One Year Later
It's hard to believe, but you have been in Lowell for almost a whole year. Now you are the one training new girls. This keeps you busy, but you like doing it. You remember how hard it was when you first came to Lowell. All year long, you have sent most of your earnings home. You spend your free time on church efforts to improve the schools and help the poor.
The city continues to grow rapidly. Important people from all over come to see the "wonders" of Lowell. Not everyone is happy with the working conditions, mills built 15 years ago have poor ventilation and many workers have nasty colds and bad coughs. Even you, who are used to the work, have been getting headaches from the heat and humidity.
More and more immigrants arrive every day. The Irish girls have it the hardest. They are weak and thin from the Potato Famine in Ireland. Your new friend Mary Catherine O'Reilly tells you about it, and you are horrified to hear what they have been through.
In order to save money and help some of her relatives come to America, Mary Catherine lives with other Irish immigrants in small, overcrowded rooms. The low ceilings and dirt floors make you sick when you stop by for a visit. It is no wonder so many of these girls are tired all the time. You worry that they might not "take care" and get a finger caught in the loom or be even more seriously injured.
You want to make Lowell and the cotton mills better, but you are not sure of the best way to go about it.
Your next choice is:
- Spend your evenings at the Lowell City
Hospital, helping provide food and medical care for the Irish immigrants,
especially the children.
- Join the Factory Girls Association and work for change by organizing and attending rallies, writing letters to newspapers, and collecting signatures on petitions to the state legislature demanding a ten-hour day for factory workers.
Need some advice?
- Letter from Sarah Bagley, Editor of the Voice of Industry.
- Get some advice from you friend Jonathan.
Copyright ©2003 Tsongas Industrial History Center, 400 Foot of John St., Lowell, MA 01852. E-Contact: Ellen_Anstey@uml.edu.