As
I left the train at Tandragee she laid her faded glove on my arm and
whispered, "It is their duty to be content in their own station, is it
not?"
"If they cannot do any better," I whispered back.
"They cannot," said the little old lady sinking back on her seat
triumphantly.
It is rather unhandy, that the names of the stations are called out by a
person on the platform outside the cars, instead of by a conductor
inside.
The manufacturing town of Gilford is a pretty, clean, neat, little place
clustered round the mills and the big house, like the old feudal
retainers round the castle. Here, as in Belfast, a certain amount of
distress must exist, for the mills are not running full time.
The wages of a common operative here is twelve shillings (or three
dollars) per week. If they have a family grown up until they are able to
work at the mills, of course it adds materially to the income. Girls are
more precious than boys, I have heard, as being more docile and easier
kept in clothing. They can earn about half wages, or six shillings (one
dollar and a half) per week. Rents are about two shillings (or half a
dollar) per week.
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