"Why are you here?" "Mr Sturge needs a full name to advertise your tour." "I'll give it some thought." "Robert Greg's asked the Poor Law commissioners to send them workers from the south." "They are not the enemy." "They are victims of the Poor Law." "Have you come to work at the mill?" "We're shoemaker's, madam." "My grandson Will." "Feast your eyes on a craftsman in action." "Master William has seen something in me he likes." "He wants me to be the overseer after one week!" "We have to unite with them, not fight them." "Oh, dear." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "You're two yards from the piss-pot!" "Hey!" "It's just her way of keeping you warm." "She can't help it!" "If you didn't keep shouting at her!" "If you weren't such a cold-hearted cow, she might not bother." "Esther will be gone soon." "Then things will change." "Some things you can't control." "The weather, potato blight." "Some things are the will of God." "But how hard you work is up to you." "We've lost old hands to the weaving sheds." "An experienced overseer to another mule room." "Little Mary-Ann's sister that was never replaced." "A girl down and less experience, that's all those figures prove." "It don't matter to you." "Board and lodging free of charge." "Fed and watered no matter what." "But it matters to those of us who feed our families from our own pocket." "I finish my apprenticeship next week." "You'll change your tune then, once the shirkers drag down your wages." "We can only go as fast at the mules go, Mr Howlett." "I expect no more from you than I expect from my own sons." "I'm not here to fight again." "I need my mules to run quicker." "It's not possible." "I don't know engines but I know horsepower and that's nowhere near the maximum." "This works the weaving sheds." "The mule room runs off the water wheel." "It wouldn't be safe." "I know what my hands can cope with." "In a cow shed." "What I know is the machines in this mill." "You're not on piecework, are you?" "Shirkers don't matter to you." "You're better paid than any of us." "Why are you so desperate to make the Gregs even richer?" "This ain't over." "There's a cellar room vacant in the village. 5 Oak Cottages." "Do I have to wait till me birthday?" "That's when your indentures end." "Right." "Thanks, Mr Windell." "Ooh, we were just talking about you and despite what everyone says, we think you'll get the hang of it." "She needs taking down a peg or two." "What can I do for you, Mr Howlett?" "I just need some figures if you would." "Please?" "I'd like to know how much cotton is spun each day in my room." "How much was spun when Boon was overseeing and how my yield compares to the other mule rooms." "You know the value of research." "I just need to know my target." "Oh, you're just across from Susy." "And underneath my handsome shoemaker." "You'll have Howlett overlooking you," "Worth it." "Won't be long!" "Are you ready for me?" "Come in and try them on." "You'll have to show me how." "Stick 'em on your trotters." "Oh, do it for me, go on." "Ah, that's gorgeous." "For God's sake, get the other one on her and get her out of here." "Eight shillings." "What's she doing here?" "Picking up her shoes." "Don't speak like that in my home!" "Like what?" "Get out!" "Out!" "Stay away from that hussy." "She's no good!" "And not the brightest neither if she needs help putting her shoes on." "You can do a lot better than a mill girl." "Especially an apprentice." "They've had no family life to speak of so they make bad wives" "None of them have any moral standards." "That's the dream, isn't it?" "You marry a skilled man, like our Susy, and you never have to work in the mill again." "Esther's just happy she can stay." "I'd swap places with her in a heartbeat if I could." "Well, wouldn't we all?" "No-one would work if they had the choice." "Daniel might." "He loves his machines." "No-one bawling at you." "The day's your own, sit down whenever you want, completely independent." "She knows how lucky she is." "It'll be great having you as a neighbour." "We can keep each other company at nights." "We'll have such a laugh." "A place of me own, a bed all to meself, imagine it!" "We better get going." "Dan'll be in soon wanting his tea." "No, he's gone to Manchester again." "It's the vote he wants and he's missing many-a-tea to get it." "Why don't you all stay for some?" "Wish I could, it smells lovely." "There's plenty, and it's ready now." "We've got lessons tonight and you know we can't miss curfew." "I don't want to get into any trouble on my last week." "Bye." "Bye." "I'll miss you, y'know." "We'll still be working together." "It won't be the same." "The only difference there'll be, I'll have money at the end of the week." "Sorry, did I wake you?" "Do you want something to eat?" "No." "Go back to bed." "What's that?" "Six demands." "One man, one vote." "Annual parliaments." "No property qualification to stand..." "So, you've had a good day?" "Apart from Howlett trying to speed his mules up." "The man's an imbecile." "You've been plotting how to win him the vote." "Rich imbeciles vote." "We'll get working class men in Westminster." "The whole system will change." "Like going from waterpower to steam," "If you're so worried about John Howlett, speak to William." "There aren't any union men in that room any more." "I don't have authority." "People look up to you." "Daniel, speak to him." "I'm keeping my distance, in case I smash his self-righteous face in." "Don't do that." "Promise me you won't do that." "The debate tonight was between moral force and physical force." "Do we rely on the justice of our argument to win the day or do we take physical action?" "I'm a moral force man." "With a temper." "Stay calm... ..and rely on the justice of your cause." "Sorry to keep you waiting so long." "What can I do for you?" "It's about the overseer in mule room three." "You've promoted him too quickly, hasn't he?" "Mr Greg knows what he's doing." "Mr Wingel tells me Howlett has as asked you to speed up his mules." "He's driving his hands too hard." "Howlett's meant to look after the machinery as well as the hands." "A fresh eye, keen and ambitious, can see improvements his jaded predecessor has missed." "I think we should give him the extra power... as an experiment." "If it doesn't work out, we can always go back to how it was." "Someone will get hurt." "And you'll be around to kiss them better." "Was there anything else?" "Is this wise, master?" "Increased speed means decreased quality." "There's an optimum rate after which the two variables become inversely proportional." "I know what I'm doing, Windell." "For your savings..." "Martha's bob a week." "Thanks." "Hey, come here." "Can I have your cot, Esther?" "Erm, it's not up to me." "I only wet the bed so I could get out of here," "But when I seen it on Sunday, she said I'm better off here." "You were pissing on Patience on purpose?" "Oh, at last!" "Anyone would think you didn't want to go!" "Anyone would think you were glad to see the back of me!" "Happy birthday, Price... to light your room and feed your belly." "Thanks, Mr Windell." "I'll see you at work, everyone." "See you later!" "Are you all right?" "Yes." "Can you light my candle, please?" "I can't come in." "I'd love to but I've got lots to do tonight." "Later in the week, maybe?" "I don't want you complaining about fatigue tomorrow." "Get some sleep." "Well, as long as you lot keep the noise down!" "Don't be jabbering away all night telling jokes." "Good night, Esther." "It's Price now, Mr Howlett." "I'm all grown up." "Thanks." "I couldn't refuse her a light." "Esther, welcome to the village." "Oh, will you come in?" "All I've got is cake and a candle." "I've got beer and a blanket." "You'll need fuel, plates... ..pots and pans, cutlery, something for breakfast and tea." "That cake's not going to last till payday, is it?" "It won't last till morning." "I'll get you some provisions tomorrow." "Shops are shut by the time you finish work." "New home." "New neighbours and old friends." "Stop it!" "Why didn't you offer to cook her tea tomorrow?" "She wants her independence." "If anyone can fend for herself, Esther can." "True, but I'll be... glad to teach her how to cook if she wants me to." "After I've bought all the shopping and fed you lot, of course." "What's Black Peter's last name?" "Why?" "I think I've solved the mystery of where he's gone." "How was your first night with piss-the-cot?" "Bed's bone dry." "Must have been you all along." "Shame on you, Patience!" "Leave her alone from now on." "Or, what?" "You going to go running to Esther?" "I don't need Esther." "Don't you?" "Are you sure about that?" "Shall we tell Esther?" "We have to fight our own battles." "We need to get you dry." "I fell in the water trough." "Get in front of the fire, come on." "We're going to be late." "You've got five minutes yet." "Tell Howlett she's doing a job for me." "He won't like that." "Good!" "In fact, tell him I'll bring her up, personally." "Did you not sleep?" "Oh, no, I got up." "I went outside to look at the stars." "Why?" "Because I could." "Weren't you cold and lonely?" "Oh, no, that's Patience you're thinking of." "Did you manage without me?" "Without your snoring?" "Mary-Ann's like a mouse and she didn't wet the bed." "We made out it must've been patience all along." "You should've seen her face!" "Come on you idle sluggards!" "Work!" "Eh, are these mules running faster?" "That's for Esther... can she have it on account?" "You know what James is like." "He insists the books balance." "The books will balance at the end of the week when she gets paid." "My hands are tied, Mrs Bate, rules is rules." "We're not meant to give truck to anyone." "It's against the law and I've extended her as much credit as I can." "I'm sorry." "That's five shillings tuppence ha'penny." "Take out the toffees." "I'll do without my little treat this week." "I'm sure he would." "Go and get washed." "Where's she going now?" "To get washed." "Do you want coal dust on your bobbins?" "She's already late." "More power means more maintenance." "I needed a child to reach in the grate and clean out the clinker." "You can't just take one of mine." "I need all my hands." "I'm not surprised the rate these are running." "Look at 'em!" "Twice as much piece and half the quality!" "They're coping." "Aren't you, Price?" "Only just!" "Wait till the end of the day when they're tired." "This room is not safe!" "Not safe for the lazy!" "You'll be happy when you're picking up extra wages, won't you?" "Esther if it gets too much tell everyone to step away from their machines and come and get me." "It's me first day." "Get off my floor." "Don't come back unless I fetch you!" "In a week or two they'll start seeing more snags holding them up in the weaving sheds and they'll trace it back to this room and you'll be gone." "I hope, by that time, all this broken thread hasn't become broken bone!" "Good evening." "Where have you been?" "Birmingham." "London," "Bristol, Liverpool," "Glasgow and Manchester." "I've only ever been to Wilmslow." "Peter Gardener." "Miriam Catterall." "I am very pleased to meet you, Miriam." "How do you do?" "It's not black inside." "Touch it, if you want." "Everywhere I go," "English people are fascinated by my hands." "So why did you go to all those places?" "Step in" " I'll tell you." "No, I couldn't." "Why not?" "I'm visiting my sister and then I have to get back to the 'prentice house." "Visit me instead." "I won't hurt you, I promise - just talk." "They think that's what I came here to do." "So I do it." "Talk." "Talk, talk." "But now I am back." "With no-one to talk to any more." "Come in, please." "You've been drinking." "Let me pour you one." "It's very sad to drink alone, Miriam." "Please." "I look good, no?" "You do look dapper." "Mrs Greg wanted me to look like a gentleman for Mr Sturge." "Who's he?" "Joseph Sturge?" "You don't know him?" "Famous Quaker man." "What were you talking about?" "My life as an apprentice." "If you're an apprentice, why aren't you living with the rest of us?" "I was an apprentice back home." "Why did you come here?" "To talk." "You said that's why they think you came." "Ah, I came to talk." "To help end Negro apprenticeships in the colonies." "And to work in Mrs Greg's garden." "Well, you won't get much work done tomorrow if you've drunk all that." "This was my grandpa's." "He could drink a bottle of rum." "Dance all night." "Cut more cane than any man in the plantation." "And now he pass this on to me." "I think I can prune plants and shovel soft English soil after a little gin." "Just talk, you said." "You think you can just do what you want because you're dressed... cos you're dressed like a master." "No!" "I won't have any man touch me like that!" "Any, ever." "I'm sorry." "This isn't me." "I forgot myself." "It's not because of who you are or where you come from," "I just won't..." "I won't have any man..." "I won't." "Not until we're married, anyway." "We've only just met." "I didn't mean that!" "It was a joke!" "I nearly made you cry." "I was trying to make you laugh." "You're not half as good a talker as you think you are." "Morning, Mr Howlett." "I'm done now." "It's all yours." "No need to thank me." "Shall I wait for you and we'll walk to work together?" "No." "Don't be late." "I wonder if Miriam's having her dinner in the garden." "Why?" "You've not heard the rumours about her and Black Peter?" "Price!" "Oh!" "Out!" "Ah!" "You could have been killed, son!" "Your skull could have been like an apple under a sledgehammer." "And whose fault would it have been?" "I'm sorry, Dad." "Do you understand now why you have to concentrate?" "You can't be careless for a second." "Don't tell your mother." "The campaign goes to Parliament now." "We have to wait for them to vote." "No." "I'll ask Mr Windell to make arrangements to send you home." "I'm not ready to go home yet." "You've done what you came to do." "Can I stay - please?" "Now that I've experienced your kindness and tasted civilisation, it's hard for me to turn my back on it." "I'll discuss it with my son." "He's learnt his lesson." "He'll concentrate in future." "Won't you, Jack?" "What?" "How long before you can get this machine running again?" "You think it was the boy's fault?" "How long?" "At the old rate, a couple of hours." "If you want it any faster, let's go to the office and explain to Mr Greg why he needs a new chief engineer." "And why you're dripping blood on his floor." "Passage to Dominica - 10 in steerage." "Keep him." "He contributes to the credit rather than the debit column." "Is that wise?" "We had enough trouble integrating the southerners." "There's only one of him." "It'll please my mother." "He's something of a pet project." "No harm done." "You can do that." "Can't you?" "Shovel that from there to there?" "I'll try my best, sir." "Right." "Bate's in charge." "He'll give instructions." "Daniel." "Daniel Bate." "Peter." "Peter Gardener." "I read about you in the newspaper." "That speaking tour." "I'd like to hear your story myself some time." "I don't do the talking any more." "You don't seem too happy to be here." "Oh, I'm plenty happy." "Happier than the man you replaced?" "Not your fault, I know." "I just do as I'm told, master." "I'm not your master." "You just give me instructions." "Seems like the Gregs think they owe you something." "They owe all of us something." "How many Gregs are there?" "Five sons, five daughters, I think." "What are the sons called?" "William, Robert, Thomas," "Samuel Junior and, er...." "Vernon?" "John." "John Greg." "Vernon's Mrs Greg's nephew?" "I've never heard of a Vernon Greg." "Why?" "No reason." "More coal?" "Let's not waste it." "I'm off to bed soon." "Remember when we were first wed?" "You could go to the common and cut all the turf you needed." "Never went cold in those days." "We had our own little plot of land." "Big enough to grow our veg, rear chickens." "Didn't matter what other people did or said." "We were... independent." "I miss those days, too." "The country had fewer mouths to feed then." "It had to change." "We played our part in overpopulation, don't forget." "Do you remember that stubborn young fool who took over old Davy Runnicker's land?" "After three or four summers, it was barren and dead." "And there weren't a farmer in Bledlow surprised." "They all told him he was overworking it." "But he wouldn't listen." "Did the boys tell you?" "She did." "Downstairs." "I'm sorry." "You needn't worry." "Ordinary men struggle to keep up with you, John, let alone children." "You never forget your first wage." "Esther Price..." "Four days minus deductions for your rent, your loan, outstanding fines, sick club... cake and two candles..." "Don't complain, could've been even less... if it weren't for me." "Like yours could've been less..." "A boy's wage less." "No complaints, Mr Howlett..." "Thanks, Mr Windell." "And this is for you, my union penny." "Money's wasted on some folk." "The union is men only." "I was only trying to annoy him." "Thruppence a week." "A shilling." "A tanner then." "A shilling." "My uncle and cousins are earning, I got other customers," "I'm not that desperate." "A shilling this week and a tanner after but I take them now." "But you put them on yourself." "I'll put them on... you buy the beer in The Horseshoe." "Your first wage, you should buy." "But you'll come?" "I have a sweetheart back home." "Emily." "I can't walk out with you." "Not even in these?" "Come on." "I'm promised to another." "Turn round and bend over." "If you change your mind, you know where I'll be." "I'll be dancing!" "Dancing in the fires of hell is where she'll be." "You're not warming to her, are you?" "No." "What do you think?" "Yes, they're very smart." "I'm paying off, not showing off." "How much do I owe?" "Two and thruppence ha'penny." "You don't mind taking money from a woman, do you?" "He didn't want me union penny." "From a man's point of view women workers undercut wages, y'see." "Ah, well, there's more of us than you in that mill." "You should get them organised, Esther." "That's a good idea." "There you go." "I should be leaving" "Read this and think about it." "The thing is, together, in combination, we're stronger than we are as individuals." "The Rights of Women, eh?" "Thanks." "Someone must have left it for you while I was at the shop." "Me sister's alive!" "That girl they found in the field, it wasn't Catherine." "She's written to me." "She's coming to visit." "Oh, God, now I'M pissing myself!" "What?" "You don't think it was written by a ghost, do you?" "Or someone... someone pretending to be your sister?" "Says Black Peter's strumpet!" "What are you crying for?" "Piss-the-cot's like a sister to you now!" "If you really want to see your dead sister, try that again and I'll kill you, as a favour." "Get off her!" "Get off!" "Yes, Mr Windell." "Just waiting for you to come say the prayer and lock us in." "If you're saving yourself for Miriam then you're wasting your time." "It's 'er downstairs." "Drunk as David's sow and cacking through her teeth." "At our front door!" "John!" "She'd make a nun curse, that one!" "Lie still!" "What's all the noise?" "Mr Windell, can I knock up Esther?" "Quickly." "Esther?" "Are you coming to church?" "Oh, God..." "Oh, God." "You said you'd come with us." "Oh, God, I can't." "Are those your shoes?" "Just leave me alone." "What's this about Black Peter?" "Aren't I allowed to talk to him?" "Not without getting yourself talked about and not alone in his room." "Now if he's bothering you, I can tell Daniel to have a word." "I am forgiven?" "It's church." "Those are the rules." "Says so in the Lord's Prayer." "Come here." "Oh!" "Eh, where's Esther?" "Speaking to God from bed." "# Blest be the dear uniting love" "# That will not let us part!" "# Our bodies may far off remove" "# We still are one in heart" "# Joined in one spirit to our Head" "# Where He appoints we go" "# And still in Jesus' footsteps tread" "♪ And do His work below... ♪" "Add your name to the demand for democracy and justice!" "What next?" "Women?" "Are you her first?" "You won't be her last." "We are many, they are few!"