Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-11-01
TALE OF A PROOF READER

" I have reached the mature age OF
twenty.six years without achieving any
other distinction in life than a place as
proof reader in a publishing house. That
may seem q small honor 10 the unini.
tiated, but my work is intellectual and
very comprehensive. That | am capable
of doing it argues for me Q wide range Of
information, a mind finely critical. If
were not mentally superior to the masses
could | derive a comfortg de income from
running down their mlStakesi Would
not my own Ignorance be apparent Oh
many a printed page Il | did not with
steady hand seize and hurst ont of sight
the ignorance and C,relessness Of those
who writer am cl seted all day with
Webster and Worcester; ! nm familiar
with all books of reference. / read
and write German and French. ] can
trace every English word to its root,
and translate Latin and Greek. am
not an esotist when / tell YOU these
things, for | must take my place among
the workingwomen of Chicago as ono
who is paid fer less than the successful
d~ressrlaker, miliner or cook. Indeed,
have often envicd my sisters who achieve
success in either Il these lines. Tho
artist IN dressmaking commands her
price. he m.lliner's taste and style render
her ! ippon lent; the accomplished cook
who faui.less dinners lead her IN 10
fortu al these create something that
can appreciated, admiscl and weakly
init, Il. Ny work is sadly neg tive,
Ny S.rs are those u omission, not oi
commission. Who ever hears Of the
error | eradicate. the thought | spend
upon tie printed pagei For the work
do | V in the cordial hatred Of those who
work about me-the printer, the fore
man. even the lnky boy who brings work
TO ny hands. These all hate me for the
thing | do, while / am in constant terror
from things / do not do. What proof
reader has not stood aghast at some glar-
ing error which he did not run to earth
on the first proof, but overlook by chance
ON q revise? What if his tired eyes had
missed it them 1t would have wrought
ruin to an entire volume-and u him.
How / secured my position / need not
relate. 1t was after long and hard fight
for it. which l began at nineteen years.
Till then / had been a ward Of charity.
wearing in my baby days the blue check
apron Of the Foundlings' home, was
educated az the expense Of the church.
and when first | tried my small strength
against the world it was as cOpyholder
in a great publishing house in Chicago.
/ am able now TO earn SIS per week
after seven years. am little Of a pes
simist and my life has not been given
over to melancholy, but 10 work. | give
ten hours Of each day 10 my tasks. That
absorbs nv energy, breaks my spirit and
will and leaves me tired and depressed.
/ have been employed on Monroe street,
in a house that is old and well known.
Its air j. full of foul odors, il Is dark
and without ventilation. | climb five
flights OF stairs 10 nay work in the morn
ing, taking my way through rooms full
of human beings struggling for daily
bread against greater odds than !, and
who even envy me. Ali day | hear the
throbbing and beating Of the great
presses, the click of the type in the
printer fingers. | sec their faces about
me, anxious and poverty tried, and |
have seen them 50 br five years, and
somctiuies hone dies within me.
Touch q book with reverent fingers, We
who are ignorant Of its mechanism.
Over its pages flows the life blood Of
many an humble toiler. Mayhap its
fair, white leaves have been dampened
with women's tears, for 50 many work.
ing women are heartsick and discour-
aged.
Five years Of this life will render the
hopeful woman strong minded and cyni-
cal. She will need the ~unlovcly strength
she develops in q city that harbors and
gives subsistence TO 10000 bachelors.
Forty thousand strong men, who smoke
and eat, sleep and pursue their solitary
lives, spending yearly means enough TO
keep up homes. And where every
morning 10000 women tramp hurriedly
through our streets, a terrible army, each
with her face set toward some store,
office or workshop. These women do
not seek health nor strength nor woman
liness-they must lose these better Gle
ments. They will not win wages enough
70 keep them through chance sickness
o certain old age-not one in a thou
sand does that. They will not be
made DETER, mentally or morally, by
cesseless toll. They will only clotlie and
feed themselves, that they may come on
the morrow and again, I'll their faces
are pinched and bloodless and the grace
of youth has left them; till they arc not
nc for wives and mothers, for they are
old and sad, and each OF the $1,000
bachelors wants a wife whose temper is
sunny and sweet and who does not know
the world 10 well as these working wo-
men Of Chicago.
There was a time in my life when I