Figure 1.--The photographer, Lewis Wickes Hine took numerous photographs documenting child labor in early 20th century America. These 11-year old boys worked at this Massachusetts bowling alley until midnight. Which meant that they would hardly be very alert for school in the morning and had no opportunity to do any home work. In many cases the small earnings went to support the family.

A peculiarly America work area was pin spotting in bowling allies. The photographer, Lewis Wickes Hine noted about the image on the previous page: "Photo of boys working in Arcade Bowling Alley, Trenton, New Jersey. Photo taken late at night. The boys work until midnight and later. I found practically no small boys setting late in the evening and several persons said it was not done except in baseball season." The photograph was taken December 1909. He took this photograph in Lowell, Massachusetts during October 1911 (figure 1). Hine wrote: "Pin boys in Les Miserables Alleys, Frank Jarose, 7 Fayette St., Mellens Court, said 11 years old, made $3.72 last week. Joseph Philip, 5 Wall St., said 11 years old, and works until midnight every week night; said he made $2.25 last week and $1.75 the week before. Willie Payton, 196 Fayette St., said 11 years old, made over $2 last week, works there every night until midnight." Setting up the pins in bowling alleys after each bowlers' turn to keep the games moving. This all had ti be done mannually. It was the job of a pinsetter, commonly referred to as a 'pin boy'. One former pin boy, Paul Retseck, recalls, that the job demanded both speed and efficiency. "You really had to work fast, or the bowlers would yell at you, 'Hey, get moving!' There was no yelling back. There wwas annelementnof hazard here as the bowling ball sometimes set the pins flying in all diections. And many bowling estanlihments had little are no shieding protecting the pinsetters. So they had gto be aware of the bowling balls coming down toward them and not just the game tha they were working on, but adjacent ones as well. A good pinsetter required quick reflexes and agility so as to maintain the pace of the game and easrn a good tip. The establishment did not pay the pinsetters. They worked on tips. By the 1950s, automated pinsetting machines had replaced the pinsetters.

Created: 6:27 AM 4/5/2005
Last updated: 10:01 PM 9/3/2024