Question: Will you state whether the hours of labour has been increased.

Answer: When I went at first to factories, I was at work about eleven hours a day, but over time this has increased to fifteen, sixteen, and sometimes to eighteen hours. I have seen by own children seem quietly lively; but towards the end of the week, they begin to get fatigued.

Question: Are they almost continually on their feet?

Answer: Always. There can be no rest at all.

Question: Were they excessively sleepy?

Answer: Very sleepy. In the evening my youngest boy has said, "father, what o'clock is it?" I have said perhaps, "It is seven o'clock." "Oh! is it two hours to nine o'clock?" I cannot bear it; I have thought I had rather almost have seen them starve to death, than to be used in that manner. I have heard him crying out, when getting within a few yards of the door, "Mother, is my supper ready?" and I have seen him, when he was taken from my back, fall asleep before he could get it.

Question: When did that child first go to the mill?

Answer: Between six and seven years old.

Question: Do more accidents take place at the latter end of the day?

Answer: I have known more accidents at the beginning of the day than at the later part. I was an eye-witness of one. A child was working wool, that is, to prepare the wool for the machine; but the strap caught him, as he was hardly awake, and it carried him into the machinery; and we found one limb in one place, one in another, and he was cut to bits; his whole body went in, and was mangled.