midnight
This incident is mentioned here , as a striking illustration of the practical working of that system of grinding the poor , especially poor females , by which many men make fortunes , or at least acquire far more than a simple competence for life . That carriage belonged to Berlaps , and those happy children were his . But how could he buy a carriage and horses , and build fine houses , and yet not be able to pay more than the meagre pittance for his work that the reader has seen doled out to his half-starving workwomen ? How could his children be fed and clothed sumptuously every day , and the widow , who worked for him from early dawn until the silent watches of midnight , not be able to get wholesome bread and warm garments for her little ones , _ unless he took more than his just share _ of the profits upon his goods ? If he could only afford to pay seven cents for coarse shirts , and so on , in proportion , up through the entire list of articles made , how came it that the profits on these very articles enabled him to live in elegance , build houses , and keep his own carriage and horses ? Such questions apply not alone to , the single instance of Berlaps , here introduced . They are pertinent in their application to all who add to their profits for the purpose of a grand aggregate , at the expense of reducing the pay , even a few cents , upon the hard-toiling workwoman , whose slender income , at best , is barely sufficient to procure the absolute necessaries of life .