They were girls of respectability, and, as was the custom then, boarded with the families of the mill-owners.

Those of the Anthony factory were divided between the wife and Hannah Anthony Hoxie, a married sister.

Lucy Anthony soon became acquainted with the stern realities of life.

Her third baby was born when the first was three years and two months old.

That summer she boarded eleven factory hands, who roomed in her house, and she did all the cooking, washing and ironing, with no help except that of a thirteen-year-old girl, who went to school and did "chores" night and morning.