The Bishop of Cottontown: A Story of the Southern Cotton Mills
John Stuart Mill · en
Then her head sank again with a little crushed smile of helpless pity
and resignation. It touched even Travis, and he said, consolingly, to
her:
"You are too beautiful to have to do this and you shall not--for
long. You were born to be queen of--well, The Gaffs, eh?"
He laughed and then he touched boldly her hair which lay splendidly
around her temples.
She looked at him resignedly, then she flushed to her eyes and
followed him.
The drawer-in is to the loom what the architect is to the building.
And more--it is both architect and foundation, for as the threads are
drawn in so must the cloth be.
The work is tedious and requires skill, patience, quickness, and that
nicety of judgment which comes with intellect of a higher order than
is commonly found in the mill. For that reason the drawer-in is
removed from the noise of the main room--she sits with another
drawer-in in a quiet, little room nearby, and, with her trained
fingers, she draws in through the eyelets the threads, which set the
warp.
Maggie was busy, but she greeted him with a quaint, friendly little
smile. Helen noticed two things about her at once: that there was a
queer bright light in her eyes, and that beneath them glowed two
bright red spots, which, when Travis approached, deepened quickly.
"Yes, I am going to leave the mill," she said, after Travis had left
them together. "I jus' can't stan' it any longer. Mother is dead, you
know, an' father is an invalid. I've five little brothers and sisters
at home. I couldn't bear to see them die in here. It's awful on
children, you know. So I've managed to keep 'em a-goin'
until--well--I've saved enough an' with the help
of--a--a--friend--you see--a very near friend--I've managed to get us
a little farm. We're all goin' to it next week. Oh, yes, of course,
I'll be glad to teach you."
She glanced at Helen's hands and smiled: "Yo' hands don't look like
they're used to work. They're so white and beautiful."
Helen was pleased. Her fingers were tapering and beautiful, and she
knew her hands were the hands of many generations of ladies.
"I have to make a living for myself now," she said with a dash of
bitterness.
"If I looked like you," said Maggie, slyly and yet frankly, "I'd do
something in keeping with my place. I can't bear to think of anybody
like you bein' here."
Helen was silent and Maggie saw that the tears were ready to start.
She saw her half sob and she patted her cheek in a motherly way as
she said:
"Oh, but I didn't mean to hurt you so. Only I do hate so to see--oh,
I am silly, I suppose, because I am going to get out of this
terrible, terrible grind."
Her pale face flushed and she coughed, as she bent over her work to
show Helen how to draw in the threads.