This photograph is a dramatic example of the great instincts of Lewis Hine. He depicts the scene as almost idyllic. The cute little girl is probably getting ready for church, wearing her prettiest dress, and bows in her hair. Our reaction is to smile and feel affection for her. But then, in the caption, he tells us the real story, that Myrtle is "one of the youngest of the spinners in Spartan Mills," and that she has "been working nearly two years." This may be a nice Sunday for her, but most likely, she will be working tomorrow and the rest of the week.

At the time, the child labor law in South Carolina set the minimum age at 12, with exceptions for orphans and children of dependent parents, who could work at an even younger age. Children were allowed to work as many as 60 hours per week.

According to a report in Child Labor in the Carolinas, a mill overseer in Chester, South Carolina said that manufacturers all over the South evaded the child labor law by letting youngsters who are under age help older brothers and sisters, and that the names of the younger ones did not appear on the company books, the pay going to the older child who is above twelve. -National Child Labor Committee, Publication 092

I found several sources, including the census, which established that Myrtle was about 12 when this photo was taken; thus, she would have started working at the mill when she was about 10. She was born in South Carolina about 1899, the daughter of John J. and Anna Bagwell. In the 1900 census, both parents and at least two of their children worked in a cotton mill, probably Spartan Mills. Somehow, the family did not appear in the 1910 census.

In 1911, Myrtle's mother died of pellagra, a vitamin deficiency disease that spread through the South in epidemic proportions in the early 1900s. In fact, the nation's first hospital dedicated to discovering the cause of this disease was established in Spartanburg in 1914. Myrtle married Henry Steading, also a cotton mill worker, about 1920. By that time, her father had remarried, to Mittle (or Mittie). Mr. Bagwell died in 1926, at the age of 65. At that time, he was a night watchman at Spartan Mills. His second wife would die 11 years later.

By 1934, Myrtle and Henry had four children, including four-year-old Iva Jean, who would lose her mother before the year ended. According to her death certificate, Myrtle died of a cerebral embolism on November 24, 1934, at the age of 34.