We
All Know The Class Of Young Women Whom We Generally See Serving
Behind Counters In The Shops Of Our Larger Cities.
They are neat,
well dressed, careful, especially about their hair, composed in
their manner, and sometimes a little supercilious in the propriety
of their demeanor.
It is exactly the same class of young women
that one sees in the factories at Lowell. They are not sallow, nor
dirty, nor ragged, nor rough. They have about them no signs of
want, or of low culture. Many of us also know the appearance of
those girls who work in the factories in England; and I think it
will be allowed that a second glance at them is not wanting to show
that they are in every respect inferior to the young women who
attend our shops. The matter, indeed, requires no argument. Any
young woman at a shop would be insulted by being asked whether she
had worked at a factory. The difference with regard to the men at
Lowell is quite as strong, though not so striking. Working men do
not show their status in the world by their outward appearance as
readily as women; and, as I have said before, the number of the
women greatly exceeded that of the men.
One would of course be disposed to say that the superior condition
of the workers must have been occasioned by superior wages; and
this, to a certain extent, has been the cause. But the higher
payment is not the chief cause.
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