Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-28
THE CHAINMAKERS
Quick-Striking Hammers of Women
 Workers at the Anvil.

Bradley Heath, from Bradley, from | Quarry Bank, from Lye, and Stour- bridge, and from the rest of the sur | rounding towns.
 l The wind carries to the ear the sound of quick-striking hammers. You
 will hear the dull hammer-thud as the hammer pounds the metal just soft from the fire. You will hear the ham,
 ner-thud getting sharper and sharper, as the metal hardens on the point of the anvil, till in the end the thud has changed to a bright-sounding, ringing
 blow. And you will hear voices l voices clear and bright of sound The
 workers in iroa are singing at their anyils. Their voices mingle with the l quick blows of hammers You hear 1 voices and hammer blows and the faint driving swish of bellows bringing up ! the heat from the fires. Tn the air IS l the sharp healthful smell of iron. ! You are here in the midst of forges i extending out and around for miles l and miles. The forge is fine place. 1 Tn it are bred men. It brings out to the. full the strength and heft and pow l CT of the body. And you are here in l the country of the forge where iron is
 beaten and welded and put into shape. | Before you as you walk along the fire of forge is shining. As you approach l the swish of the bellows loses it's faint l ness, and the blows of the hammers
 become louder and louder and the fires ] become brighter and brighter. And
 here is the forge and here are the workers They are women
 Women making chain.
 | Miles and miles of chain. It is made 1 link by link, link by link-and the work l goes on from day to day, from week to
 week, from year to year, from genera tion to generation. 1t is as if all the chain of the world was made in this
 country of smoke and fire and darkness This black place. This tremendous far-spreading of forge. This vast smithy wherein women hammer and
 beat and weld iron. Wherein women
 forge chains for England. Wherein women forge chains for themselves and for their children and for their child
 ren's children.
 Link by link. On the work goes.
 Link by fink Hear the surrounding
 sound of the striking hammers.
 You hear 1t from the distance-you 14 1 lit Is before you it is around you.
 An aIl-surrounding. strange sound. A
 sound that has enclosed within 1t curious inner sound. A soul-sound full of sadness and tragedy. It underlies the loud mingling ring of hammers. II Is beneath the bright, clear, sharp, o1a t. CT sounds This mournful soJil-sound It is as dirge. Nay, it is q dirge.
 The dirge of the Womanhood of Eng fish women.
 Making chain Hammering, beating welding iron all through the day and
 into the darkness. 1t is "a strange task for one whose place isf6fae home A
 strange task for the woman whose place 1t is to bring children into the world and to tend them and care for them. The forge is a strange place for the mother-the woman.
 Here is an old. bent, gray-haired
 woman making chain. Her hammer quickly beats and bends the white-hot iron into shape. Tn moment she has finished and closed up the weld, and
 another link is added to the long chain that lies in a heap by the side of the lit tie forge where she is working. She turns to the fire, and as she turns the
 end of the chain falls on the heap with
 a dull rattle
 With the old, bent, gray-haired wo-
 man are working her daughter and
 granddaughter Three general tions.
 Here in forge farther on is a little boy. He is no more than 12 years old,
 and he is sitting upon the cfnders with l in foot of the fire where his mother is
 working The mother keeps an eye on her boy as she works quickly at the anvil He is too little to be left by himself at home, and so she must keep l him here. She must watch him and l keep guard over him as she works here at the forge. She must rear him and tend him and still she must make chain. The little boy is half ! asleep as he sits by the glare of the forge. It is near to s o'clock at night,
 and it is time that he was in bed. But I his mother must still work on.
 Here a girl is working in forge,
 Her left hand grasps the handle of the bellows as she blows the fire up to a | white heat. She is a good-looking girl l and a young man stands near her,
 talking to her as she works One can 1 not hear what. he is saying to her be | cause or the SOullu lIOul tue DIOWS OA l the hammer; but the light from the
 forges shines in her face. And the ex-
 pression of her face tells as plain as
 words could tell that she is listening tC l the old story-the beautiful old story 1 that is ever new He is making love
 to her. He also makes chain, but he | has stopped work some hours before | and he has come to see his girl She 1 must work on till 8 o'clock. After
 that she will be free to go for a walk T with him.
 The wise and good men who make the laws of England have considera tion for the women who make chain
 They realize that housework must bt
 done, and that children must some how
 be looked after, and so they have beer generous enough to allow the woman 2 l chance to do mans work at the forge
 and at the same time to do a woman's
 work at home. She can work up to o'clock at night. She is thus given z
 chance to earn money through the con
 sideration and the generousity of the