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THE K0B.THEB.N. STAR. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1842.
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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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A FEW WORDS ON PROPAGANDISE . ! AND ORGANIZATION . The spirit ; of Chartism is essentially one of expansion and diffusion ; like the Email seed 3 borne , upon the winds of Heaven , our principles bear within th-a the germ of fructification , and wherever they fail , they cannot fall to take root , and bring forih fruit . Thi 3 is shown by the reception our agents , and lecturers , have met with ; in whatever part -of the country , as yet , to which our missionaries have penetrated , they have been invariably received , by their especial clients , the poor , with open arm ? , and the truths which they have preached have been
eagerly imbibed by thousands in every part of the kingdom . Even the republican spirit of France , in its zenith , never made such great strides as Chartism has done daring the last eight and forty months in Britain ; the reason is plain . The propagmde of the French was a propagande of the sword , ours is a propasande of truth , bearing light and intelligence . But truth to be loved must be known as such •; Chartism must be preached to gain disciples , and the question is now , when the harvest is so great , and the labourers so few , and when so many large and promising districts lie open before us , the question is , where to begin .
Oar mission is with the sons of poverry and' suffering ; from them we mnst gain converts and di ? ciples . Wherever oppression and tyranny exist on the part of the landlord , the master , and the manufacturer , there should our missionary be ; not a strike of any extent should take place , not a despotic act should t-3 perpetrated in any part of the country , without our taking advantage of it to raise scorn and contempt in the minds of the people against th a - present accursed system . When man suffers from wrong and oppression his mind 13 doubly open to conviction of the Qirine principles of trots and juitice . Look to Dadiey ana the neighbourhood ; see what Candy and tk > ok have done there during the late outbreaks . The nailors , ironworkers , and colliers of
tha ^ vast district , embracing the whole of South Staffordshire , and extending across Shropshire , nearly to Wales , are coming ont in thousands for the Charter . That district , as I have before stated to the Executive , must demand our first care and attention . Then there 13 the great colliery district srosiDd Wrexham , Mold , and Hawarden , in Flint ; the men employed in them are at present suffering great oppression ; we must be there ; » talented lecturer would bring ou ; the whole district in a tew ¦ weeks ; and then hurrah for the propagande in Denbigh and Merioneth ; Snowdon and Pliulimmon would soon echo back to the Wj \ kin , the shout
for the Charter ! The colliers of Nor ; h Wales are a most hardy , enthusiastic T 3 . cs of men , _ and would make efScie ^ t auxiliaries to the Gbamsts of Glamorgan and Monmouth , in extending the faith of democracy ibroughou : the principality of Wales . " Lei las Execntive look to Bilston , and say whether we have a beit-tr , more energetic , or truly Chartist town in our crganization 1 « iiat Bilston is , iuch mi ^ ht be Moid and Wrexham . I trust these towns wil ] occupy a prominent situation in the projected agitation of the Executive . They will repay culture a hundred-fold , and open us a passage into the heart of Wales . In my next , I shall pursue this subject further . X
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THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION . ¦ Bhethb . es , —The duties which devolved upon . us , as members cf the . National Convention , sre terminated . The period is cow approaching -when it becomes us , in accordance "with the principles of the People ' s Charter , to resign into your bands that trust which -you have reposed in us , &nd which we have striven to the best of our ability to exercise to the satisfaction cf our constitnfcnta and the benefit of the common cause . We therefore direct your attention to the proper measures to "be adopted for the election of a new Executive Comntit-ce .
THE BALLOT . "Which shall take place throughout the nation in the week beginning with Tuesday , the 7 th day of Jane , 2 nd endiag on Tuesday , the 14 th day of June . Let it be particularly ohse . red . thai each iscalUv trill choose for itsfifone day orJyfor Hie ballot , cut of ' Jie seven , so as to coniznieiics all localities .
3 I 0 DE OP BALLOTING . The fifth rule of our Association states , " That any person shall ba admitted a member of this Association on taking a csrd of membership . " Therefore no person will be eligible to vote for the officers of the Association TiTiip . gg they can produce a card of membership . The tub-secretary shall grant to each person , producing a card of membership of the locality to wh < ch he belongs , a voting card , on -which is written or printed tho names ef all the candidates . The elector shall then , at "his
own convenience , draw a pen through sll the names txetpt the five for whom he votes , and the five names left standing on the card shall be considered as the persons whom he thinks eligible to serve on the Executive . -The snb-secretsries shall also be empowered to grant to absent , sick , 01 distant members their vuting cards , and receive their votes in return , railed up . ' throuuh the post efflce , or by other means , which sealed votes are to be opened by the Geueral Council , and deposited in a bcx provided for the purpose , and to ba called the ballofc-box . - -
On the day of "ballot each sub-Secretary shall act as registrar , asd the General Council as scrut-Inisers cf the voUs . The sub-Secretaries , attended by the General Council , shall , on the day or-evening appointed for the balktby the majority , stand around the ballot-box , and proceed to call over tie roll , eack voter advancing when his name ib called , and dropping hia taUottiu ? card icto the ballot-box . Oa the : conclusion of the ballot , tbe General CouEdl trill proceed to the scrutiny . They * Y , T . i \ first count the cards to see that the number corresponds wiih that on the rolt They shall , secondly cast up each card in succession , and the sal--Secretary shall pat a rnrak opposite the aaaie of each cf the candidates reported as having been voted for . Ficiiiiy , thry Ehali declare the result to the G 2 i \ eral Secretary , reserving a copy for themselves .
Oa Tuesday , the 21 st of June , or earlier , if possible , the nam-s of tb « new Executive -will be announced ; &z < en Friday , the 1 st of July , the new Executive will inpewede the old . Brethren , we trust these directions will be strictly adhered to , and that all of you will vie with each othsr ia exhibiting the proper spirit of Chartism dtiriiig such an impoitant practical application of oui principle . All those places ia arrears for cards are particularly requested to discharge the same , and thereby enable the present Execu « r ? e to leave office "without entailing acy debts on the books of their succeeagra .
Having foil rel : 3 nce in you , our constituents / supporting us in the coarse we have advised , regarding the election , We remain , your faithful And devoted Representatives , James Leach , P . M . M'Bouall . Morgan Williams . R . K . Philp . John Campbell .
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2 fEW FABRIC-IX THE MANUFACTURE . CLOTH . I beg respectfully to inform manufacturers , ana sll ¦ who are interested in the staple trade of this important clothing district , that I have completed my proee&s of manufacturing cloths on a woven fabric , sad that I shall exhibit specimens of the success of my invention , on Friday , tha " TLgt- < if July next , in one of thS Leeds Cloth Halls , or fct hkSbb large room convenient for the purpose , of Vthf-chdne notice Trill be given ^ throagh the medium of tbe Leeds Papers . ;
On that occasion I ¦ will undertake to prove that cloths made upon my new principle of felting oa a woven fabric , 'wiil require , in o&e way or other , as mt . ch labour & 3 cloths of the Bame quality rs quire by the present mode ; they will cost on * -third less , and will sell for one-toird more , the quality sf wool in each io 3 Ux . ca being the same ; and such will ba their utility for general purposes , and the demand for thsm at tome and abroad * so universal , tfc&t it will not be poi-Bible to overstock tie market for twenty years to coins . To those who are usacoaainted with , the nature of mv
process , the above statement may appear , to contain paradoxes beyond their compreher . Eion , but I pledge myself to give Each explanations £ 3 shall cause every man who hears me to be satisfied thai those statements are correct . I am 2 HxlotL 3 thst the new manufacture should be carried on upon such a principle as will not grind the ¦ working man down to the lowest possible point of existence , and in the calculations upon which my statement is based , I havs allowed sufficient remuneration for the operative . Lnw wages for workmen , and small profits for mastsrs will ruin any csuntry . By the new process , vha iM-n may have good wages , and the master good profits ; and unless I am much mistaken , such will be the popularity of its prod actions , and the consequent demand for them , tfeat , in the space of a few months , few idle hands will be found in toe streets .
Tiie invention is secured to me by fonr patants , all of ¦ which are necessary to mate perfect cloths . I can make any quality , but at present I shall cenfine myself to the ben that can be produced . Poring the test two years , I have spent upwards of £ 2 , 000 in pitenta and experiments to bring it to perfection , and the mental anxiety and bodily labour in devising plans , and raising money , &c , has been more than my pen cm describe , " J 3 at foi ail tSiis , mj iETeEtion vrilf stand or fill by its own i ^ irits ; and , therefore , I tike this method of challenging scrutiny and comparison . "William Hiest . Lssds , jl 3 T 23 , 1 S 42 .
( copy . ) Vilay 21 , 1 S 42 . " Mb . William Hiest , — - . «• Dkak Sir , — I hare taken the liberty to write to yen , hoping to find yea in good health , as it leaves me » t pressnt—tbani God to it !
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" I have to tell you a little about felting , as I have th pleasure of receiving one of your handbills , recommending it to the manufacturers of England , saying yon have three patents for it , and that you have brought it to perfection , which I doubt not , for your partners and mine in England have not spirit to do it ; but I have broEght it to perfection in France . We are manufac toring from three to four hundred yards per day , and cannot supply one half our orders . "I am coming to L 9 eds some time this month , to
buy machinery , with a friend . I hope to find yon and my partners in good spirits . One thing I know , if you bad money I should not have left Leeds ; but you wa 3 poor , and I was poor , and them that ought to have paid me £ 20 have lost £ 2 , 000 for it lam sorry to say it , but it is true . I have found more friends by men that never saw me before than by them who ought to have supported me to bring the thing out I shall start in Leeds a factory on my own account , and defy all manufacturers of woollen cloth to compete with me . I can bring you samples of the most splendid articles
ever seen . " If there is any gentleman in Leeds , or any person , who disbelieves it , let him come to France and see , and enquire for the Felting Company . " Mr Weight and Company , "At Quay a la Gore , Paris . " " The writer of the above letter came to rue from the West 6 f England better than twelve months ago , pennyless ; I took pity on him , and relieved his wants , and employed him , at 30 s . per week . When he had got money and knowledge from me he set off to France , as the above letter proves . " Yours truly , " WH . HiltST . " LeeSs , May 25 , 1 S 42 . "
The K0b.Theb.N. Star. Saturday, May 28, 1842.
THE K 0 B . THEB . N . STAR . SATURDAY , MAY 28 , 1842 .
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SLAVERY IN GREAT BRITAIN . EilPLOTilEM OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN COAL MINES . It has often been our painful duty , as public journalists , to record facts affording proof " strong as Holy Writ , " that the boasted liberty of the British empire was a mere name . We knew that in the mills and factories of this degraded land , an amount of crime and misery existed -which , no Christian could contemplate" without horror and dismay . We were also aware that a aumber of young persons , including females , were employed in our
various coal and iron mines , in which we knew they must of necessity be subjected to hardships and privations of no ordinary character . Th disclosures , however , recently made , are of a character so horrible , and detail scenes of such horrible barbarity , as would be beyond all belief , did not the evidence of their existence rest upon such unimpeachable authority as can neither be controverted or explained away . The first Report of the Commissioners appointed ' to inquire into the employment and condition of the children of the poorer classes in mines and collieries , and the various
branches of trade and manufacture , in which numbers of children work toge&er , exclusive of those employed in mills and factories ; and to collect information as to the ages at which they are employed , the numbe r of hsurs they are engaged in work , the time ' allowed each day for meals ; and as to the actual state , condition , and treatment of such children , and as to the effects of Bueh employment , both with regard to their morals and their bodily health , '—has been laid before Parliament , and presents a picture of physica l misery , mental ignorance , and moral depravity to which , we believe , the history of no other Christian land can present a parallel . " This Commission had for its object no exclusive inquiry on the subject of labour ¦ , it ha 3 embraced , therefore , all occupations
in which children under thirteen years of age , and yeung persons between thirteen and eighteen years of age , are engaged . This first report comprehends only the condition of children in mines—and of that , only their physical condition , sot the -moral effects of such modes of labour upon the classes of persons so engaged . This will form a portion of the second report , which will shortly appear , " and to the publication of ¦ ffh ' . cn we shall look with intense interest , as throwing additional light upon the dreadful system under which we live . The report is very copious , and contains the evidence of persons of almoBt every rank and station . There can , in fact , be no doubt of the correctness of the various allegations contained in this important document .
The report says : — " The information , returned to na has been deiived from different classes of witnesses , such as the proprietors , agents , and managers of works , the children and young persons engaged in different ' kinds of labour , the adult work-people , the parents of the children , medical men , teachers , ministers of re " ligion , parochia" officers connected with the administration of relief to the poor , pnblic efficeri , and magis trates . These witnesses gave evidence as to the state of things in their own district , according to their own observation and experience ; and the main body of information collected . Is derived from personal examinations , in the form of depositions , of these different classes of wiaesses . "
The evidence thus addnobd affords to us the means of ascertaining the actual and appalling state of slavery to which our population is reduced , in the mining districts of England , Wales , and Scotland . We learn here the very early period at which children are permitted to labour in mines ; children and adults of bothsexesindiscriminately ; their physical and mental deterioration—occasioned , first , by the labour in which they are engaged , and secondly , by the most disgusting associations ; the accidents to which they are exposed ; and the influence of these and other causes in combination , on their physical and moral state , is laid open by the labours of this Commission , as appointed tinder the Administration of Lord Melbourne , in the following arrangement and classification -.
—" 1 . Ages at which children and young persons are employed in coal mines . —2 . Sex , employment of girls and women in coal-mines . —3 . Number of children and young persons so employed . —4 . Hiring of children and young persons —5 . State of the place of work in coalmines . —6 . Nature of the employment—7 . Hours of work . —8- Night-work in coal-mines . —0 . Meal hours . — 10 . Eolidays allowed to children and young persons employed . —11 . Treatment of children and young persons employed in coal-mines . —12 . Accidents to which such persons are exposea . —13 . Wages of children and young persons so employed . —14 . Influence of employment in coal-mines on the physical condition , of children and young persons . "
w e shall at present confine our notice to the condition of persona employed in the eoal mines . We last week selected a few cases from the report , bearing an especial relation to our own neighbourhood . To that article we beg most especially to call the attention of our readers , in connection with the additional facta we this day lay before taem , and we think they will agree U 3 that the force and power of the whole people should be called into instant activity for tha effectuating of those Bocial and political changes which in their practical opsrations would forbid this fearful system of home slavery any longer to exist . The employment of children is arranged under the following heads : —
l . Coal Mmes . 2 . Ironstone Mines , and the Manufacture of Iron . 3 . Tin , Copper , Lead , and Zinc Mines , and the cressing and smelting of their ores . " Of theae ihr ^ e—Coal mines are said to be " by far the most extensive ; lo empioy the greatest number of children and young persons ; to require different modes of working according to the geological character of the country which exert an important influence on the condition of the workers , and particularly of those of tender age . " We will first invite the attention of our readers to the physical condition of young people employed in coal mines .
Much has been said , and properl y said , in reference to the immense mass of physical miBery and constitutional decease engendered by onr factory system . Tae evidence adduced before the Factory Commissioners , together with the naratives of Win , Dodd and othera , went to show that the employment of children of from eight to thirteen years of age , in mills and factories , was in thousands of instances productive of the most terrible results , occasioning curvature of the spine , distortion of the limbs , stiffness of the joints , constitutional weakness , and general debility ; rendering them cripples for life , and generally terminating in premature dissolution These facts were proved , were swern to , by parents , magistrates , medical men , and a whole host of other
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witnesses , upon which the legislature interfered and the present factory act became the law of the land . Bearing all this testimony in reference to the effects of infant labour in mind , we call upon the country carefully and seriously to consider the following statements in reference to the same sabjecb and which are selected from the present report . In the neighbourhood of Bradford and Halifax , in this county , ' children seem to be employed at the earliest age—for -we find in the evidence of Mr . Sab-commissioner Scriven , touching " the Low Moor Company ' s Way House Pit" page 112 , sec 40 , that Joan . Gledhill , aibanksman , says : —
"I began life a harrier , when I was between five and six years of age . 1 was a harrier till I was sixteen . I have three sons living ; one of them went into the pit with me when he was three years old , and commenced working regularly as a hunter when be was between five and Ax . [ This was at Flockton , ] 1 do not think 22 miles a-day too much for girls to hurry , if they are a pretty good age . I have got three girls who hurried ; they bejan hurrying at about six years of age . Two of them' stopped about two months ago . They were stopped by the masters , Messrs . Hirst and Hardy . One girl left about two years ago , she was fourteen then , and master thaught she was too old to work among boys . I cannot sign my name . "
"In the district of Oldham , in Lancashire , cases are recorded in which children have been regularly taken into the pits to work at four , and between four and five , and several at five and between five and six . 4 "In the mountain mines , ' aaya Mr . Secretary Fletcher , ' the most common age for boys to be taken in to labour , where the strata is only thin , varying from eighteen inches to two feet , they will go se early as six , five , or even four years of age . Some are so young that they go in their bed-gowns ; one little fellow whom I endeavoured to question , could not even articulate , although his father , between whose legs be hid his little black face , as he stood before me , answered for him that he was seven years old . ' ( JFletcher , Esq . App . part 2 , p . 821 . )
Dr . Mitchell , also one of the Sub-Commissioners , ( Appendix , part 1 , page 33 and 4 , ) in speaking of Hill ' s lane Pit , Shropshire , belonging to the Madeley Wood Company , gives the following dialogue between a ground bailiff , and one of the charter masters who werp accompanying him in his survey : — "Isay , Jonas , ' said the ground bailiff to one of the charter masters , there are very few children working in this mine ; I think we have none nnder ten or eleven . " The collier immediately said , Sir , my boy is only a little more than four . " In referring to the evidence given , relative to the neighbourhood of Leeds , we find in the evidence of Mr . SubSommissioner Symone , App . part 1 , page 288 : Joseph Ellisoo , Esq ., of Birkenshaw , near Birstal , says : —
" I have been practically acquainted with collieries nearly all my life . I know it as a fact that a collier now living has taken a child of his own , who was only three years old , into & pit to hurry , and when the child was exhausted , it was carried home , stripped , and put to bed . This is a rare case , but I can prove it , if required , by undeniable evidence to have been a fast-John Ibeetson , also working at the same place , says : — " I have been f » rty-five years in the pita . I know a man , called Joseph Cawthsy , who sent a child in at four years old ; and there are many who go in to thrust behind at that time , and many go at five and six ,- the sooner they go in the sooner their constitution is mashed up . "
James Ibbetson , collier at Mr . Harrison ' s pit , Gomersal , says : — " There are three harriers in the pit ; two are girls ; they are my sisters ; they hurry for me . The oldest is twelve and a half , the youngest is between eight and nine . She has been working ever since she was six years old . Sometimes when I have got my stint , I ceme out as I have done to-day , and leave them in to fill and hurry . ' ( . Symons , p . 268 . ) The before-mentioned Joseph Qledhill states that he took his child into the pit at three years old ; it was made to follow him to the workings , there to hold the candle , and when exhausted with fatigue , was cradled upon the coals until his return at night . This child he took regularly to work at the age of five . Ifr . Sab-Oommjgsionar LflifehHd add * to thfs avi
dence , touching the pits of North Durham and Northumberland . He says : — "I visited the house of the parents of a little boy whom I saw keeping a door down Flat worth pit on the 20 th of May . It was about seven o ' clock on the Sunday evening , and the boy , Thomas Roker , was in bed asleep . His mother said he was aged about six years and seven months , and that he had been down the pit about a month or six weeks . The bo ; was at school about three years old , and his father wished to make him a better scholar before he went down . Always put him to bed early , because he must get up every working morning at three o ' clock , and he
often rubs his eyes when he is woke , and says he has only just been to sleep . He gete up at three a . m . and goes down the pit at four o ' clock a . m . He gets his dinner directly he gets home , at half-past four p . m . or a quarter to five p . m ., and then he washes himself , and goes to bed between six and seven , so that he will never be up more than two hoars from the pit for eating , washing , and playing . When his son gets a little more hardened to the pit , his father means to send him to a night-school , and stop an hoar off his sleep . Thomas generally goes down the pit in a corf with a good few boys in , and sometimes he goes on his father ' s knees . "
But we might go on to almost any conceiveable length in making extracts like these ; similar facts are recorded in reference to all the coal fields of the United Kingdom , exclusive of Ireland . And we ask , is a system so atrocious , so utterly abhorrent to every feeling of humanity and Christianity , to be tolerated or endured , while those who ought to be tha guardians and the careful protectors of the rising generation are moving heaven and earth to relieve distress , and abolish slavery at the opposite extremity of the globe ! But we must now turn to another feature of the
picture . We want our readers to understand something as to the nature of the employment in which those young people are engaged . A great deal is said in the report about "hurriers , " the meaning of which is thus explained : — " Hurriers , " says Mr . Scriven , in his report , page 65 , " are children who draw loaded corves or waggons , weighing from two to five hundred weight , mounted upon four cast iron wheels , of five inches diameter , without rails , from the headings to the main gates . In these seams this is done upon their hands and feet , having frequently no greater height from the floor to the ragged roof than sixteen , eighteen , or twenty inches . To accsmplish their labour the more easily they buckle round their naked persons a broad leather srtap , to which is attached in front a ring , and about four feet of chain , terminating in a hook . "
In this horrible employment children , from five years old and upwards are engaged ; and thus , at the very time of life wlen the capabilities of the human frame to bear fatigue , are next to nothingwhen light , and air , and wholesome food , and plenty of exercise are required to perfect the constitution , and prepare the structure for the enduranoe of future toil , every means is brought into operation by which weakness and disease can be engendered , and premature decay accelerated .
All this would be bad enough and repulsive enough if its hardships were inflicted only upon the male portion of the juvenile population . This however is not the case ; girls as well as boys are subjected to it ; they are dreEsed in a common dres 3 , and subjected , not only to the same kind but to the same amount of labour . Betty Harris , aged thirty-seven , drawer in a coalpit , Little Bolton , Lancashire , says : — ¦*' I have a belt round my waist , and a chain passing between my legs , and I go on my hands'and feet . The road is very steep , and we have to held
by a rope , and , when there is no rope , by anything we can catch bold of . There are six women and about six fcoya aud girla In the pit I work in ; it is yery hard work for a woman . The pit is very wet where I work , and the water comes over oar dogtops always , and I have seen it up to my thighs . I am not so strong as I was , and I cannot stand my work so well as I used to do . I have drawn till I have had the skin off me ; the belt and chain is worse when we are in Qiefamily-tcay . My feller ( husband ) has beaten me many a time for not being ready . I have known many a man beat his drawer . "
The Sab-Commissioner states that instances of oppressively hard work performed by young females presented themselves at collieries near Bamsley . He says : — ' The evidence of Elisabeth Day , and of Ann and Elizabeta Eggley , is deserving of especial notice , the more so because I believe both the elder of these witnesses to be respectable and creditable , and both gava their evl-< 7 S ! f VTu 1 ?^ sotd fedinS and Propriety . Thewerk of Elizabeth Day is rendered more wvere by her baying
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to hurry part of the way up hill with loaded corves , a yery unusual circumstance . The Eggleys are , however , doing the ordinary work of harriers in their colliery . It is a large , well ventilated , and well-regulated one . but owing to the size of the corves , which weight 12 £ owt , it is work very far beyond the strength of females at any age , especially females of sixteen and eighteen years' old . After taking the evidence of the twd Eggleys I saw them both at their work , and hurried their corves and also performed the work they had' to do at the bslnk faces . ? I can not only corroborate their statements but have no hesitation in adding that were they galleyslaves their work could not be more oppressive , and I
believe would not in all probability be so much so . Elizabeth Eggley , the younger , who is not above fifteen , whilst doing what is called topping the corves , lifted a coal which must have weighed at least a hundred pounds . It measured thirty inches in length , and ten by seven inches in thickness . This she lifted from the ground and placed on the top of the corve , above three feet and a half high . She afterwards lifted a still larger one . The former one was lifted in the ordinay course of her work . This girl . was working for her father , who was standing by at the time . " J . C Symons , Esq ., Report , + 117 ; App . PL 1 ., p . l 82 . ) :: , - ¦ ¦ . . : . = ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ > ¦ ¦ ., ¦/¦; . ¦ , ¦ ¦ . : ; - ...
•• ' Whilst I was in the Hunshelf pit the Rev . Mr . Bruce , of Wadsley , and the Bev . Mr . Nelson , of B 6-therhfim , who accompanied me , and remained outside , saw another girl of ten years of age , also dressed in boys' clothes , wh » was ' employed in ' hurrying , ' and these gentlemen saw her at work . She was a nicelooking little child , but of course as black as a tinker , and with & little uecklace round her throat . "' These children have twenty-four corves a-day to
hurry out of this den , and consequently have fortyeight times to pass along the gate , which is about the aiza of a tolerably large drain . I would bet ; particularly to call your attention to the evidence of the manager of this colliery , No . 33 ,- ' .-whose evidence repecting the number of girls employed by him was distinctly ^ disproved by Harriet Morton , No . 38 , and intelligent girl , who seemed to feel the degradation of her lot so keenly that it was quite painful to take her evidence .-. . ' - . ¦ '¦ . ;'¦ ¦ ¦ : ' . - ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ :. " ¦ . • ¦ - - ' : - - ¦¦ ¦
" Harriet Morton-- 'I am -nearly fifteen years old , and began to werk ia Webster ' s pit when I was going in ten . I ' ve always worked In Webster and Peace ' s pit ; I have hurried all the time ; I am the oldest girl there . There are seven regular hurriers , who are girls . There are six boys who hurry . Two of us are ; employed at each corve both full and empty . When the corve is loaded , one of us is harnessed with a belt round the waist , and a chain cornea from the front of the belt , and passes betwixt our legs , and is booked on to the corve , and we go along on . our hands and : feet , on : allfours I do so myself , and a little boy pushes behind . We wear trousers always as when you saw ua '—( j . C . Symons , Esq . Evidence , No . 38 : App . I ., p . 233 , 1 . ? 6 . " After this the following will excite no surprise , though we hope it will be productive of genuine sympathy and active exertion .
" The stunted stature of the collier children arises , in the thin coal districts , from the height of the passages they have to traverse , being frequently net above thirty inches in height ; and along these , children of both sexes either push or draw little waggons or corves , loaded with coals , weighing from two to three cwt . and running usually on rough and uneven rails , but sometimes drawn as sledges . In the Very thin pits they are harnessed to the corves by means of a strap round the waist , and a chain passing through the legs ; thus they go along on all fours , like animals and this work is done by girls in trowsers , as well as boys , in the thin coal districts alike of Yorkshire , Lancashire , and the east of Scotland . "
We suppose the reply to all we can say as to the inhumanity of this abominable system , will be , that the work cannot be done without it , and hence thas it is necessary . Let us see . First , let us inquire what the children themselves say as to the effects of this kind of labour upon their own persons . James Pearce , twelve years old
says : — " About a year and a half ago I took to the girdle and chain . I do not like it . It hurts me . It rubs my Bkin off . I often feel pain . I havo often had blisters on my side , but when I was more used to it it would bot blister , but it smarted very badly . ?* * I crawled on hands and feet . I often knocked my back against the top of the pit , and it hurt it very sore . The legs ached very badly .
When I came home at night I often eat down to rest me by the way , I wan so tired . The work made me look much older than I was . I worked at this drawing with the girdle and chain for three or four months . * * ? many boys draw bo now . * * * A great many boys find that they are unable , and give over drawing with girdle and chain . ( Not many fall ill , says another witness , speaking of children condemned to the same kind in tke West Riding . ) It is very bard —very hard , Sir . '"
" Isaac Tipton , sixteen years of age . —* I next went to draw with the girdle and chain . I had a girdle round the middle , and a chain under my legs . It was very hard work ; If I had a bit of time in tha pit , I laid myself down on my back . We bad no time , unless something was the matter with the engine . Long before night we were so tired that we could hardly walk home sometimes . The girdle often makes blisters . I have had pieces like shillings and halfcrowna , with the skin cocking up , all full of water , and when I put on the gitdle the blisters would break , aud the girdle would stiok ; and next day they would fill again . Theaa blisters give yery great pain . There is no railway in the pits where they use the girdle and chain . In all the pits about this part they use the girdle and chain . " *
" Robert North . —I went into the pits at seven years of age , to assist to fill the skips . We cannot stop at what work we like , we are shifted . I drew about twelve months . When I drew with the girdle and chain the ekin was broken , and the blood ran down . iduit not say anything . If we said anything , they , ( the ' butty' a kind of half-contractor , half-overseer and the reeve , who works under him , ) would take a stick and beat us . I have seen lads of nine drawing with the girdle and chain . I have seen them at sin , but they were not able to draw the full day oat . If they are put to do the work , they must do it or be beaten . "—( P . 68 . )
" Ann Hague . —I am turned of thirteen years old . I hurry the same as the last girl , in Webster ' s pit . I draw the corve with a chain and belt There is a little girl , ray sister , who pushes behind . We have twenty-four corves to go in and oat with every day-. Sarah Moorhouse ' gets ' as well as harries ; she gets and hurtles eight corves a-day ; I don't like working in the pit so very well ; I would rather not do it . Having to pull so hard in the pit makes me poorly sometimee . '' Such is the testimony of the children themselves . Let us next see whether the plea of necessity is borne out by the testimony of adult witnesses . Here is a passage throwing some light on the subject : —
" Matthew Fountain , under-ground steward at Darlaston Colliery , Yorkshire , belonging to Thomas Wilson , Esq . — ' My opinion , decidedly is , tftat women and girls ought not to be admitted into pits , though they work as well as tba boys . In my belief sexual intercourse does take place , owing to the opportunities , and owing to lads and girls working together , and owing to some of the men working in banks apart , and haying girls coming to them to fill the corves , and being alone together . The girls hurry for other men than their relations , and generally prefer it Altogether it is a very demoralising practice having girls in pits . It is not proper for females at all . The girls are unfitted , by being at pits , from learning to manage families . Many could not make a shirt . '"
And here is another fact which evinces the nonnecessity for this kind of brutal labour . We find that in the other classes of mines very few children , if any , are employed underground , and where they are , attention is paid to their comfort and requirement g . To which we may add , that in East Scotland— ' The sub-commissioner states that . the employment of females in the mines is universally conceived to be so degrading that all other classes of operatives refuse intermarriage with the daughters of colliers who are wrought in the pits ; that ia is a labour totally disproportloned to the female strength and sex ; that is altogether unnecessary ; and that it U wholly inconsistent with the proper discharge of the maternal duties , and with tho decent proprieties of domestic life . '
From all this , and much more which want of apaca prevents us from bringing within the compass of this artiole , we are warranted in coming to the conclusion that thousands of the rising generation are reduced to the condition of brute beasts ; made to labour , in fact , where animals could not ; subjected to toil which has a direct tendency to shorten life without the smallest necessity . The fact that these atrocities are not practised in Irish collieries is another evidence that they can be dispensed with . And to this we may add , that in some places even in England ,
considerable amelioration has taken place : much , however , remains to be done , and machinery ought here to be the substitute for this destructive , and , as we shall see presently , demoralising toil . Into this , its true legitimate field , machinery has hot yet entered , A sub-Commissioner reports , that "in the course of his inquiry he has not been able to find any instance where machinery was substituted in the place of boys in idrawing coals for the thin beds of ^ the mines . Some engineers have thought such a thing practicable , and othera not- ( p * 69 . V' Nobody can deny that it is high time to try the experiment .
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We will next inquire into tho moral effects pro ? duoed by this portion , of our sooial economy . Thug speaks the report , in reference to this part of the subject : —y ¦ ¦ : ¦ .. ¦' . ¦ . ' ; ' \ " - ' .. ' ; . ' . ' ;¦ - ' . ¦ : : v ¦; "' . />; .- ?• In some parts of Yorkshire the men work completely naked , the girls working with them as des cribed ; and in both counties the immoralities described are abominable . ' * Mr . Kennedy , one of the Lancashire commissioners , « ays > -. ; : •"¦" . ' ' . - '¦ . ' -, ¦ ¦'¦ . \ ., ; ¦ ' - . .. '¦'¦' . - . .-v " : .
" The moral condition of the colliers and their children , in this district , is decidedly amongst the lowest of any portion of the working classes . > * It appeared that out of 1 , 113 males , between thirteen and eighteen years of age , 23 9 per cent , can write their names ; that of 206 females of the same age , 1-3 percent , can write their names . When the children have stated they could read an easy book , I have put them to the test , and , with very few exceptions , I have found that their attention was bo completely absorbed in the mechanical process of deciphering the letters and spelling the words , that they did not nnderstand the meanihggof a single sentence . " Andheaddaw— V
"I found however , that the case was hopeless ; there were so few , either of colliers or their children j who had even received the first rudiments of education , that it was impossible to institute a comparison . The evidence , therefore , on this point is not so perfect as I could wish , but I think it will be fonnd to go far to establish the position that want of education is accom panied by a degraded moral sense , gross and brutalised habits , depravity , and crime . " And here is the testimony of Mr . Waring , who reporting on the mining district of Gloucestershire , sayg : — . -- " , : .- ¦ " . ' . - . ; - .. ¦ - . ' ¦ ¦ ¦ . '¦ ;
" An act of worship is nearly as strange to them , as to an Hottentot unenlightened by Christianity . Instruction they have no idea of , and if they had , the want of decent clothing would keep them from mingling with their better-provided yoke-fellowa , at the Sunday schooL" i " In one colliery there are ninety-Bix boys , from nine to seventeen years old , of whom thirty-six attended no place of worship , and twenty-seven unable even to read . " . \ ' ¦ - " ; ' ' " :-. ; ... : : ¦ . ¦'¦ .,, ¦' And to this we miy add the testimoay of John Thornley , Esq ., one of her Majesty ' s Justices of the peace for the county of York : —
"' I consider it to ba a most awfully demoralising prictice . The youth of both sexes work of ten in a halfnaked state , and the passions ate excited before they arrive at puberty . Sexual intercourse decidedly frequently occurs in consequence . Gases of bastardy frequently also occur ; and I am decidedly of opinion that women brought up in this way lay aside all modesty , and scarcely know what it is but by name . '" Nor is this state of things at all to be wondered at . We are not surprised when we recollect that this horrible state of society in the mining districts has existed unchecked , and uncontrolled , unknown , or even imagined perhaps for centuries . A contempowriting , writing on this horrible subject , says : —
" The parents , in the ge nerality of instances , were as ignorant as the children . They had heard of God as a name to swear by , but nothing else . They had never heard that thieving , drunkenness , nor the indiscriminate indulgence of their carnal passions , were sins . How should they ; buried alive from infancy , and with none to taach them ? From the whole of the evidence taken It appears that the general age for bringing children into the pits is from five to seven ; that they are kept there as many hours as men-, and that , in going to and returning from their work , they frequently fall into the ditches for want of Bleep , being wholly overcome with drowsiness and fatigue . *'
No wonder that these outcasts of society are as ignorant as they are vicious . No wonder that they are defective in the performance of their moral and relative duties , when they are utterly destitute of every particle of religious knowledge , and not even possessed , in very many instances , of the first rudiments of secular education . On this subject the report affords ample information . We select a few passages-: — Out of fifty collieries in Mr . Symon's district of-Yorkshire , containing 1 , 640 boys , only 350 coald write their names . In seven collieries of 172 girls , 12 only could write their names . Even in the Sunday-schools not forty-four per cent could read fairly ; and not one quarter write .
"' With regard , ' he . ' adds , . ' to the fruits of education , and With respect even to the common truths of Christi anity and fucts of Scripture , I am confident that the majority are in a state of heathen ignorance . The evidence of the children exhibits a picture of moral and mental darkness which must excite horror and grief in every Christian mind ; I can most conscientiously say that it is anything but an overdrawn one . Some are indeed better instructed , but ef those who work in collieries there is not above one out of three , or , at most , two out of five , who can answer the commonest questions relative either to scriptural or secular
knowledge . I unhesitatingly affirm that the mining children , as a body , are growing up in a state of absolute and appalling ignorance ; and I am sure that the evidence I herewith tranamit , alike from all classes , —clergymen , magistrates , masters , men , and children , will fully substantiate and justify the strength of the expressions which I have alene felt to be adequate to characterise the mental condition of this benighted . community . That their moral condition is not equally bad I attribute to the hard work they are subject to , to their cloae confinement when at work , and to their weariness when work is over , and which often renders rest the greatest luxury . '" : ¦ ..
Mr . Scriven found , near Halifax , that in a number of small collieries , out of seventy-four children between six and thirteen , only eleven could read ; and out of fifty between thirteen and eighteen , only nine could read and four write . The answers given by many of the children exhibit the grossest ignorance , numbers haying no knowledge of a God , a Saviour , or even of the commonest facts . Probably we shall bo told that this ignorance is not the necessary consequence of employment in
mines , but originates in the criminal neglect of their parents , to avail themselves of the means of instruction iu at least the first principles of religion and learning , provided in every part of the country , by means of national , parochial , British , or Sunday Schools . Admitting this , to some extent , to be the case , we would ask how came these parents to be so criminally negligent , is it not to be traced immediately to the fact , that these parents themselves have been brought up in the mines , and in the same profound ignorance in which they are training their offspring ?
In a petition presented to the House of CommoRS by Mr . Brotherton , from Edward William Binney , of Manchester , the petitioner says : ' < The disgusting nature of the employment of these poor creat ! ire 8 was bad enough in itself , but to hear the awful swearing , obscene conversation , and filthy songs , would lead any person to believe that he was in a land of savages , rather than in civilized England . " And he attributes the cause of this degradation , intellectual and moral , to females being allowed to work in mines , and states his belief that if females were not taken into the pits at a very early age , no after inducement could prevail upon them to enter a pit at all . We quote his own words : —
" That your petitioner is convinced that the employment of females in coal mines ia to be attributed to the early age at which children are introduced to such places by their parents . The parents having spent most of their lives in mines , and . being thoroughly accustomed to the scenes they witness , see no impropriety in them ; The female children , brought down in early infancy , have no correct ideas of the dangers of a mine , the scenes of vice and wickednessa they witness , or the disgusting and laborious nature of their employment . If female children were never allowed to enter a mine under thirteen years of age your petitioner considers that ; no inducements could scarce prevail on them to even go down into a pit , mach less persuade them to mix with the company , aud follow the laborious and unseemly employment which they are there subjected to . -
m That your petitioner bas visited many of the collieries in Lancashire and Cheshire , and he finds the moral and intellectual condition of the working colliers in a much worse state where females are employed in mines than in those parts where the proprietors will not allow them to work in the pits . Amidst the scenes before described are children , brought at the tender agea of eight and ten years . There they pass their days until they become wives and mothers . Can such employments as they aie engaged in , and such scenes as they continually witness , fit them to became goad wives
and mothers , and make thepoor man ' s home comfortable ? Colliers are often accused of being an ignorant and disorderly body of men , without any inquiry being made as to the cause of their ignorance and disorderly conduct What can any person expect from a poor boy aent down as your petitioner has before described ? He goes into > deep mine at six years of age , into the scenes amidst which he passes his days , until he marries a girl sent { down into the grave at an early age like himself ; probably both husband and wife continue their employment in coalmines—it is what they have been brought up to , and
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by which they are therefore' best ' enabled to obtain their livelihood . On coming out of the mine , after a hard day ' s work , the poor wife has little time and strength , even if she bad the knowledge , to . clean tine house and prepare tkose necessary refreshments which a hard-working man requires . Tha huaband , too : frequently makes no allowance for his wife ' s condition , bat abuses hsr , neglects his home , and runs to the alehouse , and there spenda the greater part of their joint earnings . ¦ .- - ; ; . v . ' ¦ : '¦/ . v-: v . -- ' ; - : --- ; '' - ^ - - - . « r
" That your petitioner is convinced that it is most desirable that many of the children from six to ten years of age , now employed ;;; -in mines , should he seni to school instead of passing their time amidst the dangers and darkness of a mine , and witnessing tha scenes before described ; bat at the same time be . does not consider that there can be any great peananen ^ improvement ^^ in the morals and condition bf- 'ioa working colliers so long as women are employed ia mines . " . - ; ' - : - .::- - ' v . :- '; : ¦'; . ' . ;; " C , > Some of the children , however , are sent to Sunday schools , and here follows a tolerable specimen of the ^ advantages 1 they derive from " . snoh " admirable" establishments , r Morgan Lewis , nineyearsold , puller up :
"Ihayeneyer been at any day-schodl ; am sent ' to Mr . Jones ' s Sunday-soh » oi to learn the Welsh letters ; can't say I know them yet I do not know what yoa mean by catechism or religion ; never was told about God . Theskyia up above , and no one ever told me about Jesus Christ ; cannot say what he is . " Sophia Lewis , twelve years old , labourer in the iron yard : ' : . " - ¦¦; - ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦' : ' ¦ ' / , ; ' . ¦ - '' _ ¦ "We have never been to any day-school ; sister and I go to the Welsh Sunday-schcol , to learn the letters , ( can scarcely tell one letter from the other ia the Welsh primer . ) Mr . Jones' ; tells us that Je « us is our Lord , but does not know what he means by our Lord , nor who is God . There may be commandments but I never Jieardof any . " ¦ : ' ' . ' -. - . ¦'¦ ¦''¦'¦ ¦' ' ' : ¦; " : ¦' . ¦ ¦ : . "¦ ¦ . : . - ' -: ' - ' . ' . : Edward Davisj about ten years old , hooker-on .: '•' .
" Have not much time after work , as always wash Never spoke any English ; father and mother speak Welsh , and so does . Mr . Jones , the preacher , whose Sunday-school I go to . ; I can say the Welsh letters , for I have bean two years at school . ( Net able to manage the letters—said D was G , and C the letter A . ) I do not know anything about Cred . " Richard Williams , aged nine years and threequarters , air-boy : : ' ! I come at six in the morning , and leave at six or seven in the evening . I have never been to a day * school ; I attend the Independent Sunday-schoeL Never heard of Jesus Christ . I dont know the Lord's Prayer . " - . ' . . !¦ " : ' : - ¦ '¦' . : " . " .. ? . ' ' . : " ' ¦ ;¦ ' . - .: > , Evan John , aged thirteen years and a half , hauler : . ¦ '¦ " . " : ¦'¦'• ' ' : '' . .. . . ' ¦ : ; " ¦ ' : : ¦ : '
" I have been at the work about foar years . Was four years at day-school ; it was a Welsh schooL God was the first man ; knows nothing of the command ments . " - . ' . ; .- ' ' ¦ ' ;' : ; : ¦ .. "' .. - : ; . ; . ; " , . " ;;¦ ; : ;¦ - ; ¦ John George ^ aged fifteen , behinder : "I have been for eight or nine years at work as plate opener . I was for twelve months at a Welsh school ; Jesus Christ made me ; thinks Jesus Christ made God . , ¦• ;¦ : -:- : ¦ . ¦' -- ¦ ' \ ^ - . ;¦ " :. : . % , . ' Mary Paine , aged seventeen , unloader : ! " They never have told me anything of Jesus Christ , nor do I know who he is . " , ' .- ¦ '
Henrietta Frankland , aged eleven , drawer : " Sister Maria , ( thirteen years old , as well as myself ) have not been to school since at work ; I do not know Whether God made me , not anything about Jesus ; there are no commandments . " David Thomas , aged fifteen , in-filler :. " Was at day-school , and learned the spelling ; there are Ten Commandments ; one Bay you must not steal , and that Christ is God . Thinks Jesus Christ was born in Wales , and went to England : now goes to the Suaday-school of the Independents . *'
We wonder what those who are perpetually telling us of the deplorable ignorance of the heathen and the necessity for sending missionaries to convert them , will say to this . Perhaps they will shrug their shoulders and tell us , that Wales is , as yet , but partially enlightened by gospel troth , and that in illuminated England we should find no such deplorable ignorance . If this were true it would only prove that our advocates for conversion might find work enough to engage all their zeal , talent , and contributions in the Principality , and need not even cross the Channel to discover fitting objects for the exercise of their Christian benevolence .
Buthow stands the fact I Why just thus . Thafc in illuminated England matters are as bad or worse than in benighted Wales . In Mr . Scan en ' s Report on the Collieries in Halifax , we find the following Thomas Mitchell j aged 13 : "I never heatd of Jesus Christ ; I don't know What yon mean by God ; I never heard of Adam , or know what you mean by Scriptures ; I have heard of a Bible , but don't know . '¦ what 'tis all . " / about ;; I do not know what would become of me hereafter if I am wicked ; I have never been told .: If I tell a falsehood or lie , I tell a lie ; it may be good or bad , but I don't know the differenca'V Anna Hoile , aged twelve :
. " I never went to day-school , but I began for tha first time to go to Sunday School yesterday ; I cannot read ; I have heard of God , and of Jesus Christ , but I can't tell who that was ; if I died a good gill I should go to heaven ; if I were bad , I should have to be burned in brimstone and fire ; they told me that at school yesterday ; I did not know it before . Father nor moUaer never reads to me at home ; they never go to church 01 chapel ; I never went before . " ; Henry Jowett , aged eleven :
" I never went to day-school long ; , bat I went a little while before I came to the pit , and then I did not wan to stop at school , bat I wanted to come to pit ; I go to Sunday School ; - they teach me . a b , » b ; I do not know who God is—Jesua Christ is heaven . If I dies bad boy I do not know what will become of me ; I have heard of the devil—they used to tell me of him at the every-day school ; father does not goto church or chapel on Sundays ; he does nought but stop at home ; I go to chapel now a Sundays ; 'tia not so long sin' I began a going . " "" . . .: : ;/¦ - ¦ > . '; . ¦ : ¦ - . ¦ . ' . ' - -. ¦ ., - 7 These are the results of instruction in Sabbath Schoola , tha teachers and conductors of which would deem it a horrid crime to teach writing and other branches of practical education on the Lord ' s Day . ; . : '' . - /¦ ' ' - ' -r- ' - ' y' \ - : ¦ ' ¦ ¦ :. ' ; : ¦ ' v "" . :..:. ; . --. ' \/ -: '
We give the following as a specimen of the value which is attached to the importance of Sunday school instruction by at least one of our " respectable capitalists " : — ' . •/ . ' " Mr . James Wilcox , a proprietor of mines , states;—' You have expressed some surprise at Thomas Mitchell not having heard of God . I judge ( he continues ) that there are very few colliers hereabout that have . There is a Sunday school in the village , at which some of them ge , but it does not advance them in learning much ; It keeps them from idleness en the Sunday , and doing mischief from beating the fields , and destroying hedges , but very few colliers care mach about it . "
When masters only think it necessary that instruction should be imparted to young persons ia their employ for the magnificent purpose of keep ing them from doing mischief , beating the fields , and destroying hedges , it is no wonder that the information imparted should be of the mest worthless character . For our own parts , we have no hesitation in saying , that the sooner all such Sunday Schools are broken up the better . We had supposed that Sunday School instruction would at least point out to the children the existence of the Creator and Redeemer j and enforce upon them the duties of moral obligation . In this ,
however , it seems we were mistaken . The whole world may be ransacked for objects of charityv Scores of missionaries , teachers , and schoolmasters must be sent forth to convert the heathen , and to instruct the children of the Hindoo and the Hottentot . Bibles are to be multiplied , and the goor are to be required to purohase the word jot life , even though unable to provide for themsclvo and families the common necessaries of life ; and all this , as we are told for the purpose of removing ignorance and vice at home and abroad . And here is the practical illustration of the value of all this ostentatious parade of benevolence and pietyv
Our own children , the children of our own bou , on whom it is said Sunday School instruction . confers such immeasurable benefits , are trained up in a state of ignorance , compared with which the ignorance of pagan lands sinks ; into insignificance One child , nine years of age , says , ¦ " I never was told about God—no one ever told me about Jesos Christ ; cannot say what he is . " Another , twelve yfiars of age , says , Mr . Jones tells us that Jesua is our Lord , but does not know what he means by odr Lord , nor who is Godv There may ^ be commandments , but I never heard of * PJ «" Another , ten years old , tells us "I do not
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4 THE NORTHERN STAB , - ... ¦ ¦ , -.. ; .-. : : ; -,,,-. - .. ' . . , .,. ¦" -... ^ J £ : :- ^
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), May 28, 1842, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1163/page/4/
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