Produced by Bryan Ness, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) PRISONERS OF POVERTY ABROAD. BY HELEN CAMPBELL, AUTHOR OF "PRISONERS OF POVERTY," "THE WHAT-TO-DO-CLUB," "MRS. HERNDON'S INCOME," "MISS MELINDA'S OPPORTUNITY," "ROGER BERKELEY'S PROBATION." BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1889. _Copyright, 1889,_ BY HELEN CAMPBELL. University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. _"But laying hands on another_ _To coin his labor and sweat,_ _He goes in pawn to his victim_ _For eternal years in debt."_ TO F. W. P. THE FRIEND IN WHOM JUSTICE AND TRUTH ARE SO DEEPLY IMPLANTED THAT BOTH ARE INSTINCTS, AND WHOSE MANHOOD HOLDS THE PROMISE OF WORK THAT WILL GO FAR TOWARD FULFILLING THE DEEPEST WISH OF THE GENERATION TO WHICH THE MAKER OF THESE PAGES BELONGS. PREFACE. The studies which follow, the result of fifteen months' observation abroad, deal directly with the workers in all trades open to women, though, from causes explained in the opening chapter, less from the side of actual figures than the preceding volume, the material for which was gathered in New York. But as months have gone on, it has become plain that many minds are also at work, the majority on the statistical side of the question, and that the ethical one is that which demands no less attention. Both are essential to understanding and to effort in any practical direction, and this is recognized more and more as organization brings together for consultation the women who, having long felt deeply, are now learning to think and act effectually. These pages are for them, and mean simply another side-light on the labor question,--the question in which all other modern problems are tangled, and whose solving waits only the larger light whose first gleams are already plain to see. HELEN CAMPBELL. HEIDELBERG, GERMANY, _October, 1888._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. BOTH SIDES OF THE SEA 7 II. IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE 19 III. THE SWEATING SYSTEM IN GENERAL 31 IV. AMONG THE SWEATERS 42 V. CHILD OF THE EAST END 54 VI. AMONG THE DRESSMAKERS 66 VII. NELLY, A WEST END MILLINER'S APPRENTICE 77 VIII. LONDON SHIRT MAKERS 90 IX. THE TALE OF A BARROW 100 X. STREET TRADES AMONG WOMEN 112 XI. LONDON SHOP-GIRLS 122 XII. FROM COVENT GARDEN TO THE EEL-SOUP MAN IN THE BOROUGH 131