by Nick O'Brien

Created on: August 19, 2009

A young boy mows lawns every weekend, a young girl baby-sits, while their parents work two jobs; two jobs of monotony, labor, and displeasure; jobs of worthlessness; jobs that are the same one day to the next. Yes, they make their wages, just enough to survive. But how will they be remembered? Will they leave a legacy? Will their loved ones tell of great accomplishments they made? Or will their memoirs be filled with nothing but work?

In today's society, most simple wage-earning jobs are synonymous with teenagers looking for a little extra money so they can finally buy a new video game or car stereo. But there was a time in America when immigrants were pouring in through Ellis Island, looking for any possible way to support themselves or their families, and women were willing to work any job to feel independent and self-sufficient. For this reason, many Americans were employed "throwing stones over a wall, and then throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages."

The 19th century was a time of invention, reform, and industrial and economic improvement. For the wealthy. But the other side of the spectrum held disease, dirt-, filth-, and waste-laden streets in neighborhoods and slums. Most cities were filled with impoverished factory-laborers with no reasonable hygienic tactics. Therefore, cities were comparable to the European streets that caused the infamous black plague. In a society where children were entertained by playing atop garbage boxes in crowded alleys, there was no choice but to work for wages. While the Carnegies and Rockefellers of society were enjoying their luxurious Victorian lifestyles, the poor were struggling to survive; scrounging for the next meal; praying for support for their children; dreaming of an Alger-like fairytale ending to end the misery of their lives without principle.

The supreme poverty led hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to jobs laying down railroads, mining, working in factories, and selling goods on streets, "merely that they might earn their wages." There was no self-gratification coming from these jobs, no sense of accomplishment after finishing a long day of work. Laborers were not happy with their jobs; they were merely indifferent hirelings working for the rich to get richer. And the poor got poorer. Throughout their menial work days, laborers likely felt that they should be "more worthily employed," but had no choice as they needed to support their families and could do no better in what had become

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