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Ellen was expected to work from 5.30 am till 8.00 pm in the mill. Her job entailed looking after half a frame of throstles, this would probably be 32 ends. As she started, an experienced tenter (spinning operative) would have worked the other half, and been on hand to help her. In time she would have taken over the entire frame, with a consequent wage rise. Later this may have increased to two frames- or more as she trained up another youngster. There are three parts to the job: piecing any broken rovings, rovings can break at any time. The two loose ends are twisted back together in a way that keeps lumps out of the yarn, it is best done by small young fingers rather than large old arthritic ones. The cops have to be creeled, and the new rovings threaded through the rollers and the flyer and secured to the bobbin. Taller workers find this task easy. Full bobbins have to be doffed and replaced with empty ones. The operative has a degree of control over the timing of these two latter tasks- and throughout the shift would try and balance the timing so roving bobbins did not all run out together, producing a smoother and less stressful work flow. Ellen complained to her mother that she couldn't do this and couldn't 'keep all her ends up'.
Ellen responded to the pressures by absconding, Mary responding by thinking Ellen was a bad child.{{efn|In Contreast the [[Gentlemens' magazine]] 1785 had published a description of a good child: In the 1780s a nine year old girl's father, a coal miner, took her to work underground in the mine. There she worked dragging coal from the hewers to the surface. She and her seven year old brother earned seven shillings a week for their parents. Her father was subsequently killed in an accident. Her mother went insane with grief but thr girl supported her and her other siblings with her earnings; at age fifteen she brought home 3s. 6d. a day by working a double shift underground..{{sfn|Galbi|1996|p=14}} }} Mary always returned Ellen to the mill where she would be punished.{{sfn|Galbi|1996|p=10}}
==Punishments==
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