er _Great Western_, and
proceeded to Lowell per rail. I forget whether I described an American
railroad before. There are no first and second class carriages, as with
us, but gentlemen's cars and ladies' cars; and, as a black man never
travels with a white one, there is a negro car. Each car holds from
thirty to fifty. There is a stove blazing hot. Except where a
branch-road joins the main one, there is seldom more than one track of
rails. They rush across the turnpike-road, where there is no gate, no
policeman, no signal. There is painted up, "When the bell rings, look
out for the locomotive." I was met at Lowell by my fellow-passenger in
the _Western_, Royal Southwick, intimately connected with the factories
there. The first we visited was a cotton cloth and drill factory, where
they make about 50,000 yards per day, all by water-power (the
Merrimack), and have a couple of hundred girls employed. The good order
and clean appearance of both factory and girls contrasted greatly with
both in Lancashire. There are twenty-five mills here. We then visited a
carpet manufactory, by machinery that reduces labour 75 per cent., and
where some of the many girls employed make a dollar a-day. There is no
manufactory like this in the world: there is a patent taken out by E.B.
Bigelow to protect the carpet power-loom manufactory. They must be
making money fast here. We then visited a cloth manufactory upon a large
scale, where they employ about 800 hands; and the excellency of the
cloth surprized me. They will have no occasion for English cloths much
longer. All by water-power. The last place was a large cylinder
print-works, where they produce some first-rate goods, and, I think, as
cheap as ours. There are several factories in Lowell, each of which they
call a corporation, as they are chartered. They employ about 8000 girls,
who make 3-1/2 dollars per week, or 14 s. Their neat, clean, and healthy
appearance pleased me much: they are well dressed; and, meeting them
out, you would take them to be of a higher grade. They pay 1-1/2 dollar
per week for lodgings, which are situated near, and belong to the
different corporations. They are strictly moral and virtuous, and all
contribute to a monthly publication called "The Lowell Offering," well
worth reading. I saw the principal editors (young ladies), and ordered
it for next year. The rooms in which they work are well arranged; and
green plants are trained to shade the glass windows. The la