ithout a cent, and that, if forced to wait till another pay-day, she
must starve. The reply was, "Starve and be d----d! That is none of my
business. We have our rules, and shall not break them for any ----."

A soldier's wife had bought coal by the bucketful all winter, at the
rate of sixteen dollars a ton, and worked on flannel shirts at a dollar
and thirty cents a dozen. She was never able to eat a full meal, and
many times went to bed hungry. A tailor gave to another sewing-woman a
lot of pantaloons to make up. The cloth being rotten, the stitches of
one pair tore out, but by exercising great care she succeeded in getting
the others made up. When she took them in, he accused her of having
ruined them, and refused to pay her anything. She threatened suit,
whereupon he told her to "sue and be d----d," and finally offered a
shilling a pair, which her necessities forced her to accept. Another
needle-woman worked on hat-leathers at two and a half cents a dozen. She
found her own silk and cotton, and put upwards of five thousand stitches
into the dozen leathers. How could such a slave exist? Her four children
and herself breakfasted on bread and molasses, with malt coffee
sweetened with molasses. They dined on potatoes, and made a quarter peck
serve for three meals!

So much for the mercy of the Government and the conduct of the trade.
Now for the doings of those who claimed to belong to the religious
class. One public praying man paid less than any other contractor, and
frequently allowed his hands to go unpaid for two or three weeks
together. Another would give only a dollar for making thirteen shirts
and drawers, of which a woman could finish but three in a day. One of
those in his employ, becoming weary of such low pay, applied for work at
another tailor's. There she found the inspector cursing an aged woman.
When solicited for work, he told the applicant to "clear out and be
d----d; he didn't want to see anything in bonnet or hoops again that
day."

What but fallen women must some of the subjects of such atrocious
treatment become? It was ascertained from a letter sent by one of this
class, that she had given way under the pressure of starvation. She
said,--

"I was once an innocent girl, the daughter of a clergyman. Left an
orphan at an early age, I tried hard to make a living, but, unable to
endure the hard labor and live upon the poor pay I received, I fell into
sin. Tell your public that thousands like me have