Something in the Way She Works

The Lowell Mills had a certain attraction that allowed them their success -- always full of young women ready to work. Why mill work? First and most importantly, with this job the girls could do something to help their families financially. Most families during the time of the Lowell Experiment, in the early 1800s were struggling, and would benefit from an extra paycheck. In the documentary shown in class, Daughters of Free Men, Lucy was a farm girl whose father was having trouble admitting he needed his daughter to help him financially. Along with the excitement of paid work, girls like Lucy were drawn to Lowell because it appealed to their sense of adventure. Never before had Lucy been much farther in the world than the extent of her father’s property, but here was a chance for her to explore a new and promising city. Plus, the deal between the factories and the families was that the work was temporary, there was another kind of freedom present: the worker could leave to marry at any time.

Lowell was not all sunshine as it was presented to the families though, like with every big decision, there were downsides to choosing to work at the Lowell Mills. The hushed con about factory work in Lowell was the danger. It was easy to get sick, and hard to recover from illness in the closed in working conditions and tight schedule. Deaths, also, were not uncommon, whether it was from slipping on ice in the winter or being caught in one of the multitude of fast moving machines.

As if working and average of thirteen hours a day and worrying about safety was not enough for these young girls there was society to deal with, a society that did not know how to cope with women as workers. In 19^th century America’s eyes, young, unmarried girls going to work in a factory in a large town under the watch of an unmarried man was very near scandalous and considered a great impropriety. Going to work for the mills, a woman would no longer be seen as pure by the town she lived in. However, when the girls started standing up for things they believed in, they did have outside support. The peaceful protests they held against wage cuts at the factory were met with both the support of some and the anger of others. In the end, the girls got their higher pay and went back to work, which seems like a perfect example of good old fashioned girl power.