HARRIET HANSON ROBINSON, LOWELL MILL GIRLS.
Harriet Robinson was part of the factory girls in the Lowell cotton factory mill. Lowell was a factory village, which had five corporations being started. Factory girls were few at the time of opening, and the word went around that factory girl were needed. Those who turned up were of the middle age. Few were of below ten years, while the majority were of age between 16 and 20 years. There significant unemployment among women. Great injustices were done to the girls, in the eyes of the overseer. When the overseer was kind, they were allowed to read, knit, or even go outside the mill yard to play. They were paid two dollars a week. Their working hours run from five o’clock in the morning to seven in the evening, with half an hour, which was used for breakfast and dinner. After so many years of working, there was a law that was passed, which could see them working only ten hours a day. There were mill girls who had their homes, and they could only work for ten months in a year. The rest of the time, they could spend with their parents or friends. Some of them could teach in schools during the summer period. Their life in the factory was pleasant.
Mill girls had to work to secure mean s of education for the male gender of their family, friends, sons, or their brother. They strive to make a gentleman in the male gender. They did so to see them get the education that will allow them to enter into some profession. There are men now that are living that were helped to get education by the wages of the mill girls.
Jobs at Lowell enabled women to educate their sons, brothers, and even their male friends. They let the mill girls save their money, which they could use to buy food and gather for the needs of the family. During their free time, they could go teaching, and they were able to fight for their rights.
Orestes Brownson criticizes the Lowell mill as a firm that does not look at the welfare of the mill girls. That the mill does not cherish the virtue of independence, they are voluntarily assumed; and we are at liberty to withdraw from them whenever they become annoying or tiresome. He sees the mill girls as characters of the class. Now the factory labor is higher than those of domestic, tailors, and even school teachers. Yankee girls have too much independence because of him. He worthy and virtuous girls were working in the factory.
The positive side of the job is that they could get two dollars per week, which they could use for their personal needs, such as paying their loved school fees. They also had time for breaks, which they could use, for side hustle as teachers. The negative side is that they were being overworked and given minimum break time. They had to work more ten hours a day, which is very unhealthy.
For me working at the Lowell mills could have been a bit difficult, but I could survive. This is because before working on a firm, you must have a goal to achieve. So it’s worth the sacrifice and time working at the Lowell company. This because, as time goes by, the condition changed, and they benefited.