>>508453903During those long hours of labour could you be punctual; how did you awake?
--I seldom did awake spontaneously; I was most generally awoke or lifted out of bed, sometimes asleep, by my parents.
Were you always in time?
--No.
What was the consequence if you had been too late?
--I was most commonly beaten.
Severely?
--Very severely, I thought.
In those mills is chastisement towards the latter part of the day going on perpetually?
--Perpetually.
So that you can hardly be in a mill without hearing constant crying?
--Never an hour, I believe.
Do you think that if the overlooker were naturally a humane person it would still be found necessary for him to beat the children, in order to keep up their attention and vigilance at the termination of those extraordinary days of labour?
--Yes; the machine turns off a regular quantity of cardings, and of course, they must keep as regularly to their work the whole of the day; they must keep with the machine, and therefore however humane the slubber may be, as he must keep up with the machine or be found fault with, he spurs the children to keep up also by various means but that which he commonly resorts to is to strap them when they become drowsy.
At the time when you were beaten for not keeping up with your work, were you anxious to have done it if you possibly could?
--Yes; the dread of being beaten if we could not keep up with our work was a sufficient impulse to keep us to it if we could.
