1908.] 
feeling, are going to be relieved by invec- 
tives against every article these slaves of 
fashion have, at morning lamps, with 
pa allid faces, and inflamed eyes, been stu- 
dying to improve 
Dismissed, at length, and escaping 
without the common ceremony of a bell 
rung, or a door opened, she returns, the 
Senor: of dismay to all the ainiable 
circle of her fellow dependants ; every 
thing is to be altered, every thing is to be 
changed; and when the day is nearly 
spent in almost unremitting toil, they 
know, from her orders, that the night and 
Sunday morning is to be added to six 
days of encroachments on their rest and 
health. 
One face es is lit up by. smiles ; 
stiles as perpetual as her exorbitant de- 
mands are unbounded ; and rapacity and 
cruelty masked under her politeness, an- 
nounce to the helpless group her hopes 
that all will cheerfully join in the inhuman 
sacrifice. 
And who is this? She that with a 
barbarity would disgrace a negro driver, 
sits all day likea lynx to watch the la- 
-bours of those who work and waste away, 
half palsied intheir bloom, for want of 
animal exercise. 
It will scarcely ‘be believed, until it 
has been enquired into, and ascertained 
by facts, yet I pledge myself it is true, 
{and you, Mr. Editer, know te too well 
to suspect me of a falshood ») that to be 
keptup four times in the week until five 
in the morning, and one of them, that of 
the Sabbath, is no unusual thing in the 
winter fashionable months ; whicly health- 
destroying activity is followed by no 
other remuneration than a cup of coffee, » 
or tea made strong, to irritate the nervous 
system, and, like hackney post- apes, 
fed with be ans, keep nature on the spur ! 
O Providence! O God of Mercy! and 
shall not these be called crimes? Shall 
the most helpless, and most lovely part of 
the creation, the young, poor, and inno- 
cent girl, whom the loss of parents, or 
Joss of fortune, has driven to this last 
asylim of virtuous industry, in order to 
repair perhaps the privations of an aged 
parent, orfrom the most generous motives, 
to relieve kind relations or friends from 
the obligation to maintain her, in inde- 
pendance; become thus the sad prey of 
the unreasonable and incessant demands 
of unfeeling ace united with the cu- 
y of traders accustomed to encroach 
Mthe concessions of humble females? 
_ Yetthese young women pay fifty or sixty 
. guineas Premium down, for two or three 
Appeal in Favour of Milliner s‘Apprentices. 
197 
years at most of instruction; at the end 
of which time, of those who are willing te 
submit to it, having no other resource, 
they ; demand twenty-five guineas for one 
ee ’smore slavery,which they are pleased 
to call wmprovement. In fact, the best 
part of the milliner’s profits arise out of 
the time, rest, and health, of which those 
almost friendless beings are defrauded 5 
for friendless they must be called, who 
UnpraReate by the laws oie protect 
all other classes, are compelled to waste 
their strength, and bake their blood over 
midnight lamps, until in mony cases, eves 
and iungs are gone; while hyster icks, 
and palsy, frequently terminate the youth 
ful days of those who entered these hot- 
beds of imposition, blooming as Hebes, 
and gay as good heaith aud good spirits 
could make them. 
These, therefore are objects indeed not 
only worthy of the attention of all Socie- 
‘ties of Reform, if it were only so far to in~ 
-terfere, as to prevent them from working 
on Sunday mornings; but truly desery 
ing of the assistance of Parliament, so as 
to be put atleast ona footing with other 
labourers, and guarded in the right of 
either having reasonable hours of “work~ 
ing allotted them, with proper times for 
meals; or if they consent, to exceed their 
usual period, to be entitled, like other 
trades, to remuneration, and power to 
desist from over exertions, when incom- 
patible with strength and health, 
_To those who never beheld the arcana 
-of these houses, thismust appear wonder- 
ful; for certainly the outside has a gilded 
appearance : dress, smiles, and external 
politeness surround their atmosphere; 
but sadness, dependance, and despair, 
are frequently behind the scene; and if 
irrecular conduct has sometimes been 
the bitter fruit of this situation, to what 
can we attribute it but to the general’ 
negligence of their employers as to the 
morals of their house. On Sunday, it is 
usualin London, when the work of the 
shop 1s all delivered, to let them go where 
they please, to the Park or to the church: 
the hest employ is in writing le:ters to” 
their friends and relations; the worst, in 
seeking lovers, who may snatch them 
from their bondage ;—while the mistress 
usually retires to her villa, to count her 
gains, or expend them in luxurious sensu- 
ality. 
In the country, in addition to early and 
late hours, they are degraded to menial 
offices, such as sweeping the shop in 
turns, making 
rising always with the light, and are only 
allowed 
beds, preparing meals,’ 
