turing capital and skill. Trafford, schooled in
rigid fortunes, and formed by struggle, if not by adversity, was ripe
for the occasion, and equal to it. He became very opulent, and he lost
no time in carrying into life and being the plans which he had brooded
over in the years when his good thoughts were limited to dreams. On the
banks of his native Mowe he had built a factory which was now one of the
marvels of the district; one might almost say, of the country: a
single room, spreading over nearly two acres, and holding more than two
thousand work-people. The roof of groined arches, lighted by ventilating
domes at the height of eighteen feet, was supported by hollow cast-iron
columns, through which the drainage of the roof was effected. The height
of the ordinary rooms in which the work-people in manufactories are
engaged is not more than from nine to eleven feet; and these are built
in stories, the heat and effluvia of the lower rooms communicated to
those above, and the difficulty of ventilation insurmountable. At Mr
Trafford's, by an ingenious process, not unlike that which is practised
in the House of Commons, the ventilation was also carried on from below,
so that the whole building was kept at a steady temperature, and little
susceptible to atmospheric influence. The physical advantages of thus
carrying on the whole work in one chamber are great: in the improved
health of the people, the security against dangerous accidents for women
and youth, and the reduced fatigue resulting from not having to ascend
and descend and carry materials to the higher rooms. But the moral
advantages resulting from superior inspection and general observation
are not less important: the child works under the eye of the parent, the
parent under that of the superior workman; the inspector or employer at
a glance can behold all.

When the workpeople of Mr Trafford left his factory they were not
forgotten. Deeply had he pondered on the influence of the employer on
the health and content of his workpeople. He knew well that the domestic
virtues are dependent on the existence of a home, and one of his first
efforts had been to build a village where every family might be well
lodged. Though he was the principal proprietor, and proud of that
character, he nevertheless encouraged his workmen to purchase the fee:
there were some who had saved sufficient money to effect this: proud of
their house and their little garden, and of the horticultural