Monday I got up at two in the morning and worked to near midnight; the other days from six in the morning to between eleven and twelve at night.  I have had enough of it; I sha’n’t kill myself; so now I go to bed at ten o’clock, and make up the lost time on Sundays.”  Neither in Leicester, Nottingham, nor Derby have wages risen since 1833; and the worst of it is that in Leicester the truck system prevails to a great extent, as I have mentioned.  It is therefore not to be wondered at that the weavers of this region take a very active part in all working-men’s movements, the more active and effective because the frames are worked chiefly by men.

In this stocking weavers’ district the lace industry also has its headquarters.  In the three counties mentioned there are in all 2,760 lace frames in use, while in all the rest of England there are but 786.  The manufacture of lace is greatly complicated by a rigid division of labour, and embraces a multitude of branches.  The yarn is first spooled by girls fourteen years of age and upwards, winders; then the spools are set up on the frames by boys, eight years old and upwards, threaders, who pass the thread through fine openings, of which each machine has an average of 1,800, and bring it towards its destination; then the weaver weaves the lace which comes out of the machine like a broad piece of cloth and is taken apart by very little children who draw out the connecting threads.  This is called running or drawing lace, and the children themselves lace-runners.  The lace is then made ready for sale.  The winders, like the threaders, have no specified working-time, being called upon whenever the spools on a frame are empty, and are liable, since the weavers work at night, to be required at any time in the factory or workroom.  This irregularity, the frequent night-work, the disorderly way of living consequent upon it, engender a multitude of physical and moral ills, especially early and unbridled sexual licence, upon which point all witnesses are unanimous.  The work is very bad for the eyes, and although a permanent injury in the case of the threaders is not universally observable, inflammations of the eye, pain, tears, and momentary uncertainty of vision during the act of threading are engendered.  For the winders, however, it is certain that their work seriously affects the eye, and produces, besides the frequent inflammations of the cornea, many cases of amaurosis and cataract.  The work of the weavers themselves is very difficult, as the frames have constantly been made wider, until those now in use are almost all worked by three men in turn, each working eight hours, and the frame being kept in use the whole twenty-four.  Hence it is that the winders and threaders are so often called upon during the night, and must work to prevent the frame from standing idle.  The filling in of 1,800 openings with thread occupies three children at least two hours.  Many frames are moved by