The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-08-28

nlmble with her fingers, the proprietor Is
only too glad to avail himself o. her
services.
Wages vary somewhat, but do not 60
below SO per week, nor above S. her
meals being, of course, not included in
this. And her meals are not such small
item, after all, for leave the Chicago girl
alone for picking out the daintiest and
most expensive bin of fare Cake, ice
cream, pies, buildings. juicy chops and
choice cuts of roast are all at her dspos-
al and she certainly understands how
to avail herself of her privileges in this
respect A restaurant keeper on Halsted
street assured the Herald reporter that
his waiter girls cost him about 81 day
each ''in The matter Of grub. as he
unaesthetically expressed it. You'd be
astonished sir, he said with sigh, If
YOU could observe those glrls sometimes
when they feed. Why they get away with
twice as much steak and everything else
as a hard working man. | had an ethereal
creature here up to a few weeks ago; you
could have spanned the waist of her with
one hand but | had to bounce her For
why? Cause she ate me poor, to be sure
Yes, sir, YOU may not believe it, but if
had kept that girl another six months I'd
be candidate for the poor house. The
amount of solid nourishment she used toI
get away with was revelation to me
| And all of the cOstlcst kind, too; nothing
mean about her. you can bet. You can
| put it down for fact that the Chicago
waitress does not 90 back on her meals
There are perhaps some fifteen hundred
waiter girls IN the city. Up to a few
years ago there were only comparatively
! few respectable restaurants where women
were employed in that capacity, but at
the present day probably one half, or
perhaps even larger proportion of them
keep mattresses TO serve the meals to
! their customers. There are but a very
| few first Iclass restaurants in this city,
however where women are employed in
| this way. The proprietors recognize the
fact that there are several serious draw
backs TO them But of these later anon.
Let one accompany girl as she sets out
on her first days work as a waitress She
| is butlswcct sixteen, and she is but trit1e
bashful and yet not much, but just enough
The father is mechanic, and there are.
several small sisters and brothers at home,
80 the Annie s-thats her name-stipu-
lated earnings of So 80 per week will do
conside able for the family exchequer. She
carries her couple of white aprons neatly
folded under her arm. That's all the tools
she needs Arrived at the restaurant. she
busies herself tidying up the place and
,1E- l.. T.l-
in State street wholesale house-ouc of
the slightly bold and know-everything-
better than you do think He notices that
Annie is green, and he bullies and frigh-
tens her. Annie doesn't like it and views
her new position not quite in the same
rOscate light that she did. But her next
customer Is a pleasant, good-natured
fellow, little rough, though. When she
has brought him his steak aud fried po-
tatoes he puts a dime in her dimpled
palm She likes the position of waitress
better now. And so it goes on, all through
the day and up 10 eight in the evening
gay young fellows, jocular, susceptible,
and even tough young fellows, serious
and grumpy old bachelors, rough and
tough old bachelors, with few melan-
Choly widOwers, grass or otherwise.
thrown in. Some she likes, some she dis
likes. On the whole she likes her new
business, and most of all when Saturday
night comes round and she draws her first
weeks wages. She feels rather stately
and majestic when she comes home anC
deposits the magnificent sum OF 81 80 on
( the family altar On second consideration
she deduCts 81 from her princely earning
and invests it ina new parasol. And so i
gOes on for perhaps year, and perhaps
for only a few months when she informs
T her father and mother that she is COINS
q to marry Charlie" the young fellow
o who put the dime into her la, d the frs
morning she waited on him. It's the wa,
of the world.
There are other kinds of mattresses
Some of mature years and all kinds of e.
periences some that have been married
j and divorced, and few widows TAKE
c them as a class, and the mattresses are as
! respectable and busy, as honest and wei
meaning as anybody, This is fact, de
spite the further fact that waiter girls vii
e tlirt. And that brings the story to tn
4 chapter Of drawbacks to employing VIC
-. men in restaurants The flirting Pre-
cliyities of the Chicago waitress are a
II once her strongest and her weakest poin
W in =. her professional" capacity, Whs
n endears her most as dispenser of meal
to some, viz, the sweet smile, the CO
archness with which she buZzes arOunt
her male customer sadly detracts froI
| 81, 1F he
handsome man with the black whiskers
~ at the farther corner table, she forgets a
about the order which she took for tn
II unassuming individual minus the blac
Is whiskers at the next table. The cons
IN quence is that she brings him his stea
J. done to death, instead of rare, coffee il
stead of tea, and fried potatoes in plat
II of boiled marphies, as he ordered Thu!
H. while the gentleman with the blac
Sc whiskers is basking in her smile and feet
he ing off the very fat of the land his neig
Dor is shown the cold shoulder, and ge
AL everything wrong OF course, he nevC
ne comes back to that restaurant, and Il
o" owner of the place loses his custom al
,c his shekels Women will be partig
They can't help it, the dear creatures. i
IL, part and parcel of their very nature
raj And the fat man who is enthroned b.
nd hind the cigar showcase or the count
no and rakes in the shining coin of the r
oh public appreciates this fact, and makes t
IN most of it. Thus, while portion of t
nd waitress endowed restaurants clientC
* will indorse the waitress most enthsias
of cally, the other parties will condemn h
al and the places at which she is to
"N found as immoral, etc.
we
- Besides the butterfly like passion
" flirting. there is, however, the strong
re- passion of real attachment that mars t
lre waiter girls accomplishments and util
as such. While she nurses tender fe
ing for legitimate beau at home, hi
can she be polite and attentive to 6
theses hOrrid menu" Impossible, but til
she may have sick baby at home, or
infirm mother, and that initiates agail