Morning journal and courier., 1890-01-31
THE WEAVER.
Life Among tho Looms.
From the New York Tribune.1

From the New York Tribune.1
cat the top of my professions" said the
tired looking woman, as she nipped with her
picker at the knot that had appeared on the
smooth silken surface before her; "I should
hope so, after working in this very factory
for half lifetime. was put to minding
loom when I was that email had to. be
hustled out of sight when the Inspectors
came around, looking after unlawful child
labor, and here am still, that have child
of my own big enough to wash our rags and
cook our bit of dinner. I thought, when I
married, that had left the factory behind
me, but my old mans work ain,t steady, and
there's four mouths to feed at home, and
don't understand no kind of work except
weaving. It comes hard though, at my time
of life, to be at that door yonder, summer or
winter, rain or shine, when the seven O'Clock
whistle blows in the morning or else be
locked out. Long houra? Yes, as long %
the law allows, and twenty minutes longer.
Here stand, bothering with this warp, from
seven o'clock till twelve, and then from
twenty minutes to one till six. If was to
stop long enough to go to that sink yonder
and wash my hands I'd be fined dollar.
The boss has to be strict on account of the
loafers. You see that girl across the alleyi
She is looking as mad az wet hen, and no
wonder, for the last time the superintendent
came round he caught her reading the Fire
side Companion and fined her . dollar for
it. Another was caught doing up her hair
that had fell down, and she was fined too.
We come here to work, you had better be-
| lieve that. Benches to sit on when we are
| tireds Not much! There is only one facto-
| ry boss in New York city who is Christian
| enough to have benches at his looms, and he
| ia Jew. Crowded for room! should say
was. The girl that stands back to back
with me fshe is gone off now to speak to the
Ioom-fxer), well, that girl has on ragged
calico skirt and an apron that looks as If she
had been wiping the stove with it, but for
all that my lady needs wear hustle as big
as bushel, and it takes up 30 much room
that cannot move without jamming against
it.
'sHow much do earn weeka Well, that
depends on the loom and the goods. We are
not paid by the week, but by the cuts, as we
take them off. cut is sixty yards, and
there are four cuts to warp. When the
warp il ont the weaver goes home and waits,
sometimes two days, sometimes week, for
new warp to be put in. For satin We are
paid seven cents yard; for the best JAG
guard elk fourteen cents. A drst-rate
weaver can do her twelve yards day II the
loom is in good running order, but there's
where the trouble comes in; one thing or an
other will get out of gear about loom, and
that keeps one back. The loom-fxers can't
be everywhere at once, if they wanted to be,
and some of 'em don't want to do anything
more than they can help. They'd rather
loaf around and talk and laugh with the
girls. There's many weaver here that
don't earn five dollars week. A good many
of 'em earns about six, and some few may go
ss high as ten. If they were smart enough
koo khoy,k kI,oh~ h0 oY1f
down right away.
Chow do like my companys Well, I
don't say nothing against the weavers in this
alley. They'll all lie like fury, but they are
good respectable girls, and if there was no.
body here but them I could leave my apron,
or my shoulder-shawl, or even my shoes un-
der my loom at night aad expect to hnd 'em
here in the morning; but with them THEW
ing divils at the far end of the room 1t amt
safe to leave nothing around that they can
lay hands on. They would steal the eyes ont
of your head If they could do it without be-
ing caught. No, it amt strange that such
girls should be employed in respectable
factory; it is the respectable factory that
helps to make 'em what they are. Lots of
them girls don't live with their own folks
in fact they amt got no folks of their own
to live with-and what one of them could
pay her board and dress decent on four doll
lars weeka The folks they live with are
poor like themselves and can't afford to keep
'em for nothing. Drink Yes, some of 'em
drink like fishes. It's in the blood and they
can't help 1t. There was girl here yester-
day 80 drunk that she couldn't do q stroke of
work all day long. She was paid for her cut
the evening before. and that was what allied
her. She is good weaver when sober, and
so the superintendent took care not to see
her as she stood jerking her loom this way
and that way all day long. She is sleeping
off her drunk to day, and to morrow she will
be here without penny in her pocket, and
the girls will sll be poking fun at her, for
that seems to be the way with women; they
are an awful lot, harder on one another than
men are.
"Swear9 Ny, yes! Some of 'em can't
open their mouths without swear words COM
ing out! I'll tell you just how it is. You
know that one rotten apple will, Ia time, rot
q bssketful. Well, there may be whole lot
| of respectable young girls, none Of 'em over
| seventeen, working together, and behaving
| Just as we'll as you could ask; then another
sort of girl, older than the rest, will come
In, and If she is soeiable in her manners,
and sort o. styl lish in her dress. them young
ones will do Just what she does, and end by
becoming as bad as she is. No care taken tc
keep such creatures out! There's no care
taken to keep anybody out that can mind 9
loom. The girls amt even known by name
in the Office, but are called by the numberi
on their looms, and the only notice the bosi
takes of us when he comes down is to show
us aside If We happen to get in his way as h'
passes along the alley. He has made for
tune out of his looms, but the weavers. nm
less they are steam engines. have all they
l y L. Al knrva St1arO