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Herschel Bonham cultivating peas on a farm

Children in factories, like their parents, faced long hours of repetitive work in often dangerous conditions. But the expectation that children should work wasn’t new to textile mills. Farmers often had no choice but to use their children’s labor, and hard work was thought to build character. Here, an eleven year-old boy in Oklahoma walks behind a horse, plowing a field for peas.

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