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The year is 1830. You’re a 15-year-old girl. You’ve lived your whole life on your family’s small farm in New Hampshire.
Today, you got a letter from your cousin in Lowell, Massachusetts. Some businessmen have opened new factories there. Your cousin wants you to come work with her at a textile mill, a factory that uses machines to make clothing.
If you go to work in the mills, life will be very hard. You’ll work 12-hour days. The factory bells will tell you when to wake up, when to go to work, and when to eat your meals. But you’ll also earn your own money for the first time. In the city, you’ll get to see and do things you’d never experience in your small village. The Northeast is growing. These factories are changing the world, and life will never be the same again.
