You wish to go to 1847
"I wish to go to 1847," you say.
Within ten seconds, you find yourself standing on a street, dressed in
a long dress and bonnet. You wonder where, exactly, you are until you
hear,
"Maria! Maria, hurry...the bell!"
Oh, you realize, you must be a mill girl. Nodding to the girl with
you, you quicken your steps and enter the looming factory that is the
Merrimack Mills.
Gracious! What a noise...the floor shakes with it! Besides that, the
air is so thick with dust that you can hardly see where you're going,
but luckily the other girl guides you to a loom, and then begins
explaining to you in an extremely loud voice because of the machines,
what to do at the loom. You realize that you must be one of the newer
girls, if you're still learning how to thread shuttles.
"THANK YOU..." you yell back, not knowing her name.
"RACHEL! MY NAME IS RACHEL!"
"RACHEL," you finish.
A few minutes later, you seem to have gotten the hang of things. You
hate trying to operate that machine, but at least you can do it
quickly and well and keep the foreman off your back, you think. You're
even doing well enough to be able to hum a little as you work...it
helps block out the sound of the machine.
Suddenly, someone screams. You jerk your head and see someone lying on
the floor...another girl, knocked unconscious by a shuttle! Should you
help her, or pretend you didn't see what
happened?
You think for a moment, and then the year 1847 pops into your head. So
many things were happening then, after all...people were leaving for
Oregon on the Oregon Trail, there were mill girls circulating
petitions in Massachusetts...anything could happen!
