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THE DRESS MAKER'S LIFE 323
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Following Is Tlie History Of A Dress...
they were reserved for earlier nights . Poetry , particularly that of ShakspeareBScottMrs . Hemansand L . E . L . was in high
, yron , , , , favor , and long pieces were committed to memory . Moreover , various MSS . were passed from hand to handwith injunctions to
, preserve the strictest secresy on each transfer , containing something which , at a distance , ( as the old joke says ) " looked like poetry ; " and
a copy of verses * in print , was at length triumphantly displayed as the product of ' our bedroom . '
" Some of the young people 'were sincerely religious , and one would succeed , without making any attempt to do so , in bringing a
mumber of her companions under the influence of devout feeling . - "We were liable to singular variations in this respect . Once we
were almost all carried away by the deep religious depression , whichmost likely the effect of long hours and confinement on a
sensitive , nervous , system , attacked one of our number , and at length necessitated her removal to an asylum . But generally it was more real
and quiet—outwardly visible in the softening down of some of the gay bonnets , and the gathering of a little knot , every evening , round
one of the bedroom tables to read a portion of Scripture , verse aboutand kneel in silent prayer .
" Few , remained many years at the work : some began in a more humble way for themselves ; many , finding that they could not keep
their health , and overcoming their objections on the score of gentility—as much insisted on here as in the rest of the world , and
, surely , neither more nor less legitimately , —went into domestic service as ladies' maids , and some escaped by assuming the yoke of
matrimony " Having . now spent ten years in one establishment , during the had ied much less onfined
last two or three of which I occupa c position , frequently going out to fit on the dresses of ladies , and
even at some little distance , I felt it was impossible to remain another . I miht be worse . off . I was not without
attachment to year the heads of g the establishment , who were on the whole kind , but go I must . The system had told on my health at last ,
and I inherited an iron constitution . Originally well formed , I from stooped the , effects and sank of dissi at the pation chest as . indeed It seemed , overwork as if I is was ; my suffering hands
, , shook painfully , my face became inflamed , and restlessness came upon me , for I was yet young . It was the instinct of
self-preservation . " At this time , a companion who had some time before prowrote to that there
ceeded to the metropolis , say was an opening in the house to which she had gone as a first hand . The wages
the were establishment high , and thoug , I was h she tempted did not by give the a hop flattering e of saving description a little of ,
and the solace of her companionship , to try . I accordingly proceeded to the metropolis . I had , indeed , made a change for the worse ;
the accommodation in the house was much as I have described , but z 2
The Dress Maker's Life 323
THE DRESS MAKER ' S LIFE 323
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1858, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071858/page/35/
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