The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1894-03-09
c: f. Whites "Shingle Ladies'"

SnlnSle Weavers at the mills of tn
Grays Harbor Commercial Co, Cosmo
poffs, Wash, was still at work. Ru
mors have been flying around latel,
that the shingle weavers' union wa.
about to make q sortie, marry the
young ladies and thus break up the
only female shingle mill crew OH the
Pacific coast. So far the sortie has
proven a lamentable failure. When
the lady employees first appeared on
the scene the male shingle weavers
made merry over the event. They
would come around the mill and in
form the lady knot SAWYER thSt it was
tull of rats, much to that ladv's en-
barassment, because she had to keep
one eye on her work and the other on
supposed rodents. Many time did she
scream at something moving among
the pile of shingles, and on several oc-
caslons she jumped five feet into the
air onto a supply OF bolts, holding
her skirts tightly and screaming like
one possessed. However she found that
the cry of ''rats" did not mean any
thing, and she is now the best worker
in the mill.
The lady packers were annoyed, too,
by the male ex-employes, who told
them that their hands were full of
slivers. When White finally heard Of
his lady weavers' complaints he gal
lently came to the rescue by locking
them In during working hours. Then
the wicked male shingle weavers went
on a new tack. They patronized the
barber frequently, invested in store
clothes, spats, yellow neckties, per-
fume and boquets, and every evening
endeavOred to escort the lady weavers
home from work. Now comes the re-
port that the ladies have turned up
/ their pretty noses (snub noses, it is
said) at the dudish looking young men
and the union is consequently in de-
spair. And persons who have visited
Whites mill say his lady employees
are rosy y-cheeked, healthy, modest and
sensible girls. We believe it, of course,
because young lady who is independ-
4 ent enough to make living for her
self In such q prosaic occupation as
that of saving and packing shingles
is certainly sensible, modest and
healthy-and health and hard work
generally produce rosy cheeks.
There are ten persons connected
with the shingle mill, and outside OF
the foreman, sawyer and roustabout,
the balance are ladies. They do their
work well, and Whites shingles are a
model of good packing. Less shims,
feather ends and bad shingles find
their way into the punches than when
male packers were worked IF the
Lumberman circulated principally
among the ladies the question of
"what do they wear?" would naturally
come. But this journal goes to bust
ness men who are not at all interested
in fashions. However we do not believe
that Whites crew wear diamond rings
while packing, shingles; and silk
dresses would not look we'll in an
atmosphere of sawdust. The young
ladies dress modestly and becomingly,
and look like stenographers Oh the
street. OF course they do not look so
trim in the mill, and if you should
dig one of them out of the sawdust
for the purpose of introduction you
probably would not be apt to want
her photograph. But these are mat
ters of detail that White does not
bother his head about. The fact that
he has the only crew of female mill
employees on the Pacific coast and that
the mill is a success is enough glory
for him.-Puget Sound Lumberman