A COTTON FACTORY, QUERETARO.
The Hercules mill employs about fifteen hundred operatives, all Mexicans, with the exception of a few foreigners to look after the general management of details and keep the machinery in order. Not far from it is a smaller and older mill, which is surrounded with pretty gardens that require a considerable annual expenditure to keep them in order. Frank thought he would commend the plan to American mill-owners, and suggest the addition of gardens to their establishments; Fred was of opinion that the manufacturers of Lawrence and Fall River would not look favorably upon the suggestion, as they were much more interested in making the best possible showing in their bank accounts than in beautifying their surroundings.
The Queretaro mills are chiefly employed in turning out manta, a variety of cheap cotton cloth, out of which the garments of the lower classes of the population are made. The Hercules mill makes 6000 pieces of cloth thirty yards long every week, and it pays the weavers about one cent a yard. The employés make from two and a half to five dollars weekly, and are furnished with lodgings, at very low rentals, close to the mills. They work from 6 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., with half an hour's intermission for breakfast, and an hour for dinner.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
AQUEDUCT AT QUERETARO.—THE RESULT OF A BANTER.—THE HILL OF THE BELLS.—PLACE WHERE MAXIMILIAN WAS SHOT.—REVOLUTIONS IN MEXICO.—FOREIGN INTERVENTION.—MAXIMILIAN BECOMES EMPEROR.—THE "BLACK DECREE."—WITHDRAWAL OF FRENCH TROOPS FROM MEXICO.—MAXIMILIAN'S DEFEAT, CAPTURE, AND DEATH.—HOW A FRENCH NEWSPAPER CIRCUMVENTED THE LAWS.—PRONUNCIAMENTOS.—JUAREZ AS PRESIDENT.—THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN OF MEXICO.—A WONDERFUL PROPHECY.—PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF JUAREZ.—RELIGION IN MEXICO.—FORMER POWER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.—THE LAWS OF THE REFORM.—PROTESTANT CHURCHES AND PROTESTANT WORK.—MISSIONARY MARTYRS.—MURDER OF REV. J. L. STEPHENS.—RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS AT PRESENT.
