Lyddie: Chapter 20 - B is for Brigid

Stair tower in the Boott Mill. During opening and closing times, these stairs were filled with young women going to and from their machines.

Photo courtesy of Lowell National Historical Park

Without Diana, Lyddie is lonely at work. Many of the girls have left and not come back. This has left some of the looms idle. New girls, mostly young Irish immigrants, get hired. However, there are still unattended looms, and the entire floor is much quieter than it used to be. Lyddie begins teaching Brigid how to read.

Lyddie receives two letters. The first, from Charlie, reports that all is well with Rachel and urges Lyddie to respond to Luke Stevens’ marriage proposal. The second announces her mother’s death. Though she is sad, Lyddie realizes she can’t even picture her mother’s face.

One evening, as Lyddie leaves work, she notices Brigid is not with her. Lyddie hesitates and begins to walk away, but something prompts her to go back upstairs. As she enters the weave room, she finds the overseer too close to Brigid. Lyddie grabs a fire-bucket full of water and dumps it on the overseer, slamming the bucket down on his bald head. She grabs Brigid’s hand and they flee the room. The girls run out of the mill and towards the boardinghouses.

Fact Check: Irish Mill workers

In the mid 1840s were the mill workers primarily Irish? Were there looms sitting idle?

What do we know?

During the 1840s, Yankee mill girls made up slightly less of the working population than they had in the previous two decades. Some left because of the speed-ups and stretch-outs, while others left for new opportunities elsewhere. At this same time, Irish immigrants were flooding into the city to escape the Great Hunger in their homeland. While many Irish women began working in the mills, foreign-born workers did not become the majority of the workforce until after the 1860s. As some native-born workers left Lowell, mill managers had to shift their recruitment strategies. But looms rarely sat idle, as there were still many people looking for work. Textile mills in Lowell continued to expand during this time period.

What is the evidence?

Secodary Source:

“Along with the construction of larger mills, additions to existing buildings augmented [increased] productive capacity...

“The most dramatic change in the mill work force over this period was the substantial increase in the proportion of immigrants. In 1836 only 3.7 percent of those employed at Hamilton [Mill in Lowell] had been foreign born. This proportion rose to 38.6 percent in 1850 and to 61.8 percent a decade later.”

Dublin, Thomas. Women at Work. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.

Secondary Source:

“Irish operatives began to work in large numbers in the Lowell mills during the latter part of the 1840s. Most companies channeled them into the lowest-paid most difficult jobs, while reserving the more advantageous positions for native-born workers. The recently arriving immigrant workers were clearly excluded from most of the paternalistic policies of the Lowell corporations. They were not considered part of the family of native-born workers and managers. This was a deliberate (although unwritten) policy of discrimination against the Irish. It was probably done to ease the discontent of American women workers, who were concerned about the growing Irish presence and were leaving the mills in increasing numbers.”

Zonderman, David A., Aspirations and Anxieties; New England Workers and the Mechanized Factory System 1815-1850. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Secondary Source:

This chart shows the changing ethnic background of the textile workers employed in the mills of Lowell from 1825 to 1880.

Center for Lowell History

Voices from the Field

"The Acre" by Dave McKean, director for the Archives of St. Patrick Parish, teacher, and author of Lowell Irish.

Photos & Multimedia

Fire buckets like this lined the weave room walls as fire was always a danger in the mills. This was a quick weapon when Lyddie was trying to defend Brigid. Photo from Boott Cotton Mills Musuem Weave Room

See it yourself

See the fire buckets in the weave room at Lowell National Historical Park’s Boott Cotton Mills Museum
www.nps.gov/lowe

Writing Prompts

Opinion

How else might Lyddie have helped Bridget other than attacking Mr. Marsden? Use reasons and information to support your point of view.

Informative/explanatory

Explain how the idle looms are a metaphor for Lyddie’s mood. Use precise language to inform about or explain the topic.

Narrative

Lyddie creates an acrostic vocabulary list to help Brigid learn to read (e.g., “A is for agent. B is for bobbin and Brigid.” Write an acrostic poem about yourself using the letters of your first and last names. Be creative.