The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-20

in equal numbers. ur.women were
at work making a chain in one shop,
each at forge. One woman weighed
22S pounds she Is 40 years old, and has
had 10 children, of whom five are now
living. Three of these children work
with her in the shops, and her husband
is at the furnace, He gets So. per day
for his labor. She gets As. per week.
The entire family work from seven till
seven. While | was in the shop she
forged for me back chain, similar to
those used for truck horses to hold up
the shafts, and she told me that she got
~ pence for it. That was the highest
price she ever got, l bought another
chain of her, eight feet long, which |
now have with me. and for which she
gets one penny for making, 1t takes
her one hour TO make it. Her daughter
Anna makes small rivets and she works
an oliver with her foot and hammer in
her hand. She makes a shilling day.
The son of this woman makes a chain
that weighs 224 pounds and gets two
sbillings eight pence for it. He pays
out of the amount six pence for boy to
blow the bellows. The wOman's name
is Fowkes, and she lives in Gray's lane
her house adjoining the shop. She pays
six shilings rent for it. | asked her
what the family usually had for break
fast. She said 1 eat bread, bacon and
tea | asked her if she usually had meat,
and all four of them crowded around me
and laughed. No sir, she said, and
am sorry enough to confess it. | have
the same for dinner as for breakfast
except that get a half pint of beer il |
can afford it, For supper we have neith-
er bacon nor meat, but simply bread
and tea. | have worked 30 years at this
business
"Anotuer snop near by had four fur
naces. a young woman, probably %,
was making a chain at one OF the forges,
She says that she can make Cd, per day
on that pay. She declined to say how
she managed to live on that pay. Two
men and a boy tell me in another shop
that they make thousand weight of
chain between them in week and re-
ceive s.. a.. for the work. One man
who makes block chain that is used in
pulleys says that he works ~ hours a
day and has 1Ss. or POS. left on Saturday
after paying his coal boy, He pays 5s.
for his rent
I'm yard abutting on the same street
is a shop in which found man and
his three children at work, while the
wife was at the door taking caro- of the
other seven that made up their off pring
He was laborinE as if he were pulling to
some foreign shore, and with his unbut
toned shirt exposing his thin frame h.
seemed q perfect skeleton. While he
swung big hammer son stood on one
side OF him and daughter on the other
both helping in the work. The three Of
them, working together every day al
this forge until after dark, have aver
aged 2S shillings a week, The mans
name is Omer. lie has struggled for
46 years at this forge. And for what =?
Let him tell it in his own words.
quote : L can ct meat once day since
my children are grown. l generally
have it at dinner, and on holidays
have mutton. Bread and butter and tea
are all that have for breakfast and sup
per- pay five shillinGs rent per week.
A half q century of toll and this is the
reward ~.
Samuel Watts is the name of this
mans next door ncigh6oT, aud by work
ing 10 hours day--sometimes longer
he nets IS shilllngs at the end of the
week. His Oldest child, just reached 10,
is making a shilling for every 1G hours
OF work that his tiny little frame can
pull through. Watts has toiled in this
shop for 2S years, and his reward is a
suit of clothes for himself for Sunday,
but none for his children. Sometimes
he can afford two pence for q quart of
beer, but he tells me that il be averages
pint week throughout the year he is
content. Sometimes he has meat, too
which is a luxury not within the reach
of all his kind, but he pays up for this
extravaganza by using lard, instead OF
butter, on his bread.
john Woodward and his wife work
together at the forge. The woman
made for me dog chain and said that
she got one penny three farthings for
her labor. 1t takes her 40 minutes to
make it. have carried this chain back
with me to America, as well as two
others made by women"