The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-06-10
9uaeEspu gutelItgeueer.
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
Arp on the Movement to Give the Shop
Girls Rest.
Atlanta Constitution.

VA
and rest their weary limbs for a brief
time when not waiting on customers,
and their working time is out at 6
o'clock in the evening This is a re.
form that means much to them, and
our sympathetic people will all thank
the Chamberlin house for starting it.
The girls have not demanded it nor
have they uttered a 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 contented. | have
wondered why they did not organize
and choose their leaders and some
times get on a strike and walk out and
make demands on their employers like
the men do. No, they will not do
that, 1t is not their nature, and for
that reason, if no other, those who
employ them should be all the more
c~onsiderate. Every shop girl and
every shop woman has an individual
history, and could tell a tale Of sorrow
or misfortune, and. some Of them
would be intensely 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 widowed mother or an invalid
sister to support. All are dependent,
and have no bright prospects of bet
tering their condition in the years to
come. Some of them are not strong,
and often go to their work with a
headache or heartache, but they must
not comnlain-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
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 mas
tiers; "aonly 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. know n
who kept a girl down to $40 q month.
She was refined, diligent, ccnseien-
tious and popular, and had been
reared a lady in all respects, but she
was only a shop girl, and out of mea-
ger wages must pay for her board and
clothing. Not an hour did she ever
lose-but bye and bye she was offered
$50 by another house, aud then, and
not till then, did her employers pro-
pose to increase her wages to the same
amount. Why did they not do it be-
fore2 know another large, wealthy
house that kept a young man for three
years, promising at intervals to raise
his wages, but it was only a promise.
At last he quit and sought other bust
ness, and then they offered him near
" double what he had been getting if
he would come back. That is what
the prophet calls 'sgrinding the faces
of the poor" Why wear a poor girls
life and health away by feeding her
on hope until it turns to despair? On
ly a shop girl! A young lady wlo
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 her former
friends-the lack of familiar social
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: HBut now they
that are younger than I hold me in
derision-whose fathers | would have
disdained to set with the dogs of my
flock"
It is the same old story of social in
sincerity. A man never knows who
are his friends until misfortune over
takes him. Thank heavenl there are
some exceptions to this rule, and
these chop girls do sometimes ind
somebody to. love them and share their
sorrows. There is nothing more un-
becoming to woman than her DISPOSE
ton to rule money into her social set
and rule poverty out. No real, we'll
bred lady will do it. My observation
is that this foolish vanity is generally
INDUCED in by the shoddy aristocrats
those who have nothing else to their
credit except money-those whose
fathers got rich by questionable means.
Peachtree is lined with many such,
and so are the fashionable quarters of
all cities. This folly is mainly a femi-
nine 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 a%ristocracy ex-
cept that of intellect. It is related
that when Douglas and Lincoln met
for the first time on the hustings
Douglas, who was a great %aristocrat,
said he had not had the honor Of an
acquaintance with his opponent, and,
in fact, had seen him but once, and
that was when he was selling whiskey
behind the bar in a crossroads saloon.
When old Abe rose to reply, he smiled
from ear to ear, as he remarked:
''That's 30, my fellow citizens. That
is the only time I ever saw him until
now. He was on one side Of the bar
and I was on the other. He took .
drink and I took the money. We are
about even on that SCORE What's
the difference? A nice, sweet. we'll
hammered girl or young woman who
waits Oh the customers in q large dry
goods house is on one side Of the
counter and q rich, a%ristocratic lady is
on the other. One had money, the
other had goods and they exchanged
that's all. Which is ahead in the
comedy Of life and which will be
ahead when the play is ended and f.
nal judgment is rendered? With one
life is a fashionable farce; with the
other a struggle for bread. "Give us
this day cur daily bread" is her morn
ing prayer.
The position of these working girls
is a hard one at best, but kind words
and fair wafes soften it down greatly.
They beg for these places and get
them, but why women should not be
paid as much as men for similar SER
vice I cannot understand. My infor-
nation is that they are paid about