Grabbing a sign eight-year-old Aidan joined the other striking cotton mill workers He was a doffer For twelve hours six days a week he and other boys removed full bobbins from the clacking spinning frames Aidan’s friend Gussie was a spinner at the mill When a thread broke she quickly repaired it by tying the two ends together Knowing Aidan couldn’t read Gussie read his sign to him It says We Want to Go to School Aidan did want to go to school but his family needed the money he earned This was the way things were for many children in 1903
