An Abundance of Opportunity

Billy Cavanaugh                                                                                                                                                   November 11, 1813

 I spent the last week in New York to work on bringing you a snapshot of the lives of women in the working, middle, and upper classes. Generally a writer focused on life here in Baltimore, I enjoyed spending time in a larger city with a bustling urban life. However, before I begin my story, I must make it clear that all names of the women I interview and the places I visited will stay anonymous for practical reasons.

Figure 1: Working in the Cotton Mill (http://historyinphotos.blogspot.com/2012/08/lewis-hine-mill-workers-ctd.html)

After arriving in New York, I began my journey by walking 1 mile south of New York to the nearest cotton mill. The day was dark and dreary as the drizzling rain followed me. However, the inside of the factory was far from the opposite, as shown in Figure 1. The room in which the girls work in was heated to a perfect temperature so that the girls didn’t even need their coats. Their clothing was neat and comfortable. Also, large windows were positioned on all four walls to allow for ample daylight to seep into the girls’ working area. The intensity in which the girls focused on their work was inspiring. Most of the girls worked on either three or four looms at a time, giving them plenty of work so that they stay busy and fit (1, 3).

Steady ticking sounds followed us as the factory owner and I continued the tour into the courtyard. A bell sounded and the girls filed out of the work room and into the adjacent hall for their lunch break. The bell system, according to the owner, kept the workers on track to work 13 hours a day and therefore allowed for the most efficient work and optimal income. The bell rings at 4:30 in the morning to allow for the girls to be working by 5. Two 30 minute breaks are taken in between for breakfast and dinner and the girls work until 7 at night. The girls get plenty of sleep in their living quarters to rest their bodies for the next day. Very respectable rooms with multiple beds fit up to six girls at a time and are found in one large building next to the dining area. Overall, this cotton mill uses about seven thousand young women (1).

The opportunity these girls have to work in the mill is beyond beneficial to their families. One girl of around the age of 12 explained to me that her father is a farmer in Massachusetts. The harvest is slow this year, so she was given the opportunity to travel to this mill and earn some extra money for the family. Despite her being taken out of school, she has had the opportunity to learn new skills to take back to her family and teach her little sisters so that they too can earn more money (2). Overall, the situation at this cotton mill, despite longer working hours, leaves these girls with useful skills, a consistent income, and powerful opportunities. After a long day of investigation, the mile long walk gave me time to gather my thoughts before I returned to the bustling streets of New York.

Figure 2: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Rug-weaving,_Hamadan.jpg

Two days later I visited the house of a middle class family to learn more about their life. One of the first things I noticed was that the family could not have been more proud of their house. Situated in a well established neighborhood, their large and solid house had very sturdy walls and a protective roof that provided more than adequate shelter with heating for the winter. The mother warmly welcomed me inside her home and immediately sat me down in her sitting room. The room was elaborately decorated with two sofas and multiple chairs in the middle. Multiple chests and cupboards were situated in a circle around the room. Lush fabrics as curtains were pulled to the side allowing for ample daylight to flow into the room. The mother had two little kids shyly following her around and clinging to the hems of her dress. Just two of her five children. Over a light meal, she explains to me that she can’t wait for these two young ones to be old enough to go to school and then begin to work (2).

Her husband will be working all day outside of the house in the family farm, whereas the mother of the house works both in the house and in the farm. The variety of work that she does keeps her day to day life interesting and special compared to the monotonous work of the men in the fields. Outside of the farm, whether it be doing her laundry or shopping in the market, she always has other women to talk to giving her a luxurious social life. She is able to cook for her children and husband every day and encourage healthy nourishment. On the evenings when her husband isn’t working, she organizes and throws parties and gatherings with her neighbors. After leaving the house, I was left with a great sense of satisfaction of the lives women live. They are comfortably protected in their house and are essential roles for the success of their family (2).

My last visit was to a much wealthier upper class family. This house was five times larger than that of the middle class family. With long, clean windows and luscious curtains, the house could not have been more put together and well situated for parties. According to the wife of the family, almost every night they hosted some sort of dinner party for their neighbors and work friends. She cooked and entertained all of these parties for her loving husband, for he worked all day and didn’t have time. However, unlike the middle class families, two servants to help her do the less enjoyable chores. For example, she told me that a few days ago, while she went shopping for fresh vegetables for the evening’s party, her servants cleaned the house as well as the family’s laundry. The women in the upper class live luxurious lives filled with parties, shopping, and social mingling (2).

As I sit in my office now reflecting on my week in New York, I can’t help but remember the amount of opportunities women have. Whether it be the new skills they learn or the ample social practice they have, women in our society are becoming a fortunate group of people.

 Works Cited:

1: Bailey, Thomas, and David Kennedy. The American spirit;. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1994. Print.

2: Brinkley, Alan. The unfinished nation: a concise history of the American people. Seventh ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print.

3: Gorn, Elliott J., Randy Roberts, and Terry D. Bilhartz. Constructing the American past: a source book of a people’s history. 2nd ed. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1995. Print.

Figure 1: Hine, Lewis. 1908. Photograph. BloggerWeb. 8 Nov 2013. <http://historyinphotos.blogspot.com/2012/08/lewis-hine-mill-workers-ctd.html&gt;.

Figure 2 and Cover photo [featured image]: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Rug-weaving,_Hamadan.jpg