"'Were your hands principally girls?' 'Girls and boys all together; we had only a very few boys.' "'Did the boys sleep in the girls' bothy?' 'Yes, all together.' "'Do you mean to say that there was only one bothy for the girls and for the boys who worked there?' 'Yes.' "'What age were those girls and boys?' 'We had them from 8 to 20 years of age; and the boys were from 10 to 14, or thereabouts.' "'You spoke of men who came about the bothy; did the girls expect them?' 'Yes; of course they had their sweethearts.' "'Did they go into the bothy?' 'Yes; and once I got a sore beating from one of them, for ordering him out of the bothy.' "'How long were you in that mill?' 'Three years and nine months.' "'And where did you go to next?' 'To Messrs. Anderson & Company, at Moneyfieth, about six miles from Dundee.' "'What were your hours of labour there?' 'Fifteen hours.' "'Exclusive of the hour for refreshment?' 'Yes; we seldom stopped for refreshment there.' "'You worked without any intermission at all, frequently?' 'Yes; we made a turn-about.' "'Explain what you mean by a turn-about?' 'We let them out by turns in the days.' "'How long did you let one go out?' 'Just as short a time as they could have to take their victuals in.' "'What were the ages of the children principally employed in that place?' 'From about 12 to 20; they were all girls that I had there, except one boy, and I think he was 8 years of age.' "'Was this a flax-mill?' 'Yes, all flax.' "'Did you find that the children there were exceedingly distressed with their work?' 'Yes; for the mill being in the country, we were very scarce of workers, and the master often came out and compelled them by flattery to go and work half the night after their day's labour, and then they had only the other half to sleep.' "'You mean that the master induced them by offering them extra wages to go to work half the night?' 'Yes.' "'Was that very prejudicial to the girls so employed?' 'Yes; I have seen some girls that were working half the night, that have fainted and fallen down at their work, and have had to be carried out.' "'Did you use severity in that mill?' 'No, I was not very severe there.' "'You find, perhaps, that the girls do not require that severity that the boys do?' 'Yes.' "'How large was that mill?' 'There were only eighteen of us altogether.' "'From what you have seen, should you say that the treatment of the children and the hours of labour are worse in the small or in the large mills?' 'I could not answer that question.' "'Have you ever been in any large mill?' 'Yes, I am in one just now, Mr. Baxter's.'