276 Public Establishment for 



ent halls, and assigning to each his particular place 

 (the places being all distinguished by numbers), they 

 were brought into such order as to enable the in- 

 spectors and instructors to begin their operations. 



Those who understood any kind of work were 

 placed in the apartments where the work they under- 

 stood was carried on ; and the others being classed 

 according to their sexes, and as much as possible 

 according to their ages, were placed under the imme- 

 diate care of the different instructors. By much the 

 larger number were put to spinning of hemp ; others, 

 and particularly the young children from four to seven 

 years of age, were taught to knit and to sew ; and the 

 most awkward among the men, and particularly the 

 old, the lame, and the infirm, were put to carding of 

 wool. Old women whose sight was too weak to spin, 

 or whose hands trembled with palsy, were made to 

 spool yarn for the weavers ; and young children who 

 were too weak to labour were placed upon seats erected 

 for that purpose round the rooms where other children 

 worked. 



As it was winter, fires were kept in every part of 

 the building from morning till night, and all the rooms 

 were lighted up till nine o'clock in the evening. Every 

 room and every staircase was neatly swept and cleaned 

 twice a day, once early in the morning before the 

 people were assembled, and once while they were at 

 dinner. Care was taken by placing ventilators, and 

 occasionally opening the windows, to keep the air of 

 the rooms perfectly sweet, and free from all disagree- 

 able smells ; and the rooms themselves were not only 

 neatly whitewashed and fitted up, and arranged in 

 every respect with elegance, but care was taken to 



