Child Labor
...ld splash water on their faces every time they looked tired. Some girls had some pleasures working during the Industrial Revolution. One pleasure was that there were many beautiful flowers and plants to look at and smell the lovely essence of the flowers, especially the roses. Another pleasure they had was when they assisted their parents during work and they also liked to teach their younger brothers and sisters for future usefulness. The girls liked the feeling that they helped the ones they loved. The third pleasure that the girls enjoyed was meeting people from all around the world. There were many immigrants all over Europe that came to America for a new life. The girls learned different cultures and met many people not associated with the mill factory. Lastly, the girls associated with religion, which opened doors to the library, bible school, sabeth school, etc. Many of the children, both girls and boys, did not have enough sleep and ate poorly which led to kids being ill and frequent accidents around the machines. Sometimes gears and belts could catch on hair or clothing to pull the child right into the machine. One doctor stated that he knew over one hundred children who lost fingers in mill accidents. The boys had very difficult jobs. They would be dirty and very drawn out due to the hard work. Similar to a girl spinner, a boy doffer would rush to remove an empty bobbin and replace it. Trapper boys were hired to sit in the mine tunnels and open the doors for coal cars. The boys had to be quick because the heavy coal cars would not stop if a boy was in the way. There were many dangers in the mines. Tunnels could cave in or flood and gases could poison the air and even explode. Breathing the coal dust could hurt the lungs. Boys at 9 and 10 years of age worked illegally in the coal mines. The breaker boy job was to sit on boards above shoots filled with coal. The coal would then be rushed on a shoot to a huge machine that would break it up. The boys then picked out the rocks and slate so that only the coal would get to the machine. If a boy tumbled in, he could get caught in the machine. #The breaker boys suffered from bleeding fingers and a chronic cough. If a boy happened to die from the mine factory the rest of the boys would get a half a day off to go to the boys funeral. A boy was not allowed to work in the mine without the consent of his parents. Other boys worked in glass factories. # Some boys had to run loads of bottles back and forth from the furnace in 100 degree F to 130 degree F while bits of glass powder filled the air. Each boy ran roughly 72 trips back and forth every hour. In an eight hour day, a boy would run 22 miles. Another job in the glass factory would be a glass blower. Because of the extreme heat, working in this atmosphere could cause eye trouble, lung ailments, cuts, burns, and heat exhaustion. People believed that if a boy or man worked in the glass factory that they would have a life expectancy of 41 to 42 years. Boys had many other kinds of jobs such as mule drivers, couplers, runners, spraggers, and gate tenders. They also worked on the streets from the early morning to late night selling newspapers, sending messages, and shoe shining. Sometimes while on the streets they made friends with robbers who taught them to steal. Many people believed that child labor deprived children of an education and robbed them of their future leading them to illiteracy, poverty, and continuing misery. Some people tried to expose the harsh punishment of children but always got caught by the mill owners and they were harassed, jailed, or run out of town. Some businesses refused education, recreation, and wide spiritual beliefs. Education back then was believed to make children less passive and less useful when using machinery. Around the 1820’s there was a school build in Lowell for the mill workers. # In 1836, children under 15 could not work unless they attended school the year before. In 1852, children from the ages of 8 to 14 must attend school 12 weeks a year. There were no African Americans that attended school. An uneducated worker would not be able to write his or her name. If asked to do so, they would mark an x instead. One time a man asked a girl her name and she said, “dunno.” He asked her again and she said “dunno.” He asked her how many pots does she shuck a day and her reply was the same. Her replies prove that lack of education is a handicap. U. S. Congress passed a law to make the states end child labor. The Supreme Court said Congress could not tell the states what to do. The law was done away with when Congress passed a new law call Fair Labor Standard Act. The law stated that younger children were not allowed to work during school hours resulting in fewer working children. A woman named, Mrs. Morgan, under Chicago Trade Labor Assembly brought legislature a bill that demanded mandatory schooling for children under fourteen years of age, arrests for truants, prohibition for child labor, appointment of woman to school boards, and designation of factory inspectors. In 1833, the Illinois Compulsory Education Act required children 8 - 14 years of age be in school for no less than 12 weeks. This act failed because the children were walking the streets and not doing what they were supposed to be doing. It then improved in 1889 when children went to school at age 7 and extended the minimum time at school to 16 weeks and provide enforcement through truant officers by school board. Families during the Industrial Revolution were very close. They needed everybody in the family to work very hard to pay the bills. Many families worked together at the same place. They would sometimes all work on making fake flowers at the table with each other. Also there were labor camps where they lived. The labor camps were filthy company-owned shacks that were infested with rats and insects. Parents wanted children working at their sides, even the youngest and newborns. Babies would go to the factory wrapped in blankets in carriages and boxes near packaging stoves to keep warm because sometimes the families work in ice cold shacks. Some other jobs would be shucking oysters, canning vegetables, and making forget me nots form the light of the kerosene lantern. Some children thought that working in the factory or mill was going to be easy but it wasn’t. Also no children family could keep on going unless the children were 5 or 6 working at the mill. Sometimes the girls and boy would sit with their parents at home to sew hour after ho...