The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-06-12

when the ploy is ended and final judg-
.ment is rendersd2 With one life is a
fashionable farce; with the other q
struggle for bread. "Give us this day
our daily bread" is her morning
prayer.
The position Of these working girls
is O hard one at best, but kind words
md fair wages soften it down greatly.
They beg for these places and get
them, but why women should not be
paid MS much as men for similar SER
vice l cannot understand. My infor-
nation is that they are paid about
half and the EMPLOYERS excuse is that
competition is very great and as others
cut rates they must do so, too, for la
Dor is worth only what it will bring
and n woman's labor can be had cheap.
er than mans. That is not a good
excuse. 1t is not to the interest of the
employer to get labor on such terms.
Twenty dollars month will not keep
young woman in good health and
good clothes and leave anything for a
sick mother or child, or for doc
tors bill. A big,hearted, generous
man will inquire into the condition of
every female employc he has, and as
far rs possible make it his own con-
Germ. They are, as it were, his wards
for tho time, aud he cannot escape the
responsibility.
Before the war there were no shop
girls, but for thirty years this great
transition has been going on, and now
the south, like the north. is full of
working girls. The children and
grandchildren of those who once were
proud and independent are now forced
to become their own bread winners.
There is no perception for them. 1t is
daily food for daily labor. The rich
are growing richer by short cuts and
questionable means, al of which in
their last analysis come from the earn
Jugs of the toilcrs and grind the faces
of the poor. Widows and orphaus
whose husbands and fathers left them
stock or bonds in n grca. railroad have
lived to see it wrecked by the unscru-
pulous schcmers and by the time the
wreckcrs had done with it their
stock and their bonds were worth
less. Daniel Webster got a fee of
SlO,0 for making speech in
the Myra Clark Gaines case, and it
was Ioiscd by the press as au enor-
mons fee, but now n common lawyer
gets $50, 900 for bringing the money
of wrecked railroad into court. An
incorporated company accumulates q
million dollars surplus and asks the
court what to DO with it, There was
no fight, no contest, but the lawyers
who took the decree are awarded
$40, ,000 for bringing tho money into
court. Receivers and lawyers prey
upon the carcasscs of corporations like
luzZnrls upon the carcasses of hrutes,
and but little is left fer creditors or
stock holuers. These arc the things
that fill the people with distrust and
disgust and paralyze industry and in
timilate capital. L know n lady and
she is sitting near me now whose father
left her $4,000 of stock in railroad
had good prospects, but the schemers
got it into court and had receiver
appointed and it was wrecked and sold
to the bondholders for n song and she
lost every thing but the certificate.
When she comes across it now among
her archives l hear her humming that
sweet old song, "This world is all fleet
ing show" But let the working girls
cheer up and always look on the bright
side. II they can't get married let
them look around and see how much
misery marriage brinGs-how few wo-
men are happily mated. Encourage q
cheerful disposition, aud if YOU can't
be happy, he as happy ns You can.
Trust in the Lord and do good. 1t is
not nll of life to live nor all of death
to die. Thcreare many blessings that
cost us nothing. l never pass by my
neighbor's Mrs. Field'.) 'front.' yard
that is radiant wish beautiful flowers
but wha. think how cheap they are
to ne. 1t is good idea 10 sometimes
think of that poor lit:le boy whose
mother covered him with straw one bit
tcr night AID putan old window shutter
on tho straw to hold it down.
"Mothcr," said he, lit isent every
little boy that has shutter to hold
down his straw, is it?' And there is
some comfort IN Persian proverb
that says blessed are they who have
but little. for they shall not be en-
We'd. "-D,LL AHr, in Atlanta Constitu-
ton.
THE nI.M MnfIkaTIr sS<NENTJnN