Generallv speaking. the dwellings of the people were of a mean description, consisting of one story and one room for which a rental of from 30s to 40s a year was paid. The furniture usually consisted of a pair of looms, a bobbin wheel, a half-headed turn-up bedstead (the bed itself being made of chaff), a round table standing on three legs. a few turned, unpainted chairs, an old chest, and a cradle. Very few indeed were possessed of a clock, or even a chest of drawers, and, as the capacity of the cottage precluded I the possibility of a second bedstead. it not unfrequently happened that the master of the house had two of his olive branches at his head and two at his feet while endevouring to seek repose after the labours of the day. Nor were the good old times much to boast about in respect to food and living. The former was of the meanest description,. consisting of oatmeal porridge and milk for breakfast; for dinner, potatoes and a bit of bacon fried together. with a piece of oat or “haver” cake dipped in the fat for a relish. An ounce of tea, which cost sixpence, served for a week. and if that failed, mint and herbs were called into requisition. Butter was only present on the table on Sundays. Flour and wheat bread were luxuries seen only on special occasions. This is not to be wondered at when flour cost seven shillings a stone. Later when mills were erected to meet the changes in the process of manufacture, the lot of the workers did not materially improve. The days were of long wearying toil, for wages that scarcely sufficed for a mere’ existence on the most common and cheapest fare. Factory Acts and State legislation were unknown. and the mills worked any length of time that the masters chose; there was no limitation of the working hours. It was no unusual thing to commence at five o’clock in the morning and go on until eight at night or longer. Hours of child labour were unrestricted. and children were sent to the mill when between five and six years of age, working sixteen or seventeen hours a day. Terrible are the tale’s of cruelty and oppression told of these black times, which form a blot on the history of our nation that can never he effaced. Quoting from De Gibbins “Industrial History,” he says Children were often worked sixteen hours a day, by day and night; even Sunday was used as a convenient time to clean the machinery. In stench, in heated rooms, amidst the constant whirling of a thousand wheels, little fingers and little feet were kept in ceaseless action, forced into unnatural activity by blows from the heavy hands and feet of the merciless overlooker, and the infliction of bodily pain by instruments of punishment invented by the ingenuity of unsatiable selfishness. They were fed upon the coarsest and cheapest food, often with the same as that served out to the pigs of their masters. They slept by turns, and in relays, in filthy beds which were never cool, for one set of children were sent to sleep in them as soon as the others had gone off to their daily or nightly toil. Many died and were buried secretly at night in some desolate spot, lest people should notice the’ number of graves and many committed suicide. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 29/09/2006