Richmond Palladium

EXCURSION TO LOWELL.

Last Thursday we took a ride to Lowell, by the direct route through Danvers, Reading, Wilmington and Tewksbury.

We arrived at Lowell about noon, and put up at the American Hotel, a spacious and convenient house, fitted up in good style, and furnished with every convenience for the accommodation of travellers. We took dinner and set out on a tour of observation. We found a friend who acted as our conductor, and we were led through the factories and shewn many other things of great interest and curiosity. We continued our rambles, sometimes in the city, sometimes on the falls of the Merrimack, and then about the scenery around the Concord river, till after the evening bell rang for nine.

We retired for rest at an early hour, as seemed to be uniformly the habit; and the inhabitants have good reason for doing so; for at 3 o'clock the next morning, even before day-light, one factory bell rang a merry peal, and as soon as the last pulsation struck upon the ear, the whirring and clacking of the machinery was heard. We looked out of the window and saw the dawn had just began to throw its grey light over the East, and right opposite a factory lighted up, and all alive and in motion. At 5 o'clock the great bell rung for a general turn out, and a simultaneous movement in all the factories. The girls swarmed out from all the streets and avenues which led from their boarding houses, and directed their steps towards a single point, where they became concentrated in a dense mass at the bridge leading to the entrance range of factories, standing on a line on the opposite side of a straight canal, which supplies the water power to each of the factories included in the entire establishment.

The canal is bordered on the side next the factories, with stores for receiving the raw cotton, and on the bank next the street with rows of elms or other ornamental trees, which are enclosed and separated from the main street by a handsome fence. At 7 the great bell rang for breakfast-the great wheels were stopped again, and all became silent; the girls, and boys poured forth from the gates, and crossing the bridge, diverged and radiated off towards the boarding houses. In half an hour the great bell is again heard, the wheels commence their gyrations, the streets are again full of people.

The same ceremonies and the same appearances take place at the dinner hour, which is half past 12, and at half past one the bell rings again, and the afternoon operations commence. The wheels go round, the spindles twirl, the looms jerk in the threads so quick that the eye can only catch a glance of them as they dart through the warp, while the tissue is plainly perceived growing and winding itself up on the cylinders. We took a glance at the whole establishment of a cotton mill, from the opening of a bale of raw cotton to its being drawn out into a thread, and from that to its warping, sizing, weaving, joining, packing, and finally its loading and carrying in wagons drawn by six stout horses, through the heavy sands on the Tewksbury road down to Boston.

The ringing of the great bell at Lowell, either at three or at five o'clock in the morning, is certainly to some purpose. It is no play-thing to call idlers from their beds, or to disturb those who had better be a bed and asleep. How silly it is for people to be talking of morning walks, and boasting of taking exercise before breakfast, and then coming home tired out, and scarcely able to worry through the tedious day. There is no such fancy as this at Lowell. It is quite another thing to hear the great bell ring there. It starts up from their beds ten thousand people in the prime of life, in the full enjoyment of health, ready and able to handle and direct the rolling and twirling and twisting and thumping which is going on every where around, on the right and on the left, before and behind. There does not appear, however, any unreasonable duty imposed on any individual. All are at liberty to come and go whenever they please. The girls come to Lowell then, and stay as long as it pleases them; and as they work by the piece, or job, the prices for which are placarded upon the doors of all the factories, the attendance is voluntary, and the wish to earn the utmost in the shortest time, induces them to a close application to business. They come from all quarters of the country, and the stage coaches, drawn by six horses are continually occupied in bringing and carrying out loads of well dressed rosy country girls.

We noted our numbers of the factory girls, as they were in attendance upon the looms and spinning frames. They were in the freshness and bloom of life, generally of about 20 years of age. Sometimes, when half a dozen in a neighborhood had put their looms in order, they would leave them to their own exact and rapid motions, and assemble in little squads at some favorite place of resort where there was a looking glass, at which they arranged their curls, or adjusted their combs, tattled all the gossip, and found out who was who, and what was what. This is their business for the day. but after tea, which they take at 7 o'clock, they dress up for the evening, and the well lighted streets and the brilliantly illuminated stores were full of them. There was not a dry goods store nor a milliner's shop in which there were not to be seen groups of these fair purchasers. The workmen of the various factories, the builders, masons, carpenters, &c. of which Lowell is full, were also on the go. The hotels were filled or thronged about the piazzas, and in two places we observed auctioneers mounted on a stand and bawling as usual, while their ivory balls were flourishing about and glancing in the rays of the torch light, as the presiding genius of the gaping crowd. All, however, was every where orderly and respectful. There was no noise, no rudeness, no assembling at the corners no jostling--nor did we see any constables, stalking to and fro with their poles, to keep the peace. At the ringing of the 9 o'clock bell the multitude retired from the streets. We ought not to forget, that as we walked about the place, we noticed the refinements of social life, in listening to the piano, accompanied by the flute, and were quite delighted at the high degree of taste and execution of two amateur performers. We enquired of one of the crowd of listeners, and were informed that the performers were some of the head-workmen of one of the factories. Indeed, we found that music was a favorite amusement, and a taste for that elegant accomplishment is established in the place. We saw in a church, spacious and beautifully finished within, a large and elegant organ, lately built by those excellent organ builders, the Messrs. Hooks, of Boston, remarkable for the richness of its open diapason, and the majestic power of its sub-bass. The church and organ cost the proprietors 28,000 dollars.

We believe there are not less than fifteen churches in Lowell, all of modern architecture, and most of them built either of brick or stone, several of which are furnished with organs. But, after all, it is not so much what Lowell is, as what it is inevitably destined to become--a city second to none in the State for population and importance. The immense extent of the factories already established, and the magnificent works now in the progress of erection, will lay a foundation for the industry and prosperity of a population of one hundred thousand souls. There is already a theatre building, of wood, very spacious, and will contain an auditory no less than can be accommodated in the Tremont itself. Among the conveniences of the place, we visited a bathing house, fitted up with much taste and elegance. It contains apartments for ladies in one division, and for gentlemen in another. The rooms were carpeted and furnished with chairs, tables, glasses, and all the accompaniments of the toilette. Below the bathing rooms there are apartments for bathing in the river and one spacious enclosure, in which there is a basin four feet in depth, calculated for swimmers.

We saw the carpet establishment, where they were weaving Kidderminster and Brussels Carpeting, Rugs, &c. This is done by complicate looms not easily described. There appears to be about twenty looms at work each one having a different pattern, which comes out without the care or thought of the operator. The Brussels carpeting was woven in a loom altogether different from the Kidderminster, and required the aid of a boy to move some of the machinery. The operation is slow and tedious, and requires great care. The hearth rugs were of two kinds, one having on it some fanciful figures, and the other with a thick nap of variegated colors.

Buildings were going up all over the immense extent of ground on which Lowell stands, or is to stand. Buildings of all descriptions, of stone, brick, and wood, were ascending, and some most extensive factories, with all their accompaniments of dwellings and out houses were erecting in that quarter of the town bordering on the Merrimac, towards the falls. There is one very large and beautiful brick factory near the outlet of Concord river, seven or eight stories finished but not yet in operation, designed for the manufacture of broadcloths.

The great number of stores is quite surprising. They stand in rows in all the principal streets, and are of every description-dry good stores, apothecaries, furniture ware houses, shoe stores, milliners, tailors, grocers, confectioners, &c. &c. They are spacious and beautiful, particularly those under the new Unitarian church. These have no windows, either bow windows or any others. The entire front is thrown open, and the whole interior of the shop displayed to the passengers as they proceed along the brick side walks.