I hope all is well with you and the farm. I hope everything functions well without me. While I miss being with you on the farm, I must admit I quite enjoy it here. Coming to work out here has felt like an adventure, as I’ve been able to see so many new things and meet so many new wonderful people. 

I’ve just finished my first week as a mill girl, it is amazing here. I wake up at 4:30 am and work 12 hours a day 6 days a week. However, I admit that you have to absquatulate to get to the mill on time. They give one bed per two girls and there are two beds per room. The rooms have one desk and a few bins for our stuff but are still pretty small. I work making cotton in the mill room, and it's deafening there but I think that my ears are adjusting. By a few weeks, it won’t sound like anything at all.

This morning I had just arrived at my new home, and I was extremely excited to learn about this new place and to live here. I came here fleeing the potato famine, as my family had no food or money because of it, and I heard that there was work in the mills here where it would be much better than back at home. On top of that, I knew that I had to make money to pay for my younger brother’s school. Apparently if I could get a job working in the mills, I would get food, housing, and I would make money, which was my top priority. I got some more information about the conditions of the work, and although it doesn’t sound ideal, it's the best I got, and it will be better than how it is in Ireland. On the way here, I was extremely nervous on the boat. I was worried about my family, and how maybe America wouldn’t be so great. I lost many hours of sleep to it, on top of the sea sickness that everybody on the boat had. I am so relieved at how great this place is. Earlier today I walked around and saw many shops, and I even got a peek at the mills. Overall, I am extremely excited to spend some more time here. It seems like it’s going to be so much fun, and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.

How are you faring and how is the farm?

I hope the little money I send home helps Finn’s education.

Here at Lowell Mills, every day (except Sundays) is a struggle. I have to work 12 long, tiring hours a day 6 days a week, and get up at a beastly hour of 4:30 am. I get paid a meager wage of $4 a week and must spend a fourth on church seats and another fourth on residence at the boarding house.

 In the mills, I toil for hours until dinner break. Until then I break my back standing and weaving and coughing from the seemingly unending towers of dirt. It is unbearably hot and sweaty. Skirts, arms, and other limbs and accessories get caught in the looms and have to be  chopped off. This is the brutality of the mills. I miss home but I shall endure these hard times for you.

You would not believe the vast abundance of food here, we are given fried foods at every meal and carrots, turnips, pickles, coffee, pudding and every other edible  you could imagine every day. We may have only half an hour to eat but I enjoy every bite. Moreover we dine with fine china, and the food is cooked by a private cook! 

I hope my letter finds you well.

With much love, Niamh

I arrived safely at the mill yesterday, and today was my first day at the mill. I woke up even earlier than we do on the farm, and even though the food was good, the cook rushed us through breakfast, and we all had stomachaches afterward. My roommates are very kind, and they taught me how to use the looms, but I’m now worried for my safety since one of the women lost one of her arms today after it got caught in the loom!

Today was the worst day of my life. I don’t even know how to start putting this into words. Today Sarah got hurt. Bad. She got caught in one of the looms and I don’t know if she will be ok. I don’t think I will ever unsee what happened to her. The guttural scream. The blood. It is too much to process. She got rushed to a hospital so I have no way to see if she is ok. I’m scared.

Feb 11, 1835

It’s lonely here without Sarah. I miss her laugh. I miss whispering well into the night. I keep thinking back to the day at the circus. We were so happy. Things can change so quickly. Each day feels like a dream as I mindlessly go through the motions of eating, working, eating, working. Even as I stand in busy rooms, bursting with people, it still feels like I’m alone.

Feb 14, 1835

Today we got the report from the hospital. Sarah died. When I heard the news I fell to my knees and sobbed. I couldn't stop the tears. These past few days have been so filled with grief and loneliness. Sometimes it feels like I am being wrapped in a thick fog of sorrow and there is no escape from its infinity. It’s like I’m being blinded. When I heard the news, the fog swallowed me whole. I feel so trapped, and small, and alone.  I want to go home. I can’t be here without being haunted by her memory.

Feb 17, 1835

Today a new girl came. They announced that she would be my new bed mate. The first thing she said to me was “I’m sorry about your friend. I’m sure we will have fun too, though!” I couldn’t believe it. It’s like she is trying to replace Sarah. As if she could step in and make it like Sarah was never even here. I haven't even had the proper time to grieve. Recently I have been grateful for our busy days. It leaves less time to think about Sarah.

Feb 30, 1835

I know there is no way to bring her back. I know there is no way to completely get rid of this feeling. But I don’t think I can manage much longer. I want to have a day not full of sadness. I want to have a dream not filled with screams. I will never forget Sarah. But I have to try to move on. I have to try to fix myself or else my life will slip past without ever really living it. I will never forget our friendship. But there has to be a way to live without constant sadness. I have to try.

Dear Mother,

I am writing to you from the mills, after a long day of work. I would like to ask how John has been settling in with his wife? I sincerely hope that he is happy and well. Please say hello to him for me, and let him know that I miss him. 

The mill has been very exciting so far, but the journey I made to come here even more so! I had been told about locomotive trains in school, but I did not truly believe they existed until I was met with one of the grandest sights I have ever seen. The scenery was beautiful too, and it was far less bumpy than any horse I have ever ridden. 

Here at the mill, I was expecting the work to be far easier than it is, but I am sure I’ll eventually adjust to my new life. I am unsure whether I will ever adjust to the constant noise from the looms. I work in a room filled with other girls like me, working from 5:00 in the morning until the sun has set at night. I dread the longer days that await in July, and long for the end of summer already. There are two-hundred looms running all day, and the sound is so deafening that I struggle to hear the bell signaling mealtimes. I have to yell simply to communicate with someone working directly next to me. 

Though the work is extremely tedious and boring, the food that we are allowed to eat three times a day is far nicer than anything at home. We are given meals of everything I could ever dream of. At supper today, I had the greatest pie I had ever eaten in my entire life. It was as if it was enchanted, I could not get enough of it. Despite the food being delicious, we are only permitted 20 minutes to eat and be back at our looms at meals, so I often find myself scarfing down food as fast as I can.
Another thing that I was not expecting was the stifling heat. In the loom room, the windows are constantly kept closed, so even if it was a windy day, I would be unable to feel anything but the horrible blanket of boiling air around me. It does not help that there is water being sprayed into the room at all times to make sure the yarn is moisturized, smothering me in constant suffocating humidity. 

I have to go to bed now. I need to rest for tomorrow. 

Signed, Isabella.

Dear grandma, I arrived at the Lowell Mills two weeks ago but I've been too busy to write anything! My journey started when I took a train from Vermont to Lowell. I had  never been on a train before so at first I was a little nervous and confused, the train was big and noisy and there were lots of other people on the train.  When I arrived at Lowell Mills someone showed me around. There are ten buildings in total and I was in the fifth building. In each building there are forty rooms. Each room has a fireplace, two beds for two girls in each bed, and somewhere to put your clothes. Beside all ten buildings there is a large open park, next to the park is a canal. If you cross the canal going over a bridge you get to the mill complexes, which is where all the mill girls work. Once they showed me around and brought me to my room it was already time to go to sleep! For the first few nights it was hard to fall asleep, it was noisy and I missed my parents. But after a week or so I got used to it. I start my day by waking up at five am. Then, I have to walk to the mill complex. Right now the weather is not too bad but in the winter walking all the way over is brutal. I work at the mills for twelve to forteen hours and I get paid between three or four dollars a week. We eat biscuits, bread, mush, stews, meats, pie, and hot drinks. The food isn’t amazing but it's not terrible either.  At the end of the day I eat dinner in the dining room and then head back to my room to sleep.  The next day, I do it all over again.

Dear brother, 

I am writing to you from my boarding house near Lowell Mills, in Lowell, Massachusetts. I am doing well. I am healthy, and, of course, making a great deal of money to put towards your education. January in Lowell is very cold. The wind is harsh, and there has been snow and ice on the ground for weeks. I am very thankful for the fireplace in my boarding house. The boarding house is nice, I live with four other girls, and there are two of us per bed.

We work 12 hours each day. That is time we spend in the loom room, working at the loom. They are very dangerous. Two weeks ago a girl got her finger chopped off while working! Of course we have meal breaks. Breakfast and lunch each last for 25 minutes. And that includes the time that it takes to get back to the boarding house and, after we eat, back to the mills. The mills get very dark at night, especially in the winter, because there are no lights, but there are gas lamps on the street which are stunning.