Quotation from: The Valley of the Moon

Written by: Jack London

By three in the afternoon the strain of the piece-workers in the
humid, heated room grew tense. Elderly women gasped and sighed;
the color went out of the cheeks of the young women, their faces
became drawn and dark circles formed under their eyes; but all
held on with weary, unabated speed. The tireless, vigilant
forewoman kept a sharp lookout for incipient hysteria, and once
led a narrow-chested, stoop-shouldered young thing out of the
place in time to prevent a collapse.