of the whole number were signed with a
mark, and many of these were evidently Irish. It was impossible to go
through the mills, and notice the respectable appearance and becoming
and modest deportment of the "factory girls," without forming a very
favorable estimate of their character and position in society. But it
would be difficult indeed for a passing observer to rate them so high as
they are proved to be by the statistics of the place. The female
operatives are generally boarded in houses built and owned by the
"corporation" for whom they work, and which are placed under the
superintendence of matrons of exemplary character, and skilled in
housewifery, who pay a low rent for the houses, and provide all
necessaries for their inmates, over whom they exercise a general
oversight, receiving about one dollar and one-third from each per week.
Each of these houses accommodates from thirty to fifty young women, and
there is a wholesome rivalry among the mistresses which shall make their
inmates most comfortable. We visited one of the hoarding houses, and
were highly pleased with its arrangement.
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