Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-10-31

effect.
The Peacock left the Bar Of Siam for Singa.
pore, on the 9th Of April, having remained up
wards Of forty days.
The Hhhe Slaves Of Great Britain -Bulwer
10 his last work, England and the English-gives
sad picture Of the working classes in the manu-
featuring establishments Of Great Britain 1t is
scarcely less revolving than Whea'ly's account Of
Slavery in the Yves, India Islands He quotes
the following language as descriptive OF the con-
dtion Of many Of those who toll in factories:
The innocent prattle Of bis children takes
out the sting OF mans poverty. But the children
of the peru Door do not prattle. tits none Of the
least rshtful features in that condition, that there
is no chidishuess in its dwellings. Poor people,
said sensible old nurse to Us once, do not bring
up their children; they drag them up The lit.
tie careless darling of the weather. nursery, in
their howell is TRANSITIONAL betimes into prena.
ture rejecting person. No one has time TO dan.
die it, no one thinks it worth while to coax it, to
soothe it, or toss it up and down, to humor it.
There is none to kiss away its tears. II it cries
il can only BE- beaten. 1t has been prettily said
that "a babe is fed with milk and praise But
the sIimeut OF this poor babe was thin, unnour
ishius; the return to it's little baby tricks, and
efforts to engage attention, bitter, ceaseless ob
iurgatiuu 1t never had toy, or knew what a
coral meant. 1t grew up without the lullaby Of
nurses; il was stranger to the patient fonde.
the hushing cares, the attracting novelty, the
costiier play thing, or the cheaper OF hand con.
trivaace to divert the child; the prattled non
sense (best sense to it,) the wise imper tnences,
the wholesome iies the apt story Interposed, that
puts stop to present sufferings, and awakens the
passion Of young wonder. 1t was never sung TO
no one ever told 1t a tale OF the nursery. II was
dragged up, to live or to die as it happened 1t
had no young dreams. 1t broke at once into the
iron realities of life. A child exists nor for the
,,,, ,rru as vuju~. &c Iii:----. :. :: '.
another mouth to be fed, pair OF little hands TO
he betmes Injured to labor. 1t is the rival, TIL
II can be the CO operator, for the food with the
narept. It's never his mlrth, his diversion, his
soiace; it never makes him young again, With
recalling his young times. The children of the
yery poor have no Young times. 1t makes the
very heart bleed to over.hear the casual street
talk between door woman and her little girl, a
woman of the better sort Of poor, in condition
rather above the squaIid beings which we have
been contemplating. 1t is not Of toys, OF nurse.
~ books, Of summer holydays. fitting that age J;
Of the promised sight, or play; OF praised suffl-
cheney at school. 1t is of managing and clear
starching, Of the price Of Goals, or OF potatoes
The ouestinns OF the child. that should be the
very outpourinss OF curiosity IN 'd'eness' are
marked with forecast and melancholy providence.
II has come to be woman, before 1t was child
1t has learned 60 to market; 1t chaffers' 1t bag
giles, it envics, it murmurs; 1t IS knowing, acute,
sharpened; it never prattles. Had we not rea.
son 10 say, that the home Of the very poor is no
homer"
In confirmation Of the truth Of this description
he copies some of the evidence given before the
House Of Commons in relation to the Factory
Bill. We have only space IN our columns tor
the following sample:-
Evidence of Mr. Thomas Daniel, relative to
the boys called Scaveugers.
You have stated that there is considerable dit.
ference in the ages Of the children employed; are
the Younger or older Of the children those that
have to undergo the greatest degree Of labor
and exertioni-The younger
Those you call scavengersf-Yes, scavengers
and middle plecers
Viii you state their average ageF-lhe aver
age age OF scavengers will not be more than ten
years.
Describe 10 the committee the employment Of
those scavengersi Their work to keep the
machines, while they are going, clean from all
4
kinds Of dust and dirt that may be flying about.
and they are in all sorts Of pastures to come at
them: think that their bodily exer,ioo is more
than they are able to BEAR for they are constantly
kept in a state Of activity
Have they not to clean machines. and 10 creep
under, and to run round them, and to change
and accommodate their position in every possible
manner. in order TO keep those machines in pro-
per orderl They are in all sorts OF postures that
the human body is capable of being put into, to
come at the machines.
Are they not peculiarly liable to accidents,
then? In many instances they are: but not SC
much now as they formerly were; spinners take
more care and more notice of the children than
they formerly did.
Do you think that they are capable Of perform
ing that work for the length of time that you
have described? Not without doing them Sc.
rous injury with respect to their health and their
bodily strength.
State the effect that it has upon them, accord
ing to your own observation and experienced
Those children, every moment that they have to