Drawing by John Collier, inspired by a quote from Carl Sandburg’s poem “Mill Doors”:

“You never come back. I say goodbye when I see you going in doors, the hopeless open doors, that call and wait and take you then for — how many cents a day? How many cents for the sleepy eyes and fingers?”

Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967) was a poet, orator, journalist and biographer of Abraham Lincoln.  Active in support of Socialist candidates (including Eugene V. Debs) and socialist ideals, Sandburg’s prose and poetry often focused on ordinary people and everyday life. The poem “Mill Doors” was published in Chicago Poems (1916), and reflects his lifelong interest in the experiences of farm workers, cowboys and factory workers, as he expresses concern over the debilitating effects of mill work on a young worker.

See also this link to the full poem and other poems by Carl Sandburg. 

Image from the Images of Labor Collection, Bread and Roses, artist John Collier.