The sun., 1886-12-23
FACTORY GIRLS.
How Their Health and Beauty Are Ruined
by Lives Of Toll.


IChcago later Oceanl
Several newsp apers Of New England
have been giving some space of late to dis
cussion OF t1e appearances and character
istics u ths factory girls who constitute
such largo element of the population OF
that part Of the country. In the New Eu-
gland States nearly sixteen thousand
young girls, between the ages OF ton and
fifteen, are employed in the various manu-
facturing indu 'tries and nearly two hun
dred thousand un Ter twenty arc thus en-
l.ioyel. The effect OF taking such large
number Of girls away from home life aud
its softsaiag in nhueaees can not but be felt
ia the c c,mn.uaity. These girls work from
sevon O'Clock i'll the movning till six O'Clock
in the evening. Their work is not heavy,
bu. it is n,oncsonoas and wearying. Their
wages range from forty cents a day.up.
ward, 81 woInau's average wages III the
factory being shout S1.50 per day. AS
rule these girls prefer to work in tho fac
tories rather than to attend school.
Ii g;vsn an opportunity to receive
an education they do not wish to
take it, Partly because their parents are
generally anxious to secure the help OF
their wages, and partly from the influence
Of older girls they are eager to Join tho
ranks Of the money -getters and will sacri-
acs education, comfort and health to this
end. Their moral condition may not be
all that xhsuld be desired, but it is better
than might be expected considering the
lax influences that surround them. Gen.
orally, their behavior in the factories Is
propris, Y ITSELF but in the evening, when
they are set fire., from the thraldom of
labor, they are apt TO indulge in romping
demonstrations aud noisy talk aud laugh
ter.
The picture of childhood repressed by
this life of toll is vary sal. One observer
says: You look in vaia for the peach
like ches., the pretty smile, tho proud
step; You fin l instead Il yollow-white face,
tain AMI expressionless, unless the VOL
knit eyeb. ows signify tEas they regret the
circumstances which compel them to throw
away ihe best of their lives behind the
stone walls of tse mill. II, percEanca,
some little miss Of twelve, whose acquaint-
ance with fnctcry life is short, bubbles
forth with laughter, her childish nlerii-
ment only makes the soserness Of her
elders more grim and pi:itn2 1t is not M
common to seq tae girl who entered The
factory the year before with straight,
pretty form. join the proce ssion OF round
shouiderel lasses a'tes a twelve months
hard work in tie factory"
Concerning the effect of factory life up
on the health OF those wrO engage i'll it i'll
their early youth, the Bostoa HraiI says:
The appaiiing fact conn u sed with this k nd
Of existence is found II nla vital statistics
attending it. The avera 30 life Of the factory
girls is but thirty years. Sona OF those
who marry live to be forty or forty-fivo
years oid-seldo,n more than that. The
physical condition til it tho mill has pro-
duced In them units them for matrimony.
1t is only a question OF how much it has
impaired thoir health in deciding whether
they are to live up to the critical ege of
woman or to fall by tho way. The vast ma
jority of them come 1nrshort of ofit-nonego
realization Of the Hoioch that our factory
system is ia its effects upon women en-
gagged in it. We rea]iza material wealth
by it, and at fearful cost. Civilization ad.
vences over the corIses OF tn ose who con-
tribute to its progreis; but as they drop
out in the procession, scores of others step
in to fill their places. With all the deadly
deterioration Of physical vigor that the
factory produces, it is favored among the
more intelligent women over healthy
household service. and this not by those of
American birth alone. The majority of
the mill-girls are Fl snch or Of French ex-
traction, viii the Irish are largely rep
resented in their ranks