Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-03-11
EIGHTY YEARS AGO.
Tho Social Position of the Old Time New
England Mil Girl.

Tho Social Position OF the old Time New
M England MIL Girl.
When. at the beginning OF the con-
tury. the cotton business arose, II af-
Hordid the girl, OF New England the
filst opportunity to find occupation out
\ sido their homes sufficiently important
10 affect the destiny Of any largo num-
lnr OF them. They rushed into the new
oDoning. not dreaming that they were
3recIpltating their sex into the mael-
from OF modern industry. or that they
uere merely the advance guard OF n
great army OF female workers, whose
disadyantngeous attitude towards eco
homie forces Is one OF the mo 4 iruitful
sources OF suffering in our social body.
II was not the stupid girls who, in that
early day, broke away from tho monot-
ony OF farm life. or the still worse help
iessness of existence with parents too
poor to be farmers. II was the bright,
eager young women. who went TO tho
mills 10 earn money, and frce them
selves from the semi-servitude engen-
dered by dependence on relatives.
The story has often been told OF
the Lowell factory girls who pub
lished u paper, and In time set
tied to no meaucr avocation than that
OF author or social rcformer. There
are legions also OF generation oil
Yankee mill girls who sent to Preston
5. Brooks the suggestive tribute OF
thirty pieces Of silver. after his assault
upon Charles Sumner Bat the Gu
reers concerning which these storiee
arc related belong to late period In
the history OF the Americans cOnnec-
tion with the manual part of cotton
manufacture, and some OF them wero
exceptionally striking Still, such In.
cidents indicate something which 1t
is important TO understand, and
that is that the nice girls Of New
England for many years became mill
operatives. OF course do not moan
that such labor was ever aristocratic.
but that It possessed certain social
sanction which It does not now COM
mand. A consideration OF the average
fortunes OF the native help leads TO tho
same conclusion. The mill girl had
worldly superiors then rs tho dress
maker, the typewriter, the telegraph
operator, tho commoa school teacher,
has now, but she was from exactly the
same stock. and was herself just the
same sort of girl, as Gre the ones who
now follow these different vocations.
She maintained her dignity while in
the mill, and II she left 1t before sho
grew old 1t was because she wanted to
leave it-usunlly because some man
wisely wanted to marry her. Her
marriage was generally sensible, and
sometimes brilliant. In studying
the traditions OF tho whole period,
one finds occasional hints OF that
romance which attaches TO all history,
as amid the homely details one catches
: now and then glimpse Of ideal beauty,
and comes upon the trace OF some girl
whose loveliness attracted a fate quite
different from that OF her village com
rades. 1t is happily due to the purity
OF New England ethics that this fate is
more often found to be joyful than sad.
suppose 1t would be impossible to
obtain statistics which would tell lis
much either OF the life OF tho Ameri.
cans who were operatives, or OF the
after fate OF their descendants. Blu,
every person who has been long
familiar with the native residents In
the older manufacturing towns is
necessarily acquainted with many
family histories, which reveal the es-
sential features OF that former time,
whom factories were small, and owners
and workers were often not only
neighbors, but friends. They were all
subjected to the ancient New England
village tradition OF substantial equality.
They were of one blDol, they held TO
one religion, and called each other
very generally by their Christian
Lamos. "Of that early time" writos
lady now more than eighty years old.
II huvc many rcco,lections, when the
wife OF MIR. s. met tho wives oil
oysrseors not only In her church work
or at prayer meetings, but in social
equallty. ."-Lillio> B. Chna Wyman,
IN Atlantic.
-N.1t-'enlA3 Of tho telcgraphic er.
rors ~, 's f.bLted to poor handwriting.