocking to the children.
He would take 'em by the hair of the head and drag 'em about the
room. He has been there twelve years. There's a many young ones
in that hot room. There's six of them badly now, with bad eyes
and sick-headache. This boy of ours has always been delicate
from a child. His appetite is very bad now; he does not eat his
breakfast sometimes for two or three days together. The little
girl bears it well; she is healthy. I should prefer their coming
home at seven, without additional wages. The practice of working
over-hours has been constantly pursued at Milnes's factory.'
"John Fortesque, at his own house, nine P.M. 'I am an overlooker
in this factory. We have about one hundred hands. Forty quite
children; most of the remainder are young women. Our regular
day is from six to seven. It should be an hour for dinner, but
it is only half an hour. I don't know how it comes so. We have
had some bad men in authority who made themselves big; it is
partly the master. No time is allowed for tea or breakfast;
there used to be a quarter of an hour for each; it's altered
now. We call it twelve hours a day. Over-time is paid for extra.
When we are busy we work over-hours. Our present time is till
half-past nine. It has been so all winter, and since to this
time. We have some very young ones; as young as eight. I don't
like to take them younger; they're not able to do our work. We
have three doubling-rooms, a clearing-room, and a gassing-room.
We have about forty in the clearing-room. We occasionally find
it necessary to make a difference as to the time of keeping
some of the children. We have done so several times. Master has
said: Pick out the youngest, and let them go, and get some of
the young women to take their places. I am not the overlooker
to the clearing-room. Blagg is overlooker there; there has been
many complaints against him. He's forced to be roughish in order
to keep his place. If he did not keep the work going on properly
there would be some one to take his place who would. There are
some children so obstinate and bad they must be punished. A strap
is used. Beating is necessary, on account of their being idle.
We find it out often in this way: we give them the same number
of bobbins each; when the number they ought to finish falls off,
then they're corrected. They would try the patience of any man.
It is not from being tired, I think. It happens as often in the
middle of the day as at other times. I don't like the beating
myself; I would rather there were little deductions in their
earnings for these offences. I am sure the children would not
like to have any of their earnings stopped; I am sure they would
mind it. From what I have heard parents say about their children
when at work, I am sure they (the parents) would prefer this
mode of correction; and, I think, it would have an effect on the
children. At the factory of Messrs. Mills and Elliot they go on
working all the night as well as day. I believe them to have done
so for the last year and a half; they have left it off about a
week. (_A respectable female here entered with a petition against
negro-slavery; after she was gone, Mr. Fortesque continued._) I
think home slavery as bad as it can be abroad; worst of anywhere
in the factories. The hours we work are much too long for young
people. Twelve hours' work is enough for young or old, confined
in a close place. The work is light, but it's standing so long
that tires them. I have been here about two years; I have seen
bad effects produced on people's health by it, but not to any
great degree. It must be much worse at Mills and Elliot's;
working night as well as day, the rooms are never clear of
people's breaths. We set our windows open when we turn the hands
out. The gas, too, which they use at night, makes it worse.'"
The italicised parenthesis is, _bonâ fide_, a part of the Report,
as may be proved by consulting the parliamentary document. The
_respectable female_ was probably the original of Dickens's Mrs.
Jellaby.
Read these references to a case of barbarity in a factory at Wigan:—
_Extract from a speech made by Mr. Grant, a Manchester spinner,
at a meeting held at Chorlton-upon-Medlock; reported in the
Manchester Courier of 20th April, 1833._
"Much was said of the black slaves and their chains. No doubt
they were entitled to freedom, but were there no slaves except
those of sable hue? Has slavery no sort of existence among
children of the factories? Yes, and chains were sometimes
introduced, though those chains might not be forged of iron. He
would name an instance of this kind of slavery, which took place
at Wigan. A child, not ten years of age, having been late at
the factory one morning, had, as a punishment, a rope put round
its neck, to which a weight of twenty pounds was attached; and,
thus burdened like a galley-slave, it was compelled to labour
for a length of time in the midst of an impure atmosphere and a
heated room. [Loud cries of, Shame!] The truth of this has been
denied by Mr. Richard Potter, the member for Wigan; but he (the
speaker) reiterated its correctness. He has seen the child; and
its mother's eyes were filled with tears while she told him this
shocking tale of infant suffering."
_Extract from a speech made by Mr. Oastler, on the occasion of a
meeting at the City of London Tavern; reported in the Times, of
the 25th of February, 1833._
"In a mill at Wigan, the children, for any slight neglect, were
loaded with weights of twenty pounds, passed over their shoulders
and hanging behind their backs. Then there was a murderous
instrument called a billy-roller, about eight feet long and one
inch and a half in diameter, with which many children had been
knocked down, and in some instances murdered by it."
_Extract from a speech made by Mr. Oastler, at a meeting held in
the theatre at Bolton, and reported in the Bolton Chronicle, of
the 30th of March, 1833._
"In one factory they have a door which covers a quantity of cold
water, in which they plunge the sleepy victim to awake it. In
Wigan they tie a great weight to their backs. I knew the Russians
made the Poles carry iron weights in their exile to Siberia, but
it was reserved for Christian England thus to use an infant."
Rowland Detroiser deposed before the Central Board of Commissioners,
concerning the treatment of children in the cotton factories:—
"'The children employed in a cotton-factory labour, are not
all under the control or employed by the proprietor. A very
considerable number is employed and paid by the spinners and
stretchers, when there are stretchers. These are what are called
piecers and scavengers; the youngest children being employed
in the latter capacity, and as they grow up, for a time in the
scavengers and piecers. In coarse mills, that is, mills in which
low numbers of yarn are spun, the wages of the scavengers is
commonly from 1_s._ 6_d._ to 2_s._ 6_d._, according to size and
ability. The men do not practise the system of fining, generally
speaking, and especially toward these children. The sum which
they earn is so small it would be considered by many a shame to
make it less. They do not, however, scruple to give them a good
bobbying, as it is called; that is, beating them with a rope
thickened at one end, or, in some few brutal instances, with the
combined weapons of fist and foot.'
"'But this severity, you say, is practised toward the children
who are employed by the men, and not employed by the masters?'
'Yes.'
"'And the men inflict the punishment?' 'Yes.'
"'Not the overlookers?' 'Not in these instances.'
"'But how do you reconcile your statement with the fact that
the men have been the principal complainers of the cruelties
practised toward the children, and also the parties who are most
active in endeavouring to obtain for the children legislative
protection?' 'My statement is only fact. I do not profess to
reconcile the apparent inconsistency. The men are in some measure
forced by circumstances into the practice of that severity of
which I have spoken.'
"'Will you explain these circumstances?' 'The great object in a
cotton mill is to turn as much work off as possible, in order
to compensate by quantity for the smallness of the profit. To
that end every thing is made subservient. There are two classes
of superintendents in those establishments. The first class are
what are called managers, from their great power and authority.
Their especial business is to watch over the whole concern, and
constantly to attend to the quantity and quality of the yarn,
&c. turned off. To these individuals the second class, called
overlookers, are immediately responsible for whatever is amiss.
The business of overlookers is to attend to particular rooms and
classes of hands, for the individual conduct of which they are
held responsible. These individuals, in some mills, are paid in
proportion to the quantity of work turned off; in all, they are
made responsible for that quantity, as well as for the quality;
and as the speed of each particular machine is known, nothing
is more easy than to calculate the quantity which it ought to
produce. This quantity is the maximum; the minimum allowed is
the least possible deficiency, certain contingencies being
taken into account. In those mills in which the overlookers are
paid in proportion to the quantity of work turned off, interest
secures the closest attention to the conduct of every individual
under them; and in other mills, fear of losing their places
operates to produce the same effect. It is one continual system
of driving; and, in order to turn off as great a quantity of
work as is possible, the manager drives the overlookers, and
the overlookers drive the men. Every spinner knows that he must
turn off the average quantity of work which his wheels are
capable of producing, or lose his place if deficiencies are
often repeated; and consequently, the piecers and scavengers are
drilled, in their turns, to the severest attention. On their
constant attention, as well as his own, depends the quantity of
work done. So that it is not an exaggeration to say, that their
powers of labour are subjected to the severity of an undeviating
exaction. A working man is estimated in these establishments
in proportion to his physical capacity rather than his moral
character, and therefore it is not difficult to infer what must
be the consequences. It begets a system of debasing tyranny in
almost every department, the most demoralizing in its effects.
Kind words are godsends in many cotton factories, and oaths
and blows the usual order of the day. The carder must produce
the required quantity of drawing and roving; the spinner, the
required quantity of yarn; a system of overbearing tyranny is
adopted toward everybody under them; they are cursed into the
required degree of attention, and blows are resorted to with the
children when oaths fail, and sometimes even before an oath
has been tried. In short, the men must do work enough, or lose
their places. It is a question between losing their places and
the exercise of severity of discipline in all cases; between
starvation and positive cruelty, in many. There are exceptions,
but my conviction is that they are comparatively few indeed. To
me the whole system has always appeared one of tyranny."
Mr. Abraham Whitehead, clothier, of Scholes, near Holmfirth, examined
by Parliamentary Committee:—
"'What has been the treatment which you have observed that these
children have received at the mills, to keep them attentive for
so many hours, at so early ages?' 'They are generally cruelly
treated; so cruelly treated that they dare not, hardly for their
lives, be too late at their work in the morning. When I have
been at the mills in the winter season, when the children are at
work in the evening, the very first thing they inquire is, "What
o'clock is it?" If we should answer, "Seven," they say, "Only
seven! it is a great while to ten, but we must not give up till
ten o'clock, or past." They look so anxious to know what o'clock
it is that I am convinced the children are fatigued, and think
that, even at seven, they have worked too long. My heart has
been ready to bleed for them when I have seen them so fatigued,
for they appear in such a state of apathy and insensibility as
really not to know whether they are doing their work or not. They
usually throw a bunch of ten or twelve cordings across the hand,
and take one off at a time; but I have seen the bunch entirely
finished, and they have attempted to take off another, when they
have not had a cording at all; they have been so fatigued as not
to know whether they were at work or not.'
"'Do they frequently fall into errors and mistakes in piecing
when thus fatigued?' 'Yes; the errors they make when thus
fatigued are, that instead of placing the cording in this way,
(describing it,) they are apt to place them obliquely, and that
causes a flying, which makes bad yarn; and when the billy-spinner
sees that, he takes his strap, or the billy-roller, and says,
"Damn thee, close it; little devil, close it;" and they strike
the child with the strap or billy roller.'
"'You have noticed this in the after part of the day more
particularly?' 'It is a very difficult thing to go into a mill in
the latter part of the day, particularly in winter, and not to
hear some of the children crying for being beaten for this very
fault.'
"'How are they beaten?' 'That depends on the humanity of the
slubber or billy-spinner. Some have been beaten so violently that
they have lost their lives in consequence of being so beaten;
and even a young girl has had the end of a billy-roller jammed
through her cheek.'
"'What is the billy-roller?' 'A heavy rod of from two to three
yards long, and of two inches in diameter, and with an iron
pivot at each end. It runs on the top of the cording, over the
feeding-cloth. I have seen them take the billy-roller and rap
them on the head, making their heads crack so that you might have
heard the blow at a distance of six or eight yards, in spite of
the din and rolling of the machinery. Many have been knocked down
by the instrument. I knew a boy very well, of the name of Senior,
with whom I went to school; he was struck with a billy-roller
on the elbow; it occasioned a swelling; he was not able to work
more than three or four weeks after the blow; and he died in
consequence. There was a woman in Holmfirth who was beaten very
much: I am not quite certain whether on the head; and she lost
her life in consequence of being beaten with a billy-roller.
That which was produced (showing one) is not the largest size;
there are some a foot longer than that; it is the most common
instrument with which these poor little pieceners are beaten,
more commonly than with either stick or strap.'
"'How is it detached from the machinery?' 'Supposing this to be
the billy-frame, (describing it,) at each end there is a socket
open; the cording runs underneath here, just in this way, and
when the billy-spinner is angry, and sees the little piecener has
done wrong, he takes off this and says, "Damn thee, close it."'
"'You have seen the poor children in this situation?' 'I have
seen them frequently struck with the billy-roller; I have seen
one so struck as to occasion its death; but I once saw a piecener
struck in the face by a billy-spinner with his hand, until its
nose bled very much; and when I said, "Oh dear, I would not
suffer a child of mine to be treated thus," the man has said "How
the devil do you know but what he deserved it? What have you to
do with it?"'"
But the most complete evidence in regard to the slavery in the
factories was that given to the Parliamentary Committee, by a man
named Peter Smart, whose experience and observation as a slave and a
slave-driver in the factories of Scotland, enabled him to substantiate
all the charges made against the system. His history possesses the
deepest interest, and should be attentively perused:—
"'Where do you reside?' 'At Dundee.'
"'What age are you?' 'Twenty-seven.'
"'What is your business?' 'An overseer of a flax-mill.'
"'Have you worked in a mill from your youth?' 'Yes, since I was
five years of age.'
"'Had you a father and mother in the country at that time?' 'My
mother stopped in Perth, about eleven miles from the mill, and my
father was in the army.'
"'Were you hired for any length of time when you went?' 'Yes, my
mother got 15_s._ for six years, I having my meat and clothes.'
"'At whose mill?' 'Mr. Andrew Smith's, at Gateside.'
"'Is that in Fifeshire?' 'Yes.'
"'What were your hours of labour, do you recollect, in that
mill?' 'In the summer season we were very scarce of water.'
"'But when you had sufficient water, how long did you work?' 'We
began at four o'clock in the morning, and worked till ten or
eleven at night; as long as we could stand upon our feet.'
"'You hardly could keep up for that length of time?' 'No, we
often fell asleep.'
"'How were you kept to your work for that length of time; were
you chastised?' 'Yes, very often, and very severely.'
"'How long was this ago?' 'It is between twenty-one and
twenty-two years since I first went.'
"'Were you kept in the premises constantly?' 'Constantly.'
"'Locked up?' 'Yes, locked up.'
"'Night and day?' 'Night and day; I never went home while I was
at the mill.'
"'Was it possible to keep up your activity for such a length of
time as that?' 'No, it was impossible to do it; we often fell
asleep.'
"'Were not accidents then frequently occurring at that mill
from over-fatigue?' 'Yes, I got my hands injured there by the
machinery.'
"'Have you lost any of your fingers?' 'Yes, I have lost one, and
the other hand is very much injured.'
"'At what time of the night was that when your hands became thus
injured?' 'Twilight, between seven and eight o'clock.'
"'Do you attribute that accident to over-fatigue and drowsiness?'
'Yes, and to a want of knowledge of the machinery. I was only
five years old when I went to the mills, and I did not know the
use of the different parts of the machinery.'
"'Did you ever know any other accident happen in that mill?'
'Yes, there was a girl that fell off her stool when she was
piecing; she fell down and was killed on the spot.'
"'Was that considered by the hands in the mill to have been
occasioned by drowsiness and excessive fatigue?' 'Yes.'
"'How old were you at the time this took place?' 'I don't
know, for I have been so long in the mills that I have got no
education, and I have forgot the like of those things.'
"'Have you any recollection of what the opinions of the people in
the mill were at that time as to the cause of the accident?' 'I
heard the rest of them talking about it, and they said that it
was so. We had long stools that we sat upon then, old-fashioned;
we have no such things as those now.'
"'Is that the only accident that you have known to happen in that
mill?' 'There was a boy, shortly before I got my fingers hurt,
that had his fingers hurt in the same way that I had.'
"'Was there any other killed?' 'There was one killed, but I could
not say how it was; but she was killed in the machinery.'
"'Has any accident happened in that mill during the last twelve
years?' 'I could not say; it is twelve years since I left it.'
"'Is that mill going on still?' 'Yes.'
"'Speaking of the hours that you had to labour there, will you
state to this committee the effect it had upon you?' 'It had a
very great effect upon me; I was bad in my health.'
"'Were you frequently much beaten, in order to keep you up to
your labour?' 'Yes; very often beat till I was bloody at the
mouth and at the nose, by the overseer and master too.'
"'How did they beat you?' 'With their hands and with a leather
thong.'
"'Were the children, generally speaking, treated as you have
stated you were?' 'Yes; generally; there are generally fifteen
boys in one, and a number of girls in the other; they were kept
separately.'
"'You say you were locked up night and day?' 'Yes.'
"'Do the children ever attempt to run away?' 'Very often.'
"'Were they pursued and brought back again?' 'Yes, the overseer
pursued them, and brought them back.'
"'Did you ever attempt to run away?' 'Yes, I ran away twice.'
"'And you were brought back?' 'Yes; and I was sent up to the
master's loft, and thrashed with a whip for running away.'
"'Were you bound to this man?' 'Yes, for six years.'
"'By whom were you bound?' 'My mother got 15_s._ for the six
years.'
"'Do you know whether the children were, in point of fact,
compelled to stop during the whole time for which they were
engaged?' 'Yes, they were.'
"'By law?' 'I cannot say by law; but they were compelled by the
master; I never saw any law used there but the law of their own
hands.'
"'Does that practice of binding continue in Scotland now?' 'Not
in the place I am in.'
"'How long since it has ceased?' 'For the last two years there
has been no engagement in Dundee.'
"'Are they generally engagements from week to week, or from month
to month?' 'From month to month.'
"'Do you know whether a practice has prevailed of sending poor
children, who are orphans, from workhouses and hospitals to that
work?' 'There were fifteen, at the time I was there, came from
Edinburgh Poorhouse.'
"'Do you know what the Poorhouse in Edinburgh is?' 'It is just a
house for putting poor orphans in.'
"'Do you know the name of that establishment?' 'No.'
"'Do you happen to know that these fifteen came to the mill from
an establishment for the reception of poor orphans?' 'Yes.'
"'How many had you at the mill?' 'Fifteen.'
"'At what ages?' 'From 12 to 15.'
"'Were they treated in a similar manner to yourself?' 'Yes, we
were all treated alike; there was one treatment for all, from the
oldest to the youngest.'
"'Did not some of you attempt, not merely to get out of the
mill, but out of the country?' 'Yes; I have known some go down
to the boat at Dundee, in order to escape by that means, and the
overseer has caught them there, and brought them back again.'
"'Is there not a ferry there?' 'Yes.'
"'When persons disembark there, they may embark on the ferry?'
'Yes.'
"'Did your parents live in Dundee at this time?' 'No.'
"'Had you any friends at Dundee?' 'No.'
"'The fact is, that you had nobody that could protect you?' 'No,
I had no protection; the first three years I was at the mill I
never saw my mother at all; and when I got this accident with my
hand she never knew of it.'
"'Where did she reside at that time?' 'At Perth.'
"'You say that your master himself was in the habit of treating
you in the way you have mentioned?' 'Yes.'
"'Describe what the treatment was?' 'The treatment was very bad;
perhaps a box on the ear, or very frequently a kick with his
foot.'
"'Were you punished for falling asleep in that mill?' 'Yes, I
have got my licks for it, and been punished very severely for it.'
"'Where did you go to then?' 'I went to a mill in Argyleshire.'
"'How many years were you in this mill of Mr. Andrew Smith's, of
Gateside?' 'Eleven years.'
"'What age were you, when you went to this mill in Argyleshire?'
'About 16.'
"'You stated that you were bound to stay with Mr. Smith for six
years; how came you then to continue with him the remaining five
years?' 'At the end of those six years I got 3_l._ a year from my
master, and found my own clothes out of that.'
"'Were you then contented with your situation?' 'No, I cannot say
that I was; but I did not know any thing of any other business.'
"'You had not been instructed in any other business, and you did
not know where you could apply for a maintenance?' 'No.'
"'To whose mill did you then remove?' 'To Messrs. Duff, Taylor &
Co., at Ruthven, Forfarshire.'
"'What were your hours of labour there?' 'Fourteen hours.'
"'Exclusive of the time for meals and refreshment?' 'Yes.'
"'Was that a flax mill?' 'Yes.'
"'Did you work for that number of hours both winter and summer?'
'Yes, both winter and summer.'
"'How old were you at this time?' 'Sixteen.'
"'Are you aware whether any increase was made in the number of
hours of work, in the year 1819, by an agreement between the
masters and the workmen?' 'No, I cannot say as to that.'
"'You think there could not be much increase of your previous
labour, whatever agreement might have been made upon the
subject?' 'No, there could have been no increase made to that; it
was too long for that.'
"'Were the hands chastised up to their labour in that mill?'
'Yes.'
"'That was the practice there also?' 'Yes.'
"'Do you mean to state that you were treated with great cruelty
at the age of 16, and that you still remain in the mill?' 'I was
not beaten so severely as I was in Fifeshire.'
"'You were not so beaten as to induce you to leave that mill?'
'If I had left it, I did not know where to go.'
"'Did you try to get into any other occupation?' 'Yes, I went
apprentice to a flax-dresser at that time.'
"'What was the reason that you did not keep at it?' 'My hand was
so disabled, that it was found I was not able to follow that
business.'
"'You found you could not get your bread at that business?' 'Yes.'
"'Consequently, you were obliged to go back to the mills?' 'Yes.'
"'Was it the custom, when you were 16 years of age, for the
overseer to beat you?' 'Yes, the boys were often beaten very
severely in the mill.'
"'At this time you were hired for wages; how much had you?'
'Half-a-crown a week.'
"'And your maintenance?' 'No, I maintained myself.'
"'Is not that much lower than the wages now given to people of
sixteen years of age?' 'I have a boy about sixteen that has 4_s._
6_d._ a week, but he is in a high situation; he is oiler of the
machinery.'
"'Besides, you have been injured in your hand by the accident to
which you have alluded, and that probably might have interfered
with the amount of your wages?' 'Yes.'
"'What duty had you in the mill at this time, for the performance
of which you received 2_s._ 6_d._ a week, when you were at Duff,
Taylor & Co.'s?' 'I was a card-feeder.'
"'Did your hand prevent you working at that time as well as other
boys of the same age, in feeding the cards?' 'Yes, on the old
system; I was not able to feed with a stick at that time; it is
done away with now.'
"'How long did you stay there?' 'About fifteen months.'
"'How many hours did you work there?' 'Fourteen.'
"'Do you mean that you worked fourteen hours actual labour?'
'Yes.'
"'Was it a water-mill?' 'Yes.'
"'Were you ever short of water?' 'We had plenty of water.'
"'How long did you stop for dinner?' 'Half an hour.'
"'What time had you for breakfast, or for refreshment in the
afternoon?' 'We had no time for that.'
"'Did you eat your breakfast and dinner in the mill then?' 'No,
we went to the victualling house.'
"'Was that some building attached to the mill?' 'Yes, at a a
small distance from the mill.'
"'Was it provided for the purpose of the mill?' 'Yes, we got our
bread and water there.'
"'Did you sleep in a bothy at Duff & Taylor's?' 'Yes.'
"'Were you locked up in a bothy?' 'No.'
"'What is a bothy?' 'It is a house with beds all round.'
"'Is it not the practice for farm-servants, and others, who are
unmarried, to sleep in such places?' 'I could not say as to that;
I am not acquainted with the farm system.'
"'To what mill did you next go?' 'To Mr. Webster's, at Battus
Den, within eleven miles of Dundee.'
"'In what situation did you act there?' 'I acted as an overseer.'
"'At 17 years of age?' 'Yes.'
"'Did you inflict the same punishment that you yourself had
experienced?' 'I went as an overseer; not as a slave, but as a
slave-driver.'
"'What were the hours of labour in that mill?' 'My master told
me that I had to produce a certain quantity of yarn; the hours
were at that time fourteen; I said that I was not able to produce
the quantity of yarn that was required; I told him if he took
the timepiece out of the mill I would produce that quantity, and
after that time I found no difficulty in producing the quantity.'
"'How long have you worked per day in order to produce the
quantity your master required?' 'I have wrought nineteen hours.'
"'Was this a water-mill?' 'Yes, water and steam both.'
"'To what time have you worked?' 'I have seen the mill going till
it was past 12 o'clock on the Saturday night.'
"'So that the mill was still working on the Sabbath morning.'
'Yes.'
"'Were the workmen paid by the piece, or by the day?' 'No, all
had stated wages.'
"'Did not that almost compel you to use great severity to the
hands then under you?' 'Yes; I was compelled often to beat them,
in order to get them to attend to their work, from their being
overwrought.'
"'Were not the children exceedingly fatigued at that time?' 'Yes,
exceedingly fatigued.'
"'Were the children bound in the same way in that mill?' 'No;
they were bound from one year's end to another, for twelve
months.'
"'Did you keep the hands locked up in the same way in that mill?'
'Yes, we locked up the mill; but we did not lock the bothy.'
"'Did you find that the children were unable to pursue their
labour properly to that extent?' 'Yes; they have been brought to
that condition, that I have gone and fetched up the doctor to
them, to see what was the matter with them, and to know whether
they were able to rise, or not able to rise; they were not at all
able to rise; we have had great difficulty in getting them up.'
"'When that was the case, how long have they been in bed,
generally speaking?' 'Perhaps not above four or five hours in
their beds. Sometimes we were very ill-plagued by men coming
about the females' bothy.'
"'Were your hands principally girls?' 'Girls and boys all
together; we had only a very few boys.'
"'Did the boys sleep in the girls' bothy?' 'Yes, all together.'
"'Do you mean to say that there was only one bothy for the girls
and for the boys who worked there?' 'Yes.'
"'What age were those girls and boys?' 'We had them from 8 to 20
years of age; and the boys were from 10 to 14, or thereabouts.'
"'You spoke of men who came about the bothy; did the girls expect
them?' 'Yes; of course they had their sweethearts.'
"'Did they go into the bothy?' 'Yes; and once I got a sore
beating from one of them, for ordering him out of the bothy.'
"'How long were you in that mill?' 'Three years and nine months.'
"'And where did you go to next?' 'To Messrs. Anderson & Company,
at Moneyfieth, about six miles from Dundee.'
"'What were your hours of labour there?' 'Fifteen hours.'
"'Exclusive of the hour for refreshment?' 'Yes; we seldom stopped
for refreshment there.'
"'You worked without any intermission at all, frequently?' 'Yes;
we made a turn-about.'
"'Explain what you mean by a turn-about?' 'We let them out by
turns in the days.'
"'How long did you let one go out?' 'Just as short a time as they
could have to take their victuals in.'
"'What were the ages of the children principally employed in that
place?' 'From about 12 to 20; they were all girls that I had
there, except one boy, and I think he was 8 years of age.'
"'Was this a flax-mill?' 'Yes, all flax.'
"'Did you find that the children there were exceedingly
distressed with their work?' 'Yes; for the mill being in the
country, we were very scarce of workers, and the master often
came out and compelled them by flattery to go and work half the
night after their day's labour, and then they had only the other
half to sleep.'
"'You mean that the master induced them by offering them extra
wages to go to work half the night?' 'Yes.'
"'Was that very prejudicial to the girls so employed?' 'Yes; I
have seen some girls that were working half the night, that have
fainted and fallen down at their work, and have had to be carried
out.'
"'Did you use severity in that mill?' 'No, I was not very severe
there.'
"'You find, perhaps, that the girls do not require that severity
that the boys do?' 'Yes.'
"'How large was that mill?' 'There were only eighteen of us
altogether.'
"'From what you have seen, should you say that the treatment of
the children and the hours of labour are worse in the small or in
the large mills?' 'I could not answer that question.'
"'Have you ever been in any large mill?' 'Yes, I am in one just
now, Mr. Baxter's.'
"'Is the treatment of the children better in that large mill than
in the smaller mills in which you have been usually?' 'There is
little difference; the treatment is all one.'
"'To whose mill did you next go?' 'To Messrs. Baxter & Brothers,
at Dundee.'
"'State the hours of labour which you worked when you were there,
when trade was brisk?' 'Thirteen hours and twenty minutes.'
"'What time was allowed for meals?' 'Fifty minutes each day.'
"'Have you found that the system is getting any better now?' 'No,
the system is getting no better with us.'
"'Is there as much beating as there was?' 'There is not so much
in the licking way.'
"'But it is not entirely abolished, the system of chastisement?'
'No, it is far from that.'
"'Do you think that, where young children are employed, that
system ought, or can be, entirely dispensed with, of giving
some chastisement to the children of that age?' 'They would not
require chastisement if they had shorter daily work.'
"'Do you mean to state that they are only chastised because
through weariness they are unable to attend to their work, and
that they are not chastised for other faults and carelessness as
well?' 'There may be other causes besides, but weariness is the
principal fault.'
"'Does not that over-labour induce that weariness and incapacity
to do the work, which brings upon them chastisement at other
parts of the day as well as in the evening?' 'Yes; young girls,
if their work go wrong, if they see me going round, and my
countenance with the least frown upon it, they will begin crying
when I go by.'
"'Then they live in a state of perpetual alarm and suffering?'
'Yes.'
"'Do you think that those children are healthy?' 'No, they are
far from that; I have two girls that have been under me these
two years; the one is 13 years, the other 15, and they are both
orphans and sisters, and both one size, and they very seldom are
working together, because the one or the other is generally ill;
and they are working for 3_s._ 6_d._ a week.'
"'Have you the same system of locking up now?' 'Yes, locking up
all day.'
"'Are they locked up at night?' 'No; after they have left their
work we have nothing more to do with them.'
"'What time do they leave their work in the evening now?' 'About
20 minutes past 7.'
"'What time do they go to it in the morning?' 'Five minutes
before 5.'
"'Do you conceive that that is at all consistent with the health
of those children?' 'It is certainly very greatly against their
health.'
"'Is not the flax-spinning business in itself very unwholesome?'
'Very unwholesome.'
So much for the slavery of the factories—a slavery which destroys
human beings, body and soul. The fate of the helpless children
condemned to such protracted, exhausting toil, under such demoralizing
influences, with the lash constantly impending over them, and no
alternative but starvation, is enough to excite the tears of all
humane persons. That such a system should be tolerated in a land
where a Christian church is a part of the government, is indeed
remarkable—proving how greatly men are disinclined to practise what
they profess.
We cannot close this chapter upon the British factories without making
a quotation from a work which, we fear, has been too little read in
the United Kingdom—a fiction merely in construction, a truthful
narrative in fact. We allude to "The Life and Adventures of Michael
Armstrong, the Factory Boy," by Frances Trollope. Copious editions of
this heart-rending story should be immediately issued by the British
publishers. This passage, describing the visit of Michael Armstrong
to the cotton factory, in company with Sir Matthew Dowling and Dr.
Crockley, is drawn to the life:—
"The party entered the building, whence—as all know who have
done the like—every sight, every sound, every scent that kind
nature has fitted to the organs of her children, so as to render
the mere unfettered use of them a delight, are banished for ever
and for ever. The ceaseless whirring of a million hissing wheels
seizes on the tortured ear; and while threatening to destroy
the delicate sense, seems bent on proving first, with a sort
of mocking mercy, of how much suffering it can be the cause.
The scents that reek around, from oil, tainted water, and human
filth, with that last worst nausea arising from the hot refuse of
atmospheric air, left by some hundred pairs of labouring lungs,
render the act of breathing a process of difficulty, disgust, and
pain. All this is terrible. But what the eye brings home to the
heart of those who look round upon the horrid earthly hell, is
enough to make it all forgotten; for who can think of villanous
smells, or heed the suffering of the ear-racking sounds, while
they look upon hundreds of helpless children, divested of every
trace of health, of joyousness, and even of youth! Assuredly
there is no exaggeration in this; for except only in their
diminutive size, these suffering infants have no trace of it.
Lean and distorted limbs, sallow and sunken cheeks, dim hollow
eyes, that speak unrest and most unnatural carefulness, give to
each tiny, trembling, unelastic form, a look of hideous premature
old age.
"But in the room they entered, the dirty, ragged, miserable
crew were all in active performance of their various tasks; the
overlookers, strap in hand, on the alert; the whirling spindles
urging the little slaves who waited on them to movements as
unceasing as their own; and the whole monstrous chamber redolent
of all the various impurities that 'by the perfection of our
manufacturing system' are converted into 'gales of Araby' for
the rich, after passing, in the shape of certain poison, through
the lungs of the poor. So Sir Matthew proudly looked about him
and approved; and though it was athwart that species of haughty
frown in which such dignity as his is apt to clothe itself, Dr.
Crockley failed not to perceive that his friend and patron was
in good humour, and likely to be pleased by any light and lively
jestings in which he might indulge. Perceiving, therefore, that
little Michael passed on with downcast eyes, unrecognised by any,
he wrote upon a slip of paper, for he knew his voice could not be
heard—'Make the boy take that bare-legged scavenger wench round
the neck, and give her a kiss while she is next lying down, and
let us see them sprawling together.'
"Sir Matthew read the scroll, and grinned applause.
"The miserable creature to whom the facetious doctor pointed, was
a little girl about seven years old, whose office as 'scavenger'
was to collect incessantly, from the machinery and from the
floor, the flying fragments of cotton that might impede the work.
In the performance of this duty, the child was obliged, from time
to time, to stretch itself with sudden quickness on the ground,
while the hissing machinery passed over her; and when this is
skilfully done, and the head, body, and outstretched limbs
carefully glued to the floor, the steady-moving but threatening
mass may pass and repass over the dizzy head and trembling body
without touching it. But accidents frequently occur; and many are
the flaxen locks rudely torn from infant heads, in the process.
"It was a sort of vague hope that something comical of this kind
might occur, which induced Dr. Crockley to propose this frolic to
his friend, and probably the same idea suggested itself to Sir
Matthew likewise.
"'I say, Master Michael!' vociferated the knight, in a scream
which successfully struggled with the din, 'show your old
acquaintance that pride has not got the upper hand of you in
your fine clothes. Take scavenger No. 3, there, round the neck;
now—now—now, as she lies sprawling, and let us see you give her
a hearty kiss.'
"The stern and steady machinery moved onward, passing over the
body of the little girl, who owed her safety to the miserable
leanness of her shrunken frame; but Michael moved not.
"'Are you deaf, you little vermin?' roared Sir Matthew. 'Now
she's down again. Do what I bid you, or, by the living God, you
shall smart for it!'
"Still Michael did not stir, neither did he speak; or if he
did, his young voice was wholly inaudible, and the anger of Sir
Matthew was demonstrated by a clenched fist and threatening brow.
'Where the devil is Parsons?' he demanded, in accents that poor
Michael both heard and understood. 'Fine as he is, the strap will
do him good.'
"In saying this, the great man turned to reconnoitre the space
he had traversed, and by which his confidential servant must
approach, and found that he was already within a good yard of him.
"'That's good—I want you, Parsons. Do you see this little
rebel here, that I have dressed and treated like one of my own
children? What d'ye think of his refusing to kiss Miss No. 3,
scavenger, when I bid him?'
"'The devil he does?' said the manager, grinning: 'we must see if
we can't mend that. Mind your hits, Master Piecer, and salute the
young lady when the mules go back, like a gentleman.'
"Sir Matthew perceived that his favourite agent feared to enforce
his first brutal command, and was forced, therefore, to content
himself with seeing the oiled and grimy face of the filthy little
girl in contact with that of the now clean and delicate-looking
Michael. But he felt he had been foiled, and cast a glance upon
his _protégé_, which seemed to promise that he would not forget
it."
Nor is the delineation, in the following verses, by Francis M. Blake,
less truthful and touching:—
THE FACTORY CHILD.
Early one winter's morning,
The weather wet and wild,
Some hours before the dawning,
A father call'd his child;
Her daily morsel bringing,
The darksome room he paced,
And cried, "The bell is ringing—
My hapless darling, haste."
"Father, I'm up, but weary,
I scarce can reach the door,
And long the way and dreary—
Oh, carry me once more!
To help us we've no mother,
To live how hard we try—
They kill'd my little brother—
Like him I'll work and die!"
His feeble arms they bore her,
The storm was loud and wild—
God of the poor man, hear him!
He prays, "Oh, save my child!"
Her wasted form seem'd nothing—
The load was in his heart;
The sufferer he kept soothing,
Till at the mill they part.
The overlooker met her,
As to the frame she crept,
And with the thong he beat her,
And cursed her as she wept.
Alas! what hours of horror
Made up her latest day!
In toil, and pain, and sorrow,
They slowly pass'd away.
It seem'd, as she grew weaker,
The threads the oftener broke,
The rapid wheels ran quicker,
And heavier fell the stroke.
The sun had long descended,
But night brought no repose:
_Her_ day began and ended
As her task-masters chose.
Then to her little neighbour
Her only cent she paid,
To take her last hour's labour,
While by her frame she laid.
At last, the engine ceasing,
The captives homeward flee,
One thought her strength increasing—
Her parent soon to see.
She left, but oft she tarried,
She fell, and rose no more,
But by her comrades carried,
She reach'd her father's door.
All night with tortured feeling,
He watch'd his speechless child;
While close beside her kneeling,
She knew him not, nor smiled.
Again the loud bell's ringing,
Her last perceptions tried,
When, from her straw bed springing,
"'Tis time!" she shriek'd, and—died.
That night a chariot pass'd her,
While on the ground she lay,
The daughters of her master
An evening visit pay;
Their tender hearts were sighing,
As negro wrongs were told,
While the white slave was dying,
Who gain'd their father's gold!