ló 
being subjected to too prolonged and unhealthy 
over-exertion. Many railway accidents have 
is a very nice lady with very nice manners, and when she says 
to the inspector that it is all right, of course he does not doubt 
her. 
‘ But I think the work is too hard for us, even when they 
don’t go beyond the proper time. I think twelve hours’ work 
every day except Saturday is too much for most women. Lots 
of the girls are quite young, and some have been brought up in 
the country. They come to be apprenticed looking as fresh 
and healthy as possible ; but after two or three years you would 
be surprised at the change in them. They have lost all their 
freshness and have grown thin and pale ; and I could tell you 
of more than one that has faded away and gone into a decline 
through being at business too long. You have no idea how you 
feel at the end of the week when you have been sewing every 
minute, as you may say, and only stopping when you are 
asleep. Your head is swimming and your eyes hazy, and you 
can’t sleep properly or enjoy your food. It is no wonder you 
get out of sorts ; but of course most of us can’t afford to indulge 
our fancies, and have to go on working whether we are quite 
up to it or not. It is just the two or three hours at the end 
that are the worst. If they ever make a new Factory Act, I 
hope they will make it the law that we are to work only nine 
hours or ten hours, instead of twelve. Women must work for 
their living often enough ; but I don’t think they ought to be 
allowed to work so hard that they ruin their health in a very 
few years. Besides, it is harder a great deal than most 
young men work, I am sure. My brother George is a clerk in 
a warehouse in the City, and he begins at nine and comes 
away at six ; and then in summer he goes off to play cricket or 
rides his bicycle. Mother says George looks the picture of 
health, while I am getting thinner and paler every day ; and 
what wonder ? 
‘ There is another thing that perhaps you don’t know about 
young ladies in houses of business. I know that in some of 
the large houses, when the girls are not working they have