Journal Entry "A Visit to New Hampshire"
Miss Mary Isabella Adams 1852
"In the early part of August we left home for a journey to NH from Brookline we passed through Cambridge, Woburn and Billerica when we arrived at Lowell a which place we spent the night at an excellent hotel called the Merrimack house, it is a large city and seems very thriving. We arrived at Lowell at about four o'clock, that afternoon we visited the cotton factories, which are very large four or five story houses. In the first room we went was the raw cotton which was being carded, and it was very difficult to pass round the room without being caught by the machines. In the second story among others was a little boy who they said was almost eight years old and who was spinning. This business was to mend the threads if they broke, which said did not often happen. In another part of the same room were women making the work and dressing it. Then we went into the third story where they were weaving. There were large piles of cotton in different places in the room. . . .Before returning to the hotel we walked round the city for the sake of seeing the stores. there are the same kind as in Boston only smaller and fewer. In passing from Lowell to Goffstown we were obliged to pass through very heavy sandy roads the wheels sank into them in some places about a foot...”
