Dinner Toters 1913 - Colored by me

"Dinner-Toters" waiting for the gate to open. This is carried on more in Columbus than in any other city I know, and by smaller children. (See photos.) Many of them are paid by the week for doing it, and carry, sometimes, ren [i.e., ten] or more a day. They go around in th[e] mill, often help tend to machines, which often run at noon, and so learn the work. A teacher told me the mothers expect the children to learn this way, long before they are of proper age. (See also Vaughn's Georgia Report, April, 1913.) Eagle and Ph[o]enix Mill. Location: Columbus, Georgia.

1913

1913

A couple of dinner-toters at Riverside Cotton Mills, Danville, Va. Myriads of these little ones carry dinners to the mill workers. The Supt. of Schools and teachers in Danville said that many children toted dinners and did nothing else not even attending school. Location: Danville, Virginia.

1911