"Frances Waldeaux" from Rebecca Harding Davis. Pioneer of literary realism in American literature (1831-1910).

"Life in the Iron Mills" from Rebecca Harding Davis. Pioneer of literary realism in American literature (1831-1910).

"Margret Howth" from Rebecca Harding Davis. Pioneer of literary realism in American literature (1831-1910).

Let me tell you a story of To-Day, -very homely and narrow in its scope and aim. Not of the To-Day whose significance in the history of humanity only those shall read who will live when you and I are dead. We can bear the pain in silence, if our hearts are strong enough, while the nations of the earth stand afar off. I have no word of this To-Day to speak. I write from the border of the battlefield, and I find in it no theme for shallow argument or flimsy rhymes

In another minute the Kaiser Wilhelm would push off from her pier in Hoboken. The last bell had rung, the last uniformed officer and white-jacketed steward had scurried up the gangway. The pier was massed with people who had come to bid their friends good-by. They were all Germans, and there had been unlimited embracing and kissing and sobs of "Ach mein lieber Sckatz " and "Gott bewahre Dick "

Before Women Had Rights, They Worked - Regardless.



Life in the Iron Mills is a short story (or novella) written by Rebecca Harding Davis in 1861, set in the factory world of the nineteenth century. It is one of the earliest American realist works, and is an important text for those who study labor and womens issues. It was immediately recognized as an innovative work, and introduced American readers to ""the bleak lives of industrial workers in the mills and factories of the nation.""



Reviews: Life in the Iron Mills was initially published in The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 0007, Issue 42 in...