The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-13
(CopuIghfed 1881


copyrighted isssl
NEW YORK, May l2.-Do you know wha
st means to walk the street hour after hour
day after day. tired, foOtsore, perhaps hun
CRY, looking for honest work and not find
ing iti Do You know how the long block
stretch out till they seem interminable, how
the tagging seems TO move just in front o
your feet, to waver III the sunlight, almos
to rise up and meet you, till you put out
hand and touch the lamppost as you pass il
to satisfy yourself that you are only a lit
tie gid " and the world is still steadfast
Do you know how your heart, which was il
your mouth in the morning with timidity
at the first asking goes down and down
lower and lower with each refusal, till yoI
feel it in your boots by the time the moor
bells have rung, your i'll luck writing it
self in your face till there is no inquiry left
oily Encouragement in your eyes and il
your tones as you put the old question fol
Che fftieth time. accepting mechanically be
for you hear it the fiftieth possible employ
eT's denial.
| have tried it experimentally for parts OF
two bright May days only, and the expert
ence was one which. taken in grim earnest,
i should not care to repeat
The city is overrun with women looking
for something TO do. The number of I'M
employed men never bears any such pro-
portion to the whole number of working
men IN the city as does the army of girls
clamorous for occupation to the body Of
wage-earning women all the time. The
competition in every business in which self
dependent women engage is something
Leart-breaking. Nobody who has not per-
sonally looked into the matter has any con-
ception of the pitful desperation of the cut
applicants for every vacancy. This pushes
tue wages down and down continually till
they get to the lowest point at which a
woman can live. Competent Observers Say
that there are few places in the country
where the average working chances
of a decent livelihood are SO poor as in New
York. No other city in the country. no
city in the world but London, has any such
horde of wage-working women, 200 900 as
the accepted figures. Nowhere else is the
wrestle for bread and butter so bitter,
nowhere is failure easier or more disas-
trous, nowhere is success harder to com
mand.
When l enrolled myself in the ranks of
tie cty's working girls two days ago |
made my first application at a large paper
box factory for work; it was at the noon
hour, and before | had approached within
half block of the towering brick structure
] had been made aware in advance of my
fate. just in front Of me two Swedish
girls stepped out of a hakeshop in which
they had been eating crullers and drinking
milk for their lunch. | assume, without
warrant, that these were their eiibles and
turntables, because for some inscrutable
reason Swedish girls always do eat crullers
aad drink milk when they make their own
choice of meal.
lit VIII not be very good summer for
work, I'm thinking, but / hope I'll not lose
my place"
This was the scrap which caught my ear
as the yellow hair, blue eyes and high cheek
bones Of one strong, sensible-lOoking, young
Scandinavian were turned to the yellow
hair, blues eyes and high cheek bones of the
other
mo; my bruder said last night he heard
some talk of running only five DAYS in the
VI eek in little while. IL is because there
viii be new President, he thinks. Maybe
we 20 home to Stockholm to spent the sum
Iner ami come again when there is work
in the fall. ! like to see my muder and
Hans, and it would cost not so mooch as to
stay here
The Swedish girls belonged in the factory
anu they very goOdnat uredly instructed
me as t. the way TO the Superintendent
office, when they learned that was in search
of work. 1t was not hard, they assured me,
when one got the knack of the FASTING and
folding, and the iorewoman of their floor
was good one, but they didn't believe that
any hands were wanted.
The Superintendent had not come back
from his dinner, and l. found myself for
1ornly trying to find Something of interest
in the cobwebby prospect from cobwebby
Lack window while | waited for half-past
twelve TO whistle its signals and the big,
1aalf on r.tNr t,la 70 d. 7 L =
waited above SIX minutes q tall slender girl
of 70 or Whereabouts, who looked as strange
TO the place as | felt stepped hesitatingly
my way, and it needed little skill in guess
ing to divine that she was looking for work
too.
do you want place?" ventured to ask
her, Ior she lookedat once reserved, shy and
half-incllned to invite confidence.
She told me story that have carried in
my mind ever since. She was a farmers
daughter from Central New York. The
farm was not large one and it was mort
gagged. The last two or three years at the
butter factory had not been good ones and
they were running behind. Her father was
getting old, her mother was worn out
These were other children at home, and she
hac come TO the city to find work to send
ready cash back, for the interest on that
crushing mortgage. She had been in New
York three weeks. She had spent every
day looking for work and she had found
nothing TO do. She had tried the dry goods
stores, but her lack of experience and her
country ways were against her. She had
answered advertisements for nursery gov
ernesses and had found that tue teacher of
the youngest child must know French and
German, and could not earn enough TO
dress as her employers expected her to aud
save anything for tho parents at home
She had looked for a situation as colnDan-
ion, but the same drawbacks and perhaps
her pretty lace hindsred her there. Sine
had even after nights crying humbled her
country-1red pride sufficiently TO advertise
herself for a place as chambermaid, and had
received five replies IN answer to her care
fuly-wOrded three lines OF the five situa
lions she might have secured one but the
family were TO start in week to spend the
summer within half a mile of her home,
and her mother, she said, would never hold
her head up if she lived out there. She had
visited several factories that morning.
She had used up nearly all her money II
she stayed three days longer she should moi
have car fare with which TO get back To the
country again. Should she stayl Could
she risk III She must, but she was ready &c
despair.
By and by the Superintendent returned
He was brusque, bushywhiskered man
not unkind, but evidently used t. dealing
with good many applications like ours.
He didn't want any girls. He had hardly
time 10 say il before other business called