Page:The Laboring Classes of England.djvu/31

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INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
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and had several months of painful experience, under some of the most skilful surgeons of London, he was obliged to submit to amputation as the only means of saving his life.

On recovery he set himself to teach the left hand the knowledge previously possessed by the right hand, such as the use of the pen, needle, sheers, razor, &c. He also invented, with a little assistance from an ingenious machinist of London, an artificial arm, and several instruments, whereby he has been enabled to work at his trade as a tailor.

His health, as a matter of course, has suffered severely, and although he looks healthy, yet those who know him best say his constitution is quite undermined, in consequence of his former hardships and sufferings. He does not calculate on more than three days' good health at one time. On viewing his person one cannot but perceive at a glance, that he was intended by nature for a stout, able bodied man, although he now stands but 5 feet 1 inch high. He calculates he has lost by his deformity 7 inches and a half, which he says can be proved by unerring natural laws.

Such is a brief history of an English factory cripple. It differs but little, except in his literary attainments, from many of the same class of persons, of whom there are at this time, (1846) upwards of 10,000. Many of these are dependent upon their friends and relatives for support.

Petition after petition has been sent into the two houses of Parliament, to the prime minister, and to the Queen, concerning this unfortunate class of British subjects, but without effect. Had they only been black instead of white, their case would have been taken into consideration long ago. Or if they had been inhabiting any other portion of the Globe, the far-famed English philanthro-

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