hours, with
only thirty minutes' interval. Homewards again at night she would go when
she was able, but many a time she hid herself in the wool in the mill,
not being able to reach home; at last she sunk under these cruelties into
the grave." Mr Oastler said he could bring hundreds of instances of this
kind, with this difference, that they worked 15 instead of 18 hours.

This was delivered a few years before Bill was born, but it held good in
some cases, he was sure, in his early boyhood. There were then some
cotton mills in Keighley district, and the young were allowed to submit
to toil which was far too exhausting to allow of nature battling for the
support of the human frame. Hence, Bill's own description of the poor
little factory girl is an apt corroboration:--

They are up in the morning reight early,
They are sometimes afore leet;
Ah hear ther clogs they are clamping,
As t'little things go dahn the street.

They are off in the morning reight early,
With ther basket o' jock on ther arm;
The bell is ting-tonging, ting-tonging,
As they enter the mill in a swarm.

They are skapering backward and forward,
Ther ends to keep up if they can;
They are doing ther utmost endeavours,
For fear o' the frown o' man.

. . . . .

And naw from her ten hours' labour,
Back to her cottage she shogs:
Ah hear by the tramping and singing,
'Tis the factory girl in her clogs.

An' at night, when she's folded i' slumber,
She's dreaming o' noises an' drawls;--
Of all human toil under-rated,
'Tis our poor little factory girl.

THE LATE REV. W. BUSFIELD

I may add that the late Rev W. Busfield, rector of Keighley, was a
staunch supporter of the Ten Hours Bill, when it had not many friends
among the political Liberals, and when Cobden and Bright opposed it
stoutly on Political Economy pleas. The rector supported Lord Ashley, Mr
Ferrand, and Mr Oastler, and he lived to see the result of the advocacy
of his friends.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE MR BUSFEILD FERRAND

The late Mr Busfeild Ferrand was a typical English squire. In life he was
the owner of the St. Ives' estate at Bingley. He sprang from an
aristocratic family, who had ever been loyal to monarchy and country.
Trained as a lawyer, he, however, like many other English gentlemen, did
not follow his profession for gain or popularity. This training served
him well in public life, and augmented