The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-08
A Plea for the Poor.

A Plea for the Poor.
It has always seemed to me that Il
specially hot corner should be reserv-
ed in the place some people say
doesn't exist flor those who live by
grinding the faces of the poor. 1t is
hard enough to be poor, God knows;
to do without the thousand and one
things that make the difference be-
tween comfort and misery; to see
loved ones pine and wither for want
of necessities of life until the machin-
ery stops and falls apart and the
weary body is at rest.
But it is not the work that | am
complaining about. for work is right,
is honest and should be Il pleasure,
but it should be paid for, and paid TOR
willingly. Half the talk about the
laziness of the poor and their unwIi-
lingness to work hard comes from two
causes. One is that half starved
man or woman cannot "put in day"
with the same vim that 4 we'll led one
can, and another is that there is SO lit-
tie encouragement to work when the
pay is so grudgingly given. Oiten
even when a poor woman has tolIed
all day long cleaning paint or wash,
ing or sewing she is put off and told
that she should have her money next
week. -,
I have been brought in contact with
in the last few years with hundreds
of women who had the same tale TO
tell. They would wash, iron, scrub or
sew until ready to drop with pain anu
WEAKNESS, and when they went to col
lect their little earnings they. We're
coolIy told to wait till 1T suited their
employers to pay. They would not
realize, those refined ladies, that these
few pennies or dollars meant food,
fire, rent and perhaps medicine or
burial, ut was such small matter"
For these very trifles families have
been put out on the sidewalk shelter
less i'm the rain and sleet; others have
gone three days without food or lire.
One woman whom l know took home
a large washing which, with part pay
on previous one, amounted TO over
81, and the LADY Of the house was
out" and the poor woman went back
TO lind the sheriff pntting her things
out on the sidewalk, two of the chill
dren being sick with the measles.
Neighbors afterward gave them shell
ter for few days, but these TWO chill
dren have nearly lost their eyeslSht.
Now there is another baby. THIS
woman washed and scrubbed up 10
the last day to keep these poor chill
dren and is still struggling.
Another trouble with the poor Is
that every lady takes it for granted
that her own work is the only hard
work the poor wash or scrub woman
has to do, so that there is always all
awful effort to get a thorough clean.
ing. One poor woman told me that
she hated the words Thorough clean
ing" for they always meant the hard
est and most wearing and disagree
able toll for a dollar day, and there
was not one "lady" out of five hun
dred who did not set all the old scraps
and dry crusts saved up for week
before her for her dinner. Then, too,
many "ladies" try to refuse the
amount of their pay by making them
take their cast Oft garments and old
shoes in part payment at least.
The haggling over the scanty wages
of the poor woman by the same lady
that paws S5 for some cosmetic only
worth about 10 cents, or some Other
extravagant folly, is crime, and one
for which I think a punishment as
hard as that he bears who kills an
other in the heat of passion should be
the penalty. But if this were to come
true we have not prisons enough in
the land to hold the women who
think they are doing righteous ac-
ton in grinding the faces Of the poor
and "scrimping' on the poor .laborer's
wages.
The utter heartlessness and lack OF
common humanity of our 'laties" TO-
ward their help passes description.
They will load the woman who comes
in for days washing with enough
work to kill a man, and then when
the poor back aches and the limbs al
most fail they will bring out perhaps
a pair of blankets 10 'juSt run
through before you go; it won't take
a minute"
Many persons would look upon Il
woman as a hardened criminal and
would have sent her to prison, leav-
ing the five little children she is toll
ing so hard to keep together to starve
or be scattered here and there for
pawning all the "wash" which she
had in her house for one of these
economical ladies'" The lady went
off and left no money to pay for the
wbrk when done, and the poor
mother, desperate with her hungry
children around her and her angry
landlord threatening, pawned the
things for just the amount of her bill.
1t required the hardest kind Of work
on the part of sympathizing people TO
save her from the wrath-the right
eous and religious wrath-of the
owner of the garments, who can thus
find herself guiltless of wrong when
she neglects or refuses to pay for
honest work.
1t is no wonder that women go
down tc perdition when other women
feel that they are doing lneritorious
action in "scrimping" their female
help. may be old fashioned and
foolish, but I think that those who
push are more guilty than those who
fall.-Olive Harper in Charleston
News.