The idea that it means something external in dress or
circumstances has been too generally adopted by rich and poor;
and this, coupled with the sweeping notion that in our country
one person is just as good as another, has led to ridiculous
results, like that of saleswomen calling themselves "sales-
ladies." I have even heard a chambermaid at a hotel introduce
herself to guests as "the chamber-lady."
I do not believe that any Lowell mill-girl was ever absurd enough
to wish to be known as a "factory-lady," although most of them
knew that "factory-girl" did not represent a high type of
womanhood in the Old World. But they themselves belonged to the
New World, not to the Old; and they were making their own
traditions, to hand down to their Republican descendants--one of
which was and is that honest work has no need to assert itself or
to humble itself in a nation like ours, but simply to take its
place as one of the foundation-stones of the Republic.
The young women who worked at Lowell had the advantage of living
in a community where character alone commanded respect.
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