Don’t sneak up on me like that! You scared me! What? You have to speak up – it’s noisy in here! Oh – I didn’t realize the looms had been turned off. I don’t hear so well. I’ve been a loom fixer in this mill for nearly 20 years – since it first opened. I can take one of these looms apart and put it back together with my eyes closed. The overseers and the girls are always after me to fix the looms faster. Every minute one is broken, some one loses money because the weavers get paid by the number of yards they weave. And the overseer has a quota of yards for his floor. If the girls weave more than that, he gets a bonus. I tell him he ought to share his bonus with me because I keep the looms humming – at least that’s what they sound like to me!

Say, I am getting a little old for this work. It’s harder and harder to get under the machines. Do you know anyone who would like to learn the trade? Steady wages and you’ll never be out of a job!

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