LOOM AND SPINDLE OR Life Among the Early Mill Girls WITH A ...

Master Hills taught the North Grammar School, after it occupied its present site. I
remember him in 1835; and I pause when I think of this teacher, and wonder if, in some
other sphere, he remembers whipping a little girl to overcome her persistent denials of an
accusation made against her, thereby forcing her to tell a lie. She was accused by one of
her schoolmates of taking a one cent multiplication table from her desk, and tearing it in
two. For this slight offence, he, a strong man, unheeding her denials of the charge, with a
heavy strap, struck with his whole strength on the tender palm of the little hand of a child
of scarcely ten years. He punished her till she could not see, for pain and terror, and then
she gave in, whipped into a lie, and said she did it.
The punishment over she staggered to her seat, thinking that at last it was all over. But
the end was not yet, for she had to learn by this early experience that one is but the
beginning of a sum, and that she must tell many lies and keep on telling them, in order to
maintain her position. Her little schoolmates said, "Why did you not say sooner that you
did it, and save yourself all that whipping?" She could not tell them the truth, for they
would not believe her. Her dear mother said, "If you wanted another multiplication table,
why did you not ask me for one?" But she could not even confess the truth to her. Her
good aunt accosted her with, "You sinner! do you not know what becomes of liars ? " She
could not justify herself to avert that awful fate, and so she went on throwing out lie after
lie (a heavy ballast), to save herself and to maintain her standing as a liar, till she was
heartily sick of the whole matter, and wished that she had stuck to the truth, even if the
master had killed her.
I have known Master Hills to go secretly behind a boy, who was playing at his desk, and
strike him with a heavy strap across the back. Whipping was an every-day occurrence,
and was done before all the children during school hours. A boy was made to lie across a
chair, and was whipped in that position–not always through his clothing. Let us
charitably hope that this cruel treatment of children was the fault of the times and of the
arbitrary rule that was thought necessary to govern a community in those days. The day
of children's rights had not yet dawned.
Master Jacob Graves followed Mr. Hills, and instilled into our minds what honor among
children meant. He taught us to be truthful for truth's sake, his rule was mild and pleasant,
he never punished with the rod, and his kind, remonstrating voice was more powerful
than any whipping. In later life, many of his scholars sorrowed with him in his
misfortunes, and now his memory lives in their hearts, a tender and pleasant recollection.
The first church edifice built in Lowell was St. Anne's. It was built under Kirk Boott's
reign; and, without regard to the difference of the religious opinions of the operatives, the
Episcopal form of service was adopted. Every operative on the Merrimack corporation
was obliged to pay thirty-seven and a half cents a month toward the support of this
church. This was considered unjust by the help, many of whom were "dissenters," and
they complained so loudly at the extortion, which was not in the contract, that the tax was
soon discontinued.