Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-07-23

those who are ever swelling the ranks
OF unskilled labor. A shop girl begins
with IS. or los. per week. The appren-
tice who has paid q premium OF 80 gum
cas- draws no salary for year, anc Is
lodged and fed exactly as the assistant
No English bedroom can compare IN
luxury with those In America, but those
of English apprentices and assistants
are clean and com aratiVely comtorta-
ble-We should consider those OF their
employers cOmfortless.
THE young people" do not mingle
with their employers family except on
rare occasions. They are allowed one
evening a week when they may go out,
and some, whose homes are at no great
distance, go home on Saturday and re-
main until Monday, but this is not
usual. They live simply, seldom having
meat oftener than once day, even In
potted form, but tie probabilities are
that they are fed quite as well as they
would be Ia their own homes. They
are not supposed to receive company
while in "a house Of business, and
when exception is made the most care
ful espionage is observed. As such care
is exercised in every well-reguated
English home, 1t is considered no hard
ship when the girls are with strangers.
-
Some advertisements for apprestlces
state that the amount paid in premium
will be refunded In wages; but there are
tricks Of the trade everywhere, and the
stsid, old-fashioned, thorough-going
English fathers and mothers generally
prefer TO apprentice their daughters on
the old plan, letting them work their
time, trusting that they will thus he
provided for. Millinery is much more
steady employment than in this coun-
try. More frequent changes are made,
the demand for dress hats and bonnets
is greater, and there is always work TO
be had on caps for the dowager. 1t Is
therefore considered quite as regular as
dressmaking. Some parents prefer TO
apprentice their daughters TO gen
eral draper" rather than to a milltner or
dressmaker. as arrangements can usual
~ be made; II one branch proves insult
able change can be made without loss
Of premium.
-
Much has been said and written about
titled ladies going into the trade, and
recent articles in the English press de-
clare that the daughter of professional
men are now entering West End estao-
lishments and taking their place behind
the counters and in the workrooms.
All this tells a sad story to those who
read between the lines. While we ad-
mire the pluck and energy OF the wO-
man who puts pride behind her and
works bravely to earn her living, one
cannot out remember that the entrance
OF titled milliners and dressmakers has
ruined many respectable shopkeeper
whose modest bank account would not
pay for the artistics signs and expensive
fittings of noble competitor. And as to
the daug hters Of professional men going
behind the cou inter-, what is to become
OF them when the upward pressure"
bursts all bOundsl That pressure is
increasing with every class that leaves
the board schools. God help those who
seem doomed TO be caught between the
upper and neither millstonesl
We, as Americans, must rejoice that
England is fast becoming q democracy.
Nevertheless, those OF US who know the
feudal system only through poem and
romance, who have never suffered from
the tyranny arising from the survival
Of the idea that the sovereign owns the
lord, the lord owns the knight, the
knight the squire, and so on down to
tbs beggar, may be permitted one little
sigh over the loss of chivalry, but sober
second thought makes us rejoice that
England is becoming "AmercanIzed,
that the rights Of the individual are
more and more recognized. But while
we look at the rapidly-dissolving views
of olden times, would it not be we'll to
bear in mind that well-developed sys
TENS as we'll as human beings have In
them some germ of good worth rescu-
ing.
We are rubbing up the old andirons
and polishing the worm-eaten furniture
OF our old ancestors because they have
q beauty no modern work can attain.
Surely, then, II would be no des radiation
to US TO ADOPT the gentle courtesy to-
ward those who serve us-such as the
English shop girls receive up to this
day from even chance customers. Sure
ly, it would be no confession Of inferior
ity for the shop glrl-we beg pardon,
the salesady-to learn that neat
ness and avoidance of display are the
dictates OF good taste and good sense
even though they chance to be the rules
ofan employer. Surely it would be we'll
for the employers to feel some RESPONSE
bility for the afterhours In the lives Of
their employees. Some do. "May their
III h1t of
lantic. Il.
The nririnatnr OF the Concord prane