ars, and
momentary uncertainty of vision during the act of threading are
engendered. For the winders, however, it is certain that their work
seriously affects the eye, and produces, besides the frequent
inflammations of the cornea, many cases of amaurosis and cataract. The
work of the weavers themselves is very difficult, as the frames have
constantly been made wider, until those now in use are almost all worked
by three men in turn, each working eight hours, and the frame being kept
in use the whole twenty-four. Hence it is that the winders and threaders
are so often called upon during the night, and must work to prevent the
frame from standing idle. The filling in of 1,800 openings with thread
occupies three children at least two hours. Many frames are moved by
steam-power, and the work of men thus superseded; and, as the Children's
Employment Commission's Report mentions only lace factories to which the
children are summoned, it seems to follow either that the work of the
weavers has been removed to great factory rooms of late, or that steam-
weaving has become pretty general; a forward movement of the factory
system in either case. Most unwholesome of all is the work of the
runners, who are usually children of seven, and even of five and four,
years old. Commissioner Grainger actually found one child of two years
old employed at this work. Following a thread which is to be withdrawn
by a needle from an intricate texture, is very bad for the eyes,
especially when, as is usually the case, the work is continued fourteen
to sixteen hours. In the least unfavourable case, aggravated
near-sightedness follows; in the worst case, which is frequent enough,
incurable blindness from amaurosis. But, apart from that, the children,
in consequence of sitting perpetually bent up, become feeble,
narrow-chested, and scrofulous from bad digestion. Disordered functions
of the uterus are almost universal among the girls, and curvature of the
spine also, so that "all the runners may be recognised from their gait."
The same consequences for the eyes and the whole constitution are
produced by the embroidery of lace. Medical witnesses are unanimously of
the opinion that the health of all children employed in the production of
lace suffers seriously, that they are pale, weak, delicate, undersized,
and much less able than other children to resist disease. The affections
from which they usually suffer are general debility, frequent f