National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-06-23
The Wrongs of Sewing Women.

There are several organized agencies
III New York designed for the protection
of sewing girls" from the injustice they
have so often experienced in their deal
ings with hcartless employers. BY the
employment of legal counsel. and still
more frequently by showing their readi-
ness and ability to defend those who
suffer, these associations have accom-.
phshed much IN this humane object,
The pulpit, too, sometimes is heard from
in this humane work Recently one of
our most eminent divines REV Dr. Tai
madge) said
l tell you if God rises up to redress
woman's wrongs, many of our large es-
Establishments will be swallowed mp quicker
than South American earthquake ever
took down u citv God will catch these
oppressor. between the two millstones of
| his wrath, and grind them to powder
Why is it that female principal gets
only eight hundred and twenty-five dol
lars for doing work for which male
principal gets sixteen hundred and fifty +?
l hear, from all this land, the wall of
womanhood. Man has nothing to an
swer but batteries. He says she is an
angel She is not. She knows she is
not. Sic is human being, who gets
hungry when she has no food, and cold
when she has no fire. Give her no more
batteries give her justice.
There are thirty-fve thousand sewing
girls III New York and Brooklyn. Across
the darkness Of this night | hear their
death h-groan. 1t is not such cry as
comes from those who are suddenly
hurled out Of life, but slow, grinding,
horrible wasting away, Gather them
before you and look into their faces,
pinched, ghastly, hunger struck Look
at their fingers, needle pricked and blood
tipped
Stand Mt the corner of street in New
York at half-past five or six O'Clock III
the morning, as the women go to their
work Many of them have had no break
fast except the crumbs that were left
over from the night before, or a crust
they chew on their way through the
street. Here they come the working
girls of New York and Brooklyn. These
engaged III bead-work, these in flower
making, in millinery, enameling, cigar
making, book binding, labelling, feather
picking, print-coloring, paper max
ing, but most overworked of all, and least
compensated, the sewing women. Why
do they not take the city cars on til, ir
way up? They cannot afford the five
cents. II concluding to deny herself
something else, she get into Il ear, give
her seat ! You want TO see how Lati
mer and Ridley appeared in the fire
look at that woman and behold a more
horrible martyrdom a hotter fire, II
more agonizing death ! Ask that woman
how much she gets for her work, and she
will tell you six cents for making coarse
shirts, and find her own thread
Last Sabbath night, in the vestibule
OF this church, after service, woman
fell in commissions. The doctor said she
needed medicine not so much as some
thing to eat. As she began to revive i'll
her delirium, she said, gaspingly =
Eight cents Eight cents Eight cents
wish | could get it done | am so
tired l wish l could get some sleep,
but l must get it done Eight cents {
Eight cents w We found afterward that
she was making garments for eight cents !
apiece, and that she could make but
three of them in a day. Hear it Three .
lines eight are twenty-four Here it,
men and women of New York and Brook
yn !
That one case was laid at the door of
his church but there are thirty five :
thousand such cases laid at the doors OF ,
'ur Christian churches, demanding your
prayers, your sympathies, and your char
table effort. Some of the worst villains a
f the city are the employers of these !.