But the most striking and gratifying feature of Lowell, is the high moral and intellectual condition of its working population. In looking over the books of the mills we visited, where the operatives entered their names, I observed very few that were not written by themselves; certainly not five per cent. of the whole number were signed with a mark, and many of these were evidently Irish. It was impossible to go through the mills, and notice the respectable appearance and becoming and modest deportment of the "factory girls," without forming a very favorable estimate of their character and position in society. But it would be difficult indeed for a passing observer to rate them so high as they are proved to be by the statistics of the place. The female operatives are generally boarded in houses built and owned by the "corporation" for whom they work, and which are placed under the superintendence of matrons of exemplary character, and skilled in housewifery, who pay a low rent for the houses, and provide all necessaries for their inmates, over whom they exercise a general oversight, receiving about one dollar and one-third from each per week. Each of these houses accommodates from thirty to fifty young women, and there is a wholesome rivalry among the mistresses which shall make their inmates most comfortable. We visited one of the hoarding houses, and were highly pleased with its arrangement. A considerable number of the factory girls are farmers' daughters, and come hither from Vermont, New Hampshire, and other distant States, to work for two, three, or four years, when they return to their native hills, dowered with a little capital of their own earnings. The factory operatives at Lowell form a community that commands the respect of the neighborhood, and of all under whose observation they come. No female of an immoral character could remain a week in any of the mills. The superintendent of the Boott Corporation informed me, that, during the five and a half years of his superintendence of that factory, employing about nine hundred and fifty young women, he had known of but one case of an illegitimate birth—and the mother was an Irish "immigrant." Any male or female employed, who was known to be in a state of inebriety, would be at once dismissed.
At the suggestion of the benevolent and intelligent superintendent of the Boott Company, we waited to see the people turn out to dinner, at half-past twelve o'clock. We stood in a position where many hundreds passed under our review, whose dress, and quiet and orderly demeanor would have done credit to any congregation breaking up from their place of worship. One of the gentlemen with me, who is from a slave State, where all labor is considered degrading, remarked, with emotion, "What would I give if, (naming a near relative in the slave States,) could witness this only for a quarter of an hour!" We dined with one of our abolition friends at Lowell, who informed us that many hundreds of the factory girls were members of the Anti-Slavery Society; and that, although activity in this cause has been pretty much suspended by the division in the ranks of its friends, yet there is no diminution of good feeling on the subject. The following extracts, from a pamphlet published by a respectable citizen of Lowell, will further illustrate the moral statistics of the place, which, I believe, can be paralleled by no other manufacturing town in the world. The work is dated July, 1839:—
"There are now in the city fourteen regularly organized religious societies, besides one or two others quite recently established. Ten of these societies constitute a Sabbath School Union. Their third annual report was made on the fourth of the present month, and it has been published within a few days. I derive from it the following facts. The number of scholars connected with the ten schools at the time of making the report, was four thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, and the number of teachers was four hundred and thirty-three, making an aggregate of five thousand three hundred and sixty-nine. The number who joined the schools during the year, was three thousand seven hundred and seventy, the number who left was three thousand one hundred and twenty-nine. About three-fourths of the scholars are females. A large proportion of the latter are over fifteen years of age, and consist of girls employed in the mills. More than five hundred of these scholars have, during the last year, become personally interested in practical piety, and more than six hundred have joined themselves to the several churches. Now let it be borne in mind, that there are four or five Sunday Schools in the city, some of which are large and flourishing, not included in this statement. Let it be borne in mind, too, that a great proportion of these scholars are the factory girls, and furthermore, that these most gratifying results just given, have nothing in them extraordinary—they are only the common, ordinary results of several of the past years. There has been no unusual excitement; no noise, no commotion. Silently, quietly, unobtrusively, from Sabbath to Sabbath, in these little nurseries of truth, duty and religion, has the good seed been sowing and springing up—watered by the dews, and warmed by the smiles of heaven—to everlasting life....
"I shall now proceed to enumerate some of the influences which have been most powerful in bringing about these results. Among these are the example and watchful care and oversight of the boarding house keepers, the superintendents, and the overseers.... But a power vastly more active, all pervading and efficient, than any and all of these, is to be found in the jealous and sleepless watchfulness, over each other, of the girls themselves.... The strongest guardianship of their own character, as a class, is in their own hands, and they will not suffer either overseer or superintendent to be indifferent to this character with impunity.
"The relationship which is here established between the Sunday school scholar and her teacher—between the member of the church and her pastor—the attachments which spring up between them, are rendered close and strong by the very circumstances in which these girls are placed. These relationships and these attachments take the place of the domestic ties and the home affections, and they have something of the strength and fervency of these."
The next extract shows their prosperity in a pecuniary point.
"The average wages, clear of board, amount to about two dollars a week. Many an aged father or mother, in the country, is made happy and comfortable, by the self-sacrificing contributions from the affectionate and dutiful daughter here. Many an old homestead has been cleared of its incumbrances, and thus saved to the family by these liberal and honest earnings. To the many and most gratifying and cheering facts, which, in the course of this examination I have had occasion to state, I here add a few others relating to the matter now under discussion, furnished me by Mr. Carney, the treasurer of the Lowell Institution for Savings. The whole number of depositors in this institution, on the 23d July, was nineteen hundred and seventy-six; the whole number of deposits was three hundred and five thousand seven hundred and ninety-six dollars and seventy cents, (about £60,000.) Of these depositors, nine hundred and seventy-eight are factory girls, and the amount of their funds now in the bank, is estimated by Mr. Carney, in round numbers, at one hundred thousand dollars, (about £20,000.) It is a common thing for one of these girls to have five hundred dollars (about £100 sterling) in deposit, and the only reason why she does not exceed this sum is the fact, that the institution pays no interest on any larger sum than this. After reaching this amount, she invests her remaining funds elsewhere."
In confirmation of this description of the state of the Lowell population, I have obtained, through the kindness of a friend in Massachusetts, the following parallel statistics to a recent date:—
"PUBLIC SCHOOLS.—By the report of the school committee for the year ending on the 5th of Fourth Month (April) 1841, it appears that the whole number of pupils in the schools, who attended during the whole or part of the year, was 5,830. The whole amount expended by the city for these schools, during the year, was 18,106 dollars, 51 cents.
"SABBATH SCHOOLS.—The number of scholars and teachers in the Sabbath Schools, connected with the various religious societies in Lowell, during the year ending on the 5th of Seventh Month (July) 1841, was 5,493.
"SAVINGS BANK.—The Lowell Institution for Savings, in its report of Fifth Month (May), 1840, acknowledges 328,395 dollars, 55 cents, deposits, from 2,137 persons; together with 16,093 dollars, 29 cents, nett amount received for interest on loans and dividends in stocks, less expense and dividends paid—making in all, 344,488 dollars, 84 cents; nett amount of interest, 24,714 dollars, 61 cents. Within the year, 120,175 dollars, 69 cents, had been deposited, and 70,384 dollars, 24 cents, drawn out.
"PAUPERS.—The whole expense of the city for the support of the poor, during the year ending on the 31st of Twelfth Month (December) 1840, was 2,698 dollars, 61 cents."
As a proof, slight yet significant, of the spread of intellectual cultivation, I ought not to omit a notice of the "Lowell Offering," a little monthly magazine, of original articles, written exclusively by the factory girls. The editor of the Boston Christian Examiner commends this little periodical to those who consider the factory system to be degrading and demoralizing; and expresses a doubt "whether a committee of young ladies, selected from the most refined and best educated families in any of our towns and cities, could make a fairer appearance in type than these hard-working factory girls."
The city of Lowell has been distinguished by British tourists as the Manchester of the United States; but, in view of the facts above related, an American has declared it to be "not the Manchester of the United States."
Besides the general prosperity of the operatives, the shareholders in the different corporations divide from eight to fifteen per cent, per annum on their capital.