Excerpt from Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, Vol. 11: Nos. 262 to 287; January-June, 1849 Finding one of the partners within, I exhibited my book of patterns, which seemed to take his eye very much. He asked me a few questions, and then gave me something to do, by way of obtaining a specimen of my work. I returned with it the next day, and was at once engaged at 30 francs [about 2sa.j per week, with promises of an advance being made as work became more plentiful. The next day I entered into my new occupation, and found myself an object of no small curiosity to my fellow-workmen, and no small diversion to a bevy of young girls and workwomen at work in an adjoining room; but all were courteous and obliging, and I never was subjected to those cruel mockeries and insults to which we too frequently subject the un fortunate foreigner whom chance may throw among us. In the establishment of Messrs Jolly and Blanc there were employed nearly sixty individuals, the greater number being females, as, from the low wages given in Paris, it would be impossible to maintain a family without the joint labour of both man and wife, who therefore know but few of the comforts of domestic life as compared with us in England. The meal times in this establishment strangely varied with those in Eng land. We commenced work at six in the morning, and went to breakfast at eleven. At the expiration of one hour, labour was resumed until seven in the evening, at which hour work for the day was done, and we all went to dinner, and for my own part with a very good appe tite. I am not disposed to set this system up as an ex ample, as I am convinced, from experience, that nature requires recruiting more than twice a day, when a person's occupation is at all laborious. I am disposed to come to the conclusion, that the employer loses in the end when wages are not sufficient to procure the necessary food to keep up a man's stamina. I am sure, from actual observation, that ten Englishmen would perform the work of fifteen Frenchmen in the same space of time. Doubtless the reader may think me rather prejudiced; but I am ready to admit, at the same time, that my countrymen, with the same quan tity and description of food, would perform even less work than the Frenchmen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.