ugh
the immense operations of the present day. A singular harmony has thus
far subsisted between employers and employed: the prosperity and calm
which travelers used to praise among the operatives of New England mills
are perhaps now best seen here. To this result both Nature and man
contribute. The country round about is so bounteous, is such a garden,
that the pay of the workman represents a far higher grade of social life
than anywhere else in manufacturing regions. Rents so far are low, but a
beneficent system is in active operation amongst the working-classes
which helps a man to own his own house, and avoid the teasing periodical
drain of rent.

This is the associative system, here in faultless operation, by which
the fragments of a large piece of ground are paid for by degrees and
cleared of all incumbrance in eight or nine years by the profit on the
contributed moneys. This plan is assisted by the best men in the town,
who participate in the associations, receive themselves a reasonable
profit, and supply the credit and advantages necessary for the safety
of wholesale enterprises. They have thus far worked with their workmen
for the latter's profit, with perfect honor and without a stain of
scandal. The great advantage, after all, is to themselves; for a workman
owning his own home, accumulating comforts and a family, is indissolubly
tied to the city and its peaceful order.

Various plans for the improvement of the workmen are afoot, including a
"Holly-Tree Inn" for the supply of harmless refreshment and evening
relaxation, the ground for which is bought and a stock-company forming.
A public park, for which a beautiful stretch of the Brandywine, on Adams
street and north of Levering Avenue, is recommended, is already engaging
the attention of the citizens as a necessary provision. A "fountain
society" is in active operation, offering cool, wholesome drink to the
thirsty workman and the tired beast: the principal of its
fountain-structures forms a memorial monument to a young gentleman who
had distinguished himself by his liberality in preparing scientific
lectures for the free entertainment of the working public. Shut up in
the public hall among the materials of his lecture, he was found dead
from the result of some solitary experiment--slain by his own kindness.
A rich monument to the soldiers and sailors slain in the civil war was
unveiled in 1871: it is formed of a pillar from the old United States
Bank, su