Page:Our Girls.pdf/31

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AT WOOLWICH
23

women get along very well with them, learning all their ways, their whims, their needs and their limitations. It is surprising how speedily the women have wooed and won this new kind of male monster.

The vast workshop we are walking in is laid out on a simple methodical plan. The lathes are ranged in regular lines along the length of the place, with alleyways, called streets, between them. A few of the lathes seem to work almost automatically, and to require little or no attention, but before each of the other machines a woman stands to start, stop, feed and control it. Sometimes her machine goes wrong, a strap breaks or a tool wears out, and then a male mechanic, known as a setter, steps up to set it right. Sometimes it requires more than a woman's muscle to master it, and then a male labourer has to be called to pull the crank or turn the lever. In cross streets forewomen sit at desks, or walk to and fro at the heads of their sections, while up and down the