ed from above, floored
with pine, and extremely clean. Notwithstanding some seeds of discord
which had been lately sown by M. Hardy's enemies amongst his workmen,
until now so fraternally united, joyous songs were heard in almost all
the apartments which skirted the corridor, and, as Agricola passed before
several open doors, he exchanged a cordial good-morrow with many of his
comrades. The smith hastily descended the stairs, crossed the court yard,
in which was a grass-plot planted with trees, with a fountain in the
centre, and gained the other wing of the building. There was the
workroom, in which a portion of the wives and daughters of the associated
artisans, who happened not to be employed in the factory, occupied
themselves in making up the linen. This labor, joined to the enormous
saving effected by the purchase of the materials wholesale, reduced to an
incredible extent the price of each article. After passing through this
workroom, a vast apartment looking on the garden, well-aired in summer,[29]
and well-warmed in winter, Agricola knocked at the door of the rooms
occupied by Angela's mother.

If we say a few words with regard to this lodging, situated on the first
story, with an eastern aspect, and also looking on the garden, it is that
we may tape it as a specimen of the habitation of a family in this
association, supplied at the incredibly small price of one hundred and
twenty-five francs per annum.

A small entrance, opening on the corridor, led to a large room, on each
side of which was a smaller chamber, destined for the family, when the
boys and girls were too big to continue to sleep in the two dormitories,
arranged after the fashion of a large school, and reserved for the
children of both sexes. Every night the superintendence of these
dormitories was entrusted to a father and mother of a family, belonging
to the association. The lodging of which we speak, being, like all the
others, disencumbered of the paraphernalia of a kitchen--for the cooking
was done in common, and on a large scale, in another part of the
building--was kept extremely clean. A pretty large piece of carpet, a
comfortable arm-chair, some pretty-looking china on a stand of well
polished wood, some prints hung against the walls, a clock of gilt
bronze, a bed, a chest of drawers, and a mahogany secretary, announced
that the inhabitants of this apartment enjoyed not only the necessaries,
but some of the luxuries of life. Angela, who, f