Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-17
MANGgcAW ZN2S

THE girl who is born among the
hills of New England has a great
heritage. The bracing air and the
outdoor life give her strong body, an
energetic spirit and a love of nature
of which she may not be conscious until
removed from her native hills and
lakes and rugged coast. She breathes
in with every breath love of inde
pendence and self-reliance, a regard
for right principles, and reverence for
what is good. Her first view of the
world is from little white house with
green shutters and surrounded by a
yard full of flowers-the picture of neat
ness and thrift She is carefully
watched over by thoughtful mother
sometimes gentle sometimes stern, but
always kind.
If the little girl is born in the heart
of a manufacturing city, and if her
mother works in the mill" her first
Impressions are altogether different. |
Sometimes at the age of or 5 she IS !,
left to care for herself. She plays in the
street or along the banks of the river
which furnishes power to run the mill, |
and she is fortunate if the policeman
rescues her from passing teams or from
drowning. More often she is left to the
care of her grandmother or some other
woman who is no longer able to work
in the mill. She sees little of her
mother, who is gone from o'clock in |
the morning until 6 in the evening, and
when she returns must do the washing
and ironing, the sweeping and sewing.
In many a home there is mo blessed
leisure for Love and Hope" If the
girls parents are Roman Catholic they
often send her to be cared for by the !
Sisters, paying them certain amount
each month. When they do this they
only see their child once or twice
week, and then for short time. When
the girls reach the school age, which is
usually G., they not only may attend
but must attend school.
If the mother is in the mill the Oldest |
girl in the family is given responsible |
: tiles far beyond her years. She must
HI
but must see that the younger children
are up and fed and dressed in time for
school. The compulsory school period
is between the ages of 6 and IA or 16.
During the vacations many girls of IA
and under may be found in the mills, |
but they are not given heavy work, |
and often have shorter hours than their I
parents.
Many girls go into the factories when
they have finished the grammar school,
some even before A few finish high !
school, 1t depends upon how many
younger brothers and sisters there are
to be educated, upon whether there has
been sickness in the family, and upon
the inclination of the girl herself By
no means all of the factory girls come
from homes where work in the factory
has been the traditional occupation. If !
the father has failed in business, IL
there is large family with a small in
come. or if she is left an orphan, she
must earn her living by the means at
hand or leave her native place.
When the girl on the farm is dissatis-
fed with what her father can spare her
from the scanty product of his stony
fields she begins to look about for some
way to make money for herself. A
sure way of making money al once is to I
go into one of the factories which she
will be sure to find at the nearest viii
lage Twenty or thirty years ago the
school teachers worked in the factories
during vacations, and frequently man
ufacturers and other business men