The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-03-05

wholesome and nRuseously disagreeabla
A clerk from the counting.room, who was
showing me through the place, said to me
as I stood Mortified at the pitiable sight o.
those 400 women sweating and breathing
thaIfHid air, and wearing the very least
clothing possible 10 prevent auifoca.ion,
"These girls all die young. Going out O
these very hot rooms into the winter air al
breakfast, dinner and supper hours, gives
them nearly all consumption. Only a few
survive and escape 0.
"W,hat wages do they make ut that dan
geIous occupation?" I asked.
About an average OF eight. ehilllngs .
week" he replied.
Hoy can a woman live on that pit,
tance?''p b. FgEFig.
"Oh, quite well. You see a woman who
works here either las a husband and chill
dren, or brothers and sisters and parents
working here, too. Tho whole family may
have coming In as much as e (Sl0) .
waek."
So the house has to DO broken up, and
every, member Of the family able 10 do q
hands turn has 10 labor ten hours a day a,
a deadly -avocation, to acquire as much
compensation as the poorest laboring.mau
In America makes. Can the lives Of the
people In the York Street Spinning Fac.
tory, be anything better than penal servi.
Jude for life? II 1t can, the only possible
advantage that | see is Tint there Is almost
assured prospect Of early death in the mills,
and that release comes more tardily to the
imprisoned convict.
In n Of the separating rooms, where
the flax Is separated or rouvhed by pulling
It through q row Of steel teeth, there Ia q
cloud OF fine dust flying, which, getting
into the throat and lungs, works lis own
certain deadly evil. l asked my guide il
the men in that room were healthy
"Oh, nc" he responded: "This Is one Of
the most unhealthy rooms. The men near.
ly all die OF consumption" gFI1JI
n "What Is their pay?'
1.-THE best and most skilled workmen
make as high as thirty shillings il they
work hard and steady.
Seven dollars and hall q week, thought,
with a guarantee Of an early death! /
0 0 learned, however, that the ~prosperity
OF Belfast was due to her linen trade,
The cast Of that prosperity, then, I had
seen In the York street factory! The splen
did linen warehouses, as magnificent as
cathedrals, were 80 many mockeries Of the
men and women who were dying daily be.
fore their allotted days were half over.
Early In June LEFT for Dublin, andI
only visited Ulster once afterwards. But
the beautiful rivers, green valleys, and soft
blue mountains Of lovely Ulster will be
forever blotted out Of my memory by tho
one picture now see clearly: Four hun.
dred women, almost naked, save their
loins and bosoms are swathed, sallow, thin
and weary.looking, stand at racks of irSd,
reeking thread which cxales vile oders,
spinning a l4x 10 u thread which. will out.
last their own lives. As they stand hour
by hour the livelong day, sweating away
their vital forces, they weaken and, weuried
they grasp the racks that they may not
ial!. Their hollow eyes turn up to heaven
as II in prayer, and from out that hazy,
reeking iG.id charnel.housB goes up q
moaning sigh that cries to heaven for pity.
1t was a ghastly picture. l have MOI,
overdrawn it, for I would not iraduce any
people. | see it often. Each time It t!is
me with increased repulsion. It stands
ever before the beauties that l had seen in
the North OF Ireland, and drives out for
ever the pleasant memories Of Ulster.
ROBERT HAYDN.