The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-02-10

There is a world of gay dress, but much
/ sirnplicltv Of high necks and Gniet ooiors
to rest ones eyes on a. well
WORKING GIRLS OF NEW YORK.
4 stir has been cheated in private cir.
clos bv the statement oil a substantial
business man quoted some few days ago
before q prominent organization oil wo-
men by Sirs Lymen Abbott, the wife OF
Beechcr's successor ia Plymouth pulpit
IA he effect that the morals OF the girls
omnloved rs typewriter' and stenoeIapn
ers in the business Offices OF New YORK
and BROOKLYN are worse than those Oh
any collection of buricsquc actresses or
ballet girls
The point under discussion was The
effect of the now order of things when
/ ia revoluii0niziug The downtown region
of counting rooms and Offices AZ lcas'
300 600 women work for bread and but
ter N one occupation or another in the
Metropolitan district. Is this tremendous
authorizing from the homes and influx
into business. placing safeguards round
the virtue OF women by making them
praciicsl and wise and giving them ihe
pccuniary Independence which comes
of the better pay afforded pl
a multiplication of employmenis,
or do the intimate relations of the sexes
I'm business result IN pitfalls and misad'
ventures Thousands OF girls year after
wear are leaving home and friends and
seeking their fortunes, just as tens OIL
thousands of boys do. among stangers IN
the big city. In the melO-drama the
lone heroine in The wicked town walks
among snares What in real Tie be-
comes Of herr
Nothing at all sensational, IL ono may
trust the heroine herself ana those VINO
have 30 30 with her An inquiry INTO
the social consequences Of the business
revolution results in practically unani-
nous and prosaic approval. Miss Mary
+ Seymour was found looking over the
inst issue of her new magazine, The
Bus.ness Bomsa's journal, when pushed
open her officer door and pat my g1ery.
THEY'RE q bit ilirtauous sometimes,
said she. bee use they are winsome ana
pretty and as high-spirited as other girls.
but all that il sheer thOughilessness and
innocence. and many who realize the
need of discretion hold themselves TO q
rule of conduct so puTatanic that they
refuse 10 recognize on the street The men
with whom they have been closely asso'
ciated all day
Il believe that tho standard OF mo.
ralitv Is higher among women who work
than it IS among those who sit ID iheh
parlors.
of course there are stories once in a
rreat While OF kissing, &c have heard
of one woman VINO ls now a notary pub
lie saw that she had had Just one adj
venture, and that mild one. / am
here alone to-day" said business man
when she arrived I'M the morning. She
was young and thought nothing OF the
word By and by there was pause IN
the dictatiou, and he stopped and kissed
her hand. Sine sat still d minute, then
she broke out laughing Tie was more
angered at tnat tuan IL She had stormed.
Now. girls. don't giggle. Miss Ida
VI Van Ethcn was finishing little
speech TO The triNng feather workers
as pushed through The crowd OF neat
" dressed, bright-eyed young fighter
for living wages, 10 ask her how, IN her
opinion. the w.ckeGncss Of the city af-
fected the working women.
There are very few complaints OF
the sort Won speak of against men, this
when the b1nd of strikers had gone
Women fight is for dollars and cents,
they are h0nOrably treated otherwise
OF course there are instances enough OF
gross indecency in ,he arrangements OF
factories but that is a different question
II am brought into close personal
contact with the working women OF the
city. and have never known personally
single case in which a working girl
went astray when il did not seem TO me
that il could be traced directly 10 The
starvation wages that she earned. /
think YOU will lind more cases OF scan
dial among shop girls than among fac
tory girls, for the sh p girls work year
after year for - a week, while factory
girls are much better paid.
At the rooms of the Working Women
Protective Union, which for twenty-five
wears has stood between helpless women
and fraud, which has collected over 500
600 in money earned bat wrongtully
withheld put The same question.
Do women come 10 you 10 complain
of men a. we'll as of money swindlest
Women tell rs their life stories
frankly, said the lady in charge, and
the wrong doing of men in other than
money matters seldom enters into them.
went 20 the Young NOmen's Chris
tian Association, which deals with over
5000 girls a wear This organization
throws especial safeguards around girls
bv keeping open a free board directory
on whose register the stranger in a
strange city can find list of families
known and approved as suitable house
holds for innocent and ignorant girls to
be domiciled in The association finds.
30 far rs ] was able 10 learn, compare
lively few occasions 30 pui girls on
their guard OF every fifty girls who
leave home 10 work in the city torty-nine
connect themselves within month with
some church. busy themselves evenings
with lectures and turn their hall bed
rooms into cosy snd homeliko apart
ments. and find no more temptations in
the city than surrounded them in the vii
lage at home 4 girl without moral
stamina would be reached by vice any.
where. a pure minded girl was nowhere
exposed
/ tried some of The big dry goods
houses The superintendent of one
store, employing not far from two thou.
sand hands. told me that in many wears
OF business be had never known case
OF scandal growing oui of The associa-
ton of men and women in daily works
The women who had gone wrong. be
could think Of only two-had made the
acquaintance OF their tempters away
from the establshment-he thought IN
their own homes
Climb up under The skylight of the
Western Union Telegraph Company,
where hundreds of women work az the
clicking instruments side by side with
men. They have never seen harm re.
suit from il there, and never expect TO.
at is girls of slow or undevelOped
brains whose escapes are narrowest,
said the matrOn OF benevolent institu-
ton. a young Dutch girl who had
been in the country no long time came
TO me Yesterday in perfect ecstacy Of
happiness. she had met on the street a
yood lookinr vOuur fellow. who insisted