T 4
be carefully studied, so that no harassing tasks,
either physical or mental, should be imposed
upon him. Dr. Lankester, of London, says :—
' I find that there is in this metropolis a sacrifice
of a thousand lives annually through the practice
of keeping shops open for a greater number of
hours than the human constitution can bear.
But this is not all. Where a thousand persons
die annually from this cause, there are at least
eight thousand whose health suffers from it.’
In this, as in many other forms of employment
throughout the country, the more delicate and
sensitive strength of the woman is largely over
taxed.^ A great many of our tradesmen and
1 The following is extracted from a letter from one of the
girls in a fashionable millinery establishment in the West-End
of London, which appeared in the St ^ame^s Gazette^ March 24,
1884 :—
‘ I don’t know how it may be in some of the large places
where a great number of young ladies are employed ; but this
is what it is at Mdme. Célimène’s. We have to begin work at
eight every morning ; and we go on till eight at night, without
any stopping except for our meals. We are supposed to have
two hours for these ; but in the season, when we are all busy
and have more orders than we can get through, we often don’t
have as much as an hour for all our meals together. Of course
that is against the law, as we all know, because a printed copy
of the Factory Act hangs up on the wall of the work-room ; and
we can’t very well help seeing it, because it is the only orna
ment there, except some bundles of silk and thread and a good
many fly-marks. But it does not do us much good to know