Then she swept all her house through. Then she put the clothes to soak in the tub over night. Then she worked on the stockings in the piled-up mending basket until midnight. Then she went to bed, so that she could be awake next morning at four o'clock. And in the morning she built a fire under the "copper" and heated the water and washed the clothes and boiled them and hung them out on the line. And Mrs. Black, having already done a woman's work before dawn, went out to fill in the rest of the day at a man's work!
BEYOND THE PHYSICAL ENDURANCE OF MEN
This, you should remember, was the woman whom the government had hesitated about asking to work "overtime" on war orders. Would it be possible to extend labour's eight-hour day, they had asked. The Trade Unions, when asked, had said it would be a great tax on the physique of men. It was more than they were equal to under ordinary circumstances. But, well, as an emergency measure, and for the duration of the war only, Union rules would be suspended to permit of overtime. But even then the Government decided on the eight-hour limit for women, in exceptional circumstances permitting twelve hours. But an employer working women longer should be liable to arrest!
Then came the Factory Inspector's report laid before the Home Office: Mrs. Black was working a 20-hour day! Her case was not at all unique. "Overtime" on home work is, of course, what the
