WHAT SHALL WE DO? 353 



" And the above is fair wages, not only for the nail- 

 er, but for the laboring man in every section of Eng- 

 land, without one exception less than $5 a week. 

 A necessary housekeeping utensil, a pair of boots or a 

 garment, as both the man and his wife assured me, 

 meant total abstinence from meat for the week, while 

 a doctor for a dying baby or sick wife is nothing short 

 of a domestic calamity." 



From Bradford, the center of the silk industry, Mr. 

 Porter writes under date of January 22nd, where, 

 during his stay of a week, he had " visited many of 

 the principal mills." He says : 



" The factory people, who live in comfortable houses 

 near the mill, seem contented and thrifty. The silk 

 weavers are a better class of girls than those engaged 

 in the worsted mills, and earn more money. Each 

 family pays about 4s. 6d. or 4s. 9d. a week rent. 

 Their houses each contain one general room, two bed- 

 rooms, and a garret. The floor of the lower room is 

 paved with stone flags, in most cases partly covered 

 by a rug, which can be taken up "wash days." Many 

 of the rooms are cosy, with a well blacked grate, white 

 hearth, cheerful blazing fire, green or straw colored 

 Venetian blinds, mahogany furniture covered with 

 horse hair cloth, plenty of shells and cheap glass or- 

 naments, and a profusion of antimacassars. I called 

 at a score or so of these cottages and talked with the 

 pleasant old Yorkshire dames who kept house while 

 husband and daughters were at work. Some were 

 making, all told, 30s. a week by the united efforts of 

 husband and daughters ; others only 22s. They 



