The Dickinson press., 1888-02-25
CASH BOYS AND GIRLS.
THE CHANCES WHICH THEY HAVE
IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

Goods Houscs-Hard Rules to be Oh.
scrvcd-A Vocation Which Has Escaped
tho Notice of Rcformers.
Rat n tat tat.
The origin OF this sound was the blunt end
of n lead pencil i'll the hands of Il young lady
in an up town dry goods store. She was u
salcswoman. OF. begging the young PERSONS
pardon, Il saleslaiv. if she will consent to use
the word salrs:sentlcman when speaking of
her male Wis a Wis who dances attendance
on customers Oh the opposite side of the
room. The taps Oh the counter We're the
modern substitute for the exclamation ''cash!'
formerly uttered to call the attention of the
salesman's devil. They were hardly given in
this case before several urchins matcriali.rl
from among the wilderness of skirts that
filed the passageway, and, shouting certain
talismanic numbers, they stood before the
con,iuring witch. What followed it will I've
necessary to tell to no feminine reader who
has seen her money disappear over a dry
goods counter.
There must he 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. Retlecling on til"
number of dry goods houses on Broadway.
Twenty-third street. Sixth avenue, Four
tenth street and Grand street, and the num-
her employed by all the leading firms, it
is even possible to estimate the total at
1000 or 5000. They represent a great indus
try, of which the object is chiefly con5uinl,-
ton. They stand, also. III the lowest round
of the mercantile ladder, and some are DIES
tined to mount until they become clerks, SUI
pcrintcndents and proprietors. Others. again,
will lie fated to fall by the way, OF, 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 fiji
teen hours on the stretch without any mp
sound like a waste of sympathy. But some
how there is II 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 arc not able to live
without turning all their resources into tho
market. These children do not seek the stu
alton of their OWN free will, and they often
hold it very much against their will. Ask
thcm how they like their employment, and
they will not always give Il 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 a cash girl is only sl.5O per week,
a sum that may he increased to $3.50 per
week by closer attention and greater a%ctivi-
ty. But oven this small amount is liable to
n considerable reduction through the intIic-
tion of penalties. Perhaps the cash girls OK
nggerate; perhaps, in the innocence of souls
inherently truthful, they sometimes tell fils.
They are occasionally sent homo, they say. at
the end of Il 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 sc%apegoats for their elders,
who have reached the age of feminine per-
lection, and can do no wrong. 1t is conven-
lent to have Il cash girl at hand to charge
with the loss of articles which nave disap-
pcared from the counter without having
been sold.
But these are only the girls. The cash boy
is n moro dcnlonstrativo and aggressive
creature than tho cash girl, and it is to be
presumed that he fares better. Tho place to
see him at his best is at a store where he is
paid according to the service rendered. Here
he is like n high otficcr-a deputy sheriff, for
eSamplc-who draws his salary in fees, and
whose profits depend Oh his activity. The
cash boys in one store of this sort number up
to n maximum company of infantry, 100
strong, and II champion club Of football
players could not be more active. We are
told That at this store cash boys earn as much
as 81 a week, and that none earns less than
s., Il fact which speaks well for the liberality
of the firm. they make q 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 q 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 he necessary to give bonds
before being permitted to enter the service.
1t looks entirely feasible for any disconnected
Cash to indemnify himself for unjust fines
by slipping away with money enough in his
hands to buy an outfit for an Indian hunting
CilllpulSll III lut WCSt. DuU since 10 uIIellDU
of the kind was ever reported, we nave 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
VIGILANCE of the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children. Vet it cannot he denied
that it is capable Of furnishing topics for all
sorts of reformcrs. Cash is exactly of the age
when he ought to be at school mine months i'll
the year. But i'll lieu of walking in the paths
of instruction he must run only in the ways
that lead from tho counter to the cashiers
desk, and there is not much of knowledge to
he gathered by the way. Hours before the
time when other rosy checked children are to
be met i'll frolicsome groups, vending theil
way to the school room, he may be discovered
standing in line before the closed doors of tho
warehouse, waiting for the opening: and
though lie may look cheerful and contentet
enough in childish thoughtlcssness. We know
that he is preparing the way for future regre
and humiliation. True, there is the nigh
school; but at the end of a long day of intens
activity, at something which is not play bu
very hard work, we are not to presume tina
he will take kindly to study, or drink yer,
deeply OF the light draught. chiefly compose
of reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, which will
be offered for his mental nurture. We al
remember the old provcrb about ul work an,
no play, and the consequences. But Casl
like the street messenger boy, completes wit
no one, and he is, therefore, left unmolestet
He fills o niche, which would be empty by
for his childish figure, and so he is above
to stand, while his fellows of u correspondent
age are expelled from the factories whel
they are thought to be in the way of person
of mature years.-New York Sun.
Norvin Green estimates Jay Gould's 70
tune at SGO,00O,000. This is Dnsidere
moderate.
r. ,.., ~.....