The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-04-18
SONG OF THE SHIRT.

One OF the Thousands of New York's Poo<
Girls Talks of Herself and Her work.
II des5t know what 1 ana going to de ebezt
| 1t, said the shirt fnissaer. Ny reeR mates
VOW they won't consent to have the alarm
cleck so of at half past in the morning.
You see all three Of fern are salesladies, and
| Sc they can afford to lie abed till nearly Z,
while I ought TO BE- up as soon as can see to
work, though. fer the hfe Of me, cannot
wake without the alarm I'd rather sew late
| at night, 50 as 20 sleep the next morning, but
my room mates won't agree TO nay having a
candle, as they say the light keeps theIa
awake; SO l ana sometimes left IN the dark,
in the middle Of button hsle when the gas
is turned or at half past 10. I don't sew on
| buttons IN my dreams, as that woman done
IN the Song OF the Shirt q heard it read at
a club neeting), but it weuid be great saw
ing Of tine If I could only sew 'eu on In the
dark. By working early and late can't
finish more thaa i've shirtsa day-when they
ara custom shirts do four-and rs the high
est pay at the place where l work is a dollar
and half dozen, consider myself N luck
when can pay my board, three dollars, at
the end Of the week. For stock shirts get
only dollar a dozen, and when business
I'LL "a A,EA1 ~ SOA1 % A@SAO SS~~n7 S@SA
anything else.
Il could do an awful lot more If l was al
lowed TO slight my work, ike girls who finish
cheap jerseys. The buttons drop of my
jerseys the first time I fasten 'ena, but no
such work as that is put on shirts. 1t amt
poor work, pSer pay with me, but good
work, poor pay. The oVerlooker at our
place, though she wears glasses, has got the
-,,e. ,TzS,lrso p %I,1
gtitches has to be just so close together, and
the hennTnins in the gussets has to be almost
rs nice as what wSuld be put on pocket
handkerchief; the buttons must be sewed on
hard and tight; and as for the eyelets, they
are just the torment Of my life, they have to
be worked SO awfuIly round and smooth. 1
always dread to get a set Of skirts with eye
lets IL 'e2n because then am sure 20 be found
fault with when hand my work in-seme-
times get 'em too large, and sometimes too
small don't have that trouble with button
holes, because they are cut fer me.
Supplied with thread and needlesf That
we ain'tl We buy cur ewn thread and
needles, and it counts up in the end, 1 can tell
you. That's all do buy nowadays, and it
often comes cut Of nay board money. AS for
having By washing dane, told the suPerin-
teRdent Of tho home where live that just
couldn't afford it, and so there has been an
exception unade in nay favor, and am al
lowed to go down into the laundry and wash
my own duds. It's against the rules for the
other boarders to do it, though they'd all
like to- no matter how much they may earn.
The girls in my room are always washing
their kandkerchiefs and such things, and
hanging them behind their waShStands where
they think they went be seen.
"Why do / work for so httle2 Well, three
dollars a weak is better than no dollars
week, and as l amt got nobody to look to
for support, have to catch On TO any werk
that comes along Relatiens2 None nearer
than cousins, and they don't amount TO much
at least mine don't.
''rhe girls in my room tell me that l could
never get place in store because am net
tall enough; but if could once lay up money
enough to pay my board for q week or two,
I'd tramp UP and down the city till found
place where they weUld take me. was in q
store once around the holidays when there
was a loo Of extra hands needed, and I tell
you it was q satisfaction to bring home nay
five dollars on Saturday night l get out
of all patience when I hear girl whining
and saying she don't see why she has 70 work.
Why, work Is what I want, and the only
thing that 1 do want. If could earn five
dollars week at shirt finishing, I'd be will
ing to keep at it till I was too cid to thread a
needle. It's only werk that doesn't pay
enough to keep m1h hat dent like On five
dollars week l could live like lady-tAree
for nay board, one to put aside for dress, and
one for my other expenses. Any girl that's
got the kRack of fixing things can dress
decent on fifty dollars a year, but it's awful
hard to do it on nothing. New York Trib-