Boardinghouse Life
Optional audio recording of the text on this page.
Boardinghouse Life.mp3Vocabulary
Obliging: Willing to do favors. Helpful.
As a new mill worker, you first stop at the boardinghouse to arrange for a place to live.
The stagecoach driver tells you all about the boardinghouses. The mill companies built them to attract workers. You may feel a little nervous about living with up to 35 other workers, but you have heard the boardinghouse keepers are kind. They manage the houses, purchase all of the food, cook all of the meals, and take care of the girls who live there. They also do all of the cleaning and will even wash your work clothes!
Every boardinghouse has the same regulations that the owners expect you to agree to:
No one is allowed to live in the boardinghouse unless they work for the mill.
The boardinghouse keeper is responsible for the behavior of her boarders.
The keeper has to report anyone who does not follow the rules, including those who do not go to church every Sunday.
The boardinghouse keeper has to make sure the building and yard are clean.
Everyone staying in the boardinghouse needs to be vaccinated (against smallpox).
Primary Document
"The girls that I room with are all from Vermont and good girls too. Now I will tell you about our rules at the boarding house. We have none in particular except that we have to go to bed about 10 o'clock. At half past four in the morning the bell rings for us to get up and at five for us to go into the mill."
A Day in the LIfe of a BoardinghouseWatch this video to learn about what it was like to live in a boardinghouse.
Boardinghouse Life Questions
Pull out your paper and pencil and answer the questions below. Later, you will transfer your answers to a Google Form to submit them to your teacher.
Based on what you have read and seen about life in a boardinghouse, what sounds good to you about living in a boardinghouse?
What do you think might not be good about living in a boardinghouse?