The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-10-17
LETTER TO J. CLEMENS FROM A FACTORY
OPERATIVE.
STARR Mills, MANCHESTER, n. H.,

STARK Mills, MANCHESTER, n. H.,
February II, 1850.
SIR The interrogatories contained in your
famous letter, addressed TO l.. S. Wallingford Of
Dover. in this State respecting the condition of
the factory operatives at the North, or Slaves"
as you in the ardor of your gallant patriotism are
pleased 10 call them, have been fully and fairly
answered through the medium of the public Jour
nails. That these several answers to your inter
rogatories contain something more to your pur
pose than unmeaniug euogies upon the moral
and intellectual culture of our laborers is fact
which we trust you will have the frankness TO
acknowledge
If, sir. you are not blinded by the influence of
deeprooted prejudice, or infatuated by the i'm
pulse of n morbid ambition, matured and brought
into action by a misguided zeal in your efforts to
bolster up and perpetuate the accursed system Of
Southern slavery at the expense of all that is
cred and hallowed in the name of liberty, you
cannot but discover that the legitimate tendency
of your interrogatories and the answers resulting
from them has been TO render your position pc
culiarly unfortunate one in the estimation of an
enlightened pubic-a position which must be as
Notifying to your constituents, it is dishonor-
able to yourself, as the representative of free
people in the higher branch Of our National
Legislature
Had the shafts of your bitter contumely been
hurled at those of your own sex, in your igno-
rance of their true condition, you might be led
to suppose occupied the degrading position of
slaves there would have been for you some
plausible excuse-some apparent ground of justi-
fcation for the extravagant and unqualified as
sertions involved in your invidious comparison of
the condition of the factory operatives of the
North with the black slavery of the South.
But let me remind you, sir, of the fact that Of
those day laborers" to whom you allude as a
class as being subjected TO "horrid tyranny,
compared with which the Southern slave is happy
indeed" seven-tenths of them are females-New
England females-educated from early childhood
in the school of liberty and having learned the les
sons, and imbibed all the principles of just
equality, they acknowledged no man as "task-
master" Possessing all the elements Of lauda-
bic independence, they scorn the tyrant, and des
pise slavery in all its horrid and complicated
forms AZ being the "Upas of the moral world,
under whose pestiferous shade all intel.
lect languishes and all virtue diesn You say,
sir, you allude to the Northern laborers in "A
spirit of commiseration, and that you meant moth
ing harsh or unkind TO them. We thank you
kindly, sir for this exercise Of your generous
sympathy, not your influence in allevating our
| condition. We are the arbiters of our own for
tunes our time is our own, and what we acquire
by honest industry claim, sna-feel perfectly
happy and contented in the sphere in which an
all-wise and gracious Providence has called us to
move and act.
Rather let your c0mmseration be lavishcd on
those poor, unfortunate, down-trodden beings
which make up part of your constituency, and
who are now whitening and grooming under the
lash of cruel and relentless task masters. III your
commseration for us has resulted in tears, let
them flow in n channel broad and deep the base
of the altar Of slavery, until they shall form n
mighty cataract, effectualy undermining the dis
graceful fabric reared in blood and tears, and
baptized with the immolaton of human victims
Were We in fact, the poor, miserable degraded
beings which your deuded fancy has pictured us
to be, and which your fervid Imagination leads
you to believe are, we might well deserve your
sympathy. II, sir, in point Of native talent, edu
cation, moral virtue, integrity of purpose, refine
ment of sentiment, to say nothing of personal at
fractions If in all that serves 10 constitute the
sum total Of female accomplishments, the female
operative in New England will not bear a COM
parison with your wives and daughters of the
South and West, then most assuredly we have
not yet been 80 fortunate as to behold specimen
of your first quality; yet, we have seen Southern
ladies whose pretensions would lead us to believe
that they were richly entitled to all the claims of
superiority.
For seven years in succession, have been an |
operative in the Stark Mills Cloth Room. Dur |
ing this period three Of my most intimate friends
and companions, operatives in the mills, have, by
a prudent husbandry Of their time, and the i'm
provement Of their leisure hours, acquired an ed |
ucation competent to their becoming teachers in |
any of our high schools, and are now reapng the
reward of our laudabe efforts in the cultivation
of their minds in the capacity of governesses and
teachers in private families in Southern cities
Nor would we have You regard these as solitary
instances OF sef-educated females employed in
our mills hundreds 20 from our manufacturing |
villages yearly to the South and West, M teach
ers, and are encouraged so to do by Christians
and phanthropsts NJ being preG minent, not for
their beauty alone, for this dwells only In the |
lustre of we'll cultivated mind, but for their
moral, religious, and scientific nttainments You
will be ready, sir, think, to admit that my ex-
perience ne an operative, In the department IN |
which am engaged, must, in a measure at least
qualify me to judge with some degree Of correct
ness ~ to the moral and physical condition OF the
operatives in our mills; and having become tho
roughly acquainted with factory life In all its |
various phases you will allow me, in candor TO |
state, that, 80 far rs ] am qualified to judge, in |
point of general intelligence, and in all that per-
tains TO moral virtue and cheerfulness Of dispo- |
stion q class, they would not suffer in COMPARE
son with any other class OF men and women
within the circumference or the world. Ana that
| may be sustained in my assertions, you have
only to visit our mills. Go into any or all Of the
different apartments Of labor in the mills and
you will not only be greeted with bright eyes and
smiling faces, but you will observe that neatness,
order, and the utmost circumspection prevail and
my word for it, sir, your ears will not be panied
with words Of elimination and recrimnat nor
with loud and bosterous faulifnding; but on the
you will find the utmost courtesy mu-
tual good feeling, and scrupulous regard for
each others interests, universally prevailing.
Should you visit Us, you will find us basily en-
gagged In our usual avocations, nor do we wish 10
disguise the fact, that we are the sons and
daughters of TOLL nor do We from the fact that
we are such, require your sympathy We have
been educated from infancy ia the habits Of In
dustry, and thus we have learned to discover in
honest labor, free labor, IL You like the term bet
ter dignity which, In our view, makes even toll
itself an intrinsic virtue. II may literally be said
Of us that Eve earn our bread by the sweat Of our
brow" but sir, this renders II not the less paata-
BILE And, ms you have pertincntly asked the ques-
ton, "whst Is the kind and quality Of food we
consume we answered simply that we did not
live on bread alone" and living in the enjoyment
Of excellent health, good conscience, and keen
appetite, we leave you to draw your own inference
In respect 10 the quantity we-should be likely to
consume. There are various sources, too, from
which we derive nutriment for the mind as well
as the body. We are constant In our attendance