The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-11-01
SHOP GIRLS OF NEW YORK.
The Slaves of the Factories and the Sewing
Machine.

has been lifting the corners Of the film
sy curtain which hides the hideous
ulcers on the limbs Of the Common
wealth from the eyes Of its heads and
guardians and has attempted to lay
bare to the happy, healthy and wealthy
interested in its welfare the disease and
misery which have been permitted to
become chronic and now threaten to
ruin it.
THE BoNMAKERS AND LAUNDRESSES.
Once more to return to hard facts!
There are thousands of young girls in
this city who have to live on what they
earn as boXmakers. Few Of the busi-
ness men who, comfortably clad in
broadcloth and fine linen, ride down
and up town morning and evening to
and from their offices and counting
rooms stop 70 think of the struggles Of
the comely young shop girls they meet
in the cars. Yet these bright eyed,
sweet visaged young persons, notwith-
- standing their jaunty airs and dainty
appearance, are the factors in painful
domestic dramas, which would be re-
garded as the fiction Of an imaginative
writer ifput in print under the respect
able gold spectacled noses of the sleek
business men aforesaid. Only a small
portion of the shop girls can afford to
ride; the majority have to walk, and
this is because they are as poor as the
proverbial church mouse. Take the
boXmakers. How can they afford to
ride in street car when they cannot
earn more than eighty or ninety cents
in ten hours at the very best of times?
Ordinarily their income is less than
halfa dollar day. On this they have
to live, pay rent and dress themselves.
How can this be done?
Will some rich girl, who pays more
than that every afternoon for her own
personal bodice floral decoration, please
contemplate and endeavor to solve this
problem?
Then let her read this little story told
to Herald representative by Nellie
Lord who lives in Cherry, beyond
Oliver street. She is twenty-five years
old and attempts to keep house with
her widowed old mother, who, Nellie
says, is almost paralyzed and conse-
Guently unable to work.
"I'm only poor stick myself,
Nellie, few evenings ago, to the wri-
ter, who saw her coming out Of box
factory near the Bowery, "but there
are lots OF less fortunate girls than I.
Why? Because l make pretty fair
wages, and most Of them other girls
cannot earn half as mucE-'
"What do you call pretty fair wages,
Miss Lord??" inquired the writer.
''SiNty-tive cents a day; that's near
ly 81 4 week, You see-exactly s. 90
which is not bad, at all events. Some
Oh lIc OlIleIS NoIA 4siSS 4ia1h eiistI
amount. They think themselves in
luck when they touch = 4 week. It's
only the very luckicSt Of them that do"
''Then you are one OF the very lucki-
est"
Il am"
'.Why do YOU say luckiest" Hasn't
good service something to do with the
business:'
''Not much! It's luck, sheer luck,
and I'll tell YOU why | think so. |
know girls who have worked all their
lives at the trade and who have never
Succeeded"'
Jessie R---is one of the thousands
of little cash girls who serve in the big
Grv goods establishments in this city
giving their little all of strength and
ability-often at a fearful cost 10 health
in after years-for the paltry sum Of
81 50. 81 15, s., and in L few cases s. 50
per week. Jessie, because an eXcep-
tionally truStworty child and possessed
of an influential friend, succeeded in
getting position as a cash girl i'll one Of
the largest and best paying dry goods
houses in New York. Here her wages
were - Il week from the start, and
after TWO years service she receives ut
the present time 81 80. If she serves a
year longer and gives satisfaction she
will receive $50 per week, and after
another period, if still satisfactory, she
will he considered eligible to the posi-
ton ola stock girl, who puts the goods
away behind the counters while the