Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-03-04

| SApSifiuthe- lHtsic are nunUreUS OUTSIDE Whs
want TO get 1t. Iou will please take the great
| est pains with that" The last sentence was ad
dressed to woman in black who had lust takel
IN her arms bundle of sheets to be hemmed
Miss McCailum. please instruct this lady as t,
| what she il to do" Miss McCallum appfher q
Mrs. Spencers assistants. took the lady in bac,
| INTO corner and gave her careful directions a
| TO every part of the work. BY this time there
were but few women left in the room. One o
these was sallow-faced feeble looking woman
of about thirty. ''Ah, Mrs. Jarvis" said Mrs
Spencer, appearing to notice this woman for tn,
iirst time, Il haven't any work for you to do
because the work have is too hard for you"
VERY we'll, said Mrs. Jarvis, but her fac,
seemed to grow shade sadder, as she said it.
81 haven't forgotten YOU" said Mrs. Spencer
| cheerily. II have made a number of inquiries
And do you want work. said Mrs. Spencer
moment afterwards. turning to timid httl.
girl
81. 81 came for my mother. said the girl
"And can't she come herself!"
mo. mann. She is sick"
There was a short conference, and il being
well established. by the records of the office
that the mother was deserving, bundle Of work
was parceed out for her.
BY this time, nearly all of the women having
been provided for, Mrs. Spencer turned her undi.
yided attention to Mr.. Dent and the reporter fol
some minutes. 1t was proposed. she said. to in.
terest, not only merchants, but individual Gus
toners in the work, and make the institution
which was the means of relieving much suffer
ing, self-sustaining. Work that was cent Il
other cities could she said be kept here During
the month of February liz women had applied
and a had received work.
''SOme of the amounts they received" sal d
Mrs. Spencer, running her finger down column
In her account book, ''were very small and
some were very respectable. This woman
stopping her finger on a line) received last
week $50, this woman SLIGO. That does not
mean Tor week work, but for such work as
We had for them to do. Here is one who re-
ceived s335 She was smarter than the rest
and did better work Here is another who
made only 50 cents She was poor seamstress.
and had to do her work over again. The book
10 which Mrs. Spencer referred contained q
record of the family circumstances of each ap-
plicant. sit is remarkable observed Mrs
Spencer, ''that considerable number of these
ladies were born and raised in this city. and
many of them have been iT good circumstances
"lhat lady, said Mrs. Spencer in a low voice
i!hIcatlng woman who stood near the door in
the adjoining room, lis the daughter of -
-, who was one of the wealthy citizens OF
washington when l came here. She used to
drlve In her carriage then. Now she has come
here for work"
AN OLD BUT SAD STORY.
''Why come in, Mr. =" said Mrs. Spencer.
noticing man who was peeking through the
crack Of the door.
The man. thus summoned, presented himself.
He was not over thirty years of age. of slender
figure, and shabbily dressed. and had haggard
face. rendered noticeable by few weeks
growth Of sickly beard that needed trimming.
His face told story of physical exhaustion.
mental despair. and no very great decision of
character. He entered the room rather sheep
ishy
Give Mr.. - some work for his wife," said
Mrs. Spencer to Mrs Douglass and soon a par
Gel was placed i'm his hands
The circumstance Of a man applying for work
OF this kind for his wife led the reporter to
make some inquiries. 1t was an old story. He
was discharged department clerk He had
gone from one end of the town to the other i'm
frultless search for employment. He and his
wife were left dependent on the little pittance
she could earn by this work. She was too sick
to come for it herself.
''IIe did not like to come in when he saw Won
and MIR. Dent in the room," said Mrs. Spencer
% the reporter. HE felt some shame to apply
Tor this work before you men,.
Mrs. Douglass, the forewoman, told the re-
porter that last week they had used seven
pieces of cloth of 52b yards each. besides 20
yards of calico. and % yards of flannel The
specially was shirts and underclothing but they
dd anything that wOman's hands could do
Several sewing machines are Kept i'm the rooms.
and number Of seamstresses are employed
there besides women whose special duty is
cutting out work. Many garments are made
for distribution among the poor. While the re-
porter was present, Mrs. Spencer. among the
great multitude of things she did engaged two
women to cut out the shirts, which were to be
given out the next day.
There were MANY cases of attemDted imnos-
ture, Mrs Spencer said, but not so much in her
department as in the mems department She
REARED one case OF a woman. ELECTROMAGNETIC
TO the association, who pleaded for aid for her
self and four children. When asked the ages of
her children, it was discovered that they ranged
% al bnin
boys. and the whole family appearing to be a
particularly abe-bOdied family. Mrs. Spencer
SAID that the association aimed especially to aid
such women as. having small children to keep
them at nome, were unable to go out in search
of work.
AN INNOCENT IMPOSTER
There was onecase of attempted imposition of
an innocent nature she related, that would
furnish the ground work for a very interesting
story. lady came to her and pleaded for aid
for poor woman, whose address she gave She
represented the condition of the poor woman to
be most pitiabie and begged that blanket fuel
ana foOd be sent to her, with piece of meat
Tor the sufferer was so famished that there as
danger of herattacking people on the street The
case wasinvestigated and all the circumstances
were found to be even worse than had been pic
tured by the eloquent advocate. The most
surprising part OF the affair, however, was that
the sufferer was no other than the advocate her
sell. she was. 1t appeared, hi9h-bOrn lady,
whose means of living had been swept away by
an adverse law suit Being too proud or too
tmid to beg directly, she had resort to the in
genious artifice related to save herself from
perishing by hunger.
MY work will not end until late this even
ing" said Mrs. Spencer, as the reporter de-
sceaded the stairs. "These women will be
coming for work for two hours yet"
THE OFFICE.
Down stairs in the Office on the first floor was
Mr. l.. 8. Emery, the secretary of the Charities
his assistant. sprightly lady, who was busy
with her books, at table in the center of the
room; colored "boy-of-all-work, who sat in a
corner rolling his eyes while he gorged himself
with huge sandwich he held in his hands, and
two lady applicants" The only other con-
spicuous object in the room was a showcase. in
which were displayed some gentlemea's shirts
and samples of fine needlewOrk, and worsted
work, as specimens of what had been done by
the poor women under the patronage of the
association. The assistant secretary had before
her the record of applications She had been so
busy all day, she said, that she had not found
time to eat her lunch until after o'clock.
The two applicants" reflected in some degree
the dingy spendOr of the old hair-cloth sofa.
on which they sat. The appearance of both
was striking in different ways. One was I'M
mistakably an old maid, and she had a face that
gave one a RtrOnp intimafiOn nf onncop,;p,.