The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-22
The Story of a Working Girl.

The New York correspondent of the
| Baltimore American says: The simple
funeral of a working girl which took
place yesterday was so touching in some
of its incidents, and illustrates so thor
Oughly the real hardships which many of
them suffer, that it is worth mentioning.
l have never pitied working girls for
| their work Work in itself is not hard
ship-it is blessing; and work to this
girl, as to most others, brought her all
the comfort, all the relief she obtained
from the miseries of her home Her
story was that of a thousand others.
She was one of a large family, depend
ent on the labor of a common, somewhat
shiftless, drinking, ill-conditiOned man.
Her mother belonged to a different or
der; she was gentle, and as long as she
could worked and suffered, but she could
never get quite enough of any kind of
food for them to eat or clothes to wear,
and she died at last, as much as any
thing, of starvation; for if they had
little she had scarcely anything at all
Yet they never fell into the ranks of the
very poor, and few knew or guessed that
she had crucified natural instinct and
appetite until there was no life left in
ton, but really she died for the want of
it. Naturally the mantle of her mother
fell on Nellie. She was the oldest living
daughter. She had been in a great city
establishment, since she was ten years
old. 1t was the whole outside world to
her. As long as her mother was living
she brought her lunch, and showed signs
of care, but after her death she rapidly
grew thin and pale and shadOwy. All
her earnings were absorbed at home ; all
her time in the evening, far into the
night, and even Sundays, was occupied
in doing the sewing of the family-that
is, mending and keeping together their
poor substitutes for the usual garments
and changes. She came to work with
regularity up to within four weeks of her
death, and many were the little offers
made her of help, and of shares of indi-
vidual buns and dOughnuts, for Nellie
was a universal favOrite. No one thought
of her as a woman (she was twenty-two);
she looked 50 childish, and had always
seemed child to every one, that she
was treated like a child at her work. and
her reserve was 50 great that hardly any
knew of the wOman's cares and duties
and burdens that were pressing upon her.
At last she was obliged to stop, and it
almost broke her heart. Her work, her
companions and their society were the
bright spots in her life. She did not
want to die, and it seemed unnatural
that she should. Life was strong within
her; it only had had no chance. But
she was buried yesterday, and working
girls, those who had worked with her,
who knew and loved her, contributed
from their small earnings, and bought
her her muslin shroud, her flowers, and
supplied the present necessities of the
family-the father having taken himself
out of the way altogether. 1t is this
which makes the lives of working girls
50 hard-the want of comfortable homes,
and intelligent, industrious fathers. In
nearly every instance within my personal
knowledge they are obliged to contrib
ute their earnings to the support of the
family, and receive poor, insufficient
food, inadequate clothing, and bare shell
ter in return. 1t ought to be made a
criminal Offense for men to marry and risk
the lives for which they are responsible,
or impose the burnden of an uncared-for
wife and children upon the community.