National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1872-03-15
The Contrasts OF n Life,

In a recent speech NJ Great Falls, N
H., Senator Henry Wilson, referring I,
some experiences in his early life, said;
feel that have the right 10 speak fo
toiling men TO toiling men. | was borI
here in your county OF Stafford, ! wa'
born in poverty want sat by my crau p
know what Il is 10 ask mother foI
bread when she has none 10 give. left
my home at ten years Of age and served
an apprenticeship Of eleven years, receiv.
ing n months schooling each year, and at
the end Of eleven years Of hard work, a
yoke Of oxen and six sheep, which brought
| ne cightv-lour dollars. 4 dollar would
cover every penny spent from the time
| | was born until was twcnty-onc years of
age. know what il is to travel weary miles
and ask my felow-mcn TO give me leave
to toll ! remember that in September,
1888. ! walked into your village from my
native town. and went through your mills,
seeking employment. II anybody had
offered me * or 50 a month, ! should
have accepted it gladly. went down to
Salmon Falls, | went TO Dover, went 20
Newmarket, and tried 10 get work, with
out success, and | returned home weary
but not discouraged, and PUT my pack on
my back and walked 10 the town where |
now live and learned a mechanics trade
| know the hard lot that toiling men have
to endure in this world, and every pulsa
ton of my'heart, every conviction of my
Judgment, puts me on the side Of the toll
lng men of my country-aye, Of all coun
tries.
| am glad the workingnen in Europe
are getting discOr tented and want better
wages / thank God that a man in the
United States to day can earn from three
to four dollars, in ten hours w)rk, easier
than he could forty years ago earn one dol
lar, working from twelve TO fifteen hours
The first month ! worked after | was
twenty one years Of age, | went into the
woods, drove team, cut mill-logs, wood,
rose in the morning before daylight and
worked hard until after dark at night. |
and received for it the magnificent sum
of six dollars And when | got the
money, those dollars looked as large to me
ms the moon looked to night. On the farm
on which served an apprenticeship, |
have seen the best men who ever put
,cythe IN grass working for from fifty |
cents to four shillings day, in the longest |
days in Summer. Yesterday visited that
farm. asked the men who were there
what they paid men in haying time last
Summer, and they said, from 50 to 50 so
a day, This was paid on the same ground I
where men worked forty years ago for
from fifty cents to four shilines, and took
their pay in farm products, not money. |
have seen some of the brightest women
20 into the farm houses and work for from
fifty cents to four shllings a week, milk
ing the cows, making butter and cheese,
washing, spinning and weaving, doing all
kinds of hard work. | was told yestcr-
day that many young women were earn
ing, in the shops, 81 day, and that those
who worked in houses were getting from
50 90 to So. so week
To-day the laboring men and women of
our country are earning from three to four
times as much in a day as they could earn
forty years ago, and days work is shorter
now than 1t was then. After had learn
ed trade in the place where live work
I'd fourteen and fifteen hours day, month
after month. to earn about $40 month.