Katie Robertson A Girls Story of Factory Life

A NEW DEPARTURE. But, mother, it isn't as if I were going away from home, like the Lloyd girls; you might have a right to cry if that were the case. I know, dear; it's all right, and I ought to be very thankful; but I'm a foolish woman. I can't bear to think of my little girl, whom I have guarded so tenderly, going among all those girls and men, and fighting her way in life. I don't think I shall be much of a fighter, laughed Katie, looking at her diminutive hands; and why is it any worse to go among the boys and girls in the factory than among the boys and girls in school? You never minded that. That was different – you weren't doing it for money. O me! what would I have thought when I married your father if any one had told me that his child, his girl child, would ever have to earn her bread! Well, mother, I won't go, said the girl, her bright looks fading away, "if you don't want me to; but I don't know what Mr. Sanderson will think, he tried so hard to get me into the mill, and it was such a favor from Mr