Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 429 | Page 8

in St Omer. I loved her; and before I
started on this journey, I had from her a half-promise, which I now call
upon her to fulfil.'
'What say you, Madeleine?' said Jacques gravely.
'That I can never give my hand to a man whom I love too well to
dishonour.'
'Madeleine, you are right, and you are a noble girl!' replied her brother.
'Children,' said the old man, with a groan, 'I see my crime now in its
full hideousness; but I can at least repair part of the evil done. Now,
listen to me. Let me see you follow the bent of your hearts, and be
happy, and I will go where you will, for you will have forgiven your

father. Refuse to do so, and I remain here--once a wrecker, always a
wrecker. Come, decide!'
Madeleine held out her hand to Edouard, and Jacques to Leonie, his
friend's sister, returning from the colony where her parents had died.
The old man shut his eyes, and remained silent the rest of the evening.
Next day, conveyances were obtained from a neighbouring town, and
the crew and passengers departed. The reunited friends remained at
Montreaux, awaiting the recovery of Pierre, Jacques excepted, he being
forced to go to Havre, to explain events to his owners. In ten days he
returned. Old Sandeau was now able to be removed; and the whole
party left Montreaux, which was then stripped by its owners, and
deserted.
The family went to Havre. The father's savings as a captain had been
considerable. United with those of Jacques, they proved sufficient to
take a house, furnish it, and start both young couples in life. Edouard
set up as a surgeon in Havre, his brother-in-law was admitted as junior
partner into the house of Ponceau, and from that day all prospered with
them. Old Sandeau did not live long. He was crushed under the weight
of his terrible past; and his deathbed was full of horror and remorse.[1]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This legend is still told by the peasants of Brittany, who point out
the site of Montreaux.

LOWELL MECHANICS' FAIR.
There are very few places in the world that bear the mark of progress so
strongly as this town, destined, beyond all doubt, to be the Manchester
of the United States, and to enter--indeed it is now entering--into active
rivalry with the Old Country in her staple manufactures, cottons and
woollens. In the year 1821, few visited the small, quiet village, of about
200 inhabitants, situated in a mountain-nook at a bend of the Merrimac,
at a point where that stream fell in a natural cascade, tumbling and

gushing over its rocky, shallow bed, quite unconscious of the part it
was to play in the world's affairs. This village was twenty-five miles
north-west of Boston, not on a high-road leading anywhere; but,
nevertheless, it began to move on, as usual, by the erection of a
saw-mill, as at that point it was found convenient to arrest the
downward progress of the timber, and convert it into plank. And so it
went on, and on, step by step, till it became the splendid town it is, so
large as to have two railway depôts: one in the suburbs, and the
principal one in the centre of the town--for the Yankees think the closer
their railways are to the town the better.
Lowell now covers five square miles, with handsome, straight streets;
the principal one, Merrimac Street, being a mile and a half in length,
and about sixty feet wide, with footways twelve feet wide, and rows of
trees between them and the road. The appearance of this street reminds
the spectator of the best in France. The loom-power of a manufacturing
place, I understand, is estimated by the number of spindles, and this
works 350,000; the mills employ 14,000 males, and 10,000 females;
the number of inhabitants reckoned stationary, 12,000. It has lately
been raised to the dignity of a city by a charter of incorporation, which,
in the state of Massachusetts, can be claimed by any town when the
number of its inhabitants amounts to 10,000: thus it appoints its officers,
and manages its own affairs, as a body corporate and municipal.
The most striking feature of the social system here, is the condition of
the mill-workers, of which, as it is so different from ours, I shall give
you some particulars. The corporation of Lowell has built streets of
convenient houses, for the accommodation of the workmen; and
nine-tenths of these are occupied by the unmarried. These houses are
farmed by the corporation to elderly females, whose characters must
bear the strictest investigation, and at a rent just paying a low rate of
interest for the outlay. They carry on the business under strict rules,
which