This Will
Give Some Idea Of The Value Of The Water-Power.
The Pawtucket
Canal was, as I say, bought, and Lowell was commenced.
The town
was incorporated in 1826, and the railway between it and Boston was
opened in 1835, under the superintendence of Mr. Jackson, the
gentleman by whom the purchase of the canal had in the first
instance been made. Lowell now contains about 40,000 inhabitants.
The following extract is taken from the hand-book to Lowell: "Mr.
F. C. Lowell had, in his travels abroad, observed the effect of
large manufacturing establishments on the character of the people,
and in the establishment at Waltham the founders looked for a
remedy for these defects. They thought that education and good
morals would even enhance the profit, and that they could compete
with Great Britain by introducing a more cultivated class of
operatives. For this purpose they built boarding-houses, which,
under the direct supervision of the agent, were kept by discreet
matrons" - I can answer for the discreet matrons at Lowell - "mostly
widows, no boarders being allowed except operatives. Agents and
overseers of high moral character were selected; regulations were
adopted at the mills and boarding-houses, by which only respectable
girls were employed. The mills were nicely painted and swept" - I
can also answer for the painting and sweeping at Lowell - "trees set
out in the yards and along the streets, habits of neatness and
cleanliness encouraged; and the result justified the expenditure.
At Lowell the same policy has been adopted and extended; more
spacious mills and elegant boarding-houses have been erected;" as
to the elegance, it may be a matter of taste, but as to the
comfort, there is no question - "the same care as to the classes
employed; more capital has been expended for cleanliness and
decoration; a hospital has been established for the sick, where,
for a small price, they have an experienced physician and skillful
nurses. An institute, with an extensive library, for the use of
the mechanics, has been endowed. The agents have stood forward in
the support of schools, churches, lectures, and lyceums, and their
influence contributed highly to the elevation of the moral and
intellectual character of the operatives. Talent has been
encouraged, brought forward, and recommended." For some
considerable time the young women wrote, edited, and published a
newspaper among themselves, called the Lowell Offering. "And
Lowell has supplied agents and mechanics for the later
manufacturing places who have given tone to society, and extended
the beneficial influence of Lowell through the United States.
Girls from the country, with a true Yankee spirit of independence,
and confident in their own powers, pass a few years here, and then
return to get married with a dower secured by their exertions, with
more enlarged ideas and extended means of information, and their
places are supplied by younger relatives. A large proportion of
the female population of New England has been employed at some time
in manufacturing establishments, and they are not on this account
less good wives, mothers, or educators of families." Then the
account goes on to tell how the health of the girls has been
improved by their attendance at the mills; how they put money into
the savings banks, and buy railway shares and farms; how there are
thirty churches in Lowell, a library, banks, and insurance office,;
how there is a cemetery, and a park; and how everything is
beautiful, philanthropic, profitable, and magnificent.
Thus Lowell is the realization of a commercial Utopia. Of all the
statements made in the little book which I have quoted, I cannot
point out one which is exaggerated, much less false. I should not
call the place elegant; in other respects I am disposed to stand by
the book. Before I had made any inquiry into the cause of the
apparent comfort, it struck me at once that some great effort at
excellence was being made. I went into one of the discreet
matrons' residences; and, perhaps, may give but an indifferent idea
of her discretion, when I say that she allowed me to go into the
bed-rooms. If you want to ascertain the inner ways or habits of
life of any man, woman, or child, see, if it be practicable to do
so, his or her bed-room. You will learn more by a minute's glance
round that holy of holies, than by any conversation. Looking-
glasses and such like, suspended dresses, and toilet-belongings, if
taken without notice, cannot lie or even exaggerate. The discreet
matron at first showed me rooms only prepared for use, for at the
period of my visit Lowell was by no means full; but she soon became
more intimate with me, and I went through the upper part of the
house. My report must be altogether in her favor and in that of
Lowell. Everything was cleanly, well ordered, and feminine. There
was not a bed on which any woman need have hesitated to lay herself
if occasion required it. I fear that this cannot be said of the
lodgings of the manufacturing classes at Manchester. The boarders
all take their meals together. As a rule, they have meat twice a
day. Hot meat for dinner is with them as much a matter of course,
or probably more so, than with any Englishman or woman who may read
this book. For in the States of America regulations on this matter
are much more rigid than with us. Cold meat is rarely seen, and to
live a day without meat would be as great a privation as to pass a
night without bed.
The rules for the guidance of these boarding-houses are very rigid.
The houses themselves belong to the corporations, or different
manufacturing establishments, and the tenants are altogether in the
power of the managers. None but operatives are to be taken in.
The tenants are answerable for improper conduct. The doors are to
be closed at ten o'clock.
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