St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-07-11
THE BILL ARP LETTER.
Speaks of the Movement to Give
Shop Girls Rest.
Tho Hard Life of Women Employees Ia
Mercantile eHouses-Social IRsincerity-
Responsibility of the Employer
Look ON the Bright Side.

Mercantile Houses-Sociai IRsincerity-
Responsibility of the Employer
Look on the Bright Side.
Let the good work go on. The shoI
girls Of Atlanta are now allowed to sit
and rest their weary limbs for briet
time when not waiting on customers
and their working time is out at six
O'clock in the evening. This is reform
that means much to them, and ou1
sympathetic people will all thank the
Chamberlin house for starting It. TIL,
girls have not demanded it, nor have
| they uttered n word of complaint, but
we know that they get tired, very tired
and sometimes they are sick, and some
of them have work to do when
they get home. But they never
strike-no, they had rather suffer
and endure and always look CHEEKY
and try to be happy and content
ed. have wondered why they did MOI
organize and choose their leaders and
sometimes get ON a strike and walk out
and make demands on their employers
like the men do. No, they will not do
that. It is not their nature, and for that
them should be all the more consider
ate. Every shop girl and every shop
woman has an individual history, and
could tell a tale of sorrow or misfor-
tune, and some of them would be in
tensely sad and pathetic, if written and
published. Many of them belong to
/ that class who have seen better days
many are orphans-some have a wild
owed mother or an invalid sister to sup
!. port. All are dependent and have nc
bright prospects of lettering their con-
dition in the years to come. Some OF
them are not strong, and often go to
their work with headache or heart
ache, but they must not complain -sad
faces or sick faces or very homely ones
are not wanted. I know four sisters
who are shop girls at different places.
The eldest is only 16. They have neither
father nor mother nor brother, but they
live together and work by day and com
fort each other by night.
Some merchants are hard task mas
ters; "only a shop girl'' is their motto
and their service is worth what it will
bring-that much and no more. They
fix the price and keep it there. There
is no promotion in wages. I know one
who kept a girl down to $50 a month.
She was refined, diligent, conscientious
and popular, and had been reared lady
in all respects, but she was only a shop
girl, and out of meager wages must
pay for her board and clothing. Not
an hour did she ever lose-but by and
by she was offered $50 ~ another
house, and then, and not till then, did
her employers propose to increase her
wages to the same amount. Why did
they not do it before? / know another
large, wealthy house that kept a young
man for three years, promising at in
tervals to raise his wages, but it was
only a promise. At last he quit and
sought other business, and then they
offered him nearly double what he had
been getting if he would come back.
That is what the prophet calls "'grind-
ing the faces of the poor" Why wear
a poor girls life and health away by
feeding her on hope until it turns to de-
spair2 Only a shop girl! A young lady
who had once been independent was
forced by the common calamity of these
hard times to become a shop girl-and
she told me that the hardest thing to
bear was the stately coldness of herr
former friends--the lack of familiar so
lcial recognition; when they traded at
the counter they hardly knew her
they said good morning, but not in
the sweet old way. After Job had lost
his property, he said: "But now they
that are younger than hold me in de-
fathers would have dis
dained to setwith the dogs of my f1ocl1.''
1t is the same old story of social in
sincerity. A man never knows who are
his friends until misfortune orertakcs
him. Thanls heaven. there are some
exceptions to this rule, and these shop
girls do sometimes find somebody to
love them and share their sorrows.
There is nothing more unbecoming to
woman than her disposition to rule
money into her social set and rule pow
crty out. No real, Well-bred lady will
do it. My observation is that this fool
ish vanity is generally INDUCED in by \
the shoddy aristocrat s--those who have
nothing else TO their credit except
moneythose whose fathers got rich
by questionable means. Peaehtree is /
lined with many such, and SO are the
fashionable quarters of all cities. This
folly is mainly q feminine one; the men
are not given to it; no man dares to
snub another because of his poverty,
or his humble origin. With men there
is no aristocracy except that of intel
lect. Tt is related that when Douglas
and Lincoln met for the first time on
the hustings Douglas, who was a great !
said he had not had the
honor of an acquaintance with his OPP
ponent, and, In fact, had seen him but
once, md that was when he was sell
ing whisky behind the bar in cross
roads saloon. When old Abe rose to
reply, he smiled from ear to ear, as he
remarked: That's SO, my fellow citi-
zens. That is the only time I ever saw |
him until now. He was ON one side Of |
The bar and was on the other. He
took drink and took the money. We
are about even on that score. . What's |
Tue differencea a nice, sweet, we'll
lfl girl or young woman who
waits on the customers in a large dry
goods house is on one sideso the coun-
ter and rich aristoeratic lady is on
the other. One had money, the ether
n