St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-06

shore anu IL eDDS ana nOWS now lOuQ now
soft, swelling and dying murmuring and
roaring, now giving out
Sullen means
Hollow groans
And cries of tortured ghosts.
Look around for you are in busy hive of
industry where the past and the present unite.
On the one side are some score of merry maid
ems plying the def needle with dexterous
fingers; on the other side the sewing machine
has supplanted the needle. Two long tables
run the entire length of the building and on
either side of them sit some $50 girls; they
are all girls whatever their age. Pass down
between the two tables; now mark well-they
are too busy to resent your stare-did you
ever see such row of healthy rosy and hap
py looking faces? See how easily they guide
the fabric beneath the lightning needle; Now
candidly, does it look very laborious work?
Well let us see what the girls themselves
have to say about it. Here is Miss. G: Will
you please tell US how long you have worked
here, how you like it, how much you earn
what it costs for board? ''You ask so many
questions, sir, you almost take my breath
away I came from Iowa here two years
ago and went to work Immediately. l prefer
working in shop like this to working in a
small room, it is healthier and besides it is
easier as there is no strain upon the body
working the machine and we can earn more
money too for steam drives the machine
faster than the foot can. What do we earn?
Well 1 earn seven dollars week. pay
LIZ e. 4,
other things make up about four dollars
leaving me three to spend as how l may.
No sir I am not married but with pretty
little blush) hope to be some day.
Do all the girls earn as much as you do?
Oh mol Some don't earn more than half
and then others earn more. Here is one
who does better than I can. Lizzie burning
to tall healthy, well dressed dark eyed
young lady about % years of age) here is a
gentleman asking how we manage to live
and what we earn and all sorts of queer
questions He is not the man who put that
stuff in the papers about starving girls who
work three months to earn pair of shoes, is
he? If so tell him we manage to get three
meals day and We can buy clothes too
What do earn?
Sometimes seven and sometimes eight
dollars a week. I pay three for board. 1
worked in Boston before coming here
There are nice shops in Boston but then they
say Minnesota is more healthy. How many
hours do work, why from O'Clock till 12,
and from one till six-nine hours and |
don't get over tired either. Oh you would
like to speak with one who does not earn so
much, well here is one who has not been
here long. Tell the gentleman Annie if YOU
are starved"
| The person addressed was shy looking
| little miss with blonde hair blue ewes and
pink and white checks, sound and plump
and about fifteen years of age. She had only
been at the business a few weeks, and earned
from two and half to three dollars week.
OF course she did not have to pay board, she
| lived with her parents, and she did not help
support them. She wanted the money for
herself and she thought, quiet and demure
as she locked, that no girl of spirit having
health would take money from her parents
when she could work and earn what pocket
money she wanted.
But among those long lines of happy look
ing faces, clean, neat, well clad and well
nurtured busy bodies it will be Gloves labor
lost'' to hunt for the counter part of Hood IS
poverty stricken, hunger, ground and dirt
begrimed wretch so let us off to another
scene. This time the room is more than two
hundred and ninety feet long lofty and airy
like the other and like the other two benches OF
machines run the length of the building.
The girls have just left work and when it is
announced by the foreman that the man Of
news Paul Pry fashion wants to know some.
thing about their private affairs
EAST they come fast theycome!
See how they gather.''
and what din and clatter their supple
tongues and ripping voices raise. eff he
thinks we get nothing to eat he should come
and dine with us once" said one. ct and
my daughter" said another who was widow,
manage to earn enough to pay our rent, buy
fuel and get ihree good meals day'' 'Yes