Mill Apprentices Learning Journey
You are seven years old and snuggled up to your mother. She is holding you tight against her, stroking your hair, and you love the warmth and the faint smell of lavender from the tiny sprig she has pinned to her grey dress. You never want to let her go but you know that in half an hour the man in the dark coat will come for you and take you on a long journey far away from your mother and you have no idea when you will see her again.
See also Mill Apprentices at Quarry Bank Mill
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Mill Apprentices Learning Journey Step 3: Apprenticeship
Bessie had asked what an apprentice was. Someone told her that it meant learning a trade by working with a person who had already learned that trade and then teaching yourself what to do by watching how they did things. Bessie thought that sounded quite good. On her first day at work in the mill the overseer, a big florid man named Mr Bartlett, had told her that she was to scavenge. Bessie had no idea what he meant until he dragged her over to one of the machines, pushed her to her knees and told her to crawl underneath it and pick up all the loose bits of cotton. The machine was large and noisy and it had a huge iron bar which moved across and back very fast. Bessie was frightened and shrank back, thinking the machine would be stopped before she cleaned up the cotton, but Mr Bartlett cuffed her ears and told her to get on with it. At that moment a small dark haired girl uncoiled herself from beneath the machine. Marie had already been there a week and she took Bessie's hand and said she would show her what to do. Bessie learned quickly how to dart in and out, cleaning up the cotton pieces, and to watch for the kick-back of the machine. She didn't think it seemed much of a trade, not like her father being a blacksmith, but Marie said that all the smallest children had to start there. If they worked hard, and after they had grown a bit, Mr Bartlett might let them become piecers. |
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