“Next,” called Mim, backing away from the water basin.
Sadie made a dash for the basin. After they’d all cycled through, the rules were done, and Ethel had started in on inviting Sadie to the next suffrage meeting. “Given what the mill wants to do to our wages, it’s time for us to band together again like they did a few years ago when the operatives went on strike. But we need the vote if we’re to make any lasting changes.”
“No more suffrage talk, please.” Mim turned off the light. “I want pleasant dreams.”
Soon the gentle shuffles of everyone settling in for the night shifted to the quiet sounds of room-mates sleeping. Briar stared up into the dark, wide awake despite her aching feet and sore shoulders. She was as exhausted as the others but couldn’t shut down her mind. Fanny’s constant talk of fairies was working its way into her thoughts and she was trying to keep separate the ideas of fairies and fairy wood. The spindle under her bed may be made of something called fairy wood, but that didn’t mean it was magical.
Chapter Fourteen
Finally, the fog began to lift, and with it the ill tempers. Briar had hoped to get a good look at the spindle, but with all her room-mates in the room, there was no time.
When she got to her station at work, she examined her frames to check their suitability for a wooden spindle. She’d never paid much heed to the inner workings, keeping her eyes on the thread itself. Now she noted the rows of spindles and how they attached to the machine. When she had to shut down one of the frames, she used the time to lift a bobbin out of the way and measure the size of the spindles. She tried unscrewing the bolt on one but it held fast. It wouldn’t be easy to twist off.
As the dinner bell rang and everyone shut down, Briar quickly checked out her fourth frame. She’d watched Henry attend to the frame so many times applying the oil, which got all over the doffers’ feet and the hem of Briar’s skirts.
His theory was that one spindle in particular was causing the most trouble with her frame. He could never get it perfectly straight. So, if she could find that crooked one, she was confident she could get it off and replace it. All she’d need was a tool to apply enough force. If she swapped them out near the end of her shift when all the frames were running, the noise of the machines would cover up any banging she made. The overseer couldn’t watch her all the time. At some point he’d be called to the far corner of the room to either help or berate another operative, and Briar would have a chance to act.
She walked the length of the frame, lifting up bobbins until she found the offending spindle. There it was, near the end on number four.
“Oh, hello, Briar,” Sadie said.
Briar dropped the bobbin and stood, heat rising to her face. “Hello. What are you doing in the spinning room?”
Sadie pointed to the agent in charge of the mill, who was walking away. “I’m moving up here today. When I told him we were room-mates, he said you could show me what to do.”
“I thought the frames were opening up at the end of the month. Whose frames are you taking over?”
“Whoever had those ones.” She pointed to the next row over where a girl named Ruth had worked only yesterday.
Ruth had been at the mill for several years and had developed the same racking cough Mam had had after breathing in too much cotton dust. They all knew the risks to their lungs from breathing in the cotton floating in the room, but what were they to do? Hope and pray they didn’t have to spend too many years in the spinning room.
“What happened to her?” Briar asked. Ruth had said nothing about leaving, so this was unexpected.
“Guess she found other work or went back home. Don’t care.”
Briar took in a calming breath. “Fine. After dinner. We’d better hurry back to the house before all the food’s gone.” If nothing else, it was a chance for Briar to prove herself, that she could train someone. Hopefully Sadie learned quickly and well, because she’d be learning on Briar’s frames. If Sadie messed up, Briar’s pay would get docked. And Sadie, she wouldn’t get paid anything until she had her own frames.
Sadie walked on ahead, and Briar, in exasperation, briefly closed her eyes and tilted her head up. A drop of water from the ceiling hoses landed on her cheek. The water sprayed on the frames to help keep the cotton from breaking as it was pulled and twisted into thread. Well, maybe now her emotional threads wouldn’t break. She wiped off the water drop. Nothing so simple would help to hold her together if she lost the children.