The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-10-15
THE SHOP GIRLS OF PARIS

tidy girls of any age from Is to 25.
They all. or nearly all. have the clas-
sic palor of the Parisienne, and the
musical step and inimitably graceful
gait-the peculiar characteristics of
that queenliest of queenly women,
Mostly these girls are bareheaded Il
have often seen the darkest of tresses
laden with the virgin snow, and the
pretty damsels were actually smiling
under the burdenD; their locks are
usually fastened in wavy coil on the
summit of the head, and they run
along speedily hither and thither,
satchel III hand, to commence the toll
and labor of the day. These are the
shop girls of Paris-the tender, little,
bewitching white slaves of the great
metropolis on the banks of the Seine!
The. Partisan shopgirl stands behind
the counter or fits along the boutique
from z A. NJ. to p. NJ, almost unin-
terluptedly. Habit has wreathed her
face with smiles, for it is the rigid rule
OF the establishment that she must
smile as graciously as possible on
every customer that comes along.
Her heart may be laden with the
heaviest and darkest sorrow, and she
may, OF course, have many troubles
OF her own to ponder over, but, never
theless, she must coax winning look
to her face and the merry ogling glance
to her eyes; otherwise the proprietor
Is sure to get angry and give her her
walking papers. Whether in such
monster warehouses as Louvre and
the Petit st. Thomas, where the en-
ployes number several hundred, or
where a solitary twelve square feet
nook and corner in one of the by-
streets, the shop girl is always courte-
GUS and atfable. She has on every
occasion spic-and-span politeness
about her which favoraply impresses
foreigners.
She may be classified in two catego-
ries. She is either the daughter of
comparatively poor but hard d-work-
ing parents, who take especial care of
her and save her from moral wreck
and ruin, or she keeps the company
OF some young man who pays her
lodging for her and takes her out to
the suburbs for q walk every Sunday.
Ii she belongs to the first category she
is shy and reserved in conversation,
and if she be really a prude, she must
assume piudish airs, or run the risk
OF being reported to her parents by
the patron for misconduct. / had oc.
casion, while in Paris, to know the
parents OF several of these shop girls.
One oil these parents was man of
some go years OF age, prematurely old
and feeble. His spouse was sickly
little creature of the same age. They
had an only daughter. Adele, who was
a shop girl in an establishment some
half mile distant from the paternal
home. For the seven years she was
thus employed she was never allowed
to go to or from her place of business
alone! Every morning, winter as well
as summer, the sire would escort her
to the shop door, and every evening
at 8 o'clock sharp he would be found
at his post-punctual as aroman SEN
tinel-to bring her back under the roof
OF the parental apartment. One day,
two years ago, met him on the boul-
evard as happy as man could be.
.Whatis the matter?" asked. "Have
you fallen in for the 500, 900 francs OF
the Tombola des Beaux Arts?"
"No," was the answer; ''but l have
got Adele married at last" and he
chuckled and rubbed his little wither-
ed hands feverishly as he spoke. ~
got her married to railway clerk
who was not too exacting as Adeles
fortune was only 5000 francs-her
own earnings-and / was too poor to
add anything to dot myself" GLOW
long did it take her to earn that sum-"
l asked. "Well," said he, ''iust seven
years, at a salary varying from 40 to
70 francs month. She commenced
towork at fifteen, and she was twenty
two on her marriage day. 1t was l."
he added, chat forced her to get mar
ried, as the rheumatism was torment
ing me SO much that it was with diff.
ficulty could take her to the shop
and fetch her back, and unless her
mother or myself could do the escort
ing business, why her reputation
would be gone, and she could never
find husband. So that is the reason,
monsieur, why you see me in such
good spirits to-day"
Another paterfamilias assured me
that were it not for his daughter, who
was shop girl, he and his wife should
be compelled to beg their bread. Both
We're octogenarians, and the damsel
herself was over 30 years of age. She
earned 2 francs a day behind the coun-
ter, and when shereturned home every
evening she would hastily dispose Ola
frugal dinner and sit down to table,
where she wrote circular addresses for
the remuneration OF 2 cents per 100.
She would dispose OF a hundred in an
hour, and worked till l in the morn
ing earning 10 cents during the five
hours! She could earn franc and
some odd centimes every Sunday over
this operation, as shehad nothing else
to do that day. Such devoted at
tachment is by no means rare in Paris.
Virtue still lives, or rather vegetables,
among thu shop girls Of the French
metropolis, even though sin and vice
may pollute the city's streets.
There is, however, unfortunately, a
dark side to every picture. Ii many
OF the shop girls are virtuous, not a
few are the contrary. Ask any OF the
latter why they have abandoned the |
moral path, and they will reply: "We
could not live on virtue, Monsieur.
How do you imagine that girl could |
keep body and soul together on a
franc or franc and half q day and |
pay fifteen or twenty francs month |
besides for her lodgings?" Poverty |
in Paris like poverty elsewhere, is the
primary cause OF q maiden's fall, a
fall that in nine cases out OF ten ends
eventually in prostitution or in ap-
palling death in the city hospital.
The students OF the Quarter Latin
are theusual Lotharios OF the Partisan
shop girls. The future Judge, lawyer,
barrister, or doctor OF the republic,
who is allowed 200 francs month by |
his parents to pursue his studies, es-