"Gold Watches"

1. "A gentleman may receive a thousand dollars per annum, and have half a dozen daughters, who all think they should dress in a style superior to that of the factory girl, who receives one or two hundred dollars per year."

From the perspective of the factory, women factory workers were ideal because they received lower wages than male laborers.

2. "We are fatherless and motherless: we are alone and surrounded by temptation. Let us caution each other; let us watch over and endeavor to improve each other; and both at our boarding-houses and in the mill, let us strive to promote each other's comfort and happiness."

The quote implies that the factory girls probably weren't married until after they were finished working in factories. They also were responsible of earning their own income and gained independence from their parents.

3. "I pity the girl who cannot take pleasure in wearing the new and beautiful bonnet which her father has presented her, because for sooth, she sees that some factory girl has, with her hard-won earnings, procured one just like it."

Since the lower-class women had the freedom of having their own money they were able to spend it on anything they wanted.