LESSON 4: DEMANDING CHANGE
Learning Goal: We are learning about the biggest issues with factories and the ways that they - and other social problems - were addressed by social leaders.
Action Item:
Mary S. Paul, born 1829 in Vermont, left home at age 15 for a job as a domestic servant. Next, she spent four years working in the Lowell, Massachusetts textile mills. Her letters to her father detail her life as a “Lowell Mill Girl”, including buying her own shoes and paying the boardinghouse fees from her wages. Her letters also provide a window into the awful working conditions in factories. Women were faced with dangerous and exhausting conditions, long hours, and low wages. It is clear to see from Mary Paul’s letters why women at Lowell organized turn-outs and petitions to get better treatment from their managers.
As you read the letters below, consider what you would do in Mary Paul’s shoes. What would you do to try to inspire change?
http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/industry/MSPaulLetters.htm
As you read the letters below, consider what you would do in Mary Paul’s shoes. What would you do to try to inspire change?
http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/industry/MSPaulLetters.htm
21 Dec. 1845
Dear Father,
I received your letter on Thursday the 14th with much pleasure. I am well which one comfort is. My life and health are spared while others are cut off. Last Thursday one girl fell down and broke her neck, which caused instant death. She was going in or coming out of the mill and fell down it being very icy. Last Tuesday we were paid. In all I had six dollars and sixty cents paid $4.68 for board. With the rest I got me a pair of rubbers and a pair of 50.cts shoes. Perhaps you would like something about our regulations about going in and coming out of the mill. At half past six [the bell] rings for the girls to get up and at seven they are called to the mill. At half past 12 we have dinner are called back again at one and stay till half past seven. I get along very well with my work. I can doff as fast as any girl in our room. If any girl wants employment I advise them to come to Lowell.
This from,
Mary S. Paul
5 Nov. 1848
Dear Father,
Doubtless you have been looking for a letter from me all week. I would have written but wished to find whether I would be able to stand it—the work I am now doing. It is very hard indeed and sometimes I think I shall not be able to endure it. I never worked so hard in my life but perhaps I shall get used to it. I suppose you have heard before this month that the wages are to be reduced on the 20th of this month. It is true there seems to be a good deal of excitement on this subject but I cannot tell what will be the consequence. The companies pretend they are losing immense sums every day and therefore are obliged to lessen the wages, but this seems perfectly absurd to me for they are constantly making repairs and it seems to me this would not be if there were really any danger of their being obliged to stop the mills. I expect to be paid about two dollars a week but it will be dearly earned.
This from,
Mary S. Paul
Dear Father,
I received your letter on Thursday the 14th with much pleasure. I am well which one comfort is. My life and health are spared while others are cut off. Last Thursday one girl fell down and broke her neck, which caused instant death. She was going in or coming out of the mill and fell down it being very icy. Last Tuesday we were paid. In all I had six dollars and sixty cents paid $4.68 for board. With the rest I got me a pair of rubbers and a pair of 50.cts shoes. Perhaps you would like something about our regulations about going in and coming out of the mill. At half past six [the bell] rings for the girls to get up and at seven they are called to the mill. At half past 12 we have dinner are called back again at one and stay till half past seven. I get along very well with my work. I can doff as fast as any girl in our room. If any girl wants employment I advise them to come to Lowell.
This from,
Mary S. Paul
5 Nov. 1848
Dear Father,
Doubtless you have been looking for a letter from me all week. I would have written but wished to find whether I would be able to stand it—the work I am now doing. It is very hard indeed and sometimes I think I shall not be able to endure it. I never worked so hard in my life but perhaps I shall get used to it. I suppose you have heard before this month that the wages are to be reduced on the 20th of this month. It is true there seems to be a good deal of excitement on this subject but I cannot tell what will be the consequence. The companies pretend they are losing immense sums every day and therefore are obliged to lessen the wages, but this seems perfectly absurd to me for they are constantly making repairs and it seems to me this would not be if there were really any danger of their being obliged to stop the mills. I expect to be paid about two dollars a week but it will be dearly earned.
This from,
Mary S. Paul
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