Ellen Johnston was a independent woman during the time of the industrial revolution. She lived a simple, happy childhood until the age of eight when her single mother married an abusive man. He made young Ellen work for years in a factory. He tormented her and she suffered greatly from his actions. Because of this relationship, Ellen ran off with a boy at age seventeen and got pregnant. Unfortunately, the affair did not last and she (like her mother) was left to raise a child by herself. Through all of this however, one thing kept young Ellen sane. She called herself a "self-taught scholar", because of her love of reading and writing. This was a time where literacy was expanding, of course there were still many poor illiterate women, but Ellen made it a goal that she would keep this love of hers alive. "She loved reading "love adventures" and developed a romantic image of herself as a "heroine of the modern style"" (840). Along with her love of reading, she also wrote poetry for the "penny press", which were inexpensive newspapers of the region. Ellen loved expressing her feelings through poetry and knew she did not want to live a life of domesticity. Ellen "did not feel inclined to die" in a time when women who gave birth outside of marriage were considered beyond the confines of "true womanhood" (840). Most of her writings depicted home life as very negative due to her time living with an abusive step-father. Ellen worked very hard in the textile mills of Scotland to support her and her daughter, while also pursuing her passion of writing poetry. She even simply signed her poem , "the factory girl". It was in the factory, where Ellen found emotional and personal satisfaction. Though Ellen never made it big, she did not follow the crowd like some people. She still let her feelings be known to a small group of people, in a time where woman were fighting to be heard.
Ellen Johnston was a independent woman during the time of the industrial revolution. She lived a simple, happy childhood until the age of eight when her single mother married an abusive man. He made young Ellen work for years in a factory. He tormented her and she suffered greatly from his actions. Because of this relationship, Ellen ran off with a boy at age seventeen and got pregnant. Unfortunately, the affair did not last and she (like her mother) was left to raise a child by herself. Through all of this however, one thing kept young Ellen sane. She called herself a "self-taught scholar", because of her love of reading and writing. This was a time where literacy was expanding, of course there were still many poor illiterate women, but Ellen made it a goal that she would keep this love of hers alive. "She loved reading "love adventures" and developed a romantic image of herself as a "heroine of the modern style"" (840). Along with her love of reading, she also wrote poetry for the "penny press", which were inexpensive newspapers of the region. Ellen loved expressing her feelings through poetry and knew she did not want to live a life of domesticity. Ellen "did not feel inclined to die" in a time when women who gave birth outside of marriage were considered beyond the confines of "true womanhood" (840). Most of her writings depicted home life as very negative due to her time living with an abusive step-father. Ellen worked very hard in the textile mills of Scotland to support her and her daughter, while also pursuing her passion of writing poetry. She even simply signed her poem , "the factory girl". It was in the factory, where Ellen found emotional and personal satisfaction. Though Ellen never made it big, she did not follow the crowd like some people. She still let her feelings be known to a small group of people, in a time where woman were fighting to be heard. 
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