FIND: American Notes

I was able to come across in my searches one day an article written by Charles Dickens and he gives a very well written account of his visit to the factory. What I like about his account is that, although he left out many details, he wrote a lot about the lives of the women in the boardinghouses and at work. One section of this article I specifically liked was:
            I am now going to state three facts, which will startle a large class of readers on this side of the
            Atlantic very much. Firstly, there is a joint-stock piano in a great many of the boardinghouses.
            Secondly, nearly all these young ladies subscribe to circulating libraries. Thirdly, they have got up
            among themselves a periodical called THE LOWELL OFFERING, "a repository of original articles,
            written exclusively by females actively employed in the mills," -- which is dulyy printed, published, and
            sold; an whereof I brought away from Lowell four hundred good solid pages, which I have read from
            beginning to end.

After reading his chapter on Lowell, I had an even better understanding of the factories. Although he never compares factories of Manchester (which were horrible horrible horrible) to that of Lowell, this chapter gives me a definite impression that, for the times, the women's positions in the factories were not that bad. They were getting an education, living in warm boardinghouses, being fed, attending up-lifting religious ceremonies, gossiping, creating fashion styles, and writing freely. For the first time these women were able to live in an area where they didn't have to live under their fathers or husbands rules.

huh...I wonder what the men thought of this. I shall find out tomorrow!

Dickens, Charles, "IV An American Railroad. Lowell and It's Factory System," American Notes, (New York: St. Martin's, 1985), 61-62.