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In Their Own Words

Two conflicting accounts of life as a mill worker written by women.

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In Their Own Words
EI_20_Week_at_the_Mill
“A Week at the Mill” Lowell Offering, October 1845, Vol. 5, Number 231-232, p. 217-218.

Document Text

Summary
LOWELL OFFERING.

OCTOBER, 1845.

A WEEK IN THE MILL.
Much has been said of the factory girl and her employment. By some she has been represented as dwelling in a sort of brick -and-mortar paradise, having little to occupy thought save the weaving of gay and romantic fancies, while the spindle or the wheel flies obediently beneath her glance. Others have deemed her a mere servile: drudge, chained to her labor by almost as strong a power as that which holds a bondman in his fetters; and, indeed , some have already given her the title of “the white slave of the North.” Her real situation approaches neither one nor the other of these extremes. Her occupation is as laborious as that of almost any female who earns her own living, while it has also its sunny spots and its cheerful intervals, which make her hard labor seem comparatively pleasant and easy. Many people have written about the lives of factory girls. Some people say that their life is easy and wonderful. Others say that factory girls are little more than prisoners forced to work for heartless factory owners. Neither of these versions is true. Factory girls work as hard as any other woman who earns a living. But there are also great parts of the job that make their work seem easier compared to others.
Look at her as she commences her weekly task. The rest of the sabbath has made her heart and her step light, and she is early at her accustomed place, awaiting the starting of the machinery. Everything having been cleaned and neatly arranged on the Saturday night, she has less to occupy her on Monday than on other days; and you may see her leaning from the window to watch the glitter of the sunrise on the water, or looking away at the distant forests and fields, while memory wanders to her beloved country home; or, it may be that she is conversing with a sister laborer near; returning at regular intervals to see that her work is in order. Look as she begins her week. She is well rested from her day off and eager to start her work. She cleaned and organized her workstation on Saturday night, so she has a little more free time. She might look out the window, or think about her family home. She might talk to another worker. But she will regularly check her machine to make sure everything is running smoothly.
Soon the breakfast bell rings; in a moment the whirling wheels are stopped, and she hastens to join the throng which is pouring through the open gate. At the table she mingles with a various group. Each dispatches the meal hurriedly, though not often in silence; and if, as is sometimes the case, the rules of politeness are not punctiliously observed by all, the excuse of some lively country girl would be, “They don’t give us time for manners.” Next the breakfast bell rings, and the machines pause. She hurries to the cafeteria, where she eats quickly. Her manners might not be the best, but she doesn’t have time for that.
The short half -hour is soon over; the bell rings again; and now our factory girl feels that she has commenced her day’s work in earnest. The time is often apt to drag heavily till the dinner hour arrives. Perhaps some part of the work becomes deranged and stops; the constant friction causes a belt of leather to burst into a flame; a stranger visits the room, and scans the features and dress of its inmates inquiringly; and there is little else to break the monotony. The afternoon passes in much the same manner. Now and then she mingles with a knot of busy talkers who have collected to discuss some new occurrence, or holds pleasant converse with some intelligent and agreeable friend, whose acquaintance she has formed since her factory life commenced; but much of the time she is left to her own thoughts. While at her work, the clattering and rumbling around her prevent any other noise from attracting her attention, and she must think, or her life would be dull indeed. After thirty minutes the bell rings again and she is back to work. The time between breakfast and lunch can drag. A machine might malfunction. Someone might come to survey the room. But otherwise the work is monotonous. The afternoon is the same. She might talk to the other workers or a particular friend, but mostly she is alone with her thoughts. The factory is so loud there is nothing else to distract her. She has to think her own thoughts, or she will be very bored.
Thus the day passes on, and evening comes; the time which she feels to be exclusively her own. How much is done in the three short hours from seven to ten o’clock. She has a new dress to finish; a call to make on some distant corporation; a meeting to attend; there is a lecture or a concert at some one of the public halls, and the attendance will be thin if she and her associates are not present; o, if nothing more imperative demands her time, she takes a stroll through the street or to the river with some of her mates, or sits down at home to peruse a new book. At ten o’clock all is still for the night. When work ends she can do what she likes. So much can be done in the three hours between the end of work and curfew. She might finish a dress she is making, visit a friend, attend a meeting, lecture or concert. If there isn’t anything better to do she can talk a walk or read a book. At 10 PM everyone is asleep for the night.
The clang of the early bell awakes her to another day, very nearly the counterpart of the one which preceded it. And so the week rolls on, in the same routine, till Saturday comes. Saturday! the welcome sound! She busies herself to remove every particle of cotton and dust from her frame or looms, cheering herself meanwhile with sweet thoughts of the coming Sabbath; and when, at an earlier hour than usual, the mill is stopped, it looks almost beautiful in its neatness. The next morning the early bell wakes her up again. Every day follows the same pattern until Saturday. She loves Saturday! She spends the day cleaning her machinery, and work ends early.
Then approaches the Sabbath – the day of rest! If the factory girl keeps it well, it must be at church; for there are some in every boarding house who find an excuse for staying at home half the day at least. One of her roommates is indisposed; another says she must write a letter to her friends; another has to work so hard during the week that she thinks she ought to make this literally a day of rest, so that retirement and meditation are out of the question. But in the sabbath school and sanctuary her time is well spent. No one is more constant at church, or earlier in her seat, than the operative who has been trained to know the value of the institution of the gospel. The instructions which she receives sink deep into her heart, giving her a fund of thought for the coming week. Her pastor and her sabbath school teacher are felt to be her best friends; and their kindness is a strong allurement to her spirit, often keeping her long from her less favored-home. If it is said that many a one has here found a grave, shall it not also be said that many a one has here found the path to Heaven? Sunday is her day off! If she is a good girl she will spend her Sunday at church. There are some girls who won’t go because they want more sleep, but her time at church is well spent.  She learns lessons from her pastor and teacher that she will carry with her all week.
The writer is aware that this sketch is an imperfect one. Yet there is very little variety in an operative’s life, and little difference between it and any other life of labor. It lies “half in sunlight -half in shade.” This is not a perfect description of the life of a factory girl. The life of a factory girl is not much different from that of any other laborer. It is part good and part challenging.
Few would wish to spend a whole life in a factory, and few are discontented who do thus seek a subsistence for a term of months or years. Few people would want to work their whole life in a factory. But those who work in a factory for a short while are not disappointed.

Document Text

Summary
Voice of Industry

June 26, 1845

The Hours in Lowell
…

During the last winter a petition was presented to the Legislature of Massachusetts, by eight hundred and fifty “peaceable, industrious and hardworking men and women,” declaring that they are confined from thirteen to fourteen hours per day in unhealthy apartment, and are hastening through pain, disease, privation, down to a premature grave, and praying the State to inquire into their condition and to restrict the number of hours of labor in Factories to ten per day,—

 Last winder, 850 peaceful laborers petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature to limit the work day to ten hours a day. They said that they often have to work thirteen or fourteen hour days in unhealthy conditions. They said that this work schedule was going to bring on an early death. 
This, and other similar petitions, were signed by two thousand one hundred and thirty-nine persons, chiefly females. The operatives in England are prohibited, by act of Parliament from being employed more than at a rate of eleven and a half hours per day. They work sixty-nine hours per week; 12 hours on the other days, and nine on Saturday. They have six holidays in a year. This petition, and others, were signed by 2,139 people. Most of the signers were women. There is a law in England that prevents mill workers from being employed more than 11.5 hours a day. The English mill workers work sixty nine hours a week. Twelve hours a day Monday-Friday. 9 hours on Saturday. They have six days off a year.
The operatives in Lowell work:

In January, 11 hours and 24 min
In February, 12 hours
In March, 11 hours 52 min.
In April, 13 hours and 31 min.
In May, 12 hours 55 min.
In June, 12 hours 45 min.
In July, 12 hours and 45 min.
In August, 12 hours and 45 min.
In September, 12 hours and 43 min.
In October, 12 hours and 16 min.
In November, 11 hours 46 min.
In December, 11 hours 24 min.

 The mill workers in Lowell work much longer hours. This is how many hours they work each day depending on the month of the year:

January—11 house, 24 minutes

February—12 hours

March—11 hours, 52 minutes

April—13 hours, 31 minutes

May—12 hours, 55 minutes

June—12 hours, 45 minutes

July—12 hours, 45 minutes

August—12 hours, 45 minutes

September—12 hours, 43 minutes

October—12 hours, 16 minutes

November—11 hours, 46 minutes

December—11 hours, 24 minutes
To this must be added in each instance thirty minutes, at least, for going to and from the mill, at morning and evening. They go to and return from breakfast in thirty minutes, to and from dinner in thirty minutes, for about eight months in a year; and the other four month s they are allowed forty-five minutes. These hours do not include the time it takes to travel to and from work every day. It also does not include their time for breakfast and lunch.
From this it will be seen that in New England the operatives work on an average of the whole year, more than twelve and a half hours per day, exclusive of going to and from their work. . . . Now you can see that New England mill workers work an average of 12 hours, 30 minutes every day, plus their travel and break time.
A woman in a Factory in New England, works one hour and some minutes longer, every day in the year, than a woman in a British Factor —They are allowed four days as holidays; the English are allowed six. A New England mill worker works at least one hour more a day than a mill worker in England. New England mill workers get four days off. English mill workers get six days off.
First, it must be apparent that the hours allowed for labor are too many. First, this makes it clear that workers hours are too long.
Second, that the minutes allowed for them to take their food are too few. Second, that they do not get enough time for meals.
Third, that these causes are sufficient to impair health, induce disease, premature old age, and death.

Fourth, that these causes, conjointly with the bad effect of close and heated air, acting upon so large a number of females assembled in the manufactories of New England, must in time affect the physical condition of the people of New England. To say nothing of the intellectual degeneracy which must necessarily result from the want of mental recreation and cultivation.

 Third, that these long hours with limited breaks can cause bad health and early death.

Fourth, that this health crisis for mill workers will eventually affect the health of the entire population of New England. Also, mill workers do not get enough time to stimulate their minds.
Fifthly, that no reason can be given why these evils should not produce the same terrible effects here, as in England, where their full results are developed. Fifth, these bad effects have already been seen in England. There is no reason to believe they will not happen here.
Sixth, that as the British Parliament, from motives of humanity and public policy have been compelled to interfere in behalf of the operatives, prudence and mercy call upon our legislators to do like wise. Sixth, the English government has already put a law in place to limit working hours and make lives better. Our state government should do the same.
Seventh, that the example of this State would be followed at once throughout New England. Seventh, if Massachusetts protects its workers, all other states in New England will too.
—A Committee of Factory Girls

“The Hours in Lowell,” Voice of Industry, June 26, 1845. IndustrialRevolution.org 

Background

The women who worked in the Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mills were aware that they were at the forefront of a radical change in U.S. society and culture. For the first time in American history, employers were inviting women to live away from their families and work outside the home for wages. The women mill workers were living a life of autonomy that was unprecedented for women in U.S. history.

But life as a textile mill worker was not easy. They were expected to work 11-to-13-hour days for half the pay that men received. They were held to a high standard of conduct at all times. They also had to pay their employers a significant percentage of their wages for room and board.

By the 1830s, the women factory workers in Lowell were coming together to demand better wages and working conditions. They held their first strike in 1836. Their protests laid the foundation for the larger labor movement that would sweep the U.S. in the second half of the 1800s.

About the Document

These two articles were both written by women working in the Lowell mills in 1845. But they represent very different perspectives on life as a woman factory worker. “The Hours in Lowell” was published in the worker-run newspaper The Voices of Industry. It gives a scathing summary of the working conditions in the Lowell mills. “A Week in the Mill” was published in The Lowell Offering, a publication sponsored by the mill owners of Lowell. It offers a much cheerier perspective on the daily life of a mill worker.

Vocabulary

  • mill: Factory.
  • textile: Cloth.

Discussion Questions

  • How do these two authors feel about their life as mill workers? What evidence to they offer to support their opinions?
  • These two articles were published in the same year. Why do you think they offer such different perspectives on mill workers’ experiences?
  • Why is it important to examine multiple sources when studying the past?

Suggested Activities

Themes

ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Source Notes

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