The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-08

She was making brave struggle.
upon nv hostess herself took the chair. and
busied herself with turning hem that no
time might be lost while we talked.
She was busy, just then. making babies
long dresses. those aimless yards Of white
cloth in which, during the first months of
their existence, the young OF our race are
swathed, for no purpose apparently, save
perhaps to afford employment to the experts
who alone can handle them In that garb.
The dresses in question were OF fine white
CLOTH with cunning little yOkes OF insertion
and embroidery; with tiny tucks in the little
sleeves, more tucks, insertion and embrOld-
cry on the long skirts, and the usual array
of ornamentatiOn, calculated to attract the
eye of the fond mother purchaser. Mar
ghita sat making these little garments, say.
at the rate OF two and halt dozen week,
and her liberal compensation therefor was
81 80 a dozen.
"Sometmes," she explained to me. she
could not finish more than two dozen. lit
depended good deal on how she felt--she
was not very strong" and glance at her
face confirmed this statement.
"How do you live?" l asked, aghast.
She laid down her work a moment and
began brief calculation, checking off the
various items on her slim brown fingers.
Her little bare-fioOred room cost her but
three dollars a month. That was a very
reasonable rental. She would have to pay
more In any quarter further from China
town. Her washing cost her dollar a
month more, and she allowed dollar and
a half week for food, cooking whatever
warm meal she had on little oil lamp, in
the sink. 1t did not cost her very much for
clothes, and she usually earned S12 or S13 a
month. When she had to buy shoes it came
hardest. /; seemed as If they made shoes
poorer every year.
And what do you do for pleasureP"
asked.
She smiled. with gentle Spanish courtesy.
Then her face grew grave again. IL begin
work as soon as it is light" she said. ''and
work until after at night. When one does
that there is no need of pleasure to make
one tired enough to sleep.
Sure enough. How needless ] had been
to need to ask
Sometimes, on Sunday" she added, as
if fearing she had seemed ungracious. and
desiring to convince me that there were,
after ali. vistas of delight in her life, 81 go
out to the cemetery-mother's buried
there"
1t is an easy task to win friendess heart
to talk. A very faint show of fre ndliness
will do it. and it was not long before
Marghita's simple little story was told. Her
father had died when she was mere baby
leaving her mother with two helpless girls TO
maintain. She had done this faithfully and
fairly well in the early days, when there was
plenty of work and prices were good When
times began to grow more straitened the
girls were able TO help, and they had been
quite comfortable in their pleasant little
home until first the sister, then her mother,
had died, the latter within the year, and
now she was all alone, keeping body aud
soul together as best she could in her bare
little room from which she seldom escaped
during the week save to carry home her
work and buy her small supplies.
''This sort of work used to pay BETTER"
she said. II have had as high az SO dozen
for dresses like these. but the Cinnamon do
so much of the white work now, and so
much cheaper. that the prices of all work
had to come down. Then, there is so much
competition, and of course every cut In
prices comes out of the workers"
DID you ever think. my dear madam, as
you wander from store to store, expanding
10 or 20 cents i'm carfare, to hunt up bar
gain in the shape of Scent reduction
in the price of q nightdreSs or a baby's
robe, that that infinitesimal reduction
means half dollar or more taken from the
earnings of the women who are Shaving at
this work?
But l am not preaching only telling a
true story as it came TO me, bit by bit in the
course of the next few months. Marghita
told NE on that first day that she had had
good work in the shirt factory AZ one time,
but falling Ill had lost that place. She had
tried homework. woman's divnely APP
pointed sphere, but the divine appointment
must somewhere have failed of confirmation,
for she had made dismal failure of IL, hav-
ing neither the strength nor skin requisite
for this profession. II find this is the best
thing can do" she said, summing it all up,
''and / could live. If 1t were only little
better paid. am not afraid to work"
| looked at her with an aching heart,
wondering how long 1t could last. No
human life, it seemed to me, could long en-
dure such a strain. Something was bound
TO break in time.
Yet the forewoman was not far from
wrong in calling Marghita typical speci-
men. found in the course OF my inyesti-
CATION of the subject many more pitifnl
cases. These women are working all about
us: in dark easements, underground, in
equally dark lofts, in cold, damp, sunless
workrooms such as this city abounds in,
but never came to know any of them SO
well as / knew Marghita. | was able TO
get her little outside work. but not much.
Most people are not willing to pay more for
having thing made than they can procure
i: for in the shops. 1t doesn't stand to rea-
ton that they should be, so / was not able
so do much for her in that way.
II think at times" she said TO me once,
looking up from a long seam she was fell
ing. shat / will stop this."
"Yes?" l suggested. What will you
dop"
There was weary look In the thin brown
face. and the pale lips closed tightly.
Zone can die" was the reply.
think that was about the only solution
of her weary problem that at that time had
presented itself to the poor girls mind. She
had been making a brave struggle for so
long, against such desperate odds, and it
was proving too much for her feeble
strength, but even when life is at its hard
est thoughts OF death DO not find easy
Judgment in the mind at IS any more than
they do at so.
| tried in many directions to make better
arrangements for poor little Marghita. but
| what Is to be done In such cases? There are
] so many really worse off, who have no work
+! no maintenance at alive are all so busy
| helping the wholly destitute. the helpless
| that the babies who can almost walk, could
| quite, with lift or two, must be put aside
| for those who cannot even crawl, for, som,
| way or other, we must all get on, even If WI
| are crippled and handicapped.
| Ii so happened that, although lNd he
much In my mind after our last talk. 4 wa
4 anma TINA hafnra / noold 0af m eo. Mar