part one rough draft

Lily Hoffman glanced out the smudgy yellowing window onto the sunny cobbled street outside of Bryant and May’s match factory in which she worked. Below, she saw a peddler selling baked goods to an old lady dressed in a grey tattered shawl dragging a young boy along. Behind her, a carriage passed by and some street ragamuffins threw stones at it.
As Lily’s thoughts returned to what she was currently doing she couldn’t help but look around the room. She noticed that there were at least six others packed into the small cramped room, each one sweating profusely for the dirty cracked windows didn’t allow any air into the room. Some women were inserting the matches into boxes while others were stirring the bucket of phosphorous chemicals that the matches needed to be dipped in order to light when striked against an object. “Lily? Lily? Hello anyone home?”
Lily, startled, glanced up to see her best friend Marguerite tapping her on the shoulder. “What now? She whispered for they were not allowed to talk.
“Sorry but I need help lifting up this bucket.” replied Marguerite.
As Lily helped Marguerite lift up the brassy bucket she couldn’t help but notice the puffy greenish area that engulfed the lower half of her face. Even though Lily had known for a couple weeks that Marguerite was dying of flossy jaw it was still startling to look at her. ‘If only Bryant and May didn’t use the phosphorous chemicals that were killing so many including Marguerite.’ Lily thought. Phossy jaw was a dangerous deformation and rotting of the jaw that everyone in the factory was afraid of getting. It came from the toxic white and yellow phosphorous gasses that were let out in the match making process.
After Lily was done helping Marguerite she went back to stuffing matchboxes and looking out the smudged window. When she looked out she noticed a proper looking woman getting out of a carriage. Her hat was the perfect shade of violet purple with a deep rose flower on it. “Oh my.” gasped Marguerite, who was now leaning out the window staring at the woman.
The overseer at the door coughed and everyone became engrossed on their job again. As Lily returned to her work she couldn’t help but notice the rules plastered on the front wall. They listed all of the offences they would get fined for if they stepped out of line. Some of the offences posted were talking, being late and dropping matches. All of the women who worked at the factory made sure to follow them strictly because the fines were a big slice out of their measly paychecks of five shillings a week. Lily thought about the time she had been fined one shilling for dropping a match. That week was one of the worst weeks of her life. Since her mum was the only other source of income for their house hold of five, they lived off of boiled weeds, stale bread and watery porridge. Her younger siblings always complained of being hungry. Also, seven year-old Henry hadn’t been able to go to school because he had to work as a water boy for the shoe factory that their mum worked at.
A sudden rustling and swishing of skirts awoke Lily from her thoughts. She looked up to see the woman with the purple hat standing in the doorway talking to the overseer. Lily couldn’t help but over hear their conversation.
“Hello my name is Annie Besant and I am here to interview some of the women who work in the Bryant and May factory.”
“Madame, I am afraid that this will not be possible unless you have special permission from the owners, please let me show you the way out.”
“If this is so then will you please forward my request to them? Thank you kindly and have a nice day.”
Lily was startled to see that Annie Besant left just as quickly as she came. After the surprise visit the day continued on as usual with the exception that only one person got fined for dropping a match. The person who got fined was Maude. Maude was getting on in her years and couldn’t see as good as she used to so she often got fined. Maude’s skin was turning yellow from the phosphor and she was constantly sick. Lily enjoyed the company of Maude because even though their working circumstances were horrible Maude always wore a smile on her face and was ready to help any one in need.
Finally the strenuous day was over. As Lily and Marguerite walked out into the cool summer night they saw the purple hat lady, Annie Besant. She was standing at the edge of the factory campus talking to Clarissa, one of the women that worked in the same room of the factory as them. As they walked past, Clarissa and Annie Besant grew silent but continued after they had passed.
“What are they talking about?” asked Marguerite.
“I don’t know but that Annie Besant woman seem mysterious. I can’t get my head around it.” answered Lily.
“Well here’s my turn off. See you tomorrow,” said Marguerite.
Lily went home and made dinner for her siblings then went to bed. She awoke next morning as sunbeams poured into her tiny dingy window above her mat. Lily ate a quick breakfast of watery porridge and went to the factory.
When Lily got there the place was awry. The owners of the factory William Bryant and Francis May were coming around with a pad of paper trying to get people to sign their names.
“What happened?” Lily asked in a surprised whisper.
“Well, you know that Annie Besant woman? She wrote an article on the factory and us in the Link newspaper. The title of the article was White Slavery in London and is about how we get treated poorly and everything. Can you believe it?” replied Maude, excitedly.
“Well why are Bryant and May here?” asked Lily, puzzled.
“They’re trying to get us to sign a form that says we’re perfectly happy working here.” replied a woman from a unit across the hall from Lily’s.
“Oh, are people signing?” questioned a lady with wavy blonde hair.
“Only the people who want to keep their jobs but life can’t get much worse so I’m not going to sign. Also maybe something good will come out of us fighting for our rights.” responded Maude.
“Well I have to sign because no one is hiring and I can’t afford to be out of a job! What should I do? Said Lily in a mournful tone. What could she do?
“Lily I think you shouldn’t sign because this is our chance to help ourselves and others! If we all refuse to sign then we’ll all get fired and the factory won’t have any workers or at least something good will come out of it! Please don’t sign.” asked Marguerite in a horse whisper for her mouth was almost swollen shut.
Finally Bryant and May came around to the group of women. With out looking up from the long list of names that they had fooled people into signing they said gruffly, “Sign or you might be fired tomorrow!”
The group grew quiet as Lily and the blonde lady signed their names on the crisp white paper with at least a few hundred others signatures on it. After Lily signed the whole was ushered inside to start the long wretched day. As they entered the phosphorous fumes filled some nostrils with hope for a new beginning and others with the feeling of being trapped.