Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-10-04
WORKING WOMEN.
Details of the Lives of Working
Girls in Boston and Providence.

Details of the Lives of Working
Girls in Boston and Providence.
Commissioner Wright, in the annual re-
port of the bureau of labor for 1885, devoted
to working women in large cities which
contains much interesting information about
working women in % representative cities,
says:
Boston and Providence were the cities Sc
lectsd for New England Under the head of
general conditions, the report says: Thu
most striking feature of the home life OF
working women in Boston Is the great num-
ber who live in lodging houses This is esrec-
tally noticeable because of the large mum Jel.
of girls coming from the surrounding country
places and from the British provinces. They
having usually few or no kindred in tAe
great city are forced into the lodging houses
which abound, for comparatively few ~ i
vate families will receive boarders, and the
working girls homes though becoming more
numerous than formerly are still entirely
made quate to provide for all these homeless
strangers Such conditions necessarily
weaken the hold of the home life upon
the memory and the affections; they
do away with the sense Of pro-
prietorship which even the poorest tenant
feels in the house which shelters him; AMI
they also do away with that privacy which
is one of the best features of the separate
times no parlor or reception room attlched
to the lodging house of the working girl,
and she is forced to receive her friends in
her chamber or not to receive them at ALL
Such condition tends either in the direction
of crushing out social intercourse, especially
between the 'xes, or of carrying it beyond
the limit of prudence.
| Yet there are some compensations for this
cheerless homelife, il home life it may be
called, and are found in the proprietorship
which the working women may have III the
intellectual life of the city, in its education
al privileges, in its libraries, museums and
exhibitions. Music, literature, art lectures,
are all within easy reach, and the working
| girls of Boston avail themselves of sucn
privileges to great exteRt. A buttonhole
maker gave as her reason for not living in
the suburbs, where living was cheaper, that
she would hen be debarred from lectures and
| oratorios. A necktie maker contributes ex-
cellent verses to first-rate magazine.
Suspender makers who have taught school
belong to Browning clubs, and discuss the
| tariff and similar vital issues. Work is
regarded as honorable, and the barriers
which exist between the people OF leisure
and wage earners may in some cases be
overcome. The shops and factories are in
fair sanitary condition in a majority Of
cases and in very many employers seem
anxious to add to the comfort of their em-
|
ally posted and as regards the EN-
ployment Of children under age more
| generally observed here than elsewhere.
The work is, generally speaking, quite resu-
lar during the entire year. Many rumors
were heard of improper proposals being
made to girls when applying for work or
entering therein, but such rumors were gem
orally found to be groundless only one
authenticated case of the kind having been
discovered in the investigation.
The homes Of the working people in Provi-
deGce are generally frame buildings accom-
modating from one to four families each, the
tenement house proper being almost mn
known. These homes are very comfortable,
and ren' s are low. In the neighborhood Of
certain Of the mills, where the houses of the
employers are owned by the mill operators,
| drainage is neglected and the health of the
inhabitants suffers but generally speak
ing the sanitary conditions are fair The
home surroundings of many of the girls in
the mills indicate education and thrift car
peted floors books, pictures, ETC., being not
infraquently found. Over 20 per cert Of all
the women seen in the investigation were
found boarding either in the board
ing houses connected with the mills
or in private families The educa-
tional advantages are very superior, the
school system being excellent but the
schools are depleted by the mills, into which
children are received as soon as they arrive
at the age permitted by the law and in fact
the law is frequently disregarded. Religious
observances are general, and the general
morality of the working women is unquas-
toned. The older mills are defective in
light, ventilation and space, are often
without dressing rooms, and fire.
quently the ordinary sanitary require
ments are disregarded. These condiIi, ns,
with the flo ting dust incident to work in
the mills and the rigor of the climate in the
winter season induce diseases of the lungs.
The extensive jewelry manufac ories are
usually well suited for their g., but parts
of the work are said to be very injurious to
health. Wages correspond with those re.
ceived in other manufacturing cities. Fines
are common, sometimes becoming heavy
| prieN ance