Year: 1874

steam power, They would pour in basket
peas and the peas would come out one way
and the dilapidated pods the other. The
same steam engine runs other machinery
for making boxes also running their rotary
press for printing. Most of the type set
ting is done by the females. In the print
ing Office we saw number of young people
OF both sexes enjoying themselves more
than being busy. j. II. Noys, the Brigham
Young of the community, was away from
home.


Return to the parade grounds we saw
much to interest us-women stepping about
from one building to another with their
dresses at half mast, visitors coming and
going, &c. A little way off We saw gen
tleman with nine little ones, Watching them
as hen would her brood. We asked him
how that was, and he said that was his
business to take care of those nine children,
and that he had two or three women to
help. He had little three-wheeled car
riage, and when the bell rung for tea he
put them all on and wheeled them to the
dlnnlngroom. In another direction we
saw an older man with another group Of





of girls. On interviewing the females |
told Smith that it seemed as though they
thought the great Chester knew we'll how
to make women so they would answer the
purpose for which they were designed with
out so much fuss and feathers as some
thought necessary. How they would ap-
pear to dress them in the more modern
fashion one couldn tell, but certainly there
is nothing very inviting or captivating in
their present appearance. Their hair is
cropped off short, their dress coming just
below the knee, with pantalettes loose, and
feet looking small in comparison to tro'cser
gentlcnaen Old ladies are no exception,
whose gray hair and wrinklcd faces tell of
three-score years.


There are other interests which we did
not see, of which they gave US statement.
Their forge, the trap works, the silk works
and machine shop. The number Of traps
made and sold here in one year, where fur
bearing animals are found, has exceeded
100000, eight sizes, from the rat trap to
that of the grizzly bear of the Becky Noun
tains. In the silk factory over one hun
dred hands are employed, mostly young
women from the neighboring villages. The
amount Of silk goods manufactured in 1870
was $40, ,750.S4. Their yearly income,
above all expenses, has been over $4,000.


But we must draw our long letter to a
close. Leaving this interesting community,
after seven hours of industry, we met a
man at the depot, where We had to wait
for an hour, and could enquire more into
their domestic life He said that as peo-
pie they would be very much missed il
they were to go away. They seemed to
them what the coal companies are to the
people Of Pennsylvania He told US that
he had lived there by them for thirty
years, and worked for them, and they were
an honest, and just people, always cndeavor-
ING to do the right thing He stated that
at the evening meetings each male put his
hand into box and drew out a number Of
a room, and that room and its occupant
were his for that night, so that his com
panionship was matter Of chance rather
than choice. There are 129 males and 14l
females There are 81 children under l:
years of age, and 50 under p. Every
thing about them is in perfect order, O
which neatness is but feeble expression
Owego, Aug. %, 1874.