Question

"The early mill girls were of different ages. Some were not over ten years old; a few were in middle life, but the majority were between the ages of sixteen and twenty five. The very young girls were called 'doffers.' They 'doffed,' or took off, the full bobbins from the spinning frames, and replaced them with empty ones. These mites worked about fifteen minutes every hour and the rest of the time was their own. When the overseer was kind they were allowed to read, knit, or go outside the millyard to play. They were paid two dollars a week. The working hours of all the girls extended from five o'clock in the morning until seven in the evening, with one half hour each, for breakfast and dinner. Even the doffers were forced to be on duty nearly fourteen hours a day. This was the greatest hardship in the lives of these children. Several years later a ten hour law was passed, but not until long after some of these little doffers were old enough to appear before the legislative committee on the subject, and plead, by their presence, for a reduction of the hours of labor.

—from Lowell Mill Girls,

by Harriet Robinson

Use the primary source above to answer the following - Explain working conditions for young girls in the factories.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

According to the passage, young girls had to be on duty for about 14 hours a day, even if they were not actually working all of that time. Even though money was worth more back then, they were still paid very little - only 2 dollars a week. The very young girls, who had some time to spare, needed to rely on the kindness of the overseer to be able to use their free time to go play, to knit, or to read. As we can infer, there was no concern about employing children instead of sending them to school. The girls clearly could not study much if they were on duty throughout the day.