Elaine Ritter's Page

The record shows the terrible conditions people worked under in these factories. Even the abused worker who worker his way up to overseer beat the children to make them work. People had to work within this system if they wanted to survive. Every adult in the factories, kind or not, had to hit the children to get the job done. If survival was possible without extra income from children, they wouldn't be sent to work like that. Things like these take so long to change because the victims are virtu… Continue

This image shows children working in a textile mill. They are very young, probably not even 10 years old, though it would be hard to judge a child's age in that era because people were shorter, and children who grew up poor would probably have stunted growth. You can tell looking at their legs (which are beginning to… Continue

I don't think I can keep this up any longer. I might just run away. Many others have tried, but the owners found them, beat them and brought them back. And I need to think about my family. Soon my little brother will be working here. I'm the first of us to be put to work. I had an older sister, but she got sick when I was really young. I'm so tired my hands shake while I work. I make more mistakes and I get beaten. Its winter now so the factory is freezing cold. I tried to warm myself by the hot… Continue

I've been beaten again today, much more severely than the beatings I usually receive. I was late this morning. If I had more strength to run I think I would have made it. The other workers hit me often, but more out of necessity than anything else. They need me to keep working so they can support their families. But this beating was much worse, because it came from a man who ran the factory. At least the pain keeps me awake.

It was worse than I expected it to be. I'm exhausted, but not so much as the children who have been working there longer, so I managed to avoid being beaten. I saw many others being beaten for falling asleep, arriving late, dropping things, not working fast enough and making mistakes because they were so tired. This is the busiest time of the year for the factory so I have to work 16 hours a day instead of 14. We had an hour to eat, but other than that I didn't sit once during my shift. I had to… Continue