Last updated: November 19, 2024
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Lyddie: Chapter 9 The Weaving Room
“Mill Model at the Boott Cotton Mill Museum.” Lowell National Historical Park, n.d. Public Domain
When Lyddie arrives in the weave room, she is overcome by the noise and the constant movement of the machines. The noise of the looms is so deafening that she can’t hear a word her new overseer says. One of the older girls, Diana, comes to Lyddie’s rescue and teaches her how to operate the loom, and the two of them become friends. Diana invites Lyddie over to her boardinghouse that night to study the rules and regulations of the mills.
As she’s leaving to visit Diana after work, Lyddie’s roommates tell her to be careful. Diana is known as a radical for trying to get girls to join the Female Labor Reform Association. However, when Lyddie is with Diana, she never mentions the Reform Association. She asks Lyddie to talk about herself and Lyddie tells Diana about her family. Lyddie realizes that she forgot to tell her mother and brother where she is. Diana gives Lyddie paper to write letters and offers to pay to send the mail.
Fact Check: The loud weave room
“Creation! What a noise! Clatter and clack, great shuddering moans, groans, creaks, and rattles…” Was it really that loud in the weave room?
What do we know?
Every machine in the mill created noise, but the loudest was the loom. Weaving rooms were so loud, in fact, that communication was almost impossible. Girls from rural farms were used to hand-spinning and weaving cloth, which was a quiet chore, sometimes accompanied by small talk with family and friends. The speed and commotion of the machines and workers was new and shocking. Driven by the waterpower of the Merrimack River, the machines moved on their own. Mill hands darted about, stopping and starting machines in what seemed a random pattern as dust filled the air and the noise never stopped. The mill workers didn’t wear earplugs, but they eventually got used to the noise.
What is the evidence?
Primary Source:
“In the sweet June weather, I would lean far out the window, and try not to hear the unceasing clash of sound inside…I discovered, too, that I could so accustom myself to the noise that it became like a silence to me… Its incessant discords [nonstop clashing] could not drown out the music of my thoughts if I would let them fly high enough.”
Larcom, Lucy, A New England Girlhood Outline from Memory. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1889.
Secondary Source:
“A few women took one look at the mills, clasped their ears against the screeching of hundreds of machines, felt the trembling of the floorboards under their feet, covered their faces from the flying lint, saw coworkers faint in the factory heat, and quit on the first day. But most felt compelled to live with the noise, the repetitive tasks, and the regimentation, and they stayed on.”
Moran, William, The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills and the Families Whose Wealth They Wove. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Fact Check: Radicals
Were there “radicals” like Diana who spoke out against the working conditions in the factories?
What do we know?
Beginning in the 1830s, mill workers began to advocate for better treatment. In 1834 and 1836, mill girls “turned out,” or went on strike, to protest worsening conditions. Managers were gradually speeding up the machines, forcing operatives to work faster and faster. The mills produced more cloth and made more money, but workers didn’t get their fair share of the increased profits. And they were exhausted and at high risk of injury. Since the turnouts of the 1830s were unsuccessful, workers tried new tactics. They sent petitions to the state legislature asking for a law that would limit the workday to ten hours. (Today, a standard workday is eight hours, from 9-5.) Some mill workers feared that owners would blacklist them for speaking out—this meant they would not be able to get work in any mill in any city.
But there were some women, like the fictional Diana or the historical labor leader Sarah Bagley, who took the risk and advocated for workers’ rights. They did this by writing editorials, organizing strikes and petitions, and giving speeches at public events. These actions defied societal expectations because it was not considered a woman’s place to speak before a group of people, especially if the group contained both men and women. Women were supposed to take care of the house and home, and leave running things to the men.
What is the evidence?
Primary Source:
Farley, Harriet “Letters from Susan.” The Lowell Offering, vol. IV, 1844 p145
Center for Lowell History
Primary Source:
“A convention of the workingmen and women of New England was holden [held] on the 4th inst [of the month of July (July 4, 1845)] at Woburn [Massachusetts] in a beautiful grove…
Miss S. G. Bagley, of Lowell, a lady of superior talents and accomplishments… gave a thrilling power to her language and spell-bound this large auditory [audience], …she spoke...of the present lengthened time of labor, which deprived them [workers] of the most human comfort, [the mill owners] were striving to add 2 hours more to their time of labor, thus cutting off all hope of bettering their condition; but said she, the girls have united against this measure and formed a society to repel this movement, …”
“Report of Speech by Sarah G. Bagley.” Voice of Industry, vol 1, no 7, July 10, 1845, p 2.
PrimarySource :
Speech by Sarah G. Bagley to the New England Workingmen’s Association Convention, 1845
“For the last half century, it has been deemed a violation of woman’s sphere to appear before the public as a speaker; but when our rights are trampled upon and we appeal in vain to the legislators, what shall we do but appeal to the people? Shall not our voice be heard, and our rights acknowledged here; shall it be said again to the daughters of New England, that they have no political rights and are not subject to legislative action?
Voice of Industry, vol 1, no 3, June 12, 1845 p 2.
http://industrialrevolution.org/original-issues/1845/1845-06-12.pdf
SecondarySource :
“The...Female Labor Reform Association, organized in Lowell, Massachusetts by twelve factory girls, all of them workers in the cotton mills, began its career in January, 1845. Six months later, its membership had grown to five hundred, and it was growing steadily. ‘Our numbers have been daily increasing,’ said its president, Sarah G. Bagley, in May, 1845, ‘our meetings generally well attended, and the real zeal of the friends of equal rights and justice has kindled anew.’ ”
Foner, Philip S. From Colonial Times to the Founding of the American Federation of Labor: History of the Labor Movement in the United States vol. 1. New York: International Publishers, 1947.
Voices from the Field
"Dialect" by Dr. Julie Roberts, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Vermont.
Voices from the Field
"Free Time" by Frank Clark, Park Ranger, Lowell National Historical Park
Photos & Multimedia
Learn how a loom works with this Video of Park Ranger Dave Byers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlIGGT0mPRs
Lowell National Historical Park
Online dialect quiz: Try these fun quizzes and see if it guesses your dialect correctly. Of course, the underlying message is, again, that everyone has a dialect! New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html
Buzz Feed (inspired by the UWM Dialect Survey (https://dialectsurvey.wordpress.com/category/all-maps/) and the Harvard Dialect Survey (http://dialect.redlog.net/)
https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewziegler/dialect-quiz
See it yourself
Visit a working weave room at Lowell National Historical Park. www.nps.gov/lowe
Writing Prompts
Opinion
Lyddie’s roommates warn her not to go to Diana’s since she has a reputation as a “radical”. Would you play it safe and stay home or would you take a risk and find out more about those trying to change working conditions? Why? Use precise language and support it with details.
Informative/explanatory
How did Diana help Lyddie during her first full day of work in the weave room? Use specific words and phrases from the text.
Narrative
How would you describe Lyddie’s feelings about her first full day working in the weave room? Use concrete words and sensory details to convey your thoughts precisely.