The language of the stories is simple, clear English. "Life in the Iron Mills" was written in the years before the Civil War; therefore, some of its language is a little more formal than modern English, but it does not include words that a modern reader would not recognize. The dialogue, however, is filled with broken grammar and unusual spellings in an attempt to capture the uneducated speech of the poor people who populate the story. However this dialogue is not used excessively so does not impede the understanding of the story.