THE FACTORY GIRL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2668, 17 August 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE FACTORY GIRL.

Her name is Kato O'Connor. She is 10, hut she looks i'O. -She if stout and of thick build, but she is almost covered by an eii'trinous white apron of : unbleached calico, below which hang forlornly tbo rags of a bright purplo merino patched with brown. She wears a drab shawl pinned across her chest by a huge brass brooeh in the shape of an anchor, which Was presented to her by her last sweetheart, a sailor from the docks, who has also tattooed a blue heart upon her arm ; it is visibla abovo her sleeve, which is turned up for work. It is true r.hat her left shoulder has grown out terribly, but that is only because sho is obliged to stoup so much in the factory over her sweet-making, and there seems no reason why it should not go on growing worse, as sho cannot leave off her trado. She wears a long, oily, brown fringe (completely covering her forehead and reaching down to her no3e), and at tho back of her head a montrons black velvet hat, frayed at the edges, and trimmed with a draggled arsenic feather and gilt beetles with pink glass eyes. Prom beneath her fringe peer forth two large gray eyes, usually heavy arid dulled by grinding routine, but ready to twinkle, . all alive for fun on,the sligtest provocation. Strong even teeth, full lip<, square short hands, and arms akimbo, complete the outer woman. " Bless yer. mi pet," her effusive mamma is wont to exclaim to tho casual observer, " it's huge she is of her age, a'n't sho ? and a strong gal as you'd tako Katie for ; bnt sho a'n't over fustrate, and the bits of it gets into her lung quite orful ; Katie's own mother (I'm only her stepmother, but acts as if her own), she died of the consumptives, and I'm always expeetin' Katie to go off into a decline ; its the big as allays goes fust,' she concludes cheerfully. Perhaps she is right, and you would not think Katie weak unless you looked very closc at her face ; then you would see that her cheeks were grey-white, and that there were deep black marks round her eyes. But how can that be helped if pink and green and yellow sweets must be had at a penny the ounce ? Kato does not see how ; it is all in the day's work. Oh yes ! sho has plenty of nourishment ; bread and tea iu the morning, and tho same at supper, and when father's iu work and don't want no tin, a snack of something' nice, fried shad or sausage, in the dinner hour. " No, usual she don't want no dinner ; sho don't have much reg'lar appytite, so at other times sho often goes without anythin k or takes a piece of bread and drippin'." How long does sh- work ? "Oh, ten hours as a rule, and over hours if sho wants an extra copper or so. One bob a day is regulation pay." In the winter she was in the " Ospital" with her heart but that was because she danced too much on Boxing Day. It was quite a mistake to imagine that because she lives in misery, disease, starvation, and nnceasing toil, she lives a gloomy or envious existence. Not sho ? She take 3 pleasure in the smallest., coracnonist things, such as would be plagues or nothings to more refined folic. A barrel organ in tho street upsets her completely with delight, and sots her off waltzing at once on the pavement easily and gracefully, by herself or with her companion ; a bright flower for her buttonhole entrances her, and tho slightest joke produces incessant fits of the giggles. In fact, if there is one thing she loves it is fun, and if she can't often pet it nicely, she takes it as she finds it, often hideously ; havo it she must at any price, and her laugh rings true, even though it is loud and coarse. Her boundless spirits uphold her and her family (with whom she is always quarelling) through countless crisos of debt, distress, brokers in the house, and consequent secret fittings ; and if they sometimes lead her into mischief, they prevent her from despair, still loss does she suffer from the morbid whims and broodings of her more educated contemporaries. She has a new sweetheart every month and they walk arm -in-arm down "the Mile End Road, which is the fashionable promenade, every Sunday, when she appears in an ultra-modish costume, with a dressimprover like an exaggerated promontory a magenta velveteen dross, bought second or third hand ; and any amount of loc- j kets, chains, ear-rings, and gewgaws j hanging about her person. At tho end of ' tho month she breaks off with her Edwin, who is usually connected with the ocean, and chooses another ; each, in turn, presents her with the expected gifts—tho brooch and ear-rings, which are "do rigueiir," and the glass case from Brazil, with " For my darling" and a heart underneath, wrought in many coloured shells. Her sabbath apparel, together with a heavy bad scent set apart by her for that day, absorb three-quarter of her money, which she likes to spend on sweetmoats and finery : and the fraction of her earnings exacted by her parants, though occasions of her own choosing,, is grumbled at when demanded in more prosperous days. However, she likes being genrous, and " standing treat" or making presents, and she is proud of making freo of her money. Whatever sho has she spends at once, and her passion for bright things makes her an ardent devoteo of shops and booths. Every year sho goes hopping, and comes back looking, if possible, rowdier than ever, but also bronzed and stronger ; however, tho factory soon marks her as its own again. She decidedly prefers town, and is wont to remark that " The country's all very well in company, but lake it all in all it's a doadly-cum-lively place." She feels the same about service, and having once been sent to a situation by philanthropic ladies ran away on the third day, and walked all the way from Richmond to Wapping, because she " could not live without the stalls in tho streets and tho blokes wot sell there," and didn't " nowise like settling ; and bosides she wanted her evening to herself, she did, and wasn't agoin' to bo lorded over by any mistresses, not she," with a toss of her head. Her afFections are strong and huffy, but to anyone who has shown her kindness, she gives a faithful, if quarelsome devotion so long as she is not preached at. She is a Roman Catholic by creed, and always has been, as she triumphantly remarks, but Freedom is Kato O'Connor's religion, and will be to the end of the chapter.—Times.