The Red Cloud chief., 1889-01-25
EIGHTY A Ago.
The Social Position Of the O'.l-Time Ncw
RnRlAod MIL Girl

n. ctS6ty 6AnS %6O.
The Social Position Of the O,d-Time Nev
EsgiAnd Mni Girl.
When. at the beginning % the cen
fury. the cotton business arose. il af
fOrded the girls of New England tn,
first opportunity o find occupation out
side their homes sufficiently inportan'
to afYec; the destiny OF any large mum
Der OF them. They rushed into the new
opening. not dreaming that they were
precipitating their sex into the mael.
strOm OF modern industry. OF that they
j were merely the advance guard of q
great army OF female workers. whose
Instantaneous attitude towards eco
nOmic forces is one OF the most fruitful
sources OF suffering in our social body.
1t was not the stupid girls who. in that
early day. broke away from the monot-
Ony OF farm life. Orthe still worse help
lessness Of existence with parents too
poor to be FARMERS. 1t wa the bright,
eager young women. who went tn tho
mills To earn money. and free them
selves from the .emi.servitude engen-
dered by dependence on relatives.
Tho story has often been told Of
the Lowell factory girls who pub
lished a paper. and in time set
tied To no meaner %ayocation than that
OF author or social rcformcr. There
are legions also Of a generation Of
Yankee mill girls who sent to Preston
;. Brooks the suggestive tribute OF
thirty pieces OF silver. after his a,sanl:
upon Charles Sumner. BIZ, the ca
recrs concerning which these stories
are related belong % a late period ia
the history Of the Americans connec-
ton with the manual part of cotton
manufacture. and some of them wero
exceptionally striking. Still, such in.
c!dents indicate something which it
IS important To understand. and
that is that the nice girls of New
England for many years became mill
operatives. or course | do not mean
that such labor was ever aristocratic,
but that it possessed a certain social
sanction which it does not now COM
mand. A consideration Of the average
fortunes of the native help leads ~ tho
same conclusion. The mill girl had
worldly superiOrs then as the dress
maker. the typewriter. the telegraph
the common school teacher,
has now. but she was from exactly the
same stock. and was herself Just the
same sort OF girl. as are the ones who !
now follow these different vocations.
She maintained her dignity while in
the mill. and il she left it before She
grew Old it was because she wanted To
it-usually because SOM. man
wanted TO marry her. Her
marriage was generally sensible. and
brilliant. In studying
the traditions OF the whole period,
me finds occasional hints Of that
which attaches To all history,
rs amid the hOmcly details one catches
low and then a glimpse of ideal beauty.
comes upon the trace. OF some girl
chose loneliness attracted II fate quite
from that Of her village COM
AIDES. II is happily due TO the purity
II New England ethics that this fate is
more often found 10 be joyful than sad.
suppose it would be- impossible 10
'btain statistics which would tell us
much either OF the life OF the Aneri-
ans who were operatives. or Of the
fter fate of their descendants. Blu,
very person who has been long 4;
with the native residents in
he older manufacturing. towns is
~ecessarily acquainted with many ,
amily histories. which reveal the .,- :
entail features OF that former time. q
hen factories were small. and owners I
workers We're often not only :
eighbOrs. but friends. They were all
TO the ancient New England
illagc tradition Of substantial equality. /
hey we're Of one blood. they held to
ne religion. and called each other u
cry generally by their Christian I
ames. ''Of that early time" writes "a o
'dy now more than eighty years old. il
] have many r~ecOllections. when the b
lie Of Mr.. 8 met the wives Of h
not only in her church work O
: at prayer meetings. hut in social I,
luality."-Lillic T. Chase Wymau, ~
Atlantic. a