The modern system of overcrowding the mill-people is to be especially deprecated. In the old time, not more than two or three beds were put into one large bedroom, which was used only as a bedroom; but not long ago, according to an article in the _Springfield Republican_ on “How Mill-People Live,” it appears that Mr. H. R. Walker, agent of the Chicopee Board of Health, in his official report to the board, states that he found “twelve persons living and sleeping in a suite of two rooms, and sixteen persons living and sleeping in a tenement of four rooms.” And in another block, owned by a “wealthy gentleman in that city,” he found that “thirty-eight rooms were occupied by ninety-seven men, women, and children.” Under such conditions, how can young people be brought up virtuously? These are examples of overcrowding which I hope are not followed to any extent by the better class of manufacturing corporations; although there is reason to fear that overcrowding is getting to be the rule, rather than the exception. The cotton-factories themselves are not so agreeable nor so healthful to work in as they used to be. Once they were light, well ventilated, and moderately heated; each factory-building stood detached, with pleasant sunlit windows, cheerful views, and fresh air from all points of the compass. But these buildings are now usually made into a solid mass by connecting “annexes,” and often form a hollow square, so that at least one-half of the operatives can have no outlook except upon brick walls, and no fresh air but that which circulates within this confined space. A year or two ago I revisited the dressing-room where I used to work, and found the heat so intense that I could hardly breathe; and the men who were working there (there were no women in the room) wore the scantiest of clothing, and were covered with perspiration. The drying of the beams is done by hot air, though sometimes fans are added; the windows and doors are kept shut, except in very fine weather; and this makes an atmosphere unfit to breathe. My old overseer, who had had charge of one room for over forty years, told me that some time ago he had been obliged to change his occupation in the mill on account of the intense heat consequent on the introduction of this new method of drying the beams. Nor are the houses kept clean and in repair as they used to be. In Lowell, when I last walked among the “blocks” where I lived as a child, I found them in a most dilapidated condition,--houses going to decay, broken sidewalks, and filthy streets; and contrasting their appearance with that of the “corporation” as I remember it, I felt as if I were revisiting the ruins of an industry once clean and prosperous. Would that I could say one word that would lead stockholders to see that it is not from out of such surroundings that the best dividends can be secured!