workers.’
‘Going public are we?’
‘Give the money to the shareholders.’
‘I haven’t finished,’ said Sarah, more sharply than she intended, as she turned to look at them.
‘The plans to go public have been delayed by the loss of a director,’ she explained. ‘But what is underway is a scheme whereby all the workers with more than two years service in any of the mills will become shareholders. If we cannot pay threepence an hour without putting the company at risk, we intend to compensate the workforce by returning to them the profits they have helped to accumulate. Perhaps the person who investigated the company’s bank account could also consult our legal advisers to ensure that what I am saying is true.’
Sarah stopped speaking, knowing that she could do little more. Her mouth was dry, her back ached and she was longing to sit down. What happened next took her completely by surprise.
A small figure wearing the white apron of a doffer, erupted from the steps at the side of the platform and advanced furiously on the three men who were once again whispering together.
‘Get up,’ she said, her hands on her hips as shestood over them. ‘Have ye no manners at all? Give Missus Sinton a chair.’
Michael Donaghy got up sheepishly and amid laughter walked across to Sarah and placed his chair behind her. She sank down gratefully amidst a round of applause.
But the newcomer on the platform had only just begun. She came forward to the edge of the platform and addressed herself to the great block of seats occupied by the spinners of Millbrook.
‘Have you people all lost leave o’ your senses?’ she demanded. ‘Can ye not mind who helped you out in the bad times? Have any of you iver been in trouble that ye diden find help here at work? You’d only to go to Doctor Stewart or Missus Sinton or Mister Hugh, God rest him. They’ve done their best for us, and most of us wou’d do our best for them. I’d be up there workin’ my frames if it weren’t for a handful o’ men who turned the power off. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Did they ask us for our opinion? No, they didn’t,’ she said, her eyes blazing.
‘Well, I’m goin’ to ask ye now in a minit,’ she said, pausing to catch her breath.
‘That wuman,’ she said, pointing unexpectedly to Sarah, ‘carried me on her back out of this mill when it was on fire eleven year ago. I had a bad leg an’ coulden run when the fire took hold and I took fright. An’ what none of ye’s knows was who it wasthat started that fire, the lad that told me to go up an’ watch the fun when I was a wee girl wi’ no wit at all.’
She glared round the groups of men and boys now being scrutinised by the women sitting nearest them.
‘No, I’m not goin’ to shame him, for Mr Hugh told me I was niver to say. I’ll not break my word,’ she went on more quietly. ‘But what about youse’ns?’ she demanded in her former tone. ‘He forgave one of you for a fire that cost him dear an’ might have cost me my life. D’ye not think you’d be better to trust the likes of him and Missus Sinton here, than these men that wou’d have us out on the street. Has any of them said one word about strike pay? Do they think because we’re not up in Belfast we’re stupid? Do they not know that we can go to classes in the evenin’ an’ read the same books as them and make up our own minds?’
There were cheers and cries and loud applause.
For the first time since she’d burst onto the platform, Sarah saw the young woman take breath. Momentarily, it seemed she was taken aback by the storm she had called up, but it was only a moment.
‘C’mon then,’ she called, shooting one arm vigorously in the air and staring at the assembled company. ‘I’m goin’ back to work. Whose comin’ with me?’
A forest of arms shot into the air as every single woman registered her vote. Only among a cluster of men by the door was there no show of hands. They simply
‘Going public are we?’
‘Give the money to the shareholders.’
‘I haven’t finished,’ said Sarah, more sharply than she intended, as she turned to look at them.
‘The plans to go public have been delayed by the loss of a director,’ she explained. ‘But what is underway is a scheme whereby all the workers with more than two years service in any of the mills will become shareholders. If we cannot pay threepence an hour without putting the company at risk, we intend to compensate the workforce by returning to them the profits they have helped to accumulate. Perhaps the person who investigated the company’s bank account could also consult our legal advisers to ensure that what I am saying is true.’
Sarah stopped speaking, knowing that she could do little more. Her mouth was dry, her back ached and she was longing to sit down. What happened next took her completely by surprise.
A small figure wearing the white apron of a doffer, erupted from the steps at the side of the platform and advanced furiously on the three men who were once again whispering together.
‘Get up,’ she said, her hands on her hips as shestood over them. ‘Have ye no manners at all? Give Missus Sinton a chair.’
Michael Donaghy got up sheepishly and amid laughter walked across to Sarah and placed his chair behind her. She sank down gratefully amidst a round of applause.
But the newcomer on the platform had only just begun. She came forward to the edge of the platform and addressed herself to the great block of seats occupied by the spinners of Millbrook.
‘Have you people all lost leave o’ your senses?’ she demanded. ‘Can ye not mind who helped you out in the bad times? Have any of you iver been in trouble that ye diden find help here at work? You’d only to go to Doctor Stewart or Missus Sinton or Mister Hugh, God rest him. They’ve done their best for us, and most of us wou’d do our best for them. I’d be up there workin’ my frames if it weren’t for a handful o’ men who turned the power off. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Did they ask us for our opinion? No, they didn’t,’ she said, her eyes blazing.
‘Well, I’m goin’ to ask ye now in a minit,’ she said, pausing to catch her breath.
‘That wuman,’ she said, pointing unexpectedly to Sarah, ‘carried me on her back out of this mill when it was on fire eleven year ago. I had a bad leg an’ coulden run when the fire took hold and I took fright. An’ what none of ye’s knows was who it wasthat started that fire, the lad that told me to go up an’ watch the fun when I was a wee girl wi’ no wit at all.’
She glared round the groups of men and boys now being scrutinised by the women sitting nearest them.
‘No, I’m not goin’ to shame him, for Mr Hugh told me I was niver to say. I’ll not break my word,’ she went on more quietly. ‘But what about youse’ns?’ she demanded in her former tone. ‘He forgave one of you for a fire that cost him dear an’ might have cost me my life. D’ye not think you’d be better to trust the likes of him and Missus Sinton here, than these men that wou’d have us out on the street. Has any of them said one word about strike pay? Do they think because we’re not up in Belfast we’re stupid? Do they not know that we can go to classes in the evenin’ an’ read the same books as them and make up our own minds?’
There were cheers and cries and loud applause.
For the first time since she’d burst onto the platform, Sarah saw the young woman take breath. Momentarily, it seemed she was taken aback by the storm she had called up, but it was only a moment.
‘C’mon then,’ she called, shooting one arm vigorously in the air and staring at the assembled company. ‘I’m goin’ back to work. Whose comin’ with me?’
A forest of arms shot into the air as every single woman registered her vote. Only among a cluster of men by the door was there no show of hands. They simply
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