When Harriet Hanson Robinson was 11 years old, the 1836 strike in the Lowell Mills (called a “turnout”) began. She later wrote about the turnout in her autobiography, “Loom and Spindle.” Workers’ wages had been cut, and the twenty-five-cent-a-week contribution toward the women’s boarding had been stopped. These cuts would reduce the $2.00 to $4.00 pay by at least $1 per week. Harriet recalled leaving the factory. The other workers asked what she was going to do. She replied,