The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-06-19
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
uE rs IN FULL SYMPATHY wtTn
TEE SHOP GIRLS
aud Heartily Commends the Move
mont for Their Relief

anu rest lhelF weary ilmUH TOT pFltt
time when not waiting on customers,
and their working time ia out at 9
o'clock In the evening. This Is Q Pc
form thntmeans much to them, aud our
sympathetic people will ell thank the
Chamberlin house for starting Il. The
girls have not demanded Il, nor have
they uttered a word Of complaint, but
We know 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 aud try TO be happy
and contented. have wondered why
they did not organize and choose their
leaders and sometimes get on a strike
and walk out aud make demands on
their employers like the men do.
No, they will not do that.
II is not their nature, and
for that reason, If no other,
those who employ them should be all
the more considerate. Every shop
girl and every shop woman has an in
diyidual history, and could tell tale
Of sorrow or misfortune, arl some Of
them would be intensely sad and pa
thetic if written and published. Many
of them belong to that class who have
seen better days-many are orphans
some have q widowed mother or an in
valid sister to support. All are depen-
dent and have no bright prospects Of
lettering their condition in the years
to come. Some Of them are not
strong, and often so to their work
with q headache, or a heart-ache
but they must not complain -
sad faces or sick faces or very homely
ones are not wanted. know four sis
ters who are shop girls ct different
places. The eldest Is only sixteen.
They have neither father nor mother
nor brother, but they live together and
work by day and comfort each other
by night,
Some merchants are hard task
m lsters; "only q 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.
know one who kept a girl down to SOC
month. She was refined, diligent,
conscientious and popular, and had
been reared a lady in all respects, but
she was only shop girl, and out o.
meager wages must pay for her board
and clothing, Not an hour did sh;
ever lose-but by and by she was offer
ed $50 by another house, and then
and not till then, did her employer
propose to increase her wages to the
same amount. Why did they not dc
it before? l knew another large
wealthy house that gept young mot
for three years, promising at intervals
to raise his wages, but it wa,
only promise. At last he qui
and sought other business, ant
then they offered him nearly doubI,
what be had been getting if he would
come back. That is what the prophe
calls grinding the faces of the poor.
Why wear poor girls life and health
away by feeding her on hope until i
turns to despair? Only a shop girl
A young lady who had once been in
dependent was forced by the common
calamity of these hard times to become
shop girl-and she told me that the
hardest thing to bear was the stately
coldness of her former frienda-tht
lack Of familiar, social recognition
when they traded at the counter they
hardly knew her-they said good morn
ing, but not in the sweet old way
After Job had lost mis- property, h,
said "But now they that are younge,
than I hold me in derision-whos'
fathers would have disdained to Sc
with the dogs OF my flock"
1t is the same old story of sociai n
sincerity. A man never knows VIII,
are his friends until misfortune over
takes him. Thank heaven there ar,
some exceptions to this rule, and these
! shop girls do sometimes find some
body to love them and share their sor
rows. There is nothing more unbe
! coming to woman than her disposition
! to rule money into her social set ant
. rule poverty out. Noreal, well-bred lad,
will do it. My observation is tina
this foolish vanity is generally in
dulged in by the shoddy aristocrats-
! those who have nothing else 70 thei
credit except money-those who's
fathers got rich by questionable means
/ Peachtree is lined with many such, AM
! so are the fashionable quarters of al
. cities. This folly is mainly feminin
/ one; the men are not given to it; n
J man dares to snub another because O
. his poverty, or his humble origin
. With men there is no aristocrac
I except that Of intellect. 1t is re
I lated that when Douglas and Lin
a coin met for the first time on th
hustinga, Douglas, who was a gres
aristocrat, said he had not had th