IN A SPANISH TOBACCO FACTORY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2228, 17 September 1889, Page 2

IN A SPANISH TOBACCO FACTORY.

The great tobacco factory at Seville Is one of the first sights the stranger la taken to see. Everybody ln Spain smukifs cigarettes. Little boys begin at tbe age of eight, and from th.it the olga-*ette ia rarely absent from a Spaniard's lips. Mauy of them die smoking. The omsucaption of cigarettes is naturally onormoua, aad the bulk ara manufactured In Seville. The Government faotnry gives dully employment to about 7000 people, and of these only a hnndrod or two are I men. When you enter the enormous rooms crowded with girls dressed In bright colors, the coup d'a&il Is striking In the extreme. In one imoiense'low-vanlted room there aro 1500 girls. Thyy sit in endless rows — about twouty girls to a row -on either side of the room, all at little tables, aU rolling cigarettes. There Is a blsae and blur of oolor, a babel of tongues. Every girl bas a gay handkerchief aboat her neck— every girl has a bright flower stuck In her hair. Ali along the walls i hang tho gay outdoor dresses of the little olgaretto -makers. As 1 walk, blushing and nervou**, down an endless avenue of flashing eyes, I grow almost giddy. It la a sea of women's faces, an undulating ooean of flower-dooked heads. One has to pick one's way oarefully down tho central avenue, for it la blockaded all along the line with oradlos. The married olgarettomakers are allowed to bring their babies , with them to -the factory. They rook the cradle with one foot, whllo their busy fingers roll tbe cigarette. The girls earn good wages. At many of the tables wbole families are working together, But the hours are long, and the atmosphere awful. The damp warm odor of the tobaoco ln tho long Io proofed rooms ia ln Itself almost stupefying. But there Is no ventilation, and the atmosphere Is absolutely lndesorlb-ble. Many of tbe girls smoke cigarettes at their work. I was very glad to light one myself long before 1 bad done the round of the factory.— G. R, Sims. '