he frame is audible
throughout the neighbourhood. "But," said one of them, "look at my
children and ask no questions. My poverty forces me to it; I can't and
won't hear my children forever crying for bread, without trying the last
means of winning it honestly. Last Monday I got up at two in the morning
and worked to near midnight; the other days from six in the morning to
between eleven and twelve at night. I have had enough of it; I sha'n't
kill myself; so now I go to bed at ten o'clock, and make up the lost time
on Sundays." Neither in Leicester, Nottingham, nor Derby have wages
risen since 1833; and the worst of it is that in Leicester the truck
system prevails to a great extent, as I have mentioned. It is therefore
not to be wondered at that the weavers of this region take a very active
part in all working-men's movements, the more active and effective
because the frames are worked chiefly by men.

In this stocking weavers' district the lace industry also has its
headquarters. In the three counties mentioned there are in all 2,760
lace frames in use, while in all the rest of England there are but 786.
The manufacture of lace is greatly complicated by a rigid division of
labour, and embraces a multitude of branches. The yarn is first spooled
by girls fourteen years of age and upwards, winders; then the spools are
set up on the frames by boys, eight years old and upwards, threaders, who
pass the thread through fine openings, of which each machine has an
average of 1,800, and bring it towards its destination; then the weaver
weaves the lace which comes out of the machine like a broad piece of
cloth and is taken apart by very little children who draw out the
connecting threads. This is called running or drawing lace, and the
children themselves lace-runners. The lace is then made ready for sale.
The winders, like the threaders, have no specified working-time, being
called upon whenever the spools on a frame are empty, and are liable,
since the weavers work at night, to be required at any time in the
factory or workroom. This irregularity, the frequent night-work, the
disorderly way of living consequent upon it, engender a multitude of
physical and moral ills, especially early and unbridled sexual licence,
upon which point all witnesses are unanimous. The work is very bad for
the eyes, and although a permanent injury in the case of the threaders is
not universally observable, inflammations of the eye, pain, te