The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-02-04
PHASES OF FACTORY LIFE.
ERROR IN THE IDEA THAT ITIS
ALTOGETHER GLooAK

Eezszo6us Incidents Related by an
English LaBOrer-The Weaver who
Reminded One Of Bottom in HMid-
summer Nights Drenm.-Mistakes
Over Dialect WOrds-How the Work.
ers Once Won victory.
People who imagine that factory life
is all gloom make great mistake. But
every class has its own brand of non
sense, and ours was delighted some
times with even the poorest excuses for
laughter.
In the factory where worked for
many years malapropisms yielded an
unfailing supply of merriment- We
had manager who was possessed Of a
decided leaning towards using words
of learned, strength and laundering
sound Some strong language used 10
him by his Majesty's inspector of
factories on the occasion of an un-
worthy of, the INSPECTORS 'dignitary."
He would talk about the Estate Of the
atmospheric air." enlarge on certain
things which he said were essentially
necessary discourse learnedly on the
many advantages Of ''consecrated''
floors, when he meant concerted, and
he always would persist that his own
opinions on everything and everybody
were right. We had a weaver, too, who
ran the manager very close. Her talk
used to remind me of the Bottom in "A
Midsummer Nights Dream With
her reserved" people were always
resigned" a syndicate" was a sigma
ture,' primitive "privitive." One day
she gave me quite a shock of surprise
by declaring that she always used
"steel engravings'' to clean her fire.
irons ..But you can't afford that" I
objected, feeling sure there was mis-
take somewhere. "Oh, yes, can. a,
pennyworth will last me nearly a
month"; Then it gradually dawned ON
me that she meant steel filings.
When / was a small half-timer in the
spinning room recollect that a favor
ite joke which was invariably played
on all newcomers was to send them in
search of mythical leather oil can
One of the youngsters known in factory
circles as 'sweeper-out" would be
called aside and confidentially told to
go into another room and bring back
1.-THE leather oil can for the use of the
overlooker. OF course the "hands" in
the other room would very quickly
smell a rat, and the boy would eventu-
ally sent all over the mill before the
plot was exploded. The weaving shed
always goes in for its full share of
practical joking, and many a learner
gets sent on bogus errands, to the
great delight Of the surrounding
weavers. While / was in the mill there
was a big boy Of fourteen or fifteen
who had come to learn to weave under
the able tuition of his mother The
boy was not over and above sharp. As
the weaver put it, he had all his butt
tons but they were not all bright; thus
1t came to pass that the mother had no
little difficulty in imparting her
knowledge of weaving to her promising
offspring.
ssPent day had come round once
again, and the mother had "felled -
j e., finished--her piece and was ready
to deliver it in the pieceroom. Just as
she was leaving the shed with the piece
in her arms, she turned round and said
to the boy. "Tha mum think on, Sam,
an follow up Wit edge-hooks'; mean
ing that he was to move the edge
hooks up as the piece came through
the loom. But the boy put an alto
gether wrong Interpretation on his
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