Petition to the

Massachusetts Legislature

We the undersigned, peaceable, industrious, hard-working men and women of Lowell, in view of our condition, -the evils already come upon us, by toiling from thirteen to fourteen hours per day, confined in unhealthy apartments, exposed to the poisonous contagion of air, vegetable, animal and mineral properties, debarred from proper Physical exercise, time for mental discipline and Mastication cruelly limited; and thereby hastening us… to a premature grave – pray the Legislature to institute a ten-hour working day in all the Factories of the State.