Girls worked as spinners watching the spools form breaks in the thread. A spinner tended six or eight “sides,” As the long rows of spindles were called. She had to be on her feet nearly all the time, working eleven to twelve hours a day, six days a week. Hine described one spinner as “an emaciated little elf 50 inches high and weighing perhaps 48 pounds who works from 6 at night til 6 in the morning and who is so tiny that she had to climb up on the spinning frame to reach the top row of spindles.
Boys began working as doffers when they were seven or younger. It was their job to remove the whirling bobbins when they were filled with threads and replace them with empty ones. Many of the youngsters worked barefoot because it was easier to climb on the equipment. Hine reported, “A twelve-year-old doffer boy fell into a spinning machine and the unprotected gearing tore out two of his fingers. We don’t have any accidents in this mill, the overseer told me. Once in a while a finger is mashed or a foot, but it doesn’t amount to anything.”

Investigative Report for Textile Workers (5 Point)

1: Is the work area safe? What dangers do you see?

2: Would you recommend that workers wear protective clothing? What would you recommend?

3: Would you recommend any changes to the work environment to make it safe? What changes do you think need to be made?

4: What age recommendations would you give for this job? What is an appropriate age to be doing this work?

5: What injuries or harm can this job cause the children?

6: Would you recommend that children in the photograph be allowed to continue working at this job? Why or why not?