At six we began our last trick and worked until eight--thirteen hours of actual labor.
I began this so young and did so much of it that I feel sure my growth was stunted by it--I never grew above five feet seven, though my mother was a good-sized woman, and she told me that my father was six feet tall--and my children are all tall.

Maybe I should never have been tall anyhow, as the Dutch are usually broad rather than long.

Of course this life was hard.

I was very little when I began watching machines and tending spindles, and used to cry sometimes because I was so tired.

I almost forgot what it was to play; and when I got home at night I staggered with sleepiness.
My mother used to undress me and put me to bed, when she was not pressed with her own work; and even then she used to come and kiss me and see that I had not kicked the quilt off before she lay down for her short sleep.