WHAT HAS THE FACTORY SYSTEM DESTROYED?

Regarding the condition of the country previous to the introduction of the Factory System, we have not to depend upon obscure records or questionable history. The experience of living men supplies us with all the requisite information.

We find the hand-loom weaver, scattered over a great extent of country, which is still marked by those old fashioned, but commodious houses of former times, with the broadseated hearthstones, and the ever opened porch for the passing traveller. To these ancient cottages of the hand-loom weaver, were attached a limited number of acres for grazing or tillage. You will still find in the upper stories of these ruins of the good old times, the mouldering loom of the industrious weaver, and honest farmer.

There he sat at his rattling loom, assisted by all of his family who could work; there the grown up child worked with the parent, and the mother left her other duties to taste recreation beside her husband. There you would find all the household manufacturers busily engaged together; there, too, the song and the laugh rose cheerily, and rung in chorus with the restless shuttle. Had you entered that dwelling you would have found the weaver at his light hearted easy task, the wife smiling amidst plenty. They were free, hospitable, and intelligent; no stranger was denied a meal in their home, no wandering beggar a welcome crust at their door.