ems are tangled,
and whose solving waits only the larger light whose first gleams are
already plain to see.

HELEN CAMPBELL.

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY,

_October, 1888._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BOTH SIDES OF THE SEA 7

II. IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE 19

III. THE SWEATING SYSTEM IN GENERAL 31

IV. AMONG THE SWEATERS 42

V. CHILD OF THE EAST END 54

VI. AMONG THE DRESSMAKERS 66

VII. NELLY, A WEST END MILLINER'S APPRENTICE 77

VIII. LONDON SHIRT MAKERS 90

IX. THE TALE OF A BARROW 100

X. STREET TRADES AMONG WOMEN 112

XI. LONDON SHOP-GIRLS 122

XII. FROM COVENT GARDEN TO THE EEL-SOUP MAN IN THE BOROUGH 131

XIII. WOMEN IN GENERAL TRADES 155

XIV. FRENCH AND ENGLISH WORKERS 167

XV. FRENCH BARGAIN COUNTERS 176

XVI. THE CITY OF THE SUN 184

XVII. DRESSMAKERS AND MILLINERS IN PARIS 194

XVIII. A SILK WEAVER OF PARIS 203

XIX. IN THE RUE JEANNE D'ARC 214

XX. FROM FRANCE TO ITALY 224

XXI. PRESENT AND FUTURE 234

PRISONERS OF POVERTY ABROAD.

CHAPTER I.

BOTH SIDES OF THE SEA.

With the ending of the set of studies among the working-women of New
York, begun in the early autumn of 1886 and continued through several
months of 1887, came the desire to know something of comparative
conditions abroad, and thus be better able to answer questions
constantly put, as to the actual status of women as workers, and of
their probable future in these directions. There were many additional
reasons for continuing a search, in itself a heart-sickening and utterly
repellant task. One by one, the trades open to women, over ninety in
number, had given in their returns, some of the higher ord