On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    SEAMSTRESSES AGAIN. 245

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Cit Everybody Knows That November Lias A...

    paused as slie came near , to listen to the Babel confusion . It came upon the ear like a deepperpetual wailin which the voice

    , , of childhood was distinctly recognised . Yes , there were children , little childreneverywhere , standing * _Tbeside baskets of onions or

    , a baskets shivering of wood morsel , or holds mingling forth - their a spri cries g of in mistletoe the _general or a din bunch . Here of

    herbs " It ' s , and y a tells 7 _ictpenny you in ; _" a and piteous there tone another , as you cliild pass is heedlessl struggling y by along , that

    with a pail of water for the nshwoman . And there , on the edge of a cabbage-stall , over against a tub of uneasy eels , lies a sleeping

    infant , and a little further on is another , a clear case of slow poisoning ; but then we do not hang people for poisoning very little children ,

    if they only observe a certain method . It was with difficulty that Dorothy struggled through the crowd

    and emerged into a quieter street , but she could not get away from scenes whichto her woman's heartwere most harrowing . Here

    , , were children again ; four or five of them ranged in order , motionless and mute as statues , beside somebody professing to be their

    father , who also held a young infant in his arms . Oh ! there are terrible tragedies here . That infant is earning its living . It is like

    that the man has given sixpence a head for Ms children , who are to stand shivering dumbly for _frve or six hours , inciting * charity for

    the wretch . Ah ! legislation is powerless to alleviate much of the distress to which we have called attention in this Journal , but

    legislation is not powerless here ; and we invoke the protection of the law in these cases in the name of our common humanity , and in the

    name of God . It will be argued that the law cannot remove children from the

    parents , or interfere in their appointments . True , but parents are not suffered to commit outrages on their children . The law is

    punishing such cases every day , and whether it be an outrage to force a child of two years old to stand barefoot in the street for five

    hours on a bitter winter's night , let the impartial judge . In the multitude of their engagements let our rulers remember the

    authoritative injunction , " Let the children Jirsi be fed . " But this tendency to digression must be checked ; we must draw

    our sketch to a close . Dorothy was unsuccessful in her search . She learnt that Robert had gone to a raffle which was being held for the

    benefit of one of his comrades who had lamed himself , and wlio , being in arrearshad lost the benefit of his club . With a heavy heart ,

    , heavy because she must bear other people ' s burdens , she returned _honie . Her mind was occupied solely with one thought ; what

    would become of the motherless ones ? . Doubtless now they would remove from beneath her eye . How would they fare ? Alas ! none

    can . answer that inquiry . None but the All-seeing knows how such hapless infants live .

    You , Dorothy , have now but one resource . You have " done

    what you could ; " and though the world knows nothing of your

    Seamstresses Again. 245

    SEAMSTRESSES AGAIN . 245

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 245, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/29/