By Anahita
In 1823, the first Lowell textile mills opened, offering work for young women. Many maidens accepted this job and worked with machines and made sure everything was running smoothly. But was it truly an opportunity or adversity? In my perspective, I believe that working in a mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, was adversity for the reasons that the maidens would miss home, have to toil around the clock, and handle dangerous machinery.
One reason I believe that working in a Lowell mill was an adversity is because they would miss home, friends, and family. In “Technology and the Lowell Mill Girls,” it tells me that most of the women that were employed were either immigrants from Europe or from farming towns. That means that they must have had to leave home to find a job, leaving friends and family behind.
“A Mill Picture” is a poem that informs us about an old woman who had left home many years ago to work in Lowell and shares her personal experience, such as longing for friends who are no more or wanting the smell of the fresh prairie air back home. According to “A Mill Picture,” “Does she think about fair Killarney?” This tells me that the old woman described in the poem thinks about her origin in Killarney and misses home dearly, even after all those years.
Another reason why I believe that working in a Lowell mill was an adversity is that the women had to work day and night, or for how long the superintendent wanted them to work. “When I Set Out For Lowell…” is a poem that tells us about a girl working in the Lowell mills and how she wants to go back home. Based on “When I Set Out For Lowell…,” “And summoned by the bell.”
This tells us that workers were called by the manager every day to start work and stopped by the manager to finish working, no matter what time it was, whether it was at the dead of night or the crack of dawn.
My last reason why I believe that working in a Lowell mill was an adversity is that the workers had to handle dangerous machinery. The machines could cause injury or demise and would take a while to operate. They would wake up at 5:00 a.m. and go to bed at 10:00 p.m.
As mentioned in “Technology and the Lowell Mill Girls,” “In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the invention of new machines launched the first wave of the Industrial Revolution.” This means that during the time women worked in Lowell mills, most of the handwork was replaced with machines like power looms and spinning jennies.
