The laboring classes of England : especially those engaged in agriculture and manufactures; in a series of letters / by an Englishman ; also, A voice from the factories, a poem, in serious verse.

  • Dodd, William, 1804-
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The laboring classes of England : especially those engaged in agriculture and manufactures; in a series of letters / by an Englishman ; also, A voice from the factories, a poem, in serious verse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    how many hours he had still to remain at work. His evenings were spent in rubbing his joints and preparing for the following day; after which he retired to cry him- self to sleep, and pray that the Lord would release him from his sufferings before morning. On finding himself settled in the factories, as it was then pretty evident he could get no other employment, he began to think of getting a little higher in the work, and speaking to the master upon the subject, he got ad- vanced to a place where the labor was not so distressing, but where the care and responsibility were greater. Soon after his advancement to this place, Jimmy met with an accident which had very near been fatal. By some means his coat got entangled in the straps of the machinery, and finding himself lifted from the floor, with a prospect of being dashed against the floor above, he gave a sudden jerk, and the coat being old and saturated with oil, broke away, and thus saved his life. A few months after he had another, and still more narrow es- cape from death. This was partly owing to the want of sufficient precaution in boxing off the machinery. When about 15 years of age, a circumstance occurred to him, which does not often fall to the lot of factory chil- dren, and which had a great influence on his future life. He happened one day to find an old board lying useless in a corner of the factory. On this board, with a piece of chalk, he was scrawling out as well as he was able, the initials of his name, instead of attending to his work. Having finished the letters, he was laying down the board and turning to his work, when to his great sur- prise, he perceived one of his masters looking over his shoulder. Of course, he expected a severe scolding ; but the half smile upon his master's countenance sud- denly dispelled his fears. This gentleman, who was a 2*