The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1894-06-15


At a large meeting Of these women,
held in q hall in Philadelphia, grand
speeches were delivered, but needle
woman took the stand, threw aside her
faded shawl, and with her shriveled
arm hurled very thunderbolt of elo-
quence, speaking out the horrors OF her
own experience.
Stand at the corner of a street in
New York in the very early morning as
the women 60 to their work. Many Of
them had no breakfast except the
crumbs that were left over from the
night before, or crust they chew on
their way through the street Here
they come. the working girls of tho
city! These engaged in bead work,
these in hower-malxing, in mil
linery. enameling, cigar making.
book binding, labelling, feather
picking, print-coloring, paper-box
making. but, most overlooked by all.
and least compensated, the sewing
women Why do they not take the
city cars on their way up? They can
not afford the five cents If conelud-
ing to deny herself something else, she
gets into the car. give her seat! You
want to see how Latimer and Ridley
appeared in the fire; look at that wom-
an and behold more horrible martyr
dom, hotter fire, a more agonizing
death.
One Sabbath night, in the vestibule
of my church, after service, woman
fell in commissions The doctor said
she needed medicine not so much as
something to eat. As she began to
revive, in her delirium, she said, gasp
ingly: Eight cents! Eight centsI
Eight cents! l wish / could get it
done! / am so tiredl / wish 1 could
get some sleep, but must get it done.
Eight centsl Eight cents!'' We found
afterward that she was making gar
ments at eight cents apiece, and that
she could make but three of them in a
day. Hear it, Three times eight are
twenty-four Hear it, men and women
who have comfortable homes!
Some of the worst villains of the city
are the employers of these women.
They beat them down to the last
penny, and try to cheat them out of
that. The woman must deposit a dol
lar or two before she gets the garments
to work on. When the work is done it
is sharply inspected, the most insig-
nifcant flaws picked out, and the
wages refused, and sometimes the
dollar deposited not given back.
The Women's Protective union re-
ports a case where one of these
pour souls. finding place where she
could get more wages, resolved to
change employers, and went to get her
pay for work done. The employer says:
II hear you are going to leave me?"
EYES, she said, land have come to
get what you owe me-" He made no
answer She said: "Are you not going
to pay me?' EYES," he said, ST will
pay YOU" and he kicked her down the
stairs.
How are these evils to be eradicated?
What have you to answer, you who sell
coats, and have shoes made, and con-
tract for the southern and western mar
kets? What help is there, what panacea,
what redemption? Some say: ''Give
women the ballot What effect such
ballot might have on other questions
am not here to discuss; but what would
be the effect of female suffrage upon
woman's wages? / do not believe that
woman will ever get justice by woman's
ballot.
Indeed, women Cypress women as
n-uch as men do. Do not women, as
much as men, beat down to the lowest
figure the woman who sews for them?
Are not women as sharp as men on
washerwomen, and milliners, and
mantua makers? If a woman asks
dollar for her work, does not her fe-
male employer ask her if she will not
4o1- 4cO
ten cents difference;. but that is some
times the difference between Heaven
and hell. Women often have less COM
miseration for women than men. If
woman steps aside from the path of vir-
tue, man may forgive-woman never!
Woman will never get justice done her
from woman's ballot.
But there is something for our women
to do. Let our young people prepare
to excel in spheres of work, and they
will be able, after awhile, to get larger
wages. If it be shown that woman
can, in store, sell more goods in a
year than a man, she will soon be able
not only to ask, but demand more
wages, and to demand them successful
ly. Unskilled and incompetent labor
must take what it is given; skilled and
competent labor viii eventually make
its own standard. Admitting that the
law of supply and demand regulates
these things, contend that the demand
for skilled labor is very great. and the
supply very small.
Many of you will go single-handed
through life, and you will have to
choose between two characters Young
woman, am sure You will turn your
back upon the useless, giggling,
painted nonenity which society ig-
ANONYMOUSLY acknowledges to be
woman, and ask God to make you an
humble, active, earnest Christian.
The dying actress whose life had
been vicious said: 1.-THE scene closes.
Draw the curtain" Generally the
tragedy comes first, and the farce after
ward; but in her life it was first the
farce of useless life, and then the
tragedy of a wretched eternity.
Compare the life and death of
such an one with that of some
Christian aunt that was once
blessing to your household. do
not know that she was ever offered
hand in marriage. She lived singly,
that untrammeled she might be every
body's blessing. Whenever the sick
were to be visited, or the poor to be
provided with bread, she went with
blessing. She could pray, or sing
Rock of Ages" for any sick pauper
xs-ho sIxo5 I,o~ A. che rot cIdor thora