glean such things as
lay nearest to my hand, just then; but wherever I went, I heard and
saw things which touchingly testify what noble stuff the working
population of Lancashire, as a whole, is made of. One of the first
cases we called upon, after leaving the "Stone Yard," was that of a
family of ten--man and wife, and eight children. Four of the
children were under ten years of age,--five were capable of working;
and, when the working part of the family was in full employment,
their joint earnings amounted to 61s. per week. But, in this case,
the mother's habitual ill-health had been a great expense in the
household for several years. This family belonged to a class of
operatives--a much larger class than people unacquainted with the
factory districts are likely to suppose--a class of operatives which
will struggle, in a dumb, enduring way, to the death, sometimes,
before they will sacrifice that "immediate jewel of their souls"--
their old independence, and will keep up a decent appearance to the
very last. These suffer more than the rest; for, in addition to the
pains of bitter starvation, they feel a loss which is more
afflicting to them even than the loss of food and furniture ; and
their sufferings are less heard of than the rest, because they do
not like to complain. This family of ten persons had been living,
during the last nine weeks, upon relief amounting to 5s. a week.
When we called, the mother and one or two of her daughters were busy
in the next room, washing their poor bits of well-kept clothing. The
daughters kept out of sight, as if ashamed. It was a good kind of
cottage, in a clean street, called "Maudland Bank," and the whole
place had a tidy, sweet look, though it was washing-day. The mother
told me that she had been severely afflicted with seven successive
attacks of inflammation, and yet, in spite of her long-continued
ill-health, and in spite of the iron teeth of poverty which had been
gnawing at them so long, for the first time, I have rarely seen a
more frank and cheerful countenance than that thin matron's, as she
stood there, wringing her clothes, and telling her little story. The
house they lived in belonged to their late employer, whose mill
stopped some time ago. We asked her how they managed to pay the
rent, and she said, "Why, we dunnot pay it; we cannot pay it, an' he
doesn't push us for it. Aw guess he knows he'll get it sometime. But
we owe'd a deal o' brass beside that. Just look at