Had you watched her for
a while, you would have noticed that her eyes occasionally strayed
beyond the work-table, and, perhaps unconsciously, fixed themselves
for some moments on one or other of the girls near her; when she
remembered herself and looked down again upon her task, there rose
to her face a smile of the subtlest meaning, the outcome of busy
reflection.
By her side was a little girl just beginning to learn the work,
whose employment it was to paper wires and make 'centres.' This toil
always results in blistered fingers, and frequent was the child's
appeal to her neighbour for sympathy.
'It'll be easier soon,' said the latter, on one of these occasions,
bending her head to speak in a low voice. 'You should have seen what
blisters I had when I began.'
'It's all very well to say that. I can't do no more, so there Oh,
when'll it be five o'clock?'
'It's a quarter to. Try and go on, Annie.'
Five o'clock did come at length, and with it twenty minutes' rest
for tea. The rule at Whitehead's was, that you could either bring
your own tea, sugar, and eatables, or purchase them here from a
forewoman; most of the workers chose to provide themselves.
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