Christine

The taming of a 'tearaway daughter Beatrix is the overall boss Gail is the office manager

Christine

Beatrix asked Gail for a private word

"I am having problems with Christine she is nineteen

 and a handful, she has had

 everything she ever wanted.

Now she has been kicked out of university for not doing the work, she just

 won't listen; do you think you could do anything with her, anything, whatever,

 give her the nastiest job you can find, treat her like the other girls, as far as you

 are concerned now she is not my daughter"

"Well; I have no nasty jobs; only a boring one that my girls don't like doing, but

 they do it. Soon I hope it will be gone if the printing machine works

Beatrix broke in "So Joshua got the printer, and a girl to go with it"

"Yes, she brought her machine in last week, it was a good deal she works for no

 wage, but she doesn't pay any rent.

If Christine gives any problems, I will ask in Fiber Preparations for her to sort

 the soiled and discoloured wool out; that is before it has been washed;

She will get dirty and greasy, that is 'I think' the worst job on site; Then she

 could put the batch though the washer and get wet, soaking in fact"

"Can I bring her in tomorrow morning at seven o'clock with the other workers;

 if she is going to get smelly, she can walk home like all the other workers, if

 she doesn't change that is where she will end up.

Her student allowance has been stopped and her allowance from us, so all she

 has will be what she earns"

"I will warn the girls, but they have been through the mill, so to speak, and

 won’t give her any free rope, or the wool sorting it will be, bring her in"

Back in the office

"There is a new girl starting tomorrow, I have to warn you, she is the daughter

 of a good friend, but she is toffee nosed, I want no problems from her. I want

 you to sit on her.

Any problems she goes to sort the coloured and soiled, 's****y' bits out"

"Oh Miss Gail! You can be so common, that isn't like you"

"You think babies' nappies are bad; What comes out of a cow's backside is

 wetter, smellier and comes a bucket full at once"

"You say that as if you know"

"I have smelled it seen it pour out by the bucket full and had to clean it up"

"Oh gosh and you look so well-mannered and timid, you are, oh, so polite, you

 would never think"

"Don’t judge a sausage by its skin, they don't tie a rope round a baby's arms to

 pull them out, do they? they do with animals, that is farming life for you; but it's

 great to see them struggle to stand, then go over to mother for a feed"

Christine turned up at seven fifteen, she was brought up to the office by Frank

"A posh lass seeking you Miss Worth, Mr Green said to bring her up"

So, they had been warned or was Frank just showing her who was boss.

Christine was wearing what could only be described as a party dress, pink with

 a pale blue sash round the waist tied with a huge bow on her left hip, the ribbon

 ends reaching to her knee.

"You will be Christine?

"Miss Christine, My mother is your boss I am Miss Christine"

"You; young lady are ‘the new girl’ and will be treated as such, When you work

 for me, I am Miss Worth to you. You will do as I say and take orders from 'Any

 girl' working here, you are the bottom of the pile, and make sure we don’t kick

 you out to an even worse place"

"Gwen; can you show this girl how to draw up the record cards please"
"Yes, Miss Worth" Gwen and Gail caught each other's eyes reading an unsaid

 agreement.

Gail let them work for one hour

"How are you getting on?

"She is not getting on she has made a mess out of every card"

"Oh! let me see. You go for a break. Oh, I had a message from fiber preparation

. I think you had better go and see what they want. It could be to do with that

 new order, that came in this morning"

Pulling a face and nodding towards Christine

"Yes Miss Gail, I will go now, before my break"

They had a jig made where the card was placed in the jig then a frame on top,

 they drew round the inside of the frame; so that they had a perfectly positioned

 rectangle on the card. Every card Christine had done was out of line, some had

 part of the outline missing

"This is a waste of card, there is not one usable card in this lot, a ten-year-old

 would have done better.

I will have your pay deducted for the wasted card, plus a thirty-minute

 deduction for being late this morning, at some firms you would have been

 locked out, pity we dont have that rule here.

I am transferring you to another department where, the work is not as strict.

 Josie, can you take this girl to Mr Herbert and see if he has anything suitable

 for her"

Josie found Mr Herbert she told him about the morning's activities with

 Christine.

"That Miss Gail Worth looks so prim and proper; she wouldn't dare come down here herself"

"You would be surprised by our Miss Worth she comes from a farming family

 and told us about here and said worse comes out of a cow's backside and in buckets full, and she has had to clean it up, there's more to her than you would

 think. She says you can't judge a sausage by its skin.

"I wouldn't have thought that of her to look at her. Aye I'll make sure the lass

 gets mucky, posh frock an'all. Will she be here tomorrow then"

"That's up to her, she's out on her ear if she doesn't, just make sure she gets all

 s****y up and soaked, she is going to have a walk home. I heard her mother say

 she isn't sitting in her carriage; she has to be like other factory girls. I must get

 back"

Christine was delivered to Herbert "So this is't new lass then, see this basket, its

 full of fleece awaiting washing, take hands full and pull it apart, when you find

 any dark or dirty fibres, throw them into this basket, its full of bits waiting to

 be washed and used for blankets. Right lass see how ye fair"

"I am Miss Christine, I will have you know"

"Not here lass, no airs and graces. I am Mr Herbert. You are the lass. So that's

 what I call you 'Lass' and nothing else"

Christine got her hands dirty her face and her beautiful dress was now covered

 in black smudges where she had wiped her hands, her ringlets were hanging

 straight, getting in her mouth and eyes, now blackened with brushing the hair

 strands away.

Herbert forgot to tell her it was lunch time.

At six o'clock he sent her off to clock out and walk home

"!Time to go home lass, don't be late in the morning. Seven o'clock sharp if

 your late you get your money docked. Oh, aye and wear some more suitable

 clothes tomorrow"

It was almost half past seven when she arrived home. One of her shoes had lost

 its high heel on the way

Beatrix heard her enter

"Where have you been? Oh, my goodness what has happened to you?

"I was working with this girl Gwen, they called her, they said I had done

 everything wrong and they were going to take it out of my pay.

Then they sent me to work with this nasty man. he called me lass, I want to be

 called Miss Christine like that Gail is called Miss Worth, I had to pick dirty bits

 out of the wool, fleece they said it was. I had to throw the dirty bits into a big

 basket.

It was awful bits got in my hair and in my eyes.

Please don’t make me go there again mummy; Please don’t"

"Sorry but now you are on their staff, it is now up to you. You must make you

r peace with Miss Gail,

She is the office supervisor; also, her parents are founders of the firm, we have

 the money they have the skills and expertise.

So, they are equals.

There is another girl Angela, her father is the chief engineer, he keeps the

 machinery working, his daughter works in the dyeing department, she isn't

 called miss, Just Angela from dyeing

You are going in tomorrow for seven o'clock and you will have to walk there,

 you can try to get Miss Worth to take you back, otherwise you will be back in

 fiber preparations, yes that would be best,

Ask Mr Herbert if you could have something else.

Oh. and put on some more suitable clothes, your party dress and shoes are in the dustbin"

She reported to Herbert next morning on time, she was wearing an engineers

 boiler suit.

"Good morning Mr Herbert"

"Good morning Chris isn't it; I see you are wearing more suitable clothes"

"Yes, Chris will do; would it be possible to have a different job, but still

 working here, is it possible"

"I will do that job, or someone else will, there are quite a few jobs here.

Washing the fibers; passing them though combing and carding, the rewashing

 them after dyeing; mixing colours, they are mostly dusty, but not like

 yesterdays, that is the worst job of all. its inside, so we do it when its 

raining or snowing;

Go and see Miss Worth and tell her where you are working' she is a nice lady to

 know, Really"

Christine reported to Gail

"Mr Herbert has sent me to tell that I am working for him. I am sorry about

 yesterday"

"Oh; Pleased to see that you have decided to continue working for me.

 Yesterday we can put it behind us; it is in the past. And we can have a new

 start, OK. I like the outfit; It certainly shows your figure off" She whispered to

 Christine ‘and very sexy’

"Thanks; Yes a new start, the outfit. I found it in my room after a student stunt; 

I don't know who it belongs to, so I might as well make good use of it."

"Might as well do that. Would you be looking for a change of jobs or are you

 alright in fibre preparations"

"Yes! I dont mind getting dirty, mother - Beatrix; was always wanting me to

 keep clean. Now I can get dirty with no complaints. 'Go and put a clean 

dress on Christine' The work has to be done, and its our firm Gail, we should

 not expect people to do work we cannot do ourselves, should we?

"Right, when you come in here, as a friend its first names, like the other girls

 here, when the others are here is Miss, especially that brother of mine Frank"

Josie asked do we make anything suitable for women to wear, I mean in colours

 for ladies?

No! Women could wear some of the country colours and the straight jackets

. My sis Elizabeth has an outfit she goes to country shows in, A jacket like Robert wears most of the time, with a skirt, both in a country colours; a ch

eck shirt, with a cravat at the neck; and brogue shoes; all topped with a flat cap

 to match, John Angela's brother gave her a walking stick he bought at one of

 the fairs. Very much the country lady. What we want is some cloth in pastel

 colours, some samples of clothing, we could wear them. We would also need a

 sales lady, someone like Chris. I wouldn't want to go round to firms selling

 stuff. See if we can get Angela to agree, they do the colour matching.

Angela and Helen, both agreed. They worked on some colours and shades. The

 blue with flecks, was lightened but main and flecks. The main colour also had

 an all over tint (Blue with a pink over tone)

They had small samples dyed. Gail had arranged for Mary's Spinning wheel to

 be sent down; The sample yarn was spun as knitting wool and square samples

 were knitted.

Approval for a large sample batch to be made The artist was called upon to

 sketch a short jacket. Jackie brought in her mothers, hand powered sewing

 machine, to make some garments. The artist had a camera from which she 

could produce Daguerreotype pictures.

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

I like the story and theme. Though it isn't indicated, because I know you, I put it back a ways in time and in the wool business in England. Could be Scotland or Ireland too. I agree with Barley Girl about the quick turn around. There is much left out that can use lengthening the plot ... and more details, i.e. setting and scene .. is it rural or city, do they sheer the sheep as well, is it modern as there are huge machines that still need to be hand fed the pulled apart wool etc. I think there is a much larger story condensed into too little room ;) but I like it and enjoyed the read.
E.

[Wild Rose]

How right you are Sir Einstein It is an excerpt from a book
Time, circa 1830.s Hawes, Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales Sheep farmer and a Blacksmith
They moved to Batley, West Yorkshire to take over the running os a new woollen textile mill
Christine was the daughter of the investor; (An inheritance of money and land)

!5 chapters in all think this is about 5 or 6
We used to live in Batley and have cycled over all the Yorkshire Dales

[Wild Rose]

OH No made up roads, telephones Railways came about 1850 >> How did they manage I have to keep a check on what things they had > One of the main ladies was given a forerunner to the Hobby Horse a Walking machine. she had to have a pair of bloomers made

[Einstein Noodle]

great history sir! hard working people doing what they must ... love it!

[Wild Rose]

Yes, they did work hard, but did they know anything else?

[Einstein Noodle]

now you mention it ..most likely not .. having to put so much effort in order to have food shelter and clothing leaves little else for creative and/or leisure pursuits

[Wild Rose]

i was told the grand father and great grand father
had their 'champions'
Runner & boxers who they kept as their professionals > Grand after died on the Somme in WWI
I found a reference to my family in the stables (cycle shed) of grinton Lodge Youth Hostel

I think one of the characters is about to purchase it

[Einstein Noodle]

oh my goodness ... what an incredible find for you and your family ... in the stables no less. Wow!

[augustus]

Looking back is always so interesting. Your piece does it justice!

[Wild Rose]

Thank you Augustus. this is only an excerpt from the story it is in the 19th century
What I have been writing since we were last locked down ,. Now thinking of looking for a publisher

[Coyote Poetry]

I enjoyed the story. I could feel the days of old in the words. I liked the characters and the conversation. I loved how you used the language also. I wanted to read and know more. I like the old world stories. Life was more simple and direct. Thank you dear friend for sharing the amazing story.
Coyote

[Wild Rose]

Thanks, Coyote Time circa 1800's
It is an excerpt from a 15 chapter story
I have them on PDF

[barleygirl]

I like the way you show workplace politics & nepotism, with the push-and-pull of the various relationships. To be honest, I did not believe this spoiled lady who wore a party dress to work & who kept whining about being called "Mz Whatever" -- I didn't think a person of this shallowness could be turned around. It feels a little bit contrived that the two would become chummy & all going fine in such a short turn-around. To me, the point of introducing such drama into a longer write is to play out the drama for the fun of the reader. People want to see these two have more push-and-pull episodes before everything becomes fine between them. That's the way of real life power struggles on the job (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Just Kim]

This is quite a write, very descriptive and wonderful imagery

[Wild Rose]

Thank you Kim. What I have posted recently are extracts from an unpublished book @Birth of an empire Based on a woollen textile mill circa 1800's
too long to post on here
Christine as you probably gather was the main owners spoiled daughter _ Gail is the office manager > Christine buckled down to work. the two ladies became good friends