Life and adventures of Michael Armstrong, the factory boy, Volume 3Harper & Brothers, 82 Cliff-Street., 1840 |
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Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, the Factory Boy Frances Trollope No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
apoplexy apprentice Ashleigh Bell better bless Brookford brought carriage child comfort companion countenance creature dead dear dear boy Deep Valley Mill Derbyshire door Dowling Lodge Edward exclaimed eyes face factory Fanny Fletcher father fear feeling felt following morning Gabberly give hand happy head hear heard heart heiress hope hour Hoxley-lane kind knew labour listened little fellow little girl live look ma'am Martha Dowling Mary Brotherton Michael Arm Michael Armstrong mind miserable Miss Brother Miss Brotherton Miss Martha mother never nurse old woman once painful pale Parsons passed perceived pleasure poor Michael Poulet Prescot reached replied scene seemed Sir Matthew Dowling sleep spirit Stamford Street stood suffering sure tears tell thing thought tion told trembling Tremlett turned uttered voice walk watch wish Woodcomb word wretched young lady
Popular passages
Page 273 - Do not set me down in your judgments as a hot-headed girl, indifferent to the opinions of society, and anxious only to follow the whim of the moment. Did I belong to any one, I think I should willingly yield to their guidance. But I am alone in the world; I have no responsibilities but to God and my own conscience, and the only way I know of, by which I can make this desolate sort of freedom endurable, is by fearlessly, and without respect to any prejudices or opinions whatever, employing my preposterous...
Page 248 - I understand you now," replied the honest-hearted old woman, eagerly. " Then now, my dear old friend, we shall, I think, never have any more disputes upon this subject. You—I—every servant in my house —every acquaintance I have in the world, may aid and assist in putting an end to this most atrocious factory system, WHICH OUGHT TO WEIGH HEAVIER UPON EVERY CHRISTIAN ENGLISH HEART THAN EVER THE SLAVE-TRADE DID.
Page 158 - Let none dare to say this picture is exaggerated, till he has taken the trouble to ascertain by his own personal investigation, that it is so. ... Woe to those who supinely sit in contented ignorance of the facts, soothing their spirits and their easy consciences with the cuckoo note,
Page 37 - ... notice your existence ? Oh, vanity of youth ! " Dick burst out laughing. " Fallen in love -with that beautiful statue ? — not exactly ! " he answered. " I could as easily fall in love with the Capitoline Venus. Besides, I hope I know my place, and have a proper reverence for my betters. Moreover, I can tell you, if you don't know it already, that the Princess Paolini will never marry again. His Eminence yonder would have a hundred suitors poisoned sooner than let it come to that.
Page 158 - If they be true, let each in his own little circle, raise his voice against the horrors detailed by them, and THESE HORRORS WILL BE REMEDIED. But woe to those who supinely sit in contented ignorance of the facts...
Page 198 - I stood still and gazed upon them — I knew full well what, and how great was the terror which had brought them there too soon, and in my heart of hearts I cursed the boasted manufacturing wealth of England, which running in this direction at least, in a most darkened narrow channel, gives power, lawless and irresistible, to overwhelm and crush the land it pretends to fructify. While still spell-bound by this appalling picture, I was startled by the sound of a low moaning from the other side of...
Page 38 - All true, Sir Matthew, every word of it. And I can't but say, though I scorn to be a boaster, — I can't but say, that I think 1 have given you reason to trust me. I am noted for being able to keep the children awake, and going longer than any other man in the mill. There isn't an overlooker in Ashleigh that can equal me with the strap or the billy-roller either, when I chooses to make 'em tell.
Page 155 - ... industrial exploitation of child labor (Illustration 8.1). This incident provides both an indictment of those in charge of the mill and a warning of the social consequences of its operation. Trollope makes clear the potential this disgusting sight might have for driving an older witness to violence. Michael Armstrong was a child of deep feeling; and it was, perhaps, lucky for him, that the burning sense of shame and degradation which pervaded every nerve of his little frame, as he looked on upon...
Page 202 - Bell, a reforming minister regarded as "wrong-headed" by his neighbors for saying that factory work "is bad for the children's health" (p. 197). From this oracular person, Mary Brotherton hears Trollope's most ringing condemnation of the factory system. "Nothing except personal investigation can enable the inquirer to arrive at the whole truth respecting it" (p. 202). Although Bell argues strenuously for government intervention, he tells Mary starkly: "I cannot in conscience tell you that it is in...
Page 225 - Even at dead of night the machinery was never stopped, and when one set of fainting children were dragged from the mules another set were dragged from the reeking beds they were about to occupy, in order to take their places. The ventilation throughout the whole fabric was exceedingly imperfect; the heat, particularly in the rooms immediately beneath the roof, frightfully intense ; cleanliness as to the beds, the floors, and the walls, utterly neglected ; and even the persons of the children permitted...