The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1867-07-05

who boast of their proves in this
field, aye, boast of it, and chuckle over
it among their fellows.
One man hires a girl to work for
him by the week; the end of the week I
comes the girls ask for their pittance
The tells them he has got the
shorts,' and he pays only part of
what they arc entitled to- The second .
Saturday comes, and sls operation is
repeated 1t is continued for several
weeks, until finally the girls perhaps
refuse to work longer without their
back pay. Then he flies into sinn-
lated passion--denies the debt--and
bids the poor girls pack off; he is well
aware that he can get others to sup
ply their places very readily. One
case [ knew where the brute lifted his
foot and kicked one of the girls into
the street.
Another man gives girls work to do
at home, promising them price SO far
i'll advance OF ordinary terms that the
poor creatures feel quite clated over
their good fortune in coming across so
generous an employer. He requires u
deposit from them equal to the full
value OF the materials they take away,
and in their cagerness to get such
promising employment, clothes are
pawned, or some poor woman they
know loans them the money for the
deposit. When the work is done, it is
brought back, and the villain curses
bunglers, declares tho work is spoiled,
orders them out OF his shop, and re-
fuses to pay back the deposit They
go away wringing their hands in an
agony of distress, and the dealer puts
the goods on his shelves for sale,
chuckling at his success.
This sort of things IS going on CON
tinually. 1t is only very lately that
wretches such as these have been
brought to justice and made to dis
gorge. A poor working girl unaided,
cannot presume to prosecute her OPP
pressor But an association is now in
vigorous existence, organized by GER
tam benevolent women, which receives
the complaints Of the working girls
and puts them into the hands of its
lawyer--a good man, who conducts
such cases without charge, and almost
always succeeds in righting the
wrong.
The association to which l allude is
known as the Working-women's Pro
tective Union, and It's Office is at No
so White Street, New York It's
scope includes n wide field of effort on
behalf Of the class it assumes to pro
tect, and if my readers desire to be-
, come more fully acquainted with its
, workings, they can obtain circulars by
, writing for them No charity in the
world is more deserving of the aid of
! the benevolent.
{ We left our poor sewing girl on her
/ way to deliver her work and receive
! her pay Withm fresh bundle of shirt
t ing she returns home, lights her can
. die, sets it on lser window sill. andre
sumes her toll. Little Johnny drops
: off to sleep, and still she sits there
patiently stitching away-past mid
= night, into the morning. At last she
Yields to the demands of their Nature,
! no longer to be resisted, and seeks her
+ hard sheetless couch
such is the history Of one days toll
+ with one working girl that l know.
} Every work day of her weary life is
the same And it is the same with
thousands on thousands of other girls
who lead the same dismal existence
4 Looked upon in its barely physical as
pect, it is mournfpl enough, God
: knows. But bethink you that these
E girls have hearts and souls hearts
: that yeafn for love, souls that yearI
. for light As day succeeds day, yeai
} after year it may be, and still the vol
: stands ever at the door with hungry
! eyes, can you not imagine them ask
G ing themselves, 20, is there nothing
D in life for me but this ?" Talk about
e the temptations that beset the paths
: of ordinary girls and women de
r clare that | am sometimes almost over
$ whelmed in wonder when / see those
+ working girls still keeping in virtues
f path, when to yield is to be fed, anC
d clothed, and taken from this dreadful
!. slavery to toll None of them bu
) MUM tllt iOli SRh NttiNS, a VIZ
{ will. The streets are open. They car
4 sell themselves And thousands o
K them do. Do dot wonder; keep you
1 wonder for the heroic hearts that fai
n not--who have nothing to keep then
pure, but the love of virtue.
e Here is another field in which pre-
r vention is better than cure, as it is il
|. all fields There are missions 70
r the rescue of the fallen. i speak onl,
e with deep sadness when l say Of thes
: EMISSIONS that DO charity is SO eXpen
O siye, none SO Improbable. The SAM
IS money and energy that are devoted t.
}, these all but hopeless missions" woul'
n accomplish magnificent work if di
IS rected in the channel of prevention
II and brought to bear upon the tempted
K instead of the fallen. Hundreds coul,
e be saved here whore one is rescue,
C there.