Maribelle went up on her toes as the overseer pulled her ear. Tears sprang to her eyes, but she didn’t cry.
Briar instinctively reached to free Maribelle, but the overseer only squeezed harder, stepping between them. Briar’s heart groaned for the wee thing, but she took a step back, hoping he’d let Maribelle go.
“It’s that last frame. It’s bad, is all. Let her go, please. She can help me tie the threads.”
Maribelle caught her breath as the overseer gave her ear one last shake before releasing her. Briar fought the urge to rush to the girl’s side in case the overseer would choose to inflict more punishment.
“You better do something about that frame or you’re out of a job,” he yelled over the other machines.
“Yes, sir.” Briar quickly began tying threads, motioning to Maribelle to do so, too. Her heart was beating hard against her rib cage. It wasn’t her place to fix the frame. She wished she could complain about the new overseer, but who could she tell who would care and be able to do something about it?
Once the overseer had gone, Briar mouthed, “I’m sorry,” to the girl, and with a shaking hand stroked her hair comfortingly. The wee thing was taking on a big responsibility. If the girl’s family didn’t need the money, she’d be at school with the other children. Briar resolved to strengthen her mind to the task and be easier on her young doffer. Especially in front of the overseer.
“There now, we’re back up and running. Off you go and have some fun,” Briar said, choosing not to add another admonition to be back in time to swap out the bobbins. If she’d spoken to Pansy using the tone she’d used earlier with Maribelle, Pansy would have been blubbering tears. It didn’t help that they had to yell at one another to be heard above the din, which made tempers sound harsher than what was meant. Never mind how Pansy would have reacted to being grabbed by the overseer. Maribelle was made of sterner stuff than Briar had thought.
Briar turned back to guard frame number four from any more mistakes when she noticed another token left in Henry’s corner. This time it was a small, heart-shaped pebble. “Henry Prince,” she whispered. “I know it’s you. How are you doing it?” Grinning, Briar added the pebble to the acorn in her pocket.
Her whole mood changed with the latest gift. She couldn’t stop from smiling until the final bell rang.
Instantly the girls shut down all their frames. But instead of the quiet ringing in their ears, murmurings spread like a wave through the operatives. Briar rushed to the door to find out what was going on.
“Didn’t you hear?” asked Annie, the girl who manned the frames next to Briar’s. “Grace’s brother works in the countinghouse. He told her they’re lowering our wages this week. Less money in our envelopes on payday. It’s just like the panic last year. It’s getting no better. Pretty soon our pay is going to equal our rent, and then where will we be?”
Briar closed her eyes and pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth. After working so hard to make up for her bad frame, it didn’t matter in the end. Going forward she would need four fully-working frames just to keep up her normal pay rate, never mind trying to impress anyone or earn a fifth frame. She sighed. However was a girl to get ahead in this world? She looked around at the other operatives’ sullen faces. It was the same for all of them. Then her eyes settled on the overseer. He looked up with a scowl and met her gaze unblinking over his glasses, which slipped down his nose again.
Use the wooden spindle.
Briar sucked in a breath and looked away. Where did that thought come from?
Annie made a face. “Something about cotton cloth not selling as much as they expected and the train strike causing distribution problems. Say they have to trim expenses, but I don’t see the agent cutting back on his expensive cravats. He was wearing a new one today. And look at our new overseer with a gold pocket watch! Bet his paycheck isn’t getting shorted.”
“It’s not fair,” said another girl. “There’s nothing we can do about it. They’ll want us to work as hard as before, but get paid less just because they say so, and we don’t got no power to say no.” By now they’d streamed out onto the staircase and began to mingle with the other levels of the factory.
Briar caught sight of Ethel. She couldn’t hear her friend over all the other voices, but Ethel was definitely passionate about what she was saying. Her arms were practically a blur as she no doubt weighed in her opinion on the pay reduction. Well, good. Ethel’s passion would carry the conversation with their new room-mate tonight. Briar was drained from the day, and not looking forward to playing polite with someone new in the room.