William Booth, Henry Mayhew And Jeanne Bouvier

Have you ever wondered what it's like to work in a factory? Imagine dust, lint, smoke, and noise all in one crowded room. This is what Lyddie Worthen in the book, Lyddie, by Katherine Paterson has to face. Lyddie has faced many hardships when working in the factory. Lyddie is a young girl who is sent off to work to pay the debts for her family. Lyddie was fired from her first job and went to Lowell, Massachusetts to be a factory girl. When working, there are poor working conditions. Other workers have started a petition to improve the working conditions. Lyddie should not sign the petition because she is mentally strong and is getting paid well.

Many people lived in small, run-down apartments in cities called tenements. Like the cities, these tenements were also overcrowded, with some homes showing “six children on a single fire escape” (Document 6). With long work hours, many families were unable to come home and see their children; they were essentially separated. Some even described themselves as “a stranger am I to my child; and he one to me” (Document 2) due to the family separation. Another horrid living condition within the cities was pollution. With coal being the main source of power, especially in factories, it could create pollution (Document 3). The pollution could eventually cause breathing problems for the people within the cities, making the living conditions even worse. Even the “fast travel of railroad” (Document 5) could contribute to pollution, since it also ran on coal. Like the machines in the factories, it could create pollution as well since the coal could release potential toxins into the air, worsening living conditions even

Throughout the beginning of her speech, Kelley makes use of disturbing anecdotes that appeal to women's emotions. She first illustrates that while they “sleep, several thousand little girls” are “working in textile mills” throughout the night. This use of little girls working highlights that children all around the United States are not sleeping but are operating machines: making clothes for the adults to purchase. She incorporates this factor in order to encourage the concerned mothers to help alter labor laws so that their children are not working twelve-hour shifts. Kelley continues to describe how little girls of “six or seven years,” who are “just tall enough to reach” the machines, will be working eleven hours a day. Kelley’s use of the children's height emphasizes how as soon as children reach a certain height, they are being deprived of their childhood and sent to work in the factories. She continues to repeat the phrase that “while [they] sleep” little girls and boys “will be working” in the mills. Kelley’s continual use of this phrase evokes sympathy in the women so they can help change the lives of children by amending the harsh child labor laws.

Girls as young as 10 years old start working 13-14 hours a day for 6 days at the Lowell mill. The book “Lyddie” by Katherine Patterson conveys the struggles girls faced in the 1800s because of the working condition in the Lowell. The book revolves around the world of a 13 year old girl who is separated from her family so she can pay the debts and save their farm. Some people say Lyddie should not sign the petition because she needs to earn money for her family. Lyddie should sign the petition because the environment at the mill is not healthy nor is it safe and the corporation makes workers work hard for very less pay and wears them out.

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

These quotes show how these young girls were paid by the minimum for long hours of work in dusty disgusting factories and how they were affected by it

Women working men’s jobs were not as welcomed in society as they were in factories. People held on to the belief that women should be house wives and not have to do much in the way of work. The man should provide for the family, and the women should take care of the family. Many of the women who worked were lower class and had to help provide for their families, or were the only providers for their families. Women who worked men’s jobs were looked down upon and thought to be no better than dirt. Although women working in factories were still women, men did not show them the same respect as they did a woman working as a secretary or teacher.

The spread of industrialization rapidly altered and changed the city of Manchester during the nineteenth century. Of course there were positive effects that stemmed from this, but negative effects due to the growth of industrialization outnumbered the positive outcomes and are often overshadowed. The environmental hazards and the working conditions of the factory were enough to harm laborers and the gentry (documents 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 11), dulling the positive

During the industrial revolution in Britain, the usage of child labourers dramatically increased as it became a cheap and easy form of labour. This lead to the continued abuse of many children in textile factories. In 1833, the Factory Act of 1833 was put forth which dictated that no children under the age of nine would work. Children ages nine to thirteen wouldn’t work more than nine hours a day and children ages thirteen to eighteen wouldn’t work more than twelve hours a day. In addition it introduced the circulation of four factory inspectors who were to enforce the new legislation. They were to certify whether children had received their compulsory education of two hours each day and report conditions to the government. This act brought forth attention and sparked debates from the public which made stronger note of the working conditions for children.

“C: What time did you begin work at the factory? B: When I was six years old” (Testimony on Child Labor in Britain) Children started doing strenuous work at such young ages. Children would often be mentally or physically tormented in life because

“Tis night when I am free; A stranger am I to my child; And he one to me” (Document 2). This poem is about a mother (most likely) talking about her son. The fact that families were working such long hours, that they were strangers to each other is heartbreaking; employers should have been giving everyone a work period that wasn’t too long during the day, from sun-up to sun-down. “As countries industrialized, they also urbanized. This was a result of people moving in large numbers in order to gain factory jobs” (Document 6). Usually the tenements were extremely compact and cramped apartment-like. Employers must have had some sort of idea about how bad the living conditions were, but they still decided not to pay more to the employees, not caring how good or bad their living conditions were. “C: What time did you begin work at the factory? B: When I was six years old” (Document 7). This is an example of poor employers, because they were willing to send children into hard laborious work. At that age, they should have been trying to get a good education, not working. Employers giving jobs to little kids also caused children to eventually become deformed, “C: Did your deformity come upon you with much pain and weariness? B: Yes, I cannot express the pain all the time it was coming” (Document 7). The factory owners should have noticed this in small children, and decided to lay them off. Considering most employers didn’t

Using descriptive language, she writes “several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills, all the night through, in the deafening noise of the spindles and the loons spinning and weaving cotton and wool, silks and ribbons for us to buy”(ln.18-22). Adding a visual image into the audience’s minds, Kelley shows how the children in labor are forced into harsh conditions to survive because of the lack of child labor laws. In addition, she describes “a little girl, on her thirteenth birthday, could start away from her home at half past five in the afternoon, carrying her pail of midnight luncheon…”(ln.48-50). Using this description, Kelley indicates that children should not be working late into the night which evokes the feeling of sympathy from the audience. With these examples, Kelley calls forth the feeling of pity and guilt from the audience when they learn that they are allowing children to force themselves into harsh

Women and children were able to join the work force, but for little pay and long hours. Many were face with poor work conditions, hazardous health issues and short lunch breaks. The economic success was often left unchecked by authorities, who were not ready to deal with the consequences of these uncharted waters.

During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young

Child labor, racism, abuse of power, injustice. Poor and colored people were not treated as a human being should be. They were treated like a trash. The unfortunates were not considered human being so were the working girls. “It is a known fact that men’s wages cannot fall below a limit upon which they exist, but woman’s wage has no limit” Riis shows that was and still impossible for anyone not only woman to live with a low salary. Throughout the chapter fifteen, many girls still in their teens would lie their age to