THE FACTORY.
"Pray," said Willy, going on with the conversation, "tell me something about the factories, where you say so many of these people work."
Johnny replied, "that as he worked in a farm, and not in a factory, he did not understand much about it; but," said he, "I once went to see the mills at Milford, a few miles from Derby, for I have an uncle who works there, and one day he took me all over them, and showed me every thing."
"Are mills and a factory the same thing?" asked Willy.
"I know no difference," replied Johnny.
"And what did you see there?"
"All sorts of things. There were great wheels and little wheels, and spindles which turned round like wheels, and large rollers that turned round too, and many other things; and uncle told me it was all called machinery."
"But what do they do with all this machinery?"
"They spin cotton wool; but do you know what cotton wool is?"
"Yes," replied Willy, "it is what mamma puts to my ear to keep it warm when I have the ear-ache; but that is not at all like thread. I am sure you could never thread a needle with it."
"No, not before it is spun; but then it makes all the nice cotton-thread that is wound on little bobbins to sew with."
"Then, I dare say," said Willy, "that the wheels and spindles at the factory are like grandmamma's spinning-wheel; she turns the wheel with her foot, and the wheel turns the spindle, and she twists the flax with her fingers; for she does not spin cotton, but flax."
"That is much the same," observed Betsey, "only flax makes stronger thread; we all know the difference at school well enough. When we sew with cotton it often breaks, but thread made of flax very seldom does."
"Then, if I was a girl, I would always sew with flax," said Willy.
"When you are at school you must sew with what the school-mistress gives you, and that is almost always cotton, because it is cheaper."
"Now," continued Johnny, "you know that your grandmother's spinning-wheel twists only one thread; but at the factory there are hundreds and thousands of threads all twisting at once."
"What a number of people there must be to twist so many threads!"
"Oh no," said Johnny, "it is the spindles that twist the threads."
"But, then, who turns the spindles? I suppose men must do that?"
"No such thing; all the spindles are all turned by one single thing." Willy stared with surprise; but Johnny went on: "Yes, not only all the spindles, but everything that turns in the factory, is made to turn by one great wheel, which is as big as a house."
"But what is it turns this great wheel? it cannot be a man nor a horse, for they would not be strong enough. Oh! I dare say it is a steam-engine, for that is the strongest thing I ever heard of."
"Well, it is true," returned Johnny, "that the great wheel is turned by a steam-engine in most factories, but in that I saw it was something else, which cost less, and did as well."
"What can that be?" said Willy.
"Why, it is a stream of water, which is higher than the great wheel, and so it falls down upon it, and pushes it round."
"That is just like the wheel at the miller's, which grinds corn," said Willy; "it is called a water-wheel, because the water turns it; but," added he, laughing, "when the great wheel of a factory is turned by a steam-engine, it is turned by water too."
"How do you make that out?"
"Why, steam is made of hot water, and the stream of cold water; so it's only the difference between hot and cold."
"I never thought of that," said Johnny, "but it's true enough; the power that moves the wheel is in the water, whether it be hot or cold."
"Well, I think between grandmamma's spinning-wheel and the corn-mill you will understand something of a factory at last."
"Indeed," said Willy, "I think a spinning-wheel must be very like a factory in little, for it does just the same thing, only grandmamma's foot, which turns the wheel, is not a bit like a steam-engine or a stream of water."
Betsey could not help laughing at such a ridiculous comparison. Then Johnny said, "Well, if it is not like, it does the same thing; her foot is the power that turns the wheel; it don't signify what the power is, so that it be strong enough to do the work."
"But then," observed Willy, "if the great wheel and the spindles do all the work, what is there left for the men and women and children to do?"
"Oh, there's plenty of work for everybody," returned Johnny, "a deal more than I can explain to you. When the threads that are spinning break, they stop the twisting and fasten them together, and even the children can do that."
"To be sure, if it's only tying the broken thread together in a knot, that is easy enough."
"But it's not tying a knot," said Betsey. "When your grandmother breaks the thread she is spinning, does she tie it together in a knot?"
"No," replied Willy, "she twists the two ends together so cleverly that the thread looks as if it had never been broken. I have often tried to mend the thread so, but I never could."
"The children of the factory can, though," said Betsey, "they do it all day long; and when once they have learnt it, it is easier to them than tying a knot. But you can't teach the spindles to do it, so you see they could not get on without the children."
The boys, who were always ready for a joke, fell a-laughing at Betsey's idea of teaching the spindles any thing.
"I will tell you what you should do," said Johnny; "ask your Papa, who seems to be so good-natured, to take you to see one of the factories to-morrow. There are plenty of them here as well as at Milford, and they say that all the great folks who come to Derby go to see one or other of them."
"Then I hope he will," replied Willy, "but I should like best to see the mills at Milford you have been telling me about, where your uncle works."