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The Woman Who Toils - Being the Experiences of Two Gentlewomen as Factory Girls by Marie Van Vorst;Mrs. John Van Vorst
page 33 of 255 (12%)

"How much do you make?"

"From 90 cents to $1.05. I'm doing piece-work," she explains. "I get
seven-eighths of a cent for every dozen bottles I fill. I have to fill
eight dozen to make seven cents. Downstairs in the corking-room you can
make as high as $1.15 to $1.20. They won't let you make any more than
that. Me and them two girls over there are the only ones in this room
doing piece-work. I was here three weeks as a day-worker."

"Do you live at home?" I ask.

"Yes; I don't have to work. I don't pay no board. My father and my
brothers supports me and my mother. But," and her eyes twinkle, "I
couldn't have the clothes I do if I didn't work."

"Do you spend your money all on yourself?"

"Yes."

I am amazed at the cheerfulness of my companions. They complain of
fatigue, of cold, but never at any time is there a suggestion of
ill-humour. Their suppressed animal spirits reassert themselves when the
forewoman's back is turned. Companionship is the great stimulus. I am
confident that without the social _entrain_, the encouragement of
example, it would be impossible to obtain as much from each individual
girl as is obtained from them in groups of tens, fifties, hundreds
working together.

When lunch is over we are set to scrubbing. Every table and stand, every
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