The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-08-29
WOMAN At THE ANVIL.

4 correspondent of the PdU lfuU Ga
zettc writing from ROwley Regis-a Ian
cashire villaGe-thus describes one of the
strange sights Of that district:
I came here to inquire for myself how
much it would cost to deliver one e-hundred
tons Of coal month by the Rowley COlliery
Company at two or three given localities
within a distance of ten miles, and having
satisfied myself on that point, much to my
pleasure / continued my walk from the coal
pit up through the fields to Rowley Old
Church. / came to place called Bell End,
which is apparently new part of the ola
village. Though n small window l obser-
we'd a female head bobbing up and down !;
soon l heard the sound of a hammer and
never having seen any rivet-making done by
human hands, l threaded my way through
some brick passages until / came to the lit
tie smithy where Alice was at work.
This was the name by which her father call
ed her, whom ! met on my way, and to
whom / am indebted for the following re-
markable piece of knowledge Alice, l may
say, was a young wife engaged in blowing
the bellows, heating a piece of iron in a
"gleed" forge aud producing rivets from an
anvil at the rate of three thousand a day
For this manual labor Alice, her father pro-
Ceeded to tell me in her presence, gets from
the warehouse Is sd, out of which she had
to pay for wear and tear of tools Id, carri-
age Id. and q like sum for gieeds, a kind of
small coke made expressly for nail and riv-
ct fUrges. On Monday she does her washing
Saturday her cleaning up, so that she only
works at riyets four days in the week, and
her gross earnings, therefore, amount to As.
Od. for forging >, 600 rive:s. l have said no.
thing Of rent which Alice would pay and
might amount to one shilling week. She
was sedate young woman, well spoken,
with very fair hair aud a low, sweet voice
John Price (Alice 5 father) then. at my re.
quest, took me to see bis neighbo-s Edward
and PHYLLIS ffTOmgng who lived and work
ed at making nails close by. Phyllis is a
handsome woman, with beautiful white
teeth and abundance Of flesh, which Rubens
might have painted, it is so plentiful and
rosy. This woman was forging large nails
and the manner in which she made n nail
with point and head an inch and half
in circumference fly of piece of hot iron
was marvellous to behold. She works from
eight o'clock in the morning until nine at
night, and in four days will forge fifty-four
pound weigh: Of ciout nails, for which she
will receive the wo1drOus price of So. 81 .
ont of which she Las TO pay 5d. for gleeGs
and 2d. for tools. Her husband works "as
hard rs he can drive" from six o. clock in the
morning until eleven night, and his
weeks wages amount to 12s., from which
tenpence for gleeds and fourpen ce for tools
Wi. have to be deducted, TO say nothing of
rent. Edward TrOmans was only forty-three
years old, but looked much Eearer seventy
Two other young woman were hammerinp
away at rivets in company with Phyllis and
never, as long as l live, shall 1 forget that
little snithy. I once travelled many miles
to see ''Nulcan's Forge, by Velasquiz, but
there was in tn a; famous picture no figure
equal to that of Phyllis Tromens, and shall
remember Phyllis to the day Of my dealh.
That such woman should be slaving in
soOt-blOwinE bellows, now with her feft
and then welding a hammer with her right
hand-forging clout nails for twelve hours a
day, in order to earn less that forty pence a
week, is phenomenon that never would
have believed possible in England, if 1 had
not seen il.