Chapter III: Slavery in the British Factories (3)

"'Do they frequently fall into errors and mistakes in piecing
when thus fatigued?' 'Yes; the errors they make when thus
fatigued are, that instead of placing the cording in this way,
(describing it,) they are apt to place them obliquely, and that
causes a flying, which makes bad yarn; and when the billy-spinner
sees that, he takes his strap, or the billy-roller, and says,
"Damn thee, close it; little devil, close it;" and they strike
the child with the strap or billy roller.'

"'You have noticed this in the after part of the day more
particularly?' 'It is a very difficult thing to go into a mill in
the latter part of the day, particularly in winter, and not to
hear some of the children crying for being beaten for this very
fault.'

"'How are they beaten?' 'That depends on the humanity of the
slubber or billy-spinner. Some have been beaten so violently that
they have lost their lives in consequence of being so beaten;
and even a young girl has had the end of a billy-roller jammed
through her cheek.'

"'What is the billy-roller?' 'A heavy rod of from two to three
yards long, and of two inches in diameter, and with an iron
pivot at each end. It runs on the top of the cording, over the
feeding-cloth. I have seen them take the billy-roller and rap
them on the head, making their heads crack so that you might have
heard the blow at a distance of six or eight yards, in spite of
the din and rolling of the machinery. Many have been knocked down
by the instrument. I knew a boy very well, of the name of Senior,
with whom I went to school; he was struck with a billy-roller
on the elbow; it occasioned a swelling; he was not able to work
more than three or four weeks after the blow; and he died in
consequence. There was a woman in Holmfirth who was beaten very
much: I am not quite certain whether on the head; and she lost
her life in consequence of being beaten with a billy-roller.
That which was produced (showing one) is not the largest size;
there are some a foot longer than that; it is the most common
instrument with which these poor little pieceners are beaten,
more commonly than with either stick or strap.'

"'How is it detached from the machinery?' 'Supposing this to be
the billy-frame, (describing it,) at each end there is a socket
open; the cording runs underneath here, just in this way, and
when the billy-spinner is angry, and sees the little piecener has
done wrong, he takes off this and says, "Damn thee, close it."'

"'You have seen the poor children in this situation?' 'I have
seen them frequently struck with the billy-roller; I have seen
one so struck as to occasion its death; but I once saw a piecener
struck in the face by a billy-spinner with his hand, until its
nose bled very much; and when I said, "Oh dear, I would not
suffer a child of mine to be treated thus," the man has said "How
the devil do you know but what he deserved it? What have you to
do with it?"'"

But the most complete evidence in regard to the slavery in the factories was that given to the Parliamentary Committee, by a man named Peter Smart, whose experience and observation as a slave and a slave-driver in the factories of Scotland, enabled him to substantiate all the charges made against the system. His history possesses the deepest interest, and should be attentively perused:—

"'Where do you reside?' 'At Dundee.'

"'What age are you?' 'Twenty-seven.'

"'What is your business?' 'An overseer of a flax-mill.'

"'Have you worked in a mill from your youth?' 'Yes, since I was
five years of age.'

"'Had you a father and mother in the country at that time?' 'My
mother stopped in Perth, about eleven miles from the mill, and my
father was in the army.'

"'Were you hired for any length of time when you went?' 'Yes, my
mother got 15_s._ for six years, I having my meat and clothes.'

"'At whose mill?' 'Mr. Andrew Smith's, at Gateside.'

"'Is that in Fifeshire?' 'Yes.'

"'What were your hours of labour, do you recollect, in that
mill?' 'In the summer season we were very scarce of water.'

"'But when you had sufficient water, how long did you work?' 'We
began at four o'clock in the morning, and worked till ten or
eleven at night; as long as we could stand upon our feet.'

"'You hardly could keep up for that length of time?' 'No, we
often fell asleep.'

"'How were you kept to your work for that length of time; were
you chastised?' 'Yes, very often, and very severely.'

"'How long was this ago?' 'It is between twenty-one and
twenty-two years since I first went.'

"'Were you kept in the premises constantly?' 'Constantly.'

"'Locked up?' 'Yes, locked up.'

"'Night and day?' 'Night and day; I never went home while I was
at the mill.'

"'Was it possible to keep up your activity for such a length of
time as that?' 'No, it was impossible to do it; we often fell
asleep.'

"'Were not accidents then frequently occurring at that mill
from over-fatigue?' 'Yes, I got my hands injured there by the
machinery.'

"'Have you lost any of your fingers?' 'Yes, I have lost one, and
the other hand is very much injured.'

"'At what time of the night was that when your hands became thus
injured?' 'Twilight, between seven and eight o'clock.'

"'Do you attribute that accident to over-fatigue and drowsiness?'
'Yes, and to a want of knowledge of the machinery. I was only
five years old when I went to the mills, and I did not know the
use of the different parts of the machinery.'

"'Did you ever know any other accident happen in that mill?'
'Yes, there was a girl that fell off her stool when she was
piecing; she fell down and was killed on the spot.'

"'Was that considered by the hands in the mill to have been
occasioned by drowsiness and excessive fatigue?' 'Yes.'

"'How old were you at the time this took place?' 'I don't
know, for I have been so long in the mills that I have got no
education, and I have forgot the like of those things.'

"'Have you any recollection of what the opinions of the people in
the mill were at that time as to the cause of the accident?' 'I
heard the rest of them talking about it, and they said that it
was so. We had long stools that we sat upon then, old-fashioned;
we have no such things as those now.'

"'Is that the only accident that you have known to happen in that
mill?' 'There was a boy, shortly before I got my fingers hurt,
that had his fingers hurt in the same way that I had.'

"'Was there any other killed?' 'There was one killed, but I could
not say how it was; but she was killed in the machinery.'

"'Has any accident happened in that mill during the last twelve
years?' 'I could not say; it is twelve years since I left it.'

"'Is that mill going on still?' 'Yes.'

"'Speaking of the hours that you had to labour there, will you
state to this committee the effect it had upon you?' 'It had a
very great effect upon me; I was bad in my health.'

"'Were you frequently much beaten, in order to keep you up to
your labour?' 'Yes; very often beat till I was bloody at the
mouth and at the nose, by the overseer and master too.'

"'How did they beat you?' 'With their hands and with a leather
thong.'

"'Were the children, generally speaking, treated as you have
stated you were?' 'Yes; generally; there are generally fifteen
boys in one, and a number of girls in the other; they were kept
separately.'

"'You say you were locked up night and day?' 'Yes.'

"'Do the children ever attempt to run away?' 'Very often.'

"'Were they pursued and brought back again?' 'Yes, the overseer
pursued them, and brought them back.'

"'Did you ever attempt to run away?' 'Yes, I ran away twice.'

"'And you were brought back?' 'Yes; and I was sent up to the
master's loft, and thrashed with a whip for running away.'

"'Were you bound to this man?' 'Yes, for six years.'

"'By whom were you bound?' 'My mother got 15_s._ for the six
years.'

"'Do you know whether the children were, in point of fact,
compelled to stop during the whole time for which they were
engaged?' 'Yes, they were.'

"'By law?' 'I cannot say by law; but they were compelled by the
master; I never saw any law used there but the law of their own
hands.'

"'Does that practice of binding continue in Scotland now?' 'Not
in the place I am in.'

"'How long since it has ceased?' 'For the last two years there
has been no engagement in Dundee.'

"'Are they generally engagements from week to week, or from month
to month?' 'From month to month.'

"'Do you know whether a practice has prevailed of sending poor
children, who are orphans, from workhouses and hospitals to that
work?' 'There were fifteen, at the time I was there, came from
Edinburgh Poorhouse.'

"'Do you know what the Poorhouse in Edinburgh is?' 'It is just a
house for putting poor orphans in.'

"'Do you know the name of that establishment?' 'No.'

"'Do you happen to know that these fifteen came to the mill from
an establishment for the reception of poor orphans?' 'Yes.'

"'How many had you at the mill?' 'Fifteen.'

"'At what ages?' 'From 12 to 15.'

"'Were they treated in a similar manner to yourself?' 'Yes, we
were all treated alike; there was one treatment for all, from the
oldest to the youngest.'

"'Did not some of you attempt, not merely to get out of the
mill, but out of the country?' 'Yes; I have known some go down
to the boat at Dundee, in order to escape by that means, and the
overseer has caught them there, and brought them back again.'

"'Is there not a ferry there?' 'Yes.'

"'When persons disembark there, they may embark on the ferry?'
'Yes.'

"'Did your parents live in Dundee at this time?' 'No.'

"'Had you any friends at Dundee?' 'No.'

"'The fact is, that you had nobody that could protect you?' 'No,
I had no protection; the first three years I was at the mill I
never saw my mother at all; and when I got this accident with my
hand she never knew of it.'

"'Where did she reside at that time?' 'At Perth.'

"'You say that your master himself was in the habit of treating
you in the way you have mentioned?' 'Yes.'

"'Describe what the treatment was?' 'The treatment was very bad;
perhaps a box on the ear, or very frequently a kick with his
foot.'

"'Were you punished for falling asleep in that mill?' 'Yes, I
have got my licks for it, and been punished very severely for it.'

"'Where did you go to then?' 'I went to a mill in Argyleshire.'

"'How many years were you in this mill of Mr. Andrew Smith's, of
Gateside?' 'Eleven years.'

"'What age were you, when you went to this mill in Argyleshire?'
'About 16.'

"'You stated that you were bound to stay with Mr. Smith for six
years; how came you then to continue with him the remaining five
years?' 'At the end of those six years I got 3_l._ a year from my
master, and found my own clothes out of that.'

"'Were you then contented with your situation?' 'No, I cannot say
that I was; but I did not know any thing of any other business.'

"'You had not been instructed in any other business, and you did
not know where you could apply for a maintenance?' 'No.'

"'To whose mill did you then remove?' 'To Messrs. Duff, Taylor &
Co., at Ruthven, Forfarshire.'

"'What were your hours of labour there?' 'Fourteen hours.'

"'Exclusive of the time for meals and refreshment?' 'Yes.'

"'Was that a flax mill?' 'Yes.'

"'Did you work for that number of hours both winter and summer?'
'Yes, both winter and summer.'

"'How old were you at this time?' 'Sixteen.'

"'Are you aware whether any increase was made in the number of
hours of work, in the year 1819, by an agreement between the
masters and the workmen?' 'No, I cannot say as to that.'

"'You think there could not be much increase of your previous
labour, whatever agreement might have been made upon the
subject?' 'No, there could have been no increase made to that; it
was too long for that.'

"'Were the hands chastised up to their labour in that mill?'
'Yes.'

"'That was the practice there also?' 'Yes.'

"'Do you mean to state that you were treated with great cruelty
at the age of 16, and that you still remain in the mill?' 'I was
not beaten so severely as I was in Fifeshire.'

"'You were not so beaten as to induce you to leave that mill?'
'If I had left it, I did not know where to go.'

"'Did you try to get into any other occupation?' 'Yes, I went
apprentice to a flax-dresser at that time.'

"'What was the reason that you did not keep at it?' 'My hand was
so disabled, that it was found I was not able to follow that
business.'

"'You found you could not get your bread at that business?' 'Yes.'

"'Consequently, you were obliged to go back to the mills?' 'Yes.'

"'Was it the custom, when you were 16 years of age, for the
overseer to beat you?' 'Yes, the boys were often beaten very
severely in the mill.'

"'At this time you were hired for wages; how much had you?'
'Half-a-crown a week.'

"'And your maintenance?' 'No, I maintained myself.'

"'Is not that much lower than the wages now given to people of
sixteen years of age?' 'I have a boy about sixteen that has 4_s._
6_d._ a week, but he is in a high situation; he is oiler of the
machinery.'

"'Besides, you have been injured in your hand by the accident to
which you have alluded, and that probably might have interfered
with the amount of your wages?' 'Yes.'

"'What duty had you in the mill at this time, for the performance
of which you received 2_s._ 6_d._ a week, when you were at Duff,
Taylor & Co.'s?' 'I was a card-feeder.'

"'Did your hand prevent you working at that time as well as other
boys of the same age, in feeding the cards?' 'Yes, on the old
system; I was not able to feed with a stick at that time; it is
done away with now.'

"'How long did you stay there?' 'About fifteen months.'

"'How many hours did you work there?' 'Fourteen.'

"'Do you mean that you worked fourteen hours actual labour?'
'Yes.'

"'Was it a water-mill?' 'Yes.'

"'Were you ever short of water?' 'We had plenty of water.'

"'How long did you stop for dinner?' 'Half an hour.'

"'What time had you for breakfast, or for refreshment in the
afternoon?' 'We had no time for that.'

"'Did you eat your breakfast and dinner in the mill then?' 'No,
we went to the victualling house.'

"'Was that some building attached to the mill?' 'Yes, at a a
small distance from the mill.'

"'Was it provided for the purpose of the mill?' 'Yes, we got our
bread and water there.'

"'Did you sleep in a bothy at Duff & Taylor's?' 'Yes.'

"'Were you locked up in a bothy?' 'No.'

"'What is a bothy?' 'It is a house with beds all round.'

"'Is it not the practice for farm-servants, and others, who are
unmarried, to sleep in such places?' 'I could not say as to that;
I am not acquainted with the farm system.'

"'To what mill did you next go?' 'To Mr. Webster's, at Battus
Den, within eleven miles of Dundee.'

"'In what situation did you act there?' 'I acted as an overseer.'

"'At 17 years of age?' 'Yes.'

"'Did you inflict the same punishment that you yourself had
experienced?' 'I went as an overseer; not as a slave, but as a
slave-driver.'

"'What were the hours of labour in that mill?' 'My master told
me that I had to produce a certain quantity of yarn; the hours
were at that time fourteen; I said that I was not able to produce
the quantity of yarn that was required; I told him if he took
the timepiece out of the mill I would produce that quantity, and
after that time I found no difficulty in producing the quantity.'

"'How long have you worked per day in order to produce the
quantity your master required?' 'I have wrought nineteen hours.'

"'Was this a water-mill?' 'Yes, water and steam both.'

"'To what time have you worked?' 'I have seen the mill going till
it was past 12 o'clock on the Saturday night.'

"'So that the mill was still working on the Sabbath morning.'
'Yes.'

"'Were the workmen paid by the piece, or by the day?' 'No, all
had stated wages.'

"'Did not that almost compel you to use great severity to the
hands then under you?' 'Yes; I was compelled often to beat them,
in order to get them to attend to their work, from their being
overwrought.'

"'Were not the children exceedingly fatigued at that time?' 'Yes,
exceedingly fatigued.'

"'Were the children bound in the same way in that mill?' 'No;
they were bound from one year's end to another, for twelve
months.'

"'Did you keep the hands locked up in the same way in that mill?'
'Yes, we locked up the mill; but we did not lock the bothy.'

"'Did you find that the children were unable to pursue their
labour properly to that extent?' 'Yes; they have been brought to
that condition, that I have gone and fetched up the doctor to
them, to see what was the matter with them, and to know whether
they were able to rise, or not able to rise; they were not at all
able to rise; we have had great difficulty in getting them up.'

"'When that was the case, how long have they been in bed,
generally speaking?' 'Perhaps not above four or five hours in
their beds. Sometimes we were very ill-plagued by men coming
about the females' bothy.'

"'Were your hands principally girls?' 'Girls and boys all
together; we had only a very few boys.'

"'Did the boys sleep in the girls' bothy?' 'Yes, all together.'

"'Do you mean to say that there was only one bothy for the girls
and for the boys who worked there?' 'Yes.'

"'What age were those girls and boys?' 'We had them from 8 to 20
years of age; and the boys were from 10 to 14, or thereabouts.'

"'You spoke of men who came about the bothy; did the girls expect
them?' 'Yes; of course they had their sweethearts.'

"'Did they go into the bothy?' 'Yes; and once I got a sore
beating from one of them, for ordering him out of the bothy.'

"'How long were you in that mill?' 'Three years and nine months.'

"'And where did you go to next?' 'To Messrs. Anderson & Company,
at Moneyfieth, about six miles from Dundee.'

"'What were your hours of labour there?' 'Fifteen hours.'

"'Exclusive of the hour for refreshment?' 'Yes; we seldom stopped
for refreshment there.'

"'You worked without any intermission at all, frequently?' 'Yes;
we made a turn-about.'

"'Explain what you mean by a turn-about?' 'We let them out by
turns in the days.'

"'How long did you let one go out?' 'Just as short a time as they
could have to take their victuals in.'

"'What were the ages of the children principally employed in that
place?' 'From about 12 to 20; they were all girls that I had
there, except one boy, and I think he was 8 years of age.'

"'Was this a flax-mill?' 'Yes, all flax.'

"'Did you find that the children there were exceedingly
distressed with their work?' 'Yes; for the mill being in the
country, we were very scarce of workers, and the master often
came out and compelled them by flattery to go and work half the
night after their day's labour, and then they had only the other
half to sleep.'

"'You mean that the master induced them by offering them extra
wages to go to work half the night?' 'Yes.'

"'Was that very prejudicial to the girls so employed?' 'Yes; I
have seen some girls that were working half the night, that have
fainted and fallen down at their work, and have had to be carried
out.'

"'Did you use severity in that mill?' 'No, I was not very severe
there.'

"'You find, perhaps, that the girls do not require that severity
that the boys do?' 'Yes.'

"'How large was that mill?' 'There were only eighteen of us
altogether.'

"'From what you have seen, should you say that the treatment of
the children and the hours of labour are worse in the small or in
the large mills?' 'I could not answer that question.'

"'Have you ever been in any large mill?' 'Yes, I am in one just
now, Mr. Baxter's.'

"'Is the treatment of the children better in that large mill than
in the smaller mills in which you have been usually?' 'There is
little difference; the treatment is all one.'

"'To whose mill did you next go?' 'To Messrs. Baxter & Brothers,
at Dundee.'

"'State the hours of labour which you worked when you were there,
when trade was brisk?' 'Thirteen hours and twenty minutes.'

"'What time was allowed for meals?' 'Fifty minutes each day.'

"'Have you found that the system is getting any better now?' 'No,
the system is getting no better with us.'

"'Is there as much beating as there was?' 'There is not so much
in the licking way.'

"'But it is not entirely abolished, the system of chastisement?'
'No, it is far from that.'

"'Do you think that, where young children are employed, that
system ought, or can be, entirely dispensed with, of giving
some chastisement to the children of that age?' 'They would not
require chastisement if they had shorter daily work.'

"'Do you mean to state that they are only chastised because
through weariness they are unable to attend to their work, and
that they are not chastised for other faults and carelessness as
well?' 'There may be other causes besides, but weariness is the
principal fault.'

"'Does not that over-labour induce that weariness and incapacity
to do the work, which brings upon them chastisement at other
parts of the day as well as in the evening?' 'Yes; young girls,
if their work go wrong, if they see me going round, and my
countenance with the least frown upon it, they will begin crying
when I go by.'

"'Then they live in a state of perpetual alarm and suffering?'
'Yes.'

"'Do you think that those children are healthy?' 'No, they are
far from that; I have two girls that have been under me these
two years; the one is 13 years, the other 15, and they are both
orphans and sisters, and both one size, and they very seldom are
working together, because the one or the other is generally ill;
and they are working for 3_s._ 6_d._ a week.'

"'Have you the same system of locking up now?' 'Yes, locking up
all day.'

"'Are they locked up at night?' 'No; after they have left their
work we have nothing more to do with them.'

"'What time do they leave their work in the evening now?' 'About
20 minutes past 7.'

"'What time do they go to it in the morning?' 'Five minutes
before 5.'

"'Do you conceive that that is at all consistent with the health
of those children?' 'It is certainly very greatly against their
health.'

"'Is not the flax-spinning business in itself very unwholesome?'
'Very unwholesome.'

So much for the slavery of the factories—a slavery which destroys human beings, body and soul. The fate of the helpless children condemned to such protracted, exhausting toil, under such demoralizing influences, with the lash constantly impending over them, and no alternative but starvation, is enough to excite the tears of all humane persons. That such a system should be tolerated in a land where a Christian church is a part of the government, is indeed remarkable—proving how greatly men are disinclined to practise what they profess.

We cannot close this chapter upon the British factories without making a quotation from a work which, we fear, has been too little read in the United Kingdom—a fiction merely in construction, a truthful narrative in fact. We allude to "The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy," by Frances Trollope. Copious editions of this heart-rending story should be immediately issued by the British publishers. This passage, describing the visit of Michael Armstrong to the cotton factory, in company with Sir Matthew Dowling and Dr. Crockley, is drawn to the life:—

"The party entered the building, whence—as all know who have
done the like—every sight, every sound, every scent that kind
nature has fitted to the organs of her children, so as to render
the mere unfettered use of them a delight, are banished for ever
and for ever. The ceaseless whirring of a million hissing wheels
seizes on the tortured ear; and while threatening to destroy
the delicate sense, seems bent on proving first, with a sort
of mocking mercy, of how much suffering it can be the cause.
The scents that reek around, from oil, tainted water, and human
filth, with that last worst nausea arising from the hot refuse of
atmospheric air, left by some hundred pairs of labouring lungs,
render the act of breathing a process of difficulty, disgust, and
pain. All this is terrible. But what the eye brings home to the
heart of those who look round upon the horrid earthly hell, is
enough to make it all forgotten; for who can think of villanous
smells, or heed the suffering of the ear-racking sounds, while
they look upon hundreds of helpless children, divested of every
trace of health, of joyousness, and even of youth! Assuredly
there is no exaggeration in this; for except only in their
diminutive size, these suffering infants have no trace of it.
Lean and distorted limbs, sallow and sunken cheeks, dim hollow
eyes, that speak unrest and most unnatural carefulness, give to
each tiny, trembling, unelastic form, a look of hideous premature
old age.

"But in the room they entered, the dirty, ragged, miserable
crew were all in active performance of their various tasks; the
overlookers, strap in hand, on the alert; the whirling spindles
urging the little slaves who waited on them to movements as
unceasing as their own; and the whole monstrous chamber redolent
of all the various impurities that 'by the perfection of our
manufacturing system' are converted into 'gales of Araby' for
the rich, after passing, in the shape of certain poison, through
the lungs of the poor. So Sir Matthew proudly looked about him
and approved; and though it was athwart that species of haughty
frown in which such dignity as his is apt to clothe itself, Dr.
Crockley failed not to perceive that his friend and patron was
in good humour, and likely to be pleased by any light and lively
jestings in which he might indulge. Perceiving, therefore, that
little Michael passed on with downcast eyes, unrecognised by any,
he wrote upon a slip of paper, for he knew his voice could not be
heard—'Make the boy take that bare-legged scavenger wench round
the neck, and give her a kiss while she is next lying down, and
let us see them sprawling together.'

"Sir Matthew read the scroll, and grinned applause.

"The miserable creature to whom the facetious doctor pointed, was
a little girl about seven years old, whose office as 'scavenger'
was to collect incessantly, from the machinery and from the
floor, the flying fragments of cotton that might impede the work.
In the performance of this duty, the child was obliged, from time
to time, to stretch itself with sudden quickness on the ground,
while the hissing machinery passed over her; and when this is
skilfully done, and the head, body, and outstretched limbs
carefully glued to the floor, the steady-moving but threatening
mass may pass and repass over the dizzy head and trembling body
without touching it. But accidents frequently occur; and many are
the flaxen locks rudely torn from infant heads, in the process.

"It was a sort of vague hope that something comical of this kind
might occur, which induced Dr. Crockley to propose this frolic to
his friend, and probably the same idea suggested itself to Sir
Matthew likewise.

"'I say, Master Michael!' vociferated the knight, in a scream
which successfully struggled with the din, 'show your old
acquaintance that pride has not got the upper hand of you in
your fine clothes. Take scavenger No. 3, there, round the neck;
now—now—now, as she lies sprawling, and let us see you give her
a hearty kiss.'

"The stern and steady machinery moved onward, passing over the
body of the little girl, who owed her safety to the miserable
leanness of her shrunken frame; but Michael moved not.

"'Are you deaf, you little vermin?' roared Sir Matthew. 'Now
she's down again. Do what I bid you, or, by the living God, you
shall smart for it!'

"Still Michael did not stir, neither did he speak; or if he
did, his young voice was wholly inaudible, and the anger of Sir
Matthew was demonstrated by a clenched fist and threatening brow.
'Where the devil is Parsons?' he demanded, in accents that poor
Michael both heard and understood. 'Fine as he is, the strap will
do him good.'

"In saying this, the great man turned to reconnoitre the space
he had traversed, and by which his confidential servant must
approach, and found that he was already within a good yard of him.

"'That's good—I want you, Parsons. Do you see this little
rebel here, that I have dressed and treated like one of my own
children? What d'ye think of his refusing to kiss Miss No. 3,
scavenger, when I bid him?'

"'The devil he does?' said the manager, grinning: 'we must see if
we can't mend that. Mind your hits, Master Piecer, and salute the
young lady when the mules go back, like a gentleman.'

"Sir Matthew perceived that his favourite agent feared to enforce
his first brutal command, and was forced, therefore, to content
himself with seeing the oiled and grimy face of the filthy little
girl in contact with that of the now clean and delicate-looking
Michael. But he felt he had been foiled, and cast a glance upon
his _protégé_, which seemed to promise that he would not forget
it."

Nor is the delineation, in the following verses, by Francis M. Blake, less truthful and touching:—

THE FACTORY CHILD.

Early one winter's morning,
The weather wet and wild,
Some hours before the dawning,
A father call'd his child;
Her daily morsel bringing,
The darksome room he paced,
And cried, "The bell is ringing—
My hapless darling, haste."

"Father, I'm up, but weary,
I scarce can reach the door,
And long the way and dreary—
Oh, carry me once more!
To help us we've no mother,
To live how hard we try—
They kill'd my little brother—
Like him I'll work and die!"

His feeble arms they bore her,
The storm was loud and wild—
God of the poor man, hear him!
He prays, "Oh, save my child!"
Her wasted form seem'd nothing—
The load was in his heart;
The sufferer he kept soothing,
Till at the mill they part.

The overlooker met her,
As to the frame she crept,
And with the thong he beat her,
And cursed her as she wept.
Alas! what hours of horror
Made up her latest day!
In toil, and pain, and sorrow,
They slowly pass'd away.

It seem'd, as she grew weaker,
The threads the oftener broke,
The rapid wheels ran quicker,
And heavier fell the stroke.
The sun had long descended,
But night brought no repose:
_Her_ day began and ended
As her task-masters chose.

Then to her little neighbour
Her only cent she paid,
To take her last hour's labour,
While by her frame she laid.
At last, the engine ceasing,
The captives homeward flee,
One thought her strength increasing—
Her parent soon to see.

She left, but oft she tarried,
She fell, and rose no more,
But by her comrades carried,
She reach'd her father's door.
All night with tortured feeling,
He watch'd his speechless child;
While close beside her kneeling,
She knew him not, nor smiled.

Again the loud bell's ringing,
Her last perceptions tried,
When, from her straw bed springing,
"'Tis time!" she shriek'd, and—died.
That night a chariot pass'd her,
While on the ground she lay,
The daughters of her master
An evening visit pay;
Their tender hearts were sighing,
As negro wrongs were told,
While the white slave was dying,
Who gain'd their father's gold!