River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-04-30

cure place in the end, because OF the
preference given by employers to those
who have city references as TO their
capability. The experience of years
proves that young women can do better
where they reside and are known than
to take chances in this overcrowded
city"
One of the greatest disadvantages for
country girls seeking employment in
the city is the cost of living. Wages,
which seem large to the country girl at
home dwindle very much when compared
with city expenses. There are never
enough boarding houses for these poor
girls, for the prices they are able to pay
are often not such as will secure decent
accommodation. The Young Women's
Christian association has started a
special home for such girls. with accom-
mediation for about a hundred, at Ia and
10 East Sixteenth street, but il has been
found necessary to make it a temporary
residence, and to limit the time the oc-
cupants are allowed to remain.
1t is with girls, perhaps, more than
with men that the ranks of unskilled
labor are overcrowded. While there
tICuNeAlOS uDOu lhOuSdhuS Vi THESE
country girls who can sew, the number
of experts is quite limited. Many of
them have no definite idea of doing any
particular kind of work, but have merely
a general notion of becoming self-suu-
porting in some way. II is almost the
rule that they have neither the capital
nor the disposition to serve a proper APP
premiership to anything They want
to go to work and earn good wages at
once, uplnindful of the strong COMPETE
tion for resnunerative places.
There are many country girls of good
families who apply for work in the city
for the winter, intending only to earn
pocket money for the summer. Some
of them have artistic accomplishments
that they turn to advantage in one way
and another.
A wide field for the work of country
girls has been opened by the compare
lively modern methods of exchanges for
women's work, where products may be
sent for sale; but by far the larger part
of country girls look to the city, and
they almost unanimously prefer almost
any work. however poorly paid, rather
than domestic service. Among the occu-
pations represented at a woman's meet
ing were these: Artists, bookkeepers,
book folders, boxmakers, candymakers,
carpet sewers, carpet weavers, C ashiers,
chair seaters, cigarmakers, clerks, com
panions, copyists, dressmakers, engrav-
ers wood and metal), feather makers,
flower makers, fur sewers, gold polish
ers, hairdressers, housekeepers, jani-
tresses, ladies' maids, medical nurses,
milliners, missionaries, musicians,
nurses, passementerie makers, photo
colorists, proof readers, saleswomen,
scarf makers, seamstressss, silk weav-
ers, spectacle case makers, stenograph-
ers, straw workers, students, tailoresses,
teachers, telegraph and telephone oper-
ators, typesetters, typewriteTs and up
holsterers.
Many of these country girls get i'm
posed upon and have to go to the Work
ing Women's Protective uni6n to get
their wages collected. This society is
not trades union concern, and has
nothing to do with strikes or boycotts.
Its chief duty is to collect wages due to
women free of cost. The society has
an office at 10 Clinton place. The lady
superintendent says that many country
girls are constantly applying there for
work, and the stereotyped reply by the
society is stay at home if possible"
One of the latest claims placed in the
hands of the society for collection was
that of poor country girl who had been
engaged as a typewriter and stenog
rapher by a clergyman who failed to
pay.
There is undoubtedly a considerable
number of pluclxy, clever, Woodworking
young women who come to New York
and make their way by patient plodding
under difficulties to profitable employ
ment. They go about it in business
way. They have no time for frivolity.
They join various societies for mutual
improvement. They know how to study.
They take advantage of the public
libraries and art exhibitions. They are
not afraid to go out unattended by men.
They may be seen in couples going to
the concert or lecture or church or
theater. They go along about their
business, and are unmolested. 1t is a
great credit to the city that so many.
women are able to go about the city in
the evening without escorts so long as
their demeanor is decorous.
1t is true that many of the country
girls who come to New York have the
advantage of residing with relatives,
but to the bulk of them the girls clubs,
the social organizations of the churches
and charitable organizations are well
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