Two letters from the mill

Letter A, written by the mill owner to a cousin after a stoppage: “The men returned on Monday in excellent spirits. We have placed a bench in the yard and agreed that the bell shall ring five minutes later. You will see that reason prevailed. I have always maintained that contentment requires little expense when an employer listens.” Letter B, written the same week by a worker to her sister: “We went back because the relief fund was almost empty. The bench is useful to those who are allowed outside. The later bell gives me time to take the little one to our neighbour. I should not call that nothing. But no one has agreed about the lost wages, and Mara says we should have waited. I cannot tell whether returning together was our strength or the last thing we could afford.” Editorial note: Neither letter was intended for publication. No minutes of the negotiations survive in this archive. The historian has no independent record of the relief fund or the terms on which workers could use the yard.