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    feer ppMSffifcaees *» work « j £ ber nias © © 'etodfc at nigfei , 13 bey began , w&sed , * & * ev < sa—fionaefaasw * at « BP-- ^ i ^ «* fi « Biiagv » Bd were barely a&Mred tune £ > r tiae meals mJhieh milliners roust bare a ©* leas than the well-fed Graces of B *> tten-row . Even tiifl , to tibie young girl , yf ^ tTfrf-HJ 9- ftfl W *? ffi * V * f ^ i » kftf »; iK » -fra j ^ wari it for that e £ a , goreroem , w a « d » oel afc JBdmaaton , aad remained there seven weeks , teaching ana dieefoforaag the pupils , until the " establishment / ' unhappily , was broken , up . Nothing now xtexwwed but to seek another Madame , as an employer , and , accordingly , in April of the present year , she engaged herself for 101 . to work for the season—that is , until the end

    of August . The first week I was there we began to work at eight In the morning , and worked till between , eleven and twelve o ' clock at sight . There was no fixed time for meals ; we had to take them as Cast as we could , and tetom to tb « workroom Akeetly we had finished . Ztte second week there was a Drawing-room . We worked on Tuesday till twelve o ' clock , and on Wednesday we continued at it till between three and four o ' clock on the following morning . We then went to bed , but had to begin work again at eight o'clock , and continued at ft till twelve . The following day ( Friday ) we worked Zinam eight till between eleven and twelve o ' clock at night . We always breakfasted before we began workthat hi , before eight o ' clock .

    TJie third week we worked sometimes till one o ' clock ia the morning ; / sometimes only till twelve o ' clock at night This continued until the Friday of the fourth week . Then , having commenced work after breakfast , at eight , the " young ladies " worked on , far into the night , far into the following morning . IJuring the day their meals had been hurried . At midnight , a cup of coffee was brought to each , witli u something improper" not mandragora , but a wakeful drug , stirred into it to prevent the

    poor girls from helplessly closing their eyes . Consequently , when at five o ' clock they were allowed to go to their bedrooms , it was impossible io sleep . " This was invariably the case after hawing coffee at midnight ; whereas the coffee which was given on those nights when we could retire to bed at eleven or twelve o ' clock never produced the same effect . " It would make a fine picture—the Madame who decorates ladies , drugging with . deleterious stimulan t * the coffee of the young girls who enable her to live in mimicry of

    fashion , near the squares . On that particular morning none of the girls could sleep . Some walked about their rooms ; other * wrote letter *—perhaps dreamed wakefully of an . ideal world ; some looked over the contents of their boxes ; others irritated them » elveB by attempting to rest . Five of them slept in one room—very close , and not very dean . The narrator could touch the ceiling with her hand .

    We were so crowded , moreover , that w » could not all move about and dress at one tine ; and what made it till worse , it adjoined another room in which two others slept . Thoso young persons wore so cramped for space that fhey literally could scarcely move . They wore obliged-to hare the door kept open that led into onr room , or they most have been stifled , as there was no other way of ihotr getting air j we were thus as it were seven persons sleeping In ono apartment . In their little room there was no fireplace ; in ours there was , but thoro was a cheat of drawers against it , for which there was no space in any other part of the room . What followed P They began work next morning at eight , and continued until twelve at night .

    During th » afternoon and ovoning , I had to leave the workroom several times to try and got relief by drinking , and fey wMhtag my face and forohend with cold water . We also had a nulling-bottle on the table , or we never eoMld bave kept awake . After retiring to my bedroom , I was ia such a foverleh state as to bo obliged to apply wet linen to my head . On the Sunday morning , when I awoko , my tongue was so swollen that I could not qstak . 'My eras , also , wwe so bad tfert I oonid not soe \ Ad I' wm Obliged to be helped out of bed . I afterward * managed , with great difficulty , to get to my uncle ' s , the distance not twing far , or I could not have walked . He deatred ma to leave my situation at once , and would not allow'me to 90 baok to stay . I returned , however , tm tho

    aftarMwau , tmd itM . lfirlame of my deberminatiop to leaxe best- She said it was dt ^ gracefol on my part to flo so , as I bad « ogaged for the season . The health of this young girl has been irremg business ; and her case is only one among numbers which have been well authenticated . A . young girl from Calais , she tells us , entered the same establishment with a robust constitution , remained six months , toiling all

    day , and kept awake at night by that impure c o ffee , became seriously ill , entered the nospital , and died in three weeks . The names of several others who have worn out their lives in the workrooms of the fashionable dressmaker may be seen in the graveyard at Calais . Mr , LrLWAXii ' s comment which follows , deserves attention on account of his minute knowledge of the classes which prosper and the classes which perish , under the influence of this social slavery : —

    It is but right to add , that my experience has taught me that a very large proportion of this class comprizes persons of nearly equal refinement and respectability , very many of them being the daughters of clergymen , noncommissioned officers , decayed merchants , and such like , and who therefore feel so much the more keenly the brutal treatment to which they are subjected . Lest the circumstance that the case here cited occurred in an establishment conducted by French persons should convey & wrong impression , justice requires I should state my belief that , upon the whole , greater kindness , or , more correctly speaking , less inhumanity , is practised in the French houses in London than in those kept by English women .

    "We know that the case is not overstated ; and we have only to say further , that while City and Government clerks , and tradesmens ' assistants , are beginning to enjoy the advantages , inestimable as we think them , of early hours and half-holidays , some attempt should be made for the relief of dressmakers and milliners . "We even think , though this may be incendiarism , that it is not worth while to kill four or five young girls every season , that a Drawing-room may be as bright as a bed of

    flowers . Our ladies are like the lilies , " they toil not , neither do they spin ; " but somebody spins and toils for them . "While they are going home in the cold light of the morning from the French Embassy , Madame is drugging her assistants to keep an unnatural activity ; for must not the youthful Countess be dressed like a Peri , " in gleam of satin and glimmer of p earl , " for to-morrow ' s festivity ? Meanwhile , tho workgirl wastes away and dies .

    Untitled Article

    COMMISSIONER GOTJLBURN AHD HIS MARTYR . Mr . Commissioner Goulbttrn has promoted a person , who had probably no claim to the position , to be a martyr . The declaration made on the subject of religious belief and consequent disabilities in this country by the Commissioner , is conspicuous equally for its outrageously tyranniifji and bigoted

    character , and for its ludicrous impolicy as applied to the administration of the Commissioner ' s Court . The case immediately before the Judge was that of a Mr . Beiwett , a tailor at Camberwell , who had been made a bankru p t b y Mr . WaIiIiEh , a local creditor . This Mr . ViLMft found the bankrupt's shop occupied by a person of the name of Creed , who affected to be in possession ; but as Mr . WAtiiER had seen both Bettnett and Creed

    sitting at work on the same board , he suspected connivance , and endeavoured to drag the whole subject of this connivance into court . Accordingly Creed was brought there ; but a difficulty presented itself . Although Chued by name , he possesses no creed by nature or conviction . He declined ' to take the usual oath , or eign the usual examination-paper , " for ho is not a Christian ; " , what iB worse for oath-taking purposes , ho had " no religious opinions whatever "—ho was " an Atheist . " How can

    you make a man responsible for his duties in trade if he is actually destitute of religious ( MHStions ? This was the difficulty into which vast Court was thrown , and we admit it . There would indeed be no difficulty whatever , if the Legislature had nofc made the responsibility of a tradesman rest upon his sense of religious responsibility ! It hae been assumed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords , that a man cannot feel bound to tell the truth unless he believes

    certain facts . The two Houses make this assumption in the teeth of experience j for nobody believes that G-ibboaN" would have told lies or given false evidence in Court , —he would have seen far too distinctly the social forfeiture and the penal consequences at law . The Legislature , however , has done all it can to disqualify Judges for dealing with reluctant witnesses , so long as those witnesses are exempt from the sense of religious liabilities ; and here was a man shuffling off his responsibilities towards the laws respecting the tenure of a household property , on the pretext that he was " an Atheist . "

    It was of course the business of the Commissioner to show that however Mr . Cbejei > might settle accounts with his Maker , he would be called upon to make a distinct reckoning with the landlord , or the creditors , or the Court of Bankruptcy , as the case might be . Mr . Commissioner GrOUL . BURi < r , however , prefers to mix up the two questions — " This impious bravado will not avail you . By impious bravado I mean an attempt to make that prominent which every other man

    would wish to conceal . Unless you sign the customary examination-paper , or if you refuse to make a declaration , I shall commit you to prison . " Now , it is evident that Creed did not want to sign , for obvious reasons . It -is possible that he may liave a conscientious objection , on the grounds that his signing would constitute a falsehood ; but the Commissioner was dull enough to tell the man that unless he virtually told a falsehood under his sign manual , he should be

    subjected to punishment . Creed would have committed a punishable offence in refusing to give evidence ; but he had not the opportunity of giving truthful evidence , until he had consented to tell a lie in writing . What is more , the Commissioner treated the refusal to tell a lie as the greater offence which included the lesser of refusing to tell the truth . " There will , " said the Commissioner , " be an adjournment to Monday . In the mean time an order of commitment must

    be drawn up with great care , the commitment being under a highly penal statute . I have no idea of favour being shown to a man who ostentatiously proclaims himself an Atheist . " Our idea of an English Judge is that ho should show no " favour" to any man , Atheist , Deist , Papist , or Calvinist . If Mr . Creed is an Atheist , why should he say that he is anything else ? Commissioner GfouiiBUBisr tells him that he " ostentatiously proclaims what every other man would

    wish to conceal . " But why should ho wish to conceal it ? The Judge of the Bankruptcy Court treats tho statement of a plain mutter of fact , which is extremely pertinent to tho business in hand , as if it were an indocency for a man to expose his opinions ! This is worse than ludicrous ; for it implies that a man s religious belief nofc only constitutes a

    disability unrecognized by tho law , but subjects him to something which is the reverse of favour when he is before an English «) udgo . His Honour , who refuses " favour" to an Atheist , implies that he would not havo refused favour to a man who is the reverac ot an Atheist . Perhaps Mr . G-CvuiaiURfl ' u scale of favour corresponds with the degree oi dogmatic Atheism in the witness before him .

    Untitled Article

    jgg jjb LEAD 1 B . [ No . 32 £ , ' - SA . Tmm&r ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1856, page 638, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2148/page/14/