after day, from morn till night, without a moment's rest except at
meal-times; even then the short period allowed them barely suffices
to permit of a hasty meal, when they have to hurry back again to
undergo another term of misery.

It is strange that we should be so careful of brute beasts that we
form ourselves into societies for their protection, prosecuting
rigorously any one who shall have the temerity to ill-treat or abuse
them, and yet allow our fellow-creatures (and those, too, of the
weaker sex) to be treated with the most barbarous cruelty. A bruise
or a blow may be brutal and severe, yet neither is so hurtful, so
systematically cruel, as the forcing young girls to stand erect for
lengthened periods, without change of posture. I am sure if the
members of the House of Commons were deprived of their seats even
for one session, we would, without further ado have a Bill enacted
making it criminal for shopkeepers to make slaves of their employees,
or individuals to patronize such establishments.

Were shop-girls provided with even the commonest of seats, untold
numbers of crimes and diseases would be heard of no more. I am
confident that but for this most refined cruelty the circumstances
which gave rise to this story would never have occurred, and that I
would have been spared the narration of a history which, though
painfully true, is none the less shocking.

M----'s dry goods store has long been known in Montreal as a
well-started and well-appointed establishment. Carriages daily
blocked the thoroughfare while waiting for their fashionable owners
outside its door; and inside busy walkers and clerks could be seen
running hither and thither, serving customers. Young women, also,