rate he continued for several months, when his wages were advanced to 48 cents per week.
The little fellow could not at this early period of his life be supposed to be worth much as a laborer, and probably the small amount here mentioned was the full value of his services; be this as it may, the punishment to him arising from standing so many hours without being permitted to sit down was very severe, and ought never to be required of children for such a pittance, or in short, under any circumstances. He continued to increase in his qualifications and was several times advanced, till at fourteen years of age, having then been 8 years in the factories, he was capable of earning 72 cents per week, which was a little more than the average for children of his age. During these 8 years he went through a series of uninterrupted, unmitigated suffering, such as very rarely falls to the lot of mortals so early in life, except to those situated as he was, and such as he could not have endured had he not been strong and of a good constitution.
At the age of 8 or 9, his limbs began to show symptoms of giving way, under the excessive fatigue to which he was subjected. He constantly complained of weariness, pains in the knees and ancles, and was ever ready to sit himself down in the factory, on the road, or in almost any place, whenever and wherever an opportunity presented itself, even for half a minute.
Every precaution was taken that the humble means of his widowed mother would permit, to prevent her favorite, her only boy, from being made a cripple; but in vain. Oils, flannel bandages, strengthening plasters and mixtures, were incessantly applied; and every thing but the right one, (viz. taking him from the work,) were one by one tried, rejected, and abandoned. In defiance of all these remedies, he became from excessive labor, a con-
