Lucy Larcom's memoir gives insight to how the market revolution allowed for many individuals to buy new manufactured goods, however, this drove some into debt. According to Larcom, "At a dollar and a quarter a week for board (the price allowed for mill-girls by the corporations), great care in expenditure was necessary. It was not in my mother’s nature closely to calculate costs, and in this way there came to be a continually increasing leak in the family purse. The older members of the family did everything they could, but it was not enough. I heard it said one day, in a distressed tone, “The children will have to leave school and go into the mill.” When Larcom said this, she was discussing how it was easy for some to overspend due to the