ABSTRACT
When Larcom returned to public school (state law mandated that child mill operatives attend school for three months each year), she progressed so swiftly that at the end of the three months, she was fully prepared for high school, a startling achievement. Though she longed to attend the high school in Lowell, one of the first in the nation, the family depended on her wages and she could not attend. Now 13 years of age, Larcom was promoted to the job of operating the spinning frames. In her leisure hours, she was a voracious reader and writer of poetry and essays for the Lowell Offering, a newspaper published by mill workers. She continued to work in the mills throughout the remainder of her adolescence.
