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    124 VICTORIA PRESS.

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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.

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    » "When We Remember The Impetus Given To...

    Four of the other compositors are very young , being under fifteen years Society of for age Promoting ; of the remaining the Emp ei loyment ght , some of Women were apprenticed having heard by the of

    the Victoria Press through the register kept at , Langham Place ; and others through private channels . They are of all ages , and

    have devoted themselves to their new occupation with great industry and and have accomplished an amount of work

    which perseverance I did not expect , untrained hands could perform in the time . I was also induced to try the ex 23 erinient of training a little deaf and

    prenticed dumb girl to , one me of by the the youngest Asylum for above the mentioned Deaf and ; D she umb was , in John ap the

    -Old Kent Road , at the instance of a blind gentleman , Mr . Birdwho called on me soon after the office was opened . This child , will make a very good compositor in timeher attention

    being naturally undistracted from her work , though , the difficulty of teaching her is very considerable , and the process of learning takes

    a longer time . Having iven a general description of my compositorsI

    gyou , and will from only two add , till that six the . Those hours who of work live near are from home nine to till dinner one go

    between one and two ; others have the use of , a room in the house , some bringing their own dinners ready cookedand some

    preparing it on the spot . When they work overtime- , as is occasionally unavoidablefor which of course they receive extra pay per hour , they

    have tea at half , -past & ve , so as to break the time . It has been urged that printing is an unhealthy occupation .

    The mortality known to exist among printers had led people to this this conclusion result , we but find when it arises we consider in a great the measur princi e pal from causes removable producing evils .

    For instance , , the imperfect ventilation , the impurity of the air being not increased least by by the the in quantit rum y and and brand bad quality so freel of the imb gas ibed consumed by printers , and .

    are The dark chief and offices close g being , , and situated thus , become in the y hot , most beds unwholesome y for the _proioagation localities of ,

    phthisis In the . annual reports for the last ten years of the Widows '

    Metropolitan Typographical Fund , we find the average age of the death of printers was forty-eight years . The number of deaths

    caused by phthisis and other diseases of that class , among the memtotal bers in miinber the ten of years 173 , b ending eing fift December y-eight three 31 , - 1859 fourths , was per 101 cent out , of of the a

    whole . It is too early yet to judge of the effect of this employment upon

    but the health I of state women that , one even of under compositors careful sanit whom ary arrangements I hesitated to ;

    may my , receive on account of the extreme delicacy of her health ( inducing a fear of immediate tionfor which she was receiving medical

    treatment ) has , since consump she undertook , her new occupation become

    quite strong , and her visits to her doctor have entirely ceased .

    124 Victoria Press.

    124 VICTORIA PRESS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1860, page 124, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101860/page/52/