The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-10-14
THE FACTORY LASSES
SKETCHES OF THEIR LIVES IN. THE
GREAT LANCASHIRE MILLS.


Owners for the Recreation of Their
Employees-How the Girls Dress and
/ Conduct Themselves.
For the recreation of their hands mills
have no provision whatever-as rule,
that is. There are few exceptions.
and only few. Unique certainly are
the Oxford mills at Ashton-under-Ly Lyme,
in connection with which the late Mr..
Hugh Mason founded a little colony.
For outdoor sports there is large play
ground, with swings, etc., and bowl
ing green attached. When the weather
is unfavorable the hands can go to the
recreation rooms. On the ground floor
of these is reading room literally sup
piled with newspapers and periodicals,
and having a library of 700 volumes.
A coffee room leads off it, and from
that again the baths are reached. Up
stairs is large lecture room fitted with
desks and with a platform at the end.
Busts of great men are on pedestals
round the walls. Scott and Burns are
in niche together, as is fitting, and
near them are Homer, Shakespeare
Dante and Milton. Michael Angelo
looks at Raphael, Bright and Golden.
Newton and Watt, Franklin and Wash
ington-all are there; and at intervals
there are also hung portraits of in
ventors and improvers of cotton ma
chinery. In connection with these rooms
there is a good brass band. Sewing and
other classes, too, are held, while during
the winter months concerts and lee
lures are of frequent occurrence. Of
all this it should be noted Messrs.
Thomas Mason & Son defray the ex-
penses.
From other portions of the district we
take the following. The secretary of a
cotton operative spinners' association is
stated to have said:
ANY girl who wants work can have
it in the mills. That labor market is
never overstocked. At the present time,
particularly in the spinning department,
some firms are shorthanded. Nowadays
many girls in Manchester do not care to
go into the mills; they would rather
work in the warehouses and shops"
There has been an improvement in
the 10. of the factory workers." asked
the interviewer.
Eyes, replied the secretary, sin every
way; wages are higher, hours shorter.
But, mind you, hands have to work
harder while they are at il, because the
machinery runs faster and they have
to look after more of il. Why, in my
young days weaver tended only two
looms. now she tends four"
Throstle spinners, the writer adds,
work with as little clothing as possible
and generally in their bare feet, though
some wear slippers. Cardroom hands
wear straight pinafores, cut away at the
neck and with short sleeves The dis
tinctive parts of the mill girls dress are
clogs on the feet and small shawl
handkerchief. they are called-on the
shoulders.
Weavers, though there is nothing pc
culiar about their dress, can generally
be distinguished from other factory
girls. They have personal trade mark
their front teeth are often bad, and
besides many of them have at times a
peculiar gesture. Drawing IN the breath
to suck weft through shuttle causes
the teeth to decay. The mannerism is
similarly explained.
In weaving shed the noise is deafen-
ing You cannot hear your own voice.
So the weavers attract one another's at
tention by shrill "Whoo!" and con-
verse by means of signs and by watch
ing the movements of the lips. They
are so proficient in labiomancy that they
can follow private conversation any
where if they can see the speakers faces
This circumstance explains common
observation that is otherwise enigmati-
cal, Mind what tha'rt sayin'" one
gossip will remark to another, glancing
suspiciously at the object of their talk,
ZOOS wayver."
Some mill girls never do any house
work; their ignorance in which branch
of female education is consequently
colossal. Hundreds cannot make pud-
ding or pie for the life of them, and
the writer has heard of lass putting a
rabbit in dish whole and making
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 rule, too. the lasses are in every
way respectable. When a factory lass
and her sweetheart go off on trip or
take a week at Blackpool or Southport or
the Isle of Man, as often as not she pays
the expenses. She it is who in due course
buys the furniture-aye, and perhaps
the ring and all the rest. Whether she
will stand treat in this or not, the four
loom weaver need never remain single
Among factory girls she corresponds to
the heiress Of ordinary life, and as such
has no difficulty in obtaining husband.
When offsprings become old enough
they are sent to the mill, as their parents
were before them. The typical Lanca-
shire woman does not like the idea of
their aiming higher. AS they soon re-
ceive COOL wages their parents are rap
idly placed in comfortable circumstances
more comfortable than they ever knew
perhaps. This state is the factory oper-
atives' summum bonum-the position
beyond which he or she very rarely goes.
-Cassell's Journal.