FIRST DAY AT T'MILL

Waken up me little girl, it's nearly six o'clock.
Sup your tea, I overslept, and never heard Sam's knock.
Nay old lass, you mustn't weep, it's none so bad you'll see.
Fust (first) day at mill is allus (always) strange, but our Jim'll take care of thee.

Well, you're such a little mite for twelve. But then, I was only ten
The first day I'd t'work at mill, and then I went by mesen (myself).
Come wrap your shawl around your head, it's blowin' cold and snowin' fast;
You lookit mill so close at hand, but mind them cobbles, lass.

Well, here's a bite for eight o'clock, and a mug to mash some tea.
Our Jim'll show you where to go, and you'll know all folks you'll see.
Don't fret because you'll miss your school, now you're a grown-up lass;
There comes a time we have to work and, before long, years soon pass.

Now hush, you'll waken up your dad, for he's coughed all night
And he needs his sleep, the poorly man.
God knows I need Jim and thee.

We barely make enough to eat, our clothes are worn and thin;
But you've decent clogs upon your feet, and it's how it's allus bin (always been).
Don't fret because you'll miss your school, now you're a grown-up lass;
There comes a time we have to work and, before long, years soon pass.

I too hear 'You lookit mill', but perhaps it is 'You look at mill'.

Singer Blair Dunlop is the son of Ashley Hutchings and Judy Dunlop.

Most young workers complained of feeling sick during their first few weeks of working in a factory. Robert Blincoe said he felt that the dust was suffocating him. This initial reaction to factory pollution became known as mill fever. Symptoms included sickness and headaches. Frank Forrest, a child worker in Dundee, reported: "About a week after I became a mill boy, I was seized with a strong, heavy sickness, that few escape on first becoming factory workers. The cause of the sickness, which is known by the name of 'mill fever', is the contaminated atmosphere produced by so many breathing in a confined space, together with the heat and exhalations of grease and oil and the gas needed to light the establishment."