Recruiting
Optional audio recording of the text on this page.
Recruiting.mp3Vocabulary
Recruit: To get someone to join something - in this case, to get women to take jobs in the mills.
Literary circle: A group of people who met regularly to discuss literature. In many cases in Lowell, they discussed what the members themselves had written. One of these literary circles led to the publishing of The Lowell Offering, a magazine written entirely by mill girls.
Provision: Something made available.
Induced: Convinced someone to do something.
Have I got a job for you!
A recruiter representing Lowell's mills stops by your town with offers of work in the mills. You have heard about Lowell and know that it is in Massachusetts, not far from the New Hampshire border, right on the Merrimack River (where the red dot is on the map).
To try to convince you to work in Lowell, the recruiter tells you about all that factory life has to offer, including the following:
You will be paid in cash wages. You have never been paid to work before. You can decide how to spend your money, including buying new clothes or saving your earnings for the future. Perhaps your family will expect you to send them a portion of your earnings to help out on the farm.
You will have a room in a boardinghouse and three meals a day. You have to pay for your room and food, but they do not cost very much. You will be supervised by the boardinghouse keeper.
You will be able to enjoy visiting libraries, attending lectures, and participating in literary circles.
You will be required to attend church every Sunday. Your parents like this requirement!
Primary Document
"[We established] boarding houses, at the cost of the Company, under the charge of respectable women, with every provision for religious worship. Under these circumstances, the daughters of respectable farmers were readily induced to come into these mills for a temporary period."
You and your family talk about all of the reasons why you should or should not go to work in a mill in Lowell. If you decide to go, you will need your father's permission.
Recruiting 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.
Will you go to the mills? Yes or No
What might make you want to leave home and go to Lowell? Cite evidence.
What might make you want to stay home on the farm? Cite evidence.