People familiar with Lewis Hine's child labor investigations might wonder why he took this photograph for the National Child Labor Committee. Betsy is well dressed, even fashionable, and quite grownup looking for 13. And she is sewing for the 4-H Club in her high school, not for some rich textile mill owner in his lint-filled brick building by the river. It was taken in 1921, not in the years between 1908 and 1917, when Hine took nearly all of his classic child labor pictures. To learn more, I contacted Tom Beck, chief curator of the Special Collections Department of University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The collection includes nearly all of Hine's child labor photographs, and Beck is regarded as an expert on Hine's work.

He told me that West Virginia established a Child Welfare Commission in 1921. At that time, the state had stiffened its laws requiring school attendance for children between 14 and 16. "Like other locations where Hine was sent to photograph," he explained, "the state was in the midst of changing their laws regarding child labor. The National Child Labor Committee would have wanted Hine to highlight the state's efforts."

Shortly after, I found the following, which I have excerpted from Rural Child Welfare, An Inquiry by the National Child Labor Committee (1922), based upon conditions in West Virginia, under the direction of Edward N. Clopper. Photographic illustrations were by Lewis W. Hine.

"In the beginning of our agricultural development it was necessary that every member of the family be a producer to his greatest capacity. Families lived far apart, seasonal help was scarce, and the labor of the whole family was necessary to save the crop. The family that did not produce to its utmost was looked upon as a drag on the community. A child who spent his time in play was not only of no benefit but was thought to be on his way to ruin. Work kept adults out of mischief, so why was it not good for the child? Rural folk are slow to change from old to new ideas. Many children are still compelled by their parents to work, not from necessity, but because they honestly believe that work is the only thing worthwhile for them. They are prejudiced against play, recreation, and social life, and cannot see the value of an education if it interferes with their immediate needs, so they often require children to work to keep them out of devilment. On the other hand, there is still severe economic pressure on many rural homes which, without relief from other sources, demands the undivided attention of every member of the family."

"The parent's conception of his relation to his child is another factor influencing the kind and amount of work the child does. The popular conception in the rural mind is that the child is indebted to the parent for bringing him into this world, that it is the child's duty to make every sacrifice for the parent, that where the interests of the child and the parent conflict, those of the former should always be sacrificed."

"The work done by children on the farm presents no difficulties to the mind of the rural parent. In conversation with a man who was a leading farmer and an active church and Sunday School worker in his community, one who had more than an average education and appreciation of present-day problems, in fact a man who was the leader of his prosperous community, this question was asked: ‘Do you think the children in this community are in any way injured by the work they do on the farm?' Answer: ‘No, indeed, more work would be better for them and the community would be more prosperous.'"

"The state, on the other hand, has taken a somewhat different attitude. It regards its children as future citizens, who must be given the chance of normal development so that they can take their proper places later on. The state believes that all is not well now with the rural child and is taking steps to relieve him of the burden it thinks he is bearing. Knowing the individualism of the rural father and how he insists on being lord of his household, it is not taking measures of compulsion, but is trying to displace child labor with something better - it is substituting children's work for child labor, but it is often hard to distinguish between them. Child labor interferes with health, education, and recreation; children's work not only does not interfere with these but aids in securing them to the child."

"West Virginia, through its Division of Extension, is offering children's work in the form of boys' and girls' Four-H Clubs. These clubs have been in successful operation for about ten years. Their emblem is a four-leaf clover, each leaf representing one essential part of a child's life. It means luck, and luck comes to the boy or girl who has his Four H's, namely, ‘Head,' ‘Hand,' ‘Heart,' and ‘Health,'" all well developed. Clubs are organized in counties which employ agricultural, home demonstration, or club agents. They center around the local schools, and often the children from two or three schools will be organized in one. Any rural child between the ages of 10 and 18 years may become a member, if he will meet certain requirements."

Hine took 110 photos in West Virginia in October of 1921. About 40 were of children participating in 4-H Clubs around the state. Others showed children attending rural schools, and a few showed rundown shacks and cabins inhabited by poor farm families or coal miners. He took two photographs of Betsy.