The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-09-03
GIRLS IN A BIG CITY.
DIFFICULTIES THEY ENCOUNTER IN
GETTING A LIVING.
Maidens from the Country Generally Have
a Hard Time Because They Are Unable
to Give Satisfactory References-Advice
to Those at Home.


to Those at Home.
or the 100000 females engaged in various
occupations in New York city very large
number consists of young women who
have come here from the country near and
far to seek their fortunes. The constantly
widening field of employment for females,
combined with the allurements of city life,
causes perpetual stream of applicants
from those who are country born. The
numbers of such applicants are far greater
than can be supplied with work.
The story of the various employment
agencies and of the societies that seek to
furnish employment to women is the same
that the field is overcrowded. The num-
ber of applicants is so many and the neces-
sity for refusal so frequent that the Young
Women's Christian association has been
compelled to adopt and print circular,
which says:
SOBER WORDS.
almost every attempt to aid those who
reside out of the city has ended in disap-
pointment to the applicant, and often
caused the loss of the situation to another
young woman, to whom it might otherwise
have been given. The reasons for this are
First, that employers greatly prefer to hire
young women who have references from
places in New York city, where they have
been recently employed, in order that en-
ployers may be able at once to assure them
selves of the capabilities of the applicants;
and second, that employers will not wait
for persons to be sent for who reside out of
town. When the endeavor has been made,
the places have generally been filled before
the applicants could reach here, and be-
sides the disappointment to the applicants,
the expenses of the journey are all lost.
And even if young women take board in
New York, the probabilities are that they
will use up all their money before they
succeed in obtaining employment, and per-
haps not even secure place in the end,
because Of the preference given by employ
ers to those who have city references as to
their capability. The experience of years
proves that young women can do better
where they reside and are known than to
take chances in this overcrowded CITY,"
One of the greatest disadvantages for
country girls seeking employment in the
city is the cost of living. Wages which
seem large to the country girl at home
dwindle very much when compared with
city expenses. There are never enough
boarding houses for these poor girls, for
the prices they are able to pay are often
not such as will secure decent accommoda-
tion. The Young Women's Christian as
sociation has started special home for
such girls, with accommodation for about
hundred, but it has been found necessary
to make it temporary residence and to
limit the time the occupants are allowed to
remain.
WHAT THEY DO.
1t is with girls, perhaps, more than with
men that the ranks Of unskilled labor are
overcrowded. While there are thousands
upon thousands of these country girls who
can sew, the number of experts is quite
limited. Many of them have no definite
idea of doing any particular kind of work,
but have merely general notion of becom-
ing self supporting in some way. 1t is
almost the rule that they have neither the
capital nor the disposition to serve proper
apprenticeship to anything. They want to
go to work and earn good wages at once,
unmindful of the strong competition for
remunerative places.
There are many country girls of good
families who apply for work in the city for
the winter, intending only to earn pocket
money for the summer. Some of theu
have artistic accomplishments that they
turn to advantage in one way and another.
A wide field for the work ofcountry girls
has been opened by the comparatively mod
ern method Of exchanges for women work,
where products may be sent for sale; but
by far the larger part of country girls look
to the city, and they almost unanimously
prefer almost any work, however poorly
paid, rather than domestic service. Among
the occupations represented at n woman's
meeting were these: Artists, bookfolders,
bookkeepers, boxmakers, candy makers,
carpet sewers, carpet weavers, cashiers,
chair seaters, cigarmakers, clerks, COM
panions, copyists, dressmakers, engravers
(wood and metaD, feather makers, flower
makers, fur sewers, gold polishers, hair
dressers, housekeepers, mattresses, ladies'
maids, medical nurses, milliners, mission
aries, musicians. nurses. passementerie
makers, photo colorists. proofreaders,
saleswomen, scarfmakers, seamstresses,
silk weavers, spectacle case makers, stenog-
raphers, straw workers, students, tailor
esses, teachers, telegraph and telephone
operators, typesetters, typewriters and up
holsterers.
Many of these country girls get imposed
upon and have to go to the Working Wom-
ems Protective union to get their wages
collected. The lady superintendent says
that many country girls are constantly ap-
plying there for work, and the stereotyped
reply by the society is "Stay at home If
possible" One of the latest claims placed
in the hands of the society for collection
was that of poor country girl who had
been engaged as q typewriter and stenog-
rapner by clergyman who failed to pay.
There is undoubtedly considerable num-
Der Of plucky, clever, hard working young
women who come to New York and make
their way by patient ploddIng under diff
culties to profitable employment. They 90
about it in business way. They have no
time for frivolity. They join various socie-
ties for mutual improvement They know
how to study. They take advantage of the
public libraries and art exhibitions. They
are not afraid to 20 out unattended by men.
They may be seen in couples going to the
concert or lecGure or church or theatre.
They go along about their business, and
are unmolested. 1t is great credit to the
city that so many women are able to go
about the city in Che evening without es-
corts, so long as their demeanor is decorous.
New York Sun.