time of my visit, belonged to the late Mr. Richard Arkwright, the only son of Sir Richard Arkwright, the father of the English factory system.
As this place was one of the earliest seats of the cotton manufacture, I was anxious to see the effects of the factory system here. The people of this village seldom migrate, have very little intercourse in any way with the inhabitants of large towns, and know but little of what is going on beyond the beautiful hills by which they are surrounded.
I found the general condition of the people to be any thing but favorable to a high state of moral and intellectual culture. Long hours of labor, low wages, and hard fare seemed to be the prevailing characteristic of the factory system in that place. Many of the poor inhabitants related to me their tales of sufferings and privation, and seemed to feel their miseries very keenly. Among other things, I was very much interested in the case of one of their factory cripples.
Being directed to a small cottage in the village of Cromford, (which joins that of Matlock,) where this poor man resided, I made free to knock. The door was opened by a clean, elderly woman, the widowed mother of the poor cripple, who kindly invited me in, and requested me to be seated.
Having explained the object of my visit, I was directed to a young man who sat in a corner, at work upon a child's first shoe. After a short introduction, I asked him if he would be kind enough to inform me how he became such a cripple; he very readily complied with my request, and related to me his history in nearly the following words, his mother sitting beside him at the time:
"My name is J—— R——; I went to work in the cotton factory in the adjoining village of Matlock Baths, at the age of 9 years. I was then a fine, strong, healthy
