Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1861-01-25
NEEDLE WOMEN OF LONDON.

NEEDLE WOMEN OF LONDON.
A correspondent of the London Times,
describing one of the great m~antua-making
establishments in that city, communicates
the following facts:-
Work is commenced every morning at
7 o'clock and continued till II at night
a period of sixteen hours, the only inter
walls allowed being about ten minutes for
each meal; the total amount of time al
lowed for-eating their food, | was going
to say, but, surely, "bolting' is the more
appropriate phrase-being forty minutes
per day; thus leaving fifteen hours and
twenty minutes as the period devoted to
work. And this, be it remembered, is not
merely during the busy season, as at the
West End, but for all the year round, from
January to December for you must I'M
derstand that, at the establishment to
which I refer, theagreater part of the sew
ing is given out to slop-workers in the
busy season, and all that is done indoors
is the original cutting out and ultimate
fitting together of the separate pieces
but when the slack season comes, there is
always as much sewing reserved as will
keep the girls of the establishment en-
ployed up to the full pitch-so that there
is, in fact, no "slack season" at all for
them. And yet, for this continued and
u%nrelenting pressure Of sixteen hours
work per day, from years end to years
end, this firm assume to themselves the
greatest possible credit. Theythank God
that they are not as other firms are at the
West End-oppressors and destroyers of
young women. They never-not even for
a few weeks in the busy season-make
their people sit up till 8 or 4 o'clock in
the morning! Oh no !--their gas is al
waps turned off in the workroom by II
o'clock. Why, sir, the West End system,
with its few weeks of severity, followed as
it is by months of comparative leisure, is
mercy itself, when viewed alongside Of
this unmitigated, ''never-ending, still be-
ginning" slavery to which I am referring.
The only day of leisure which the girls
of this establishment have is Sunday.
From Monday morning to Saturday
night, they are as complete prisoners as
any in Newgate. They know not whether
the sun shines or the rain falls at that
time. Theyfare not allowed to cross the
Threshold oven to purchase a pair of
shoes or a new gown for themselves, and
must employ their friends outside to do
this for them.
Nor is their the accommodations indoors
such as in any way to reconcile them to
this close confinement. Theworkroom, in
which ten or twelve of them are employed,
is only about twelve feet square, and is
entirely devoid Of arrangements for ven
t%ilation, which is more to be deplored as,
during the evening, they have to cncoun-
ter the heat and foul air of three flaming
gas burners right over their heads, every
door n window being shut by which a
breathlof pure air could possibly enter.
The bedrooms arc equally uncomfortable,
no fewer than six persons being huddled
into one and four into another. r.. 4 ra
Is it impossible to contemplate the con-
dition of this class Of workmcnr, as dis
closed By the facts quoted, without kcenly
sy%mpathizing with it, and wishing that
something might be done to mitigate its
evils and misery Scientfc Americaan,
tor y A--.~.. aoli9si.
a. in the great earthquake which oyer
threw the town Of Riobamba, in 1897, the
ground was raised with such violence that
the bodies Of several of the inhabitants
were hurled to Cullca, d hill several hun
Hrnl foot in hioht and an 4bn opoo,.4x