The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-11-16
The City orLoveil.

L9wefi, the MANCHESTER OF America" contains
about 40 600 inhabitants, about II 900 Of whom
employed 10 the factories there. A letter gives an
Interesting description Of the place:
II gives living and stirring aspect to the town
when at the hour for meals this vast number ts
poured out In one moving mass through the streets
In mement the streets are flowing and eddyipr
with these streams aud transverse currents OF hn
man beings, lightrhearted aud airy, aud Ia another
moment they have disappeared within the walls Of
their often elegant boarding honses to discuss with
Keen relish the Widespread varieties OF rood New
England cookery
The business OF maaufa turing is here diyui6ed.
and carried forward to perfect system. There is
q time and method for everything, and the laws Of
the several corporations are uniform. Though not
enforced by penalties, farther than dismisso thev
are observed far better than those which are re.
corded upon our statute books. Great attention is
operatives, who'are, indeed, treated like members
OF one great family.
The boarding houses are often among the frat
class OF houses in the city, painly built, to be
sure, but in good style. large and commodious, on
some Of the very pleasautest streets Of the CITY,
and with an exterior order and neatness that
might pass for genteei aristocracy. We entered
one In our rambles to geta view OF the interior
arrangement, and must confess 1 have pever
seen more order, neasness, comfort and simple
elegance, compacted in human domiCi. Il was
large edifce, making one of a magnificent row
that would compare with the supper ten life in
Philadelphia. Nothing was out Of place. Perfect
neatness and tidiness marked every room and
among the New England characteristics cf this
in>dooor life, you might see in almost every pri.
vate room, the small. but we'll filled book -case
with its octaves aud duodecimos arrange In their
order. We went through dormitorics, kitchen,
dining room and parlOr, and peeped into closets,
with the good lady of the house as our guide,
Mrs. Kimble, who dispensed the ceremonies Of
this "Pau Pry' visitation with a downright hep r.
ty zest and good humor. We should have been
further al ui a t,fo aEt H.
tempting squash PIES which were being prepared
in munifcent abundance, but time failed us.
The quality of board would compare we'll as to
richness and variety with our second class hotels,
and far surpass them in cleanliness. Yet, all this
board, lodging, wood and lights, aod washing are
furnished for 81 so per week. 25 cents of which are
paid by the companies, and ten shilling by the
individua, boarder. The average wages of females
in the fictores clear of board is 81 10 per week,
and that of men, per day, clear of board, eighty
cents Many female is there supportinga broths
er 10 college, or an aged parent at home, or paying
for a homestead, or increasing bank deposit for
after competency. If they sick, there is a
hospital near by, located in beautiful part Of the
city, itself comprising several beautiful buildings
i'll an enclosure aud surroundings exceedingly
pleasant and tasteful where the best medical aid
and nursing attention are had at less than the
necessary cost, and the very poor are charged
nothing.
The factories are some of the most magnificent
buildings in the State. There eleven principal
manufacturing companies, with AN aggregate capi-
tai sseck of about S14 900 900. This makes pretty
lively business. l doubt if the field of Waterloo
presented livielier nosier scene than thu
floor Of one of these cotton mills, with hundred
and thirty looms, each flying at rate of little less
than stroke n second, and each loom turning off
from 80 to As yards per day. asked what power
was required t. drive the machinery in of these
fictories,and was told that the pondrous wheels
revJlred With 1900 horse power Yet the water was
so delcately guaTged that they turned with mathe-
matical precision ofseconds, aud not jar per-
ceplibe throughout the vast tier of rooms and the
thousands of wheels and cylinders and compli-
Gated motions
Of the wonos full variety and ingenuity of ma
chnery in the vari0ns departments of the mechani-
Cal and manufacturing establishments at Lowell,
one can form no conception prior to a'iong and
and careful inspection. Almost has map transa
ferred the gift of Intelligence to matter. Aim, s.:
is it made to move by the laws of thought and voi.
ton. Imagine, for instance, card machine,
where the wire is cut Off pointed, beDt the hole
punched, aud the wire turned and inserted in its
roper arrangement or il anything faulty, is re-
JecIed promptly and another taken IN its place, all
by machinery! Imagine power loom, working
At the rate OF 10 yards per day, and driving up q
shuttle at the rate OF about one shoot in second,
stopping of itself in All instant, if thread breaks
or runs out or gets out OIL place. The carpet max
ing is enough to make man take off his hat from
very astonishment If not reverance. There is loom
weavinga carpet Of variable and richest colors
requiring "A different colored threads TO be woven
into the figure. These threads are arranged in
shuttle on either side In upright tiers, courses
which are to be thrown across the lathe, after
most intervolved and irregular order, as for in-
stance frsta tenth, a third, ffth.s fourteenth,
&c. Whenever particular thread il required
the shuttle containing that thread will rise fall
the case may, to the level of the web, aud then
shoot acrosP. No hand touches it to bring threads
TO their places at the proper time and if anything
is wanting to complete the mystery, it is that if
thread Breaks gets out of place, runs out the
whole loom stops in an instant. In building con-
tanning 200 power carpet looms, aud turning off
$4,000 yards of carpeting in week, this order is
more strictly observed than it could be if each
movement depended upon distinct volition,
and became the subject of distinct intelligent
cogpitioD.