It was 4:30 a.m. on a Monday in 1844 when the mill bell woke Eliza Adams. She wished she could stay in bed. She had been dreaming about Sunday’s picnic along the Merrimack River. Her two mill girlfriends, Susan and Harriet, had been there. But the bell forced Eliza into consciousness. Her life in the mills ran by the clock and bells.
Readying for work quickly, Eliza hurried out of her boarding house. With
