standing all these repressive influences, there were occasional rebellions even here. Although the girls calmly accepted the general conditions as they found them, particularly flagrant wrongs and exploitations called forth their spontaneous opposition and led to the first struggles between them and their employers. These struggles were confused and unorganized, they did not lead to any permanent organization, and the results they achieved were few and insignificant. But they did show dormant qualities in the meek, gentle sex that amazed the conservative contemporaries of those early rebels. They showed women to be capable of fighting their own battles, capable of courage, endurance and loyalty in the service of a common cause.
FIRST STRUGGLES
One of the first "turn-outs" or "flare-ups," as strikes were then called, of which we have a record, occurred at Dover, N. H., in 1828. It was caused by the introduction of obnoxious factory regulations. These regulations contained, among other things, the hint at a black list, to be used against employees who had failed to give satisfaction, and this particular provision was regarded by the girls as an insult to their self-respect. Acting upon the spur of the moment, over three hundred of them marched out of the factory in a body, and paraded the streets of the town to demonstrate their unity and their determination. Their cause was lost; but their action created widespread newspaper comment, mostly in the form of ridicule. One Philadelphia paper contained the following comment: "The late strike and grand public march of the female operatives in New Hampshire exhibit the Yankee sex in a new and unexpected light. By and by the governor may have to call out the militia to prevent a gynecocracy." The writer of that supposedly humorous remark could not surmise how truthfully he prophesied. The militia has often been called out since to subdue both men and women who were striking for their bread.
Another interesting flare-up occurred in famous Lowell in 1836. In October of that year the largest company in Lowell had decided upon a considerable reduction in
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