The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-16

Loom and Spindle, by Harriet r.,
Robinson, with introduction by Car
roll D. Wright 16mo, cloth, gilt top,
s125. T. Y. Crowell & Co.
Mrs. Shattuc5 has made an interest
ing contribution to the history Of the
economic and social conditions of the
country A considerable photography on
the subject of the Lowell mill girl and
the Lowell Offering already existed, and
the facts concerning this remarkable
intellectual andsocial phenomenon have
long since been patiently collected
from the survivors, but there is all
ways room, in the consideration of any
economic situation or experiment, for
such intimately personal light as that
which the author of this book is en-
abed to throw upon the entrance Of
women into the industrial field
Mrs. Shattuck was a mill girl In
lowell in the days when Lucy and En-
neline Larcom, Sarah Shedd, Eliza
lane Cate, the sculptor; Margaret
Foley, Harriet Farley Cater Mrs. Dun
levy). Harriet T. Curtis and Mrs. Betsy
Chamberlain gave character to the
early factory days in New England
producing conditions unique in the his
tory of industrialism. Her maiden name
was Harriet ]. Hanson She married
William S. Robinson, the journalist and
parliamentarian, who as Warrington
became well known as the war cores
pondent Of the Springfield Republican
the New York Tribune, the New York
Evening Post and other newspapers
She is the mother of Mrs. Harriette r.
Shattuck, the prominent club woman
and parliamentary authority
Loom and Spindle"is chiefly a collec-
lion of "reminiscences to which is add
ed a number of biographical sketches
of the chief contributors tG the Offer
Ing and an appreciative Introduction by
Hon. Carroll d. Wright of the bureau
of statistics, Washington. j. c. Read
ing it, sAne cannot but be astonished
anew at the social and industrial con-
ditions, as well as the intellectual ac-
tivities of the young American woman
Of fifty or sixty years ago. But it must
be remembered that the period which
saw this remarkable eflorescence. was
the period before foreign immigration
had become a factor in the national
lifea the period which saw the birth Of
q majority of the major writers and
thinkers of America-Bnerson Bry-
ant, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, Tho
reau-when, as Emerson said, the chill
dren of New England We're born with
KNIVES in their brains" fy
From 1880 to 1910 the bright, educa-
ted, ambitious American girl could find
no more attractive employment than to
become a worker in the mills of Lowell
3 where at a wage of from Sc to $40 for
week Of IA hours labor per day, with
kl25 a week out for board, she
led a life of regular, moderate toll sur
rounded by comfortable, clean, woman
ly conditions; in her leisure listened to
IN fa,-f
Bloomerism, the Mexican war, and the
Brook Farm experiment; took part in
the Harrison Tyler campaign, expert
mented with the water cure and the
Grahamite fad; subscribed to the cir
culating library, played the piano be-
longed to literary clubs, and wrote,
edited and published the Low
ulation of Lowell IN those days
was divided into four classes. The
agents of the corporations were the
aristocrats; next to them were the
overseers; the third class were the
operatives and last in the social scale
came the day laborers The lines be-
tween the social classes seem not to
have been very strongly marked, and
there was little of the aristocracy of
wealth. The utmost simplicity in per
sonal expenditure prevailed. A pur-
pie satin cape trimmed with black lace
and worn over a print froc5 was Sun
day best for some of the more fas-
tidious Of the mill girls; no ruffles and
few ornaments were worn gold
watches and pencils were reserved by
ztheir fortunate owners for grand occa-
Eions. The bill of fare sounds thin,
but 1--WE have as much and as good
food as we want" wrote one of the
girls, Indignantly to the New York
Tribune. we usually have warm bis
cult or nice toast and pie, with good
bread and butter, coffee and tea, for
breakfast; for dinner, meat and pota-
toes, with vegetables, tomatoes and
pickles, pudding or pie, with bread
butter, coffee and tea: for supper we
have nice bread or warm biscuit with
some kind of sauce, cake, pie and tea -
Pie evidently played a leading role in
the menu. These girls subscribed to
the Christian Register. the Boston
Daily Times, the Boston Pilot, the
Dial and other contemporary periodi-
Gals They were regular attendants al
the lyceum courses, they discussed the
books they read, they debated religious
and ethical questions. Perhaps it is
not so miraculous as it sometimes
seems, that out Of such a physical
mental and moral atmosphere should
have sprung the Lowell Offering
The Lowell Offering began life as
a small, thin magazine or about 30
pages, which sold for six and a quarter
cents a copy. Its publication was be-
gun in October. 1870 and continued till
December, 1916; resumed in September.
1S47, and finally discontinued after
March, 1850 1t found subscribers all
over the country. The North Ameri-
can Review Endorsed It: Charles Dick
ems spoke of it in his American
Notes" observing that as a literary
production it would compare advantag-
eously with a great many English an
nuals' Harriet Martineau prompted a
fine review of it in the London Athe>
naeum. and selections We're published
under ner direction entitled Mind
Among the Spindles." President FELTON,
Of Harvard University heard while i'll
Paris an entire lecture on the history
and literary merits OF the Lowell Or
fering'; Theirs carried volume into
-'the chamber Of deputies te show what
working women In a republic could do:
George Sand thought il great and
wonderful thing that the American
mill girls Should write and edit n mag
aziHe OF their own
Although the ''Lowsll Offering was
e Repository Of Original Articles writ,
ten by females employed in the mills, .
it was by no means the single literary
medium Of these Females" many OF
whom wrote for the literary newspa>
Re-s and magazines, such as 1.-THE La
dies Casketn the "Lowell Courier ane
Journal" "Zion's Herald" and the
Saturday Evening Gazette" In 1S4S
eeven books written by contributors to
the Lowell Offering had been pub