more money by their exertions than they can in any other employment. They are not paupers. They are not driven here by wretchedness and hunger. They have homes and friends to which they expect to return. Few intend to make this place their permanent residence, or to devote their lives, or even a great portion of it, to the business of manufacturing. They have commonly some definite purpose to accomplish, and then they intend to go back to their friends. Their schemes are laid before the wages are earned. Gain, and not bread, is the object of their pursuit; and, with very few exceptions, it is kept steadily in view.

It is estimated in round numbers that the factory girls have over $100,000 in the Savings Bank. It is not usually placed there for investment, but for safe keeping, until they are ready to go home. Then it is spent, sometimes in the pursuit of learning, or in educating a brother or sister; very often in furnishing their future residences with such articles of use or luxury as their parents are unable to bestow; and not unfrequently in administering to the necessities of poor and aged parents. A small portion only of their income is spent in Lowell, and their general habits may be considered economical and thrifty.

These facts explain the necessity which the several companies are under of owning their boarding houses. Girls coming from abroad, and ignorant of the world, would be entirely lost in a place like this, were no one to look out for their safety. Now every girl who can obtain employment in a mill is sure of finding a good boarding place in one of the corporation houses.

Men and girls work together in the mills, in the same rooms, but they board in separate houses. A great many of the men are married-the overseers and second overseers of the rooms almost without exception. During work hours, the strictest order and decorum are observed, and a close attention is paid to business, and any deviation from the rules subjects the of fender to a reprimand or expulsion; and a dismission for such cause banishes the culprit from all the mills in Lowell.

When a girl enters the mills, she takes what is called a regulation paper-a printed paper containing some of the more prominent rules which she is required to observe. One of them

is that she shall board in one of the houses of the company for which she works. This rule she is required to observe, unless a relaxation is obtained in favor of residing with a parent, or a brother, or a sister, who must be housekeepers. This privilege, from their peculiar relation to the place, is seldom applied for. The mass board in the corporation houses. These houses are rented for $100 per annum, to tenants who agree to keep them exclusively for this purpose. The tenants are selected with great care, and after full and minute inquiries into their qualification for the situation. Their characters for morality are strictly investigated, and their ability to manage and control such a household as they must necessarily have thoroughly examined. They must not only have an established reputation for skilful housewifery, but their deportment be sober and discreet, calculated to command the respect of the inmates, as well as to win their confidence. The girls are allowed to change from one house to another at their pleasure, and as there is rather more house-room than is strictly required for their accommodation, free competition operates here as it does every where else, and produces a sufficient degree of kindness on the part of the landladies for the comfort of the boarders-while the fear of losing their place in the mill, by any misconduct, imposes a salutary restraint upon the vivacity of the girls. There are certain rules and regulations for the government of boarding-houses, which it is presumed are always enforced ;in addition to these, every body understands that all the decencies and proprieties of life must be strictly observed. Any intentional violation is just cause for expulsion, and it is commonly executed. A lax system of family government-any practices contrary to good morals, and subversive of the welfare of society, cannot long exist in a neighborhood so constituted without detection. There is no agent or superintendent in Lowell who would sustain a housekeeper for a moment after such a development. Public sentiment would compel him, whatever his own inclinations might be, to send her off in disgrace, or his own affairs would be in no enviable condition.

The houses are commonly kept by unmarried women, either widows or maidens. Many of them have been accustomed to

better circumstances, and have been compelled by misfortune to resort to this employment for a livelihood.

With the instruction of the hands in literature and religion, their employers never interfere. Public sentiment, to which all are amenable, would not permit it. There is a lurking jealousy against rich corporations, and it is charged upon the agents that they exert an undue influence upon the people under their jurisdiction. Every one claims the right to which he is entitled in the eye of the law, to form his own opinion upon all subjects connected with politics and religion. In his own estimation, he acts in conformity with it. This prerogative is claimed by the operative in common with every citizen, and any encroachment upon it would arouse the worst feelings, and would be resisted with the utmost pertinacity. No partiality is shown to ony sect or party, but all are received upon the same footing of equality. But, although no inquisition is made into their articles of belief, it is required as a sine qua non that they all exhibit a correct moral deportment. No public provision is made by law for religious instruction here or elsewhere, but, by a law of the State, every child under 15 years of age, who shall be employed in any manufacturing establishment, is required to attend some day school where instruction is given by a teacher, legally qualified, three months in every twelve months; and every owner and agent who shall illegally employ such child, is liable to indictment and a fine of fifty dollars for each offence. In practice, the law has but little effect upon the population, We employ but one girl under 15 years of age in all our works. A single fact will show, that nearly all have enjoyed some advantages of education previous to their entrance into the mills. Of the 816 girls employed by us, on the first Saturday of the present month, only 43 could not write their names legibly. Forty of these are supposed to be Irish, two English, and one Yankee.

The people work on an average through the year, as nearly as can be calculated, 12 hours per day. This calculation is based upon the working days only. There are four holidays observed in Lowell, and three in other parts of the country. These are omitted in the estimate. From 20th September to

20th March, they commence in the morning as soon as they are able to see by daylight, and quit at 30 minutes after 7 P. M. During the rest of the year, they work as nearly as possible from 5 A. M. to 7 P. M. They do it when the days are long enough. From 1st November to 1st March, they breakfast before going into the mill. At other times they go out to breakfast, and are allowed thirty minutes. Dinner is uniformly served at 12 P. M. From 1st May to 1st August, they are allowed 45 minutes for that meal,-for the residue of the year, 30 minutes.

As no direct surveillance is employed, it is impossible for the agent to know with absolute certainty how the girls pass their time when out of the mills. But after working the whole day with great diligence, and certain of being called to resume their labors early in the morning, it is fair to presume, that they go early to bed. And, besides, the boarding houses are all required to be closed at 10 o'clock P. M.

There are no regular public amusements to which they can resort in the place. About ten years ago a building was erected, and an attempt made to establish a theatre,—but the municipal authorities refused the necessary license, and after a severe contest, in which public sentiment was abundantly developed at the ballot box, they were sustained, and the project abandoned. It has never been revived, and the building is demolished. A number of benevolent individuals have associated together, under the name of the Lowell Institute, for the purpose of having a lecture once a week upon some literary topic, to which the girls can resort. Tickets are sold to the girls for 75 cents, which entitles them to the course of 26 lectures. The association has the use of the City Hall, which will contain about 1,000, free of expense. Some distinguished individual from abroad is usually invited to make the address. Many of the girls attend regularly.

Several of the religious societies, to some one of which nearly all the girls belong, have frequent evening meetings in the winter, which they can attend at pleasure. A few of the girls sometimes attend dancing parties, which occasionally take place in the winter, but never in the summer.

As a general rule, the girls pass their time with great regularity, early to bed and early to rise. The evils which constant employment and want of amusements are calculated to produce, if persisted in too long, are to a very great extent counteracted by periodical visits to their friends. They are sustained by the certainty of obtaining the object of their pursuit, if health and life are spared, and when the time arrives, they grasp it, and immediately retire to their homes, to recruit their wasted energies, and prepare, if need be, for another campaign.

As to their general habits and character, I have but little to add. It will be seen, from what I have said, that we have, strictly speaking, no factory population,-no fixed and permanent inhabitants attached to the place,-who, feeling no ambition to rise above their present condition, spend their earnings as fast as they accrue,―secure, at worst, of a place in the poor house, and content with it. Our laborers are altogether of another description, and with different aspirations. We are dependent for them upon the surrounding country. As none from abroad under 15 years of age can be employed, on account of the school law, they have all attained to years of some discretion before they enter the mills. The great mass of them are from the agricultural districts, where the most primitive habits and the strictest morals prevail. Their entrance into the factory is looked upon by their parents with great anxiety, and the girls themselves are doubly fortified to withstand the manifold trials and temptations which they expect to encounter. They come with a fixed determination not to bring dishonor upon their homes, to which after a short absence they fondly hope to return. They meet here in masses, but as total strangers, under the eye of the matron who keeps the boarding-house and watches over their behavior. Few opportunities are afforded to any one for approaching them with sinister designs. A convincing proof that they do not become contaminated by this course of life, is that they do not lose caste in their own circle. They are affectionately welcomed back by their relatives and friends, and most of them marry and settle among their early associates. Had they become corrupted, this could not take place, unless the whole