"'Had you a father and mother in the country at that time?' 'My mother stopped in Perth, about eleven miles from the mill, and my father was in the army.' "'Were you hired for any length of time when you went?' 'Yes, my mother got 15_s._ for six years, I having my meat and clothes.' "'At whose mill?' 'Mr. Andrew Smith's, at Gateside.' "'Is that in Fifeshire?' 'Yes.' "'What were your hours of labour, do you recollect, in that mill?' 'In the summer season we were very scarce of water.' "'But when you had sufficient water, how long did you work?' 'We began at four o'clock in the morning, and worked till ten or eleven at night; as long as we could stand upon our feet.' "'You hardly could keep up for that length of time?' 'No, we often fell asleep.' "'How were you kept to your work for that length of time; were you chastised?' 'Yes, very often, and very severely.' "'How long was this ago?' 'It is between twenty-one and twenty-two years since I first went.' "'Were you kept in the premises constantly?' 'Constantly.' "'Locked up?' 'Yes, locked up.' "'Night and day?' 'Night and day; I never went home while I was at the mill.' "'Was it possible to keep up your activity for such a length of time as that?' 'No, it was impossible to do it; we often fell asleep.' "'Were not accidents then frequently occurring at that mill from over-fatigue?' 'Yes, I got my hands injured there by the machinery.' "'Have you lost any of your fingers?' 'Yes, I have lost one, and the other hand is very much injured.' "'At what time of the night was that when your hands became thus injured?' 'Twilight, between seven and eight o'clock.' "'Do you attribute that accident to over-fatigue and drowsiness?' 'Yes, and to a want of knowledge of the machinery. I was only five years old when I went to the mills, and I did not know the use of the different parts of the machinery.' "'Did you ever know any other accident happen in that mill?' 'Yes, there was a girl that fell off her stool when she was piecing; she fell down and was killed on the spot.' "'Was that considered by the hands in the mill to have been occasioned by drowsiness and excessive fatigue?' 'Yes.' "'How old were you at the time this took place?' 'I don't know, for I have been so long in the mills that I have got no education, and I have forgot the like of those things.' "'Have you any recollection of what the opinions of the people in the mill were at that time as to the cause of the accident?' 'I heard the rest of them talking about it, and they said that it was so. We had long stools that we sat upon then, old-fashioned; we have no such things as those now.'