How does Lyddie react to seeing a factory girl for the first time in Lyddie?

Lyddie is impressed with the factory girl in Lyddie.

When Lyddie is working at Cutler’s Tavern, she meets a factory worker for the first time.  She is very impressed by the girl because she happens to be wearing a pink silk dress, which attracts her attention.

Lyddie couldn't be sure, never having seen a real silk dress before, but it was smooth and pink like a baby's cheek. Around her shoulders the lady wore a shawl woven in a deeper shade of pink. Lyddie marveled that the woman would wear something so delicate for a ride to the northland in a dusty coach. (Ch. 3)

Although the mistress accuses her of “putting on fancy airs,” Lyddie is impressed with the factory girl.  When she talks to her, she is told that she can make two dollars a week in a factory and the work is easier than what she is doing at the tavern, but she is convinced that the girl is lying.  She does have the silk dress to show for it, and Lyddie begins to wonder about factory work as a way out.

Lyddie tells the girl that she has been promised by her mother to the tavern.  She feels somewhat trapped.  The siren song of the factory looms.  The girl said she could have more independence there than working at the tavern. 

Lyddie gets fired for leaving without permission, however, and decides to try her luck as a factory girl.  She wants to be able to get more and be more.

"I'm going to be a factory girl, Triphena."

"You what?"

"I'm free. She's set me free. I can do anything I want. I can go to Lowell and make real money to pay off the debt so I can go home." (Chapter 6)

Lyddie does go to the factory, and although it is not the promised land she expected, at least she is free.  In some ways, she is going from one kind of slavery to another, though.  Work at the factory is dangerous.  A cotton mill is hazardous to one's health and also hard work, with long hours and heavy machinery.

However, Lyddie is very good at the job.  She worries about accidents and workers organizing, but she also values the level of skill she acquires.  

Lyddie is a girl who always longs to be more than she is.  Never satisfied with her situation, she is comfortable taking risks and fighting for herself. She is symbolic of the many factory girls who struggled their way through the nineteenth century and powered the Industrial Revolution.

Describe Lyddie's life in the tavern and her reaction to seeing a factory girl for the first time.

Lyddie works almost sixteen hours a day in Cutler's Tavern. She has to rise early in the morning so the guests won't see that she sleeps under the eaves in a hallway outside the guest rooms. She works all day long until she is "ordered to bed late." She has no leisure time--and no one to share it with if she had. Mrs. Cutler is a mean woman who watches Lyddie intently to make sure she is not making mistakes or stealing. Lyddie rarely speaks to anyone, but she listens to conversations in the tavern and plans to tell the stories to Charlie. 

The first time Lyddie sees the woman in the pink dress, she does not know she is a factory girl. She sees her get off the coach and marvels at the woman's beautiful dress--although she feels it is inappropriate clothing to wear in a "dusty coach." The woman smiles at Lyddie in a friendly way, not at all proud. Lyddie has a hard time taking her eyes off her.

That September Lyddie sees the same woman and has a conversation with her. The woman tells Lyddie she is a good worker, and then she mentions that Lyddie could make much more money at the mill in Lowell and probably have more time to herself. Lyddie finds it impossible to believe that a person can save two dollars a week by working at the factory. Yet she knows the woman herself has made enough money to be able to afford a beautiful pink silk dress. 

What are Lyddie's feelings about the factory after her first visit with Mrs. Bedlow?

Strange as it may seem, but Lyddie thinks that the factory could be the answer to her prayers. She's been sweating it out at Cutler's Tavern, slaving away for fourteen hours a day for an absolute pittance. So when Lyddie sees a factory girl in a pretty pink dress, she wants to be just like her; she sees a chance to escape her present condition.

When Mrs. Bedlow takes Lyddie to the factory for the first time, the young lady's quite intimidated by all the tall buildings, so much so that she grips her shawl tightly to stop herself from trembling. Two weeks later, Lyddie starts work at the factory in earnest, with Mrs. Bedlow there to guide her once more. Once inside the weaving-room, Lyddie is struck by the ear-splitting noise made by all the machines. It's like having a hundred stagecoaches rattling through your skull all at once. The noise is so deafening that Lyddie can't hear the instructions given to her by Mr. Marsden, the supervisor.

Thankfully, Diana's on hand to show the new girl the ropes. Even so, Lyddie's first day at work is pretty tiring, if not outright exhausting. Nevertheless, she feels that she's learned a lot from this whole new experience.