Note EE — LETTER XXXIII.

The piquage d'onces, or secretion of silk by the workmen, is one of the cankers of Lyons. The value of the silk thus stolen is estimated at nearly one million of dollars a year; the thefts committed in the Rheims factories are stated to exceed 600,000 dollars. The operatives exchange the gold-lace at the dram-shops for about one fourth of its actual value.