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Mr. R. Taylor, F.R.C.S., of the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, states that

"Artificial flower makers are frequently seen by me as patients at the hospital. They suffer in one of two ways; either from that form of weak sight known as Asthenopia, which is common to all employments in which the eyes are continuously and carefully used; or from chronic inflammation of the eyelids. I consider that this is caused by the dry colour dust which is used in certain processes of the trade, and which is conveyed to the eyes either directly by the fingers, or by floating in minute particles in the air. The girls themselves attribute it to this cause. The arsenite of copper, used for the bright green of some leaves, grass, &c., is by far the most injurious; it is, perhaps, the only really injurious pigment, but I cannot speak certainly on this point."

Another witness states that it is very trying to the eyes to have to distinguish by gaslight, or perhaps as daylight is failing, between different colours, such as blue and green, or different shades of colour very nearly alike; and that a child would have to do in many cases. The mere putting the wire through the very fine holes in the centre of the little pieces of material, and the effort to observe which of two very nearly the same size should come next in order is, for a child and at such a time, after a day's work, hurtful.

But the mere brightness of the colours, especially the blue and carmine, is very trying to the eyes, and is an additional reason for the avoidance of night work. The black is not nearly so trying as white or red is to the eyes; they dazzle so.

"Sometimes," says Mrs. Stowe of Hoxton, "we make loops of red chenille, but the white muslin is worst; I have known girls with their eyes nearly out of their sockets with making white flowers by gaslight in winter."

Threading beads is also mentioned as exceedingly injurious under similar circumstances; they are not taken up one at a time, but a wire is run through a quantity of them. One forewoman told Mr. Lord that she always put them on black paper, so that they might be more easily seen and taken up in the gaslight.

The carmine is complained of as making the workers feel heavy about the head.

"It is a bad trade; there is nothing to be earned in the slack times, which last for nearly half the year, and for the other half you work so hard that that hurts your health. I have not been made ill by it, but many are; the chest is hurt by the stooping. I found the carmine dust, in opening the pieces, made me feel very heavy about the head; the green and blue are less used.

"The fingers are continually cut; the forefinger by the silk, and the little finger by the wire; but that is not very bad.”

It is some satisfaction to learn that the arsenic green is very rarely used now, and never dusted on as it once was. When used, it is mixed with gum, and spread moist on the muslin before the leaf is stamped

"The only thing at all unwholesome, now that the arsenic green is not used, is the verdigris blue (sulphates of copper), which is applied damp to wreaths and not dusted on, as the green was; of that, however, very little is used now; five years ago it was very fashionable for evening parties in the winter season."

As it is a trade which requires but little capital, a great many persons work in their own homes. "Any one can start as a crape flower maker who can bring a pair of scissors and some wire and some odds and ends of crape, that would commonly be thrown away as rubbish; a guinea is a large capital to begin with."

Much work is still given out to be done in small places where a family works with two or three others to help them. This is particularly the case with mourning flowers, violets, and other simple and common goods. In most cases the workplaces are mere dwelling rooms, sometimes back kitchens on the basement; and these are often dark and fetid.

Out of the 250 workpeople employed by Messrs. Lockyer & Co., 100 would be working at their own homes. A little incident came to our own knowledge the other day. A week or so ago a clergyman met a poor girl in the Strand, crying bitterly; she was taking to her employer's a box of artificial flowers, and the wind caught the lid and blew the contents into the mud, which, she piteously explained to him, would be her ruin, for she had invested in them her all.

The state of mental degradation the Commissioners describe, is almost incredible. Mr. Lord states, that in London he found girls of 10, 12, and 15 unable to read-some of them did not even know their letters-and all of them had but a very imperfect idea of right and wrong. In Manchester it is even worse; among the instances given we quote the following

ELIZABETH PENNINGTON.-" Am 12. Began flower making at 9; used to work then from 8 A. M. to 8 P.M., the same as now; never longer. Never went to day school; go to Sunday school; don't know who St. Peter was. Have heard of Judas Iscariot; know what he did; he walked into the sea and was drowned."

The parents of this witness were usually in work, earning £1 a week and more.

One forewoman said, that of the 50 women in her room not 12 could read; and Mr. Waterhouse, an extensive employer, attributes much of the evil to the improvident habits and cupidity of the parents, and gives an instance of a little girl of 10 who could not read, in his own workshop, whose father was a gasfitter earning £2 a-week; the mother was employed in charing and washing, and the family consisted of three children only.

A better education would be as beneficial to the employers as to the

employed, for it is a trade in which artistic taste contributes greatly to success. The duty having been taken off French goods, the English artificial flower maker is in direct competition with the French; and some of our manufacturers complain that the French workpeople excel ours, "for they take so much more interest in their work, and have a pride in it; ours use their hands-make up what you put before them— but do not use their heads."

The Commissioners conclude their Report by saying, "they have no hesitation in recommending that the artificial flower trade should be placed under the Factory Acts' Extension Act." When we read the accounts contained in the evidence before us, and learn that the interference of the State is called for and not yet given, we cannot find any answer to Mr. Ruskin's accusation that we are a nation "despising compassion."

PROGRESS.

BY R. ARTHUR ARNOLD.

A GENERAL Election always makes a great deal of talk about Progress. We have lately heard men who described themselves as "friends of Progress," others who spoke of themselves as "not opposed to Progress;" some who vaunted the achievements of Progress, and others who seemed to resign themselves to Progress. But no one declared himself an enemy to Progress, nor did anyone attempt an exposition of what he intended to convey to his, audience as his interpretation of this term. What is this Progress a hobby-horse to some, a terrific spectre to others, which no Conservative can lay, and no Radical keep out of his mouth? Does it admit of precise definition? Is it the property of Conservatives or of Liberals, or of both? And what is its aim ?-to what end does it advance ?—what is its motive power?—in short, what is progress with a large P?

These are the questions which it is the object of this paper to answer, and as there are, to say the least, some hundreds of gentlemen who have recently pledged themselves to Progress, and to give practical evidence of their engagement not later than next February, it really does become a matter of some importance to study the full meaning of their promise. Undoubtedly the term itself not only fails to convey the idea which is commonly held to be its signification, but to some extent it misleads, by imputing the contracted meaning of a word expressing mere locomotion to an idea boundless and indefinite as human destiny. Perhaps it is an imperfection of our language, that it supplies no term suggesting the idea of Progress. The Germans would surmount the difficulty with a compound word, but this is not the custom of the English tongue, for we are more given to the adoption of a new signification for an imperfect word, than to coining new ones, or extending the meaning of those we have, by linking them with hyphens.

I take the meaning of the term Progress to be human development; that is, the attainment of a more perfect individuality, by a continually increasing number of the population. And if we may derive a sound induction from the history of the world, we may call Progress in this sense a natural law, because in spite of the vicissitudes of nations and the varying fortunes of particular races this Progress has never failed in its unceasing advance.

Now, if Progress is thus inevitable and ceaseless, it follows, as a matter of course, that it is not the thing itself, but only the circumstances which follow in its train, attending its advance, upon which men can reasonably VOL. VI.

I

look from the standpoint either of objection or encouragement. No one in his senses calls himself an enemy or a friend of Time; the old mower lays the days, and months, and years, around him without fear or favour. It is the events with which his course is encumbered, that make up the sum of human deeds and misdeeds. So it is with Progress; it goes not from here to there, it is not graduated from the patriarchal to the republican, and on to the communistic degree; it began with Time, and till Time lays down his scythe it will run its course also, equally insatiable, equally omnivorous, swallowing systems, and governments, and despotisms, and aristocracies, ay, and democracies too, then issuing other systems, and governments, and despotisms, and aristocracies, and democracies, but ever and always widening the area and increasing the sum of human knowledge, ever enlarging the sum of human happiness, ever adding to the glory of God's kingdom by continued addition of reflecting and responsible minds, ever tending to establish uniformity among men and to raise the standard of their excellence.

We shall presently see that it is the duty of mankind to struggle against this tendency to uniformity, and that the beneficial effects of Progress will be most perceptible, and its advance most rapid, where their success in this struggle is greatest. Provided only that those who are highest, are highest by fair means; that they have not gained their position by trampling on the necks of others, and that they do not oppose the elevation of others upon the same claims which secured their own advancement.

But we must first more clearly settle the meaning of the term Progress. And to this end we should remember that while matter may be regarded as a constant quantity, knowledge is ever, and must ever be, increasing. The atoms that compose the world, and all that lives and moves upon it, are in weight the same at one age as at another. It is quite possible to suppose that the sum of virtue or of vice in the world is greater or less than at a former, or than it may be at a succeeding, time; but it is not possible to suppose knowledge either a constant or a variable quantity. It must always be increasing, for it is the storehouse of Time, the garner for his facts, which he mows along with the weeds that shade them from the light. Every new day that we welcome transmits the acquisitions of all time to a larger proprietary, just as every day adds something to the commonwealth of knowledge.

But it will be said, Knowledge is not Progress, or if it be, can Progress be invariably good? Was not Pritchard's murder more 'cruel than Cain's? Has the world been labouring for thousands of years to produce literary monsters in broadcloth, instead of rude. monsters in sheepskin? Is this the boasted Progress? If so, had we not better come to an anchor? However absurd this may seem, it is

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