Lyddie is a very determined girl, focused on reuniting her family on their farm. Her plan, which she pursues relentlessly, is to earn enough money to pay off the debts on the farm, then return there with Charlie, her sisters, and her mother. Lyddie views the petition as a threat to those plans. The petition being circulated by the Female Labor Reform Association seeks to force the textile manufacturers to reduce the work days at...
Lyddie is a very determined girl, focused on reuniting her family on their farm. Her plan, which she pursues relentlessly, is to earn enough money to pay off the debts on the farm, then return there with Charlie, her sisters, and her mother. Lyddie views the petition as a threat to those plans. The petition being circulated by the Female Labor Reform Association seeks to force the textile manufacturers to reduce the work days at the factories from thirteen hours per day to ten. Lyddie is pleased with how much money she is making compared to what she made at the tavern, and she believes that in just a year or two of working and saving, she "could go home—home free." To her, the petition threatens to "meddle with the system and bring it all clanging down to ruin." Lyddie has become very competent at running the machines, even when they speed up, and she has not had any health problems yet, unlike many of the girls who have worked there longer than she has. Because she has a specific goal in mind that she thinks the long work days will help her achieve, and because she herself has suffered no ill effects from the poor working conditions yet, she refuses to sign the petition.
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