Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-08-06
WOMEN IN WASHINGTON.
Female Department Clerks.


Independent (M C. A. writes as follows
to that paper
Here with host of others, comes
young girl, a Treasury clerk. She wears
iaunty hat with ribbon streamers, a
naity jacket and a gay frock. She re-
ceives sixty dollars per month wages,
pays forty dollars per month for her
board, not including Incidental expenses;
therefore it is perfectly safe to say that,
beyond these snowy outside garments,
her wardrobe cannot bear investigation.
This costly outside gear was purchased
at the expense of many necessary COM
forts. And, yet what to her mind is
more necessary than that she should
"look as well as anybody on the gay
thoroughfare on + street?
The hue and expression of her face is
less satisfactory than her costume 1t
wears the material tint which sedentary
habit always brings in this latitude,
while the heavy eyes and the dark rings
under them Iell of gaslight and late
hours. It is Young face, in which the
blossom Of youth is touched already with
the shadows of age No wonder Her
| livelihood is uncertain, her life anxious.
There is so little permaneney to her sit
uation that she is in constant fear of
being summoned to the chief of her de-
partment and told that she is one Of
number dismissed
Then would come another siege upon
the member from her district for another
place, another waiting, another season
| of running in debt, and at last, perhaps,
disappointment She knows nothing
here of the comforts of home, Mere
business clearinghouse keepers are un-
| friendly to female clerks. Their fore
most ofense is that they are Improbable,
and are too poor to pay the most ex-
orbitant prices. Another aggrayating
fault is, they are often very pretty; they
attract gentlemen, perhaps 10 the neglect
Of the landlady or her daughters; they
burn gas late or stay out late; are
deemed universally troublesome and
not to be desired.
Thus the Department girl wanders
about from clearinghouse to boarding
house, from discomfort to discomfort,
often from bad to worse, till she comes
to the conclusion, at last, that we women,
at least, are combined against her as foes
Thus she is left TO seek society solely
| from men. 1t is a long step toward ruin
when O woman believes she has no friend,
tried, trusted and true, among women,
when she turns TO men only for sympa-
thy and support This girl, exposed to
the promiscuous intercourse oil boarding
house parlors, often finds admirers,
friends and lovers among strangers and
adventurers; among men OF dubious
antecedents, perhaps among men noto-
rious for vice. If she is held back from
contamination by pure temperament,
BY strong principle, by hallowed associa-
ton. we'll. But ifwithout either, she can
turn to no mother, to no sister, to no
strong, loving woman friend, a creature
of ungoyerned instincts and irresolute
will, drifting on with the tainted tide Of
circumstances, alas May the Lord
have mercy on her, for the worldly and
wicked will not
She might have stayei at home and
made bonnets and dresses She might
have tended store, or have colored
photographs, or have become designer,
or teacher; or q sunny housemaid IN
some rural home, where every member
of the household is hopeful, and honors
labor Better any these employments
near home aud friends, than the danger
of the capital But all these would be
work, you know, but il is very lsdylike,
TO cut banknotes, or to have situationi in
Department
Here, too, from her country home
comes the unprotected girl, suing her
member" for a place in the Treasury, all
unwitting that she is walking into the
very clutches Of temptation, if not OF
vice God may keep her-he does
many she may walk through the tre
unscathed, and she may perish, splrstu-
ally, bodily, as many do. who. might be
pure, peaceful and prosperous, If they
had stayed at home
There are sad stories | could tell you,
Independent, OF the wonan-clerk life in
Washington; but | don't want to.
only want TO say TO the young men, and
especially 10 the young woman, strug-
cling for q situation in these Depart
ments, as the most desirable thing to be
done, stay at home, be content TO I've
humbly, TO work patiently independence
and competence will come at last
neither will ever come TO you here. To
disabled soldiers, TO elderly and expe-
rienced women, to young men who use
It as a passing help to definite object
in life, 10 disappointed men who have no
other hope and no other refuge, De
partment situation may be q blessing
But TO the young men and the young
women, with no definite plan or purpose
Of being. drifting into the taiutful atuos-