to unrestrained debauchery. These are the men—and many of them are eminently skilful workmen who gradually become entangled in the meshes of crime. Drunkenness leads to all other vices; and in the end conquers and absorbs them all.'

The most efficient checks to this course of ruin are to be found in the good sense and good management of the masters and their foremen. The kindness and paternal admonitions of the one, the good example and strict discipline of the other, can control and keep down the passions and habits of those under their charge, to an extent which could scarcely be believed, were it not proved by the wide difference which exists in the characters of the workmen-not one, but all, or nearly all-belonging to ill or wellconducted establishments.

If a strong sense of the moral duties attached to his situation is important in the master who has men under him, it becomes still more so in him on whose prudence and paternal solicitude the virtue, the respectability, and the happiness of the female artisan depend. Far more than with men does the well-being of women in the lower walks of life depend on their strict regularity of morals. In many families among the working-classes order and economy form the rule of action. The daughters learn to place all their moderate hopes of happiness in a life of unintermitting but tranquil labour; as much as possible they perform their work at home, and under the eye of their parents: if it be necessary that they should labour in a crowded workshop, they carry with them their good habits; they are constant in their attendance, and exact in the performance of their daily task. The young girls, whose characters have been formed by such domestic training, seldom on festival-days leave their homes except under the protection of their parents. Following the example of their mother, they hoard up by dint of assiduous exertion a little marriage-portion, which is to aid them in obtaining a husband, the first wish of every girl's heart in the lower ranks of life; and the good conduct which accompanies this effort often secures its success. The fate, however, even of these young women depends greatly upon the continued guardianship of their parents. If left to themselves, they must possess a rare degree of good sense and prudence to resist the temptations and ill examples by which they are surrounded. The influence of such examples may also be powerfully checked by the character of the master and those in authority under him. If they do their duty, there is external decorum, at least, within the establishment; and in this case the greatest danger which the young workwoman incurs is in her out-of-doors connections with her fellow-labourers. But if the master is occupied solely by the

ardour

ardour of gain, and either does not regard or does not understand the important moral situation which he fills, the case is far otherwise the unfortunate girl will find herself at once, and without any power of retreat, in an atmosphere of avowed guilt-amid companions who make it a task and a pride to render each newcomer as depraved as themselves. At first she is shocked and depressed by this; but too frequently, as it becomes familiar to her, it undermines her principles. It is at this crisis, this dangerous entrance into life, that the vigilance of her parents is most necessary; they should study the slightest indication of melancholy and alarm; they should labour to confirm her virtuous intentions, and at any sacrifice to themselves they should remove her from a region of guilt to one of decency and good morals. If they neglect to do this, she is lost.

The avarice of parents is a frequent source of ruin to their children. Many of them appropriate to the payment of the domestic expenses the whole of the daughter's wages, and leave her without the means of clothing herself as well as others of her

Smartness of dress is, amongst the female working-class, as amongst all other classes of women, one of the first necessaries of life. If unduly curtailed in this, the young person gets dissatisfied with her condition: she feels humiliated, and takes an aversion to her home. Whilst her mind is in this state she falls an easy prey to the addresses of the first young man-her fellowlabourer-who appears to compassionate her situation-accepts his proposal to live with him; and at once, and without a single word of intimation, quits her parents' house. These separations of parents and children are of very frequent occurrence; and it is the harshness and injustice of the parents which lead to the greater portion of them.

There are two marked divisions in the female operatives at Paris-those who belong to shops and workrooms, and those who are employed in manufactories. The latter class are far inferior in education, manners, and language to the former.

The wages of the young women employed in shops and workrooms seldom exceed twenty-five or thirty sous a-day. Those who reside with their parents, and are properly treated by them, are comfortably off; and it is they who form the virtuous portion of the class. But those who are harshly used at home, and those who, having no parents, must look to their own slender resources alone for lodging, food, and clothes, are sadly pinched by poverty. It is this deficiency of means, this actual want, which wrecks the virtue of so many of them. A young and inexperienced girl, placed in this position, feels the necessity of assistance and sup

port:

port: her heart expands towards any one who addresses her with kindness if it be a young man of her own class, she readily attaches herself to him as to a friend and protector, and, as a matter of course, a lover: they swear eternal fidelity, and an illicit connection is formed, which very frequently lasts for many years, and not rarely ends in marriage. Immoral as are these unions, they are looked upon with indulgence and kindly interest, as having their origin in real affection on both sides; and this at least is certain, that in the great majority of instances a far worse course is pursued. Pressed by penury, a casual temptation or a few deceitful words are all that is required to turn many such girls from the path of virtue: again and again they are deluded and deserted; many of them become mothers; and, when abandoned by their lovers, are driven by the combined pressure of actual want and maternal tenderness to throw themselves into the abyss of degradation. It is well known also that many do this to procure the means of existence for their sick and aged parents.

It is of the better class of female operatives that M. Frégier has hitherto spoken: those who belong to manufactories are a far less fortunate class. A large proportion of workmen, including even those who are the most regular, when their families become numerous, have no other resource than to send their daughters, at the age of seven or eight, to the manufactory. Once admitted

into these crowded establishments-in most of which both sexes work together-and at that age when the spirit of imitation is the strongest, a very few days suffice to fix the character of nearly all of them. Their older companions, totally uneducated, and unrestrained by any moral influence, make it their pastime, by laboured and exaggerated impurity of language, to corrupt the children who work by their side. It is seldom the master of the establishment and his deputies pay any attention to all this, engrossed as they are in their one great aim, the execution of a certain quantity of work in a certain space of time; and blind to the fact, self-evident as it is, that morality is the best foundation of order and discipline. In nearly all these establishments, le vice,' says says M. Frégier, siège à côté du travail.'

6

Among these girls chastity is almost unknown;' many of them become mothers at a very early age. Without shame or repugnance they enter the lying-in hospital; the maternal feelings are scarcely known to them-they separate themselves from their infant without a pang, and re-enter the manufactory with the full determination of resuming the same guilty course. Of those who have families, not more than one-third are married. It is only necessary to watch the exit of the gangs from the manufac

tories:

tories: boisterous, grossly indecent, insolent, ready to overwhelm with abuse any modest woman who may pass near them, disgust and compassion must fill the mind of every well-disposed person who observes them. Many are drunkards; and it is in ardent spirits that they indulge more frequently than in wine. On Sunday and on idle-Monday, nothing is more common than to see young cotton-spinners, half-clothed and emaciated, coming out of the brandy-shop completely drunk; often hanging on the arm of their half-intoxicated mothers. Whilst these densely-peopled nurseries remain as they are, the ranks of vice and crime will continue crowded to overflowing.

It is in Paris only that the chiffonniers, or rubbish-hunters, form a distinct and specific class :—

'The extension of industry during the last thirty years has added to the dignity of this profession, which is alike followed by men, women, and children. It requires no apprenticeship, no previous course of study, no expensive outfit: a large and compactly-shaped basket, a stick with a hook at the end of it, and a lantern, are the entire stock-intrade of this singular species of labourers. The men gain, on an average, and according to the season of the year, from twenty-five to forty sous a-day; but to do this they are obliged to make three rounds, two by day and one during the night; their labour commencing at five in the morning and ending at midnight. Between their rounds they examine and sort the cargoes which they bring in, and which they term their merchandize; and, having done so, go and sell the arranged treasures to the master or managing chiffonnier: for, like all other professions, this has its gradations of ranks, the higher of which are only reached after long periods of subordinate labour. Many of these chiefs keep furnished lodgings, which they let out exclusively to those ambulatory chiffonniers who have no fixed residence; reserving to their own use the ground-floor, as a magazine for their wares. The important operation of sorting his booty, if the chiffonnier is one of the better class, and desirous of a healthy lodging, is performed either in a separate room, hired for the purpose, or, when the weather will permit, in the open air; but the far greater number possess only a single room, and in this, surrounded and assisted by their children, they spread out, examine, and sort the filthy produce of each journey. The floor is covered with rags, fragments of animal substances, glass, paper, and a thousand other things, some whole, some broken, and all begrimed with dirt; whilst the several selections fill all the corners of the room, and are heaped up under the bed. The stranger who enters is almost suffocated by the stench, which is rendered still more offensive by one, and sometimes two, large/dogs, which form part of the domestic establishment of most chiffonniers, and which they take out with them in their nocturnal rounds. It is matter of astonishment that habit should enable these people to endure with impunity the putrid exhalations amidst which they live. The hotte of the chiffonnier is not merely the receptacle of

you

his merchandize, it is also his market-basket: among all the filthy trash which he collects, he takes care not to neglect the luxuries of his table -vegetables for his soup, pieces of bread, half-rotten fruit, everything which he conceives to be eatable. It is not unamusing to watch the sorting of all this, and to listen to the professional talk which seasons the operation when the sorter is in good temper, as he generally is, if his basket has been well filled and you address him with civility. Squatting down before it, he will show you, with a smile of exultation, a large beef-bone-a perfect beauty-and other articles of equal worth; and as he arranges his several heaps on the pavement, he will tell "that competition kills trade-that cooks have become dead to all sense of humanity, that they now make money of everything, bones and broken glass especially! These ragamuffins have their moments of good fortune and joy-it is when, in breaking apart a mass of filth, they see glittering before their eyes a silver spoon or fork; and, thanks to the carelessness of servants, these rich prizes are not of rare occurThe happy individual forthwith proceeds to the barrier with his friends, generally in a hackney-coach, to celebrate the event by a copious repast the coachman, who anticipates the dirty state of his cushions, being the only dissatisfied individual of the party. The daily gain of the lady-chiffonniers amounts to, perhaps, fifteen or twenty sous; that of the children, to about ten. Many children, who run away from their parents at a very early age, take to this trade as a means of subsistence. The life they lead is almost savage: they are remarkable for the audacity and harshness of their manners. Some become so perfectly estranged that they lose all recollection of their father's abode, nay, even of his name.

rence.

As with all other classes of operatives, the wine and spirit shop is the constant resort of these rubbish-hunters. To the aged chiffonniers, still more to the aged females of the class, brandy has an attraction which nothing else can equal. These women believe, and act upon the belief, that spirituous liquors afford the same nourishment as solid food: they conceive that the artificial tone which results from the use of them is genuine strength; and the error is persisted in, until the constitution is destroyed. No wonder that the rate of mortality in this class is so high.

All the lower ranks display a certain pride and ostentation in their expenditure at the cabaret, but the chiffonniers more than any other. The ordinary sort of wine will not suffice them; hot wine is their usual luxury, and they are vastly indignant if the lemon and sugar be not abundant. The cabaret-keepers are greatly scandalized by these extravagancies-that is to say, when a difficulty occurs, as it frequently does, in making up the reckoning. The generous sentiments which animate the better class of operatives are totally wanting among these people : shunned and scorned by every one, they in return shun and hate all their fellow-creatures; they affect a cynic tone and manner, and appear to pride themselves on proclaiming their degradation and their vice. A considerable proportion of the men have passed through the hands of justice; and many of the women are prostitutes of the lowest order.'