Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-06
s'THE 80, OOOSTARvING SEW
ING WOMEN"


give practical and immediate relief In
Harper's Bdzdr she narrates the COM
mencement of her travels in search of
one of the $50, 200, as follows:
We sought and found the Home for
Christian Young Women. A single
Christian young woman was sitting in a
comfortable room, waiting the hegira of
young women from the country, which
had evidently not yet begun. / laid my
errand before her. She did not kaOaO of
any person now who would be willing to
engage in household services, though they
did sometimes have applications for work
of that sort. Generally the young women
who came to them wanted employment in
stores and Offices as saleswomen, book
keepers and copyists-
"Where do the 80, COO starving sewing
women mostly go tol" l asked, steadfast
ly.
'sTo Heaven, let US charitably hope, )"
said Hassan, under his breath.
The Christian Young Woman, who was
q very nice person too, looked at me in
quiringly. / explained the secondary OBJ
ject Of my search. She smiled, cOmpre-
hending the situation at once, and said
there were rumors of great deal of suf-
fering, which undoubtedly did exist, and
| which ought not to exist. But the girls
would go into shops, and would not go
into families; and what could you do
Unqucstionably nOthing-only look
| over the home, which was still in the ex-
detrimental stage, and which was decent
enough-so far as decency consists with
sleeping four in room-and which was
| apparently planned and conducted with
! the honest intent to be useful. We give
it the need of our appreciation, if that
can be called appreciation which is fodnd-
ed on an examination 50 slight; and hay
ing agreed that the Grand Army Of the
| Starving did not rendezvous here, VIC
were on the point of leaving, when we
wcFe called back by the announcement
that a woman had just come in who
might prove to be precisely what was
wanted She was tall, mucular Christi
an, with high cheek bones, and great
facility in the use of language, and was
accompanied by young Chriatian of the
same persuasion, perhaps fourteen or
| fifteen yeats old. The two forces were
marshalled face to face, and in reply to
my first tentative inquiry, she poured
forth torrents of information. She had
been accustomed to living out, and in
fact, was then living out; but she wished
to change her place. She would tell us
the whole story, for she had nothing to
keep back. She worked for living, and
she wasn't ashamed Of i. She came from
up country. Her father wss well off,
but the fact was, he was penuriOus, and
a.. ctr Of ar hn ma a
matters worse, Snd she could not live in
any peace at home. And her father died
and made will; (''Made will and died."
muttered Hassan; but it was pebble
against the tide), leaving her something
no great-nOt enough to support her. But
her stepmother would do nothing for her,
because she had will--wOuld not even
let her live in the house. And she had
this child to support and she had to
work to help out. She could do house
work best, because the child could
stay with her. II was her sisters
child; her sister was dead! end she
had always taken care Of the giri since
she was a baby. She was a lawful, le-
Ultimate child, and as good girl as ever
stepped, and had never been away from
hef. She was fourteen years old, and
must have 81 education; and she wanted
to be where the child could live with her
end 90 TO school. 1t wss suggested that
the girl might get place near hGf ami,
where she might work enough TO earn her
board and go 10 school at the same time.
But no. fLey had never been separated,
and she glgst haye the girl with her
where she could sec to leF. People might
impose upon q girl Of that age il they had
chance. Her price was three dollars
a week, and the girl thrown in. What
she would like was to keep house for
widower or an old bach. They were
easier to get along with, and would not
| mind the child so much.
imeutally thanked the Jewess for teach
ing me that word, and vocally suggested
that it was impossible for me to furnish
either of those qualifications. She smiled
| grimIy, and admitted the imperatiVeness OF
| the situation Hassan, with his hand over
| his mouth, wished me 10 ask her whether
shh would prefer to have the girl taught
in female geHipgry or by a governeSs
| engaged at the house; but i did not seem
| worth while 10 go into particulars TIlle
| the generals were so far beyond our reach,
and he was afraid to speak himself. so
We came away, leaving the Christian
Young women to their fate, though Has
san. when he had recovered his spirits,
courage and freedom, in the open air, re-
marked 10 me that he did not think this
woman was very yHUag or very Chris
tan. l know that she was exhaustive.
One would as soon have wh'rlwind IN
the kitchen.
"Wellln quericd Hassan, when we had
walked on several minutes in silence.
'sNew York leyt," ] replied. 81 will
find those thirty thousand women or per
ish in the attempt"
'Forty thousand is the New York
figure" he suggested, being, like minute
hand, quick at figures.
Iwrote the editor Of the best-tempered,
the best managed, and the most trust
worthy daily newspaper 10 the city OF
| New York:
'EDEAR SIR: A few weeks ago / saw
in your paper the annual statement that
there were 40, 900 women in New York
making shirts at six cents apiece, and
otherwise starving over the needle. If
you will put NE In Communication with
those women, l will speedily End . com
Portable and respectable home for one of
them, so that you will only have 39,999
to carry over the next year.
every respectfully, etc, etc.
His reply came promptly. Could L tell
him in what issue of their paper the state
ment referred TO Gppearcd2 If so, they
would endeavOr to look up The matter and
give me the earliest possible information.
could not give the exact date, but il
was only few weeks before.
He expressed great regret, but it would
be impossible for them TO do anything
= | without definite information on that
1 | point
Five peas sat in a pod, says Hans
| Christian Anderson. They were green
l and the pod was green, and, therefore,
{ they thought the whole world was green.
o The fable is of New York editors. But
the rural mind knows that 40, 600 women
in drticuyO morris do not suddenly droI
out of the universe like penknife los
from your pocket.
arose and went to New York.
l descended boldly upon the awful la
of New York daily newspaper editor
who processes himself to be, and is gener
ally believed TO be- the busiest person II
the known world, except the father OF al
mischief,
do not expect to be believed if l say
that he was sitting with his feet upon
chair, reading a newspaper, doubtless adj
miring one of his own editorials. There
/ l. "a I hat