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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 116, 20 May 1867, Page 2

Among the children's trades in Bethnal Green, the foremost perhaps is the manufacture of lucifer boxes. For this work the payment is twopence-farthing per gross, or 32 boxes for one halfpenny, out of which sum the little labourers have to find their own paste. The Other day I took upon my knees a little girl who is employed iv this manner. She told me she was four years old. Her mother said the child had earned her own living ever since she was three years of age. This infant now makes several hundred boxes every day of her life, and her earnings suffice to pay the rent of the miserable room which the family inhabits. The poor little woman, as might be expected, is grave and sad beyond her years. She has none of a child's vivacity. She does not seem to know what play means. Her whole thoughts are centred in the eternal ronnd of lucifer-box making, in which her whole life is passed. She has never been beyond the dingy street in which she was born. She has never so much as seen a tree or a daisy or a blade of grass. A poor sickly little thing, and yet a sweet obedient child, the deadly pallor of her face proclaiming unmistakably that she will soon be mercifully taken away to a better world, where at last the little weary fingers shall be at rest. And this is only one case out of scores and hundreds. — The Rev. Isaac Taylor, Bethnal Green. Luck is ever waiting for something to . turn up. Labor, with keen eye, and strong will, will turn up something. Luck lies in bed, and wishes the postman would bring him news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o'clock, and with busy pen or ringing hammer lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chances. Labor on character. Luck slips downward to indulgence. Labor strides upward, and to independence. ■ - """ : A gentleman who was courting enquiry was found to be wedded to his own views.