Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-20
SHE ASKS NO ONES PITY.
The Working Girl is Well Able to Take
Care of Herself
She IL Independent, Pays Her Own
Way and Has q Good
Time.

Written Exclusively for The Evening Star
There is a great deal of misapplied SYM
pathy in the world. At least that is what
/ thought the other day when a woman
said she felt SO sorry for Miss Blank. who
went to work at 7:3O every morning, and
never reached home before $40 pm Her
sympathy was enlisted merely because Miss
Blank led a busy life, not because the daily
demands upon her time were too great for
her strength, nor because the young lady
herself was displeased with her lot in life.
because the one in question was altogether
unconscious of any good reason why she
should quarrel with fate. This coincidence
attitude assumed by the indolent to the
energetic and Industrious is maudling In the
extreme One should thoroughly love the
girl who works. This belief of mine is not
the result of sudden infatuation. but the
outgrowth of years of study of her char
acter under conditions when there was no
opportunity for special posing or counter
letting qualities. which We're not either Gull
tivated or inherent.
This is an age when false impressions are
no longer accepted, because they are hand
ed down from past generations with other
heirlooms OF more or less doubtful value
but each particular set of errors must be
held up and publicly denounced before there
Is universal agreement that some special
misunderstanding is explained away 1t
chances not infrequently that the novelist
Is to blame for illusions that blind the sight
OF usually far-seeing people. Be that as il
may, the working girl of the Imagination
Is wan, weary creature. who drudges the
day through and then walks footsore into
some poor part of the city. climbs three or
four flights of rickety stairs, rakes out the
en,bers of the last few Goals. eats the REM
rant OF the mornings repast. and shivers
desolate through the evening till sleep closes
her eyes and relieves her for a time, at
least, from facing the dread realities Of ex-
istence.
This picture is as like the average work.
ing girls experience as the middle of a
moonless December night is like the briSht-
ness Of a midsummer noon. and the two
contrasts are not more striking The spirit
of independence and the well spring OF am
bition. which prompt her to go out into the
world and seek an avocation. are guar
antees of her ability to surround herself
with congenial circumstances. That q girl
seeks clerking. typewriting. dressmaking,
school teaching or any of the other occupa-
tons now open towomen does not prove that
poverty is the impelling motive. On the
contrary. the most successful workers come
out Of comfortable homes. where the neces-
stiles and many Of the luxuries are already
provided. But girls of today are educated
in practical way. Problems in partial
payments and the quick accruing Of interest
on deferred notes appeal to them directly
1: there is a mortgage on the home. and to
ne nth he A.
a month is a plain matter-of-fact domestic
certainty that takes somebody's earnings.
And so it comes to pass that the discussion
of household expenditures brings about a
train Of thought which ends in a desire to
be a moneymaker and enjoy a sense OF
freedom In winning ones own way.
She is Thoroughly Independent.
The girl with a good situation In the
commercial world is not a creature to lie
pitied. but admired and envied. She is
CHEEKY and bright, and by contact with
humanity comes in time to a degree Of
self-possession that many a girl has failed
to find In a young ladies' finishing school OF
In years Of foreign travel. She carries her
head with graceful poise and her easy
walk is an outgrowth Of her honorable in
dependence She works her way up I'm bust
ness circles IL she Is the right girl in the
IlSuI place.. f1eT winch may nave
been assumed at first, as a polite measure.
becomes in time her second nature. Then
tribes cease to annoy her. The professional
shopper. who was at first a sharp thorn in
air that passes by unheeded-oniy the
breeze can't ask questions.
or course these things are only true OF the
girl who recognizes the importance and
dignity of her position. The hippant one
who is always in search of some easy
place Is only a side issue in the army of
the employed. She drifts about. drops out
and the world loses sight of her. Mean
ter reaches the head of her department, or,
at least, is recognized in a substantial way
as a valuable and well-paid assistant.
The ready wit and cultivated taste of the
working girl aid her in selecting her APP
parel. She is in this year of the century
at her best in a plain serge or cloth tailor
made suit with broad collar and cuffs and
demure sailor hat. costume which Is
jaunty in spite of itself. On the street she
is quick to resent real or fancied insult
She is up In arms at a prolonged stare
Yet the man who has an eye for grace and
beauty should be excused for taking note
OF her. only let his protracted gaze keep IT.
self within the limits' Of respectful admira-
ton. She leaves her avocation with her
desk or counter. and enjoys the full free
dom of her release from duties for the
evening Her home is a CHEEKY place. How
could II be otherwise? Creature comforts
abound because industry brings its own
reward. There are the latest magazines
on the table, the open piano in the parlor
the stay-at-homes OF the family tell the
little happenings of the day. Congenfal
friends come in. or perhaps an evening is
spent at the opera.
Tickets to the opera take money? Yes
And who Is better able to buy a ticket or
two tickets than the woman who works?
She does not care for anything ordinary
The best or nothing is her motto Her
business life makes her careful of OUTLAY
and when she spends a dollar she wants
her moneys worth-a lesson that can be
learned of every business man the world
over In the course of time she is able
to indulge herself in certain pieces of fur
nitue and bric-a-brac, and her home takes
on an added air of refinement and complra-
tive elegance. Meanwhile her measure OF
success enlarges. and continued effort finds
her possessed of competency-that most
enviable situation which frees one from
the dread of poverty and yet does not in
cur the worry and responsibility which
comes with riches.
In No Hurry to Marry.
Her social life has not been a desert
without an occasional oasis. and she may
be pleased to know that certain vounp
man is only awaiting a really good and ia
vorably opportunity to propose She would
rather he wouldn't-at least not lust vet.
In fact. she has hardly time to make IN
her mind. And then she is very anxious
to be certain she likes him better Than she
does her IS or SO or $l2 or SO a week.
She remembers one of the girls who used