e, that, even amid the
clatter of twenty machines around me, not a word was lost,--"you may be
sure that this prejudice against women working for their own support
will never die out. It is one of those excrescences of the human mind
that cannot be extirpated. It is a distortion of the reasoning faculty
itself, unworthy of a sensible person, and is generally exhibited only
by those who, while boasting of exemption for themselves, have really
little or nothing else to boast of. It is the infirmity of small minds,
not a peculiarity of great ones. Prejudices are like household vermin,
and the human mind is like the traps we set for them. They get in with
the greatest facility, but find it impossible to get out. Beware of
entertaining them yourself, Lizzie. Shun everything like repining at
what you call your position as a sewing-girl. Take care of your
conscience, for it will be your crown. Labor for contented thoughts and
aspirations, for they will bring you rest. Your heart can be made happy
in itself, if you so choose, and your best happiness will always be
found within your own bosom."

"Do not misunderstand me, Miss Effie," I replied; "I was not repining,
but merely asking an explanation. My mother has sought to teach me not
only contentment, but thankfulness for for my condition."

"Indeed," she responded, "both you and I have abundant cause for
thankfulness to God for the multitude of mercies He is extending to us.
You know how this poor girl behind us, Lucy Anderson, is situated,"
raising her hand and pointing over her shoulder toward a thin, pale girl
of seventeen, who was working a machine.

"I do not know her history," I answered.

"Well," said Miss Effie, "that girl's mother was a washerwoman." She did
the heavy washing for a very rich man's family. They put her into an
open shed, on a cold, damp pavement. This work she had been doing for
them for several years, in the same bleak place, and in all weathers.
While warm and comfortable herself, the pampered mistress of the family
gave no thought to the dangerous exposure to which she subjected this
slave of the washtub. Thus working all day, in thin shoes, on damp
bricks, and while a penetrating easterly rain was falling, the poor
woman was next morning laid up with the worst form of rheumatism.
Medicine and nursing were of no avail. She became bedridden,--the
disease attacked all the joints of her frame, ossification succeeded,
and in the end she was unable t