Question

Read this excerpt of an interview with Betty Harris, 37. She worked as a "drawer" in a coal pit in England. (Note drawers pull the coal carts, on their hands and knees, through narrow, dark tunnels.) "I was married at 23, and went into a colliery (coal mine) when I was married. I used to weave when about 12 years old; can neither read nor write. I work for Andrew Knowles, of Little Bolton, and make sometimes 7s a week, sometimes not so much. I am a drawer, and work from 6 in the morning to 6 at night. Stop about an hour at noon to eat my dinner; have bread and butter for dinner; I get no drink. I have two children, but they are too young to work. I worked at drawing when I was in the family way. I know a woman who has gone home and washed herself, taken to her bed, delivered of a child, and gone to work again under the week. I have a belt round my waist, and a chain passing between my legs, and I go on my hands and feet. The road is very steep, and we have to hold by a rope; and when there is no rope, by anything we can catch hold of. There are six women and about six boys and girls in the pit I work in; it is very hard work for a woman. The pit is very wet where I work, and the water comes over our clog-tops always, and I have seen it up to my thighs; it rains in at the roof terribly. My clothes are wet through almost all day long...My cousin looks after my children in the day time. I am very tired when I get home at night; I fall asleep sometimes before I get washed. I am not so strong as I was, and cannot stand my work so well as I used to...I have known many a man beat his drawer. " According to Betty's account, what were the working conditions of the coal pits? Was the work easy or difficult? What does Betty say to give you that impression?

Answer 1

The working conditions of the coal pits were tremendously unimaginable. This included working from 6 in the morning to 6 at night, bread for dinner with no drink, and chains wrapped around their bodies. The work was very difficult and we can tell this by how Betty describes her life and the life of her fellow workers and friends that she knew. The reader also is informed that Betty knew a woman who had a child and came back to work the following week.