"I don't say that the factory system is satisfactory at present. It isn't; but it can be improved...."
"No, it can't, Roger. It's unimprovable. I dare you to go to any model factory in England and study it with an honest mind and then say that it is worth while. It makes the people ill ... they get no pleasure out of their work...."
"We could shorten the hours in factories," Henry suggested.
"If you do that, you admit that the thing is rotten, and can only be endured in short shifts!" she retorted. "And who wants his hours reduced? A healthy man wants to work as long as he can stand up. I don't want my hours reduced. I'll go on working until I drop ... but I wouldn't work for two seconds if I didn't like the job!" She turned again to Henry. "Why don't you write a book exposing the factory system. It would be much more useful than all this lovey-dovey stuff. I'd give the world for a book like that ... as good as Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' or 'Dickens's 'Oliver Twist'!..."
3
Mary had not spoken at all while Rachel harangued them on the question of the factory system, but that was not surprising, for Rachel had not given any of them a chance to say more than two or three words. In Ninian's sitting-room, when Gilbert turned to her and asked her what she thought of factories, she blushed a little, conscious that they had all turned to look at her, and answered that she had never seen a factory.
"Never seen a factory!" Rachel exclaimed, and was off again in denunciation.
Henry went and sat beside Mary while Rachel told tales of sweaters that caused Mrs. Graham to cry out with pain.
"Mary!" he said to her under his breath.
"Yes, Quinny," she answered, turning towards him and speaking as softly as he had spoken.