Out of this magnificent income he paid the
rent of his house--which was not a palace either--and supported his
wife and family. His wife, a pretty and rather refined looking young
woman, had a baby, teething sick, in the cradle. It must wail, and
mother could only look her love and coo to it in softest tones, for if
she took the little feverish sufferer up the pirns would be unwound and
the husband's three shillings would have a hole in it, so both wife and
baby had a share in the earning of that three shillings--baby's share
the hardest of all.
Called in to see another weaver of damask to-day; he could earn fifteen
pence a day. He was a melancholy little man, of a pugnacious turn of
mind, I am afraid. He said that fifteen pence a day was but little out
of which to pay rent and support a wife and family. Thinking of the wife
and baby at the other house, we said that seeing the wife wound the
bobbins, cooked, kept house, nursed and washed for her family that she
earned her full share of the fifteen pence. Would not be surprised to
hear that there had been a controversy raging on this very subject
before we came in, the man's face became so glum and the woman's so
triumphant.
Pages:
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378