The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-08-19
WANTED, II coon L'IGU URE.
IN Advertisement to Which Moro Than
Sixty Women Promptly Responded.

An Advertisement to Which Moro Than
| Sixty Women Promptly Responded.
| New York Sun.
| An advertisement in Tie Sun of
Sunday last read as follows:
4 REALLY GOOD 3S-INCH FIGURE
"a WANTED. Apply at Cloak Depart
mcnt, 1872 Church st.
Il Sun reporter visited the place
yesterday to ascertain what it meant
by "a really good thirty-cight-
figure" and for what such figure is
wanted. lie found the place to be the
cloak department Of B. II. Clatlin IL
Co., and that other persons had called
there in answer to the advertisement;
but here the resemblance between the
other visitors and the Su1, reporter
ceased, for they were, without cx-
ccptlon, women, most Of them young,
and they all seemed to know just what
thirty-eight-inch figure meant and
what 1t was to be used for. Tho rc-
porter soon learned that in the cloak
| establishment Of Clafin & Co. were not
only cloaks, but womcn's suits are
made, young women Of good figure
arc employed, from whom measure
mcnts are taken whereby the suits arc
cut. The young women thus employ
cd arc also employed to try OH gar
mcnts before purchasers, and q young
woman with good figure is essential.
owe employ four figures constant
ly," said Mr.. William Ferguson, the
manager Of the cloak and suit depart
mcnt. "Thcy call themselves Figures. ,
The French call them 'modcls,' YOU
know, but the girls don't like the
name, SO VIC speak Of them as Figures. ,
We make seven different sizes Of
cloaks and suits, and employ four
figures to work from. or course, I
mean four different sizes of figure.
Our thirty-eight-inch figure was taken
i'll recently, and we must get another
in her place, hence the advertisement
in tic Sun. In answer to this udvcr-
tiscmcnt, VIC have already this morn
ing had at least sixty applicants, and
yet we have not found 1crlly good
figure. You shouldn't think a good
figure so hard to find, but it's so. We
have all manner of applicants, girls
who arc evidently very poor, Judging
from their dress, and girls who como
here with their mothers, wcll-drcsscd,
wcll-brcd and lady-likc girls, who
haven't worked anywhere, but who
arc compelled to earn money, and
they'd like to be figures. Now, our
operatives on cloalks and suits, the
girls who work at the machines, can
make good wages, but, for some rea-
son or other, they all think it's grade
better W orlS to be figures. Of course
there is q very limited demand for
them, and most of them would do
better to take a machine. We pay
our figures $40 week, but u machine
operative at the wages can save more
money, for figure must dress better
than it is necessary an operative
should. She must always'be heat and
tidy, for she has not only to serve as a
measure to cut garments by, but also
as figure on which to display gar
ments for customers.
"On a good figure, Of course, a gar
mcnt looks better, sets better, Il an on
q poor one. A garment made from
the measure from a good figure is
more apt to fit another person than
ono made from poor figure,
and if it doescn't quite fit, is
usually easily altered. So you sec
how important a good figure is. Every
large cloak house in this city employs
two or three such young women. But,
as said before, good figures are vory
hard TO find"