Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-03-15
CASH BOYS AND GIRLS.
THE CHANCES WHICH THEY HAVE
IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

in T1C 0A j - VI Ill -
thousands of These Children in the Dry
Goods Houses-Hard Rules to be OBJ
served-A Vocation Which Has Escaped
the Notice of Reformers.
Rat tat tat!
The origin of this sound was the blunt end
Of lead pencil in the hands of a young lady
In an up town dry goods store. She was
saleswoman. or, begging the young persons
pardon, a saleslady, if she will consent to use
the word salesgentleman when speaking of
her male Wis Wis who dances attendance
on customers on the opposite side Of the
room. The taps on the counter were the
modern substitute for the exclamation ''cashl"
formerly uttered to call the attention of the
salesman's devil. They were hardly given in
this case before several urchins materialized
from among the wilderness of skirts that
filed the passageway, and, shouting certain
talismanic numbers, they stood before the
conjuring witch. What followed it will be
necessary to tell to no feminine reader who
has seen her money disappear over dry
goods counter.
There must be several thousands Of these
interesting children, male and female, known
under the generic name of Cash, in the city
of New York at this time. Rejecting on the
number Of dry goods houses on Broadway,
Twenty third street, Sixth avenue, Four
teenth street and Grand street, and the num-
Der employed by all the leading firms, it
is even possible to estimate the total at
1900 or 5000. They represent great indus
try, Of which the object is chiefly consump-
tion. They stand, also, ON the lowest round
of the mercantile ladder, and some are des-
tined to mount until they become clerks, su-
perintendents and proprietors. Others, again,
will be fated to fall by the way, or, belong
ing to the gentler sex, they will float off and
perform matter of fact roles in domestic
dramas They are now leading lives of con-
siderable hardship. They look bright and
cheerful in the morning, heavy at monday,
and sometimes jaded in the evening. To
persons familiar with the habits of children,
and who reflect on their ability to play fif-
teen hours on the stretch without any appa-
rent sense of fatigue, this declaration may
sound like a waste of sympathy. But some
how there is world of difference between
work and even the kind of recreation which
taxes the muscles more severely than work.
Cash girls and boys are usually the chill.
dren of parents who are not able to live
without turning all their resources into the
market. These children do not seek the situ-
alton of their own free will. and they often
hold it very much against their will Ask
them how they like their employment, and
they will not always give cheerful answer.
They speak of the hard rules which they are
obliged to observe, and of the fines which
merchants think it necessary to impose to
maintain discipline. In the largest stores
the pay Of q cash girl is only $1.50 per week,
a sum that may be increased to $3.50 per
week by closer attention and greater activi-
ty But even this small amount is liable to
considerable reduction through the inf1ic-
tion of penalties. Perhaps the cash girls ex-
aggerate; perhaps, in the innocence Of souls
inherently truthful, they sometimes tell ibs.
They are occasionally sent home, they say, at
the end of week with no more than fifty
cents in their pockets. The poor dears think,
too, that they are often imposed upon, and
even made the scapegoats for their elders,
who have reached the age of feminine per-
fection, and can do no wrong. 1t is conven-
lent to have cash girl at hand to charge
with the loss Of articles which have disap-
peared from the counter without having
been sold.
But these are only the girls The cash boy
is a more demonstrative and aggressive
creature than the cash girl, and it is to be
presumed that he fares better. The place to
see him at his best is at store where he is
paid according to the service rendered. Here
he is like high officer-a deputy sheriff, for
example-who draws his salary in fees, and
whose profits depend on his activity. The
cash boys in one store Of this sort number up
to a maximum company Of infantry, 100
strong, and a champion club Of football
players could not be more active. We are
told that at this store cash boys earn as much
as 81 week, and that none earns less than
IS, fact which speaks well for the iberality
of the firm. They make boast, too, at this
store Of the number Of faithful boys who
have been promoted to the various depart
ments Of the house Some Of the employees
who began in this humble sphere have been
as many as thirteen years in service.
The qualifications demanded for the SER
vice are not necessarily of very high order.
AS for personal recommendations, it is to be
presumed that only sufficiently good looking
boys and girls need apply. Looking at some
of the dry goods warehouses fronting on
several streets, with exits everywhere, and
packed with customers one would suppose
that it might be necessary to give bonds
before being permitted to enter the service.
1t looks entirely feasible for any discontented
Cash to indemnify himself for unjust fines
by slipping away with money enough in his
hands to buy an outfit for an Indian hunting
campaign at the west But since no attempt
of the kind was ever reported, we have to
conclude that cash boys and girls all come
from the stock which is proverbially honest
because it is poor.
This is one of the few vocations which have
not yet attracted the attention OF the social
agitators. Neither has it come under the sur
veillance of the Society for the Prevention OF
Cruelty to Children. Yet it cannot be denied
that it is capable of furnishing topics for all
sorts of reformers. Cash is exactly of the age
when he ought to be at school nine months in
the wear, But in lieu of walking in the paths
of instruction he must run only in the ways
that lead from the counter to the cashiers
desk. and there is not much of knowledge to
be gathered by the way. Hours before the
time when other rosy checked children are to
be met in frolicsome groups, vending thelr
way to the school room, he may be discovered
standing in line before the closed doors OF the
warehouse, waiting for the opening; and,
though he may look cheerful and contented
enough in childish thoughtlessness, we know
that he is preparing the way for future regree
and humiliation. True, there is the night
school; but at the end of long day OF intense
activity, at something which is not play Dut
very hard work, we are not to presume tna1
he will take kindly to study, or drink very
deeply of the light draught, chiefly composed
of reading, 'riting, and 'rithn,etic which VIII
be offered for his mental nurture. we all