The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-31
MUST 1T BE DUTCH TREAT?
Il NEW QUESTION FoR WOMEN WHo
EARN THEIR OWN LIVING.

ing gymnasium class for business women
four bloused. beitod, and bloomcred girls.
grouped Turkish fashion on tho floor, waiting
until tho spirit should move them to fresh ex.
ertion.
Il saw something this afternoon that made
me think, said the authenticated girl, smooth.
ing one instep Unexpectedly.
"Oh, mol" said her next neighbor.
"Ot course you got away from It, at once" put
In the smallest Of the group. Its dangcroust to
think when you've been ut business all day"
I'm in earnest announced Miss Auburn
Hair. 81 saw a girl pay a mans car fare"
"a bcggar man y
"No. Not a bcggar man"
WA he sick I Did she do it by mistake r.
mo-, he wasn't sick, and she did 1t on pur.
pose"
"She knew him then o.
"ot course she knew him. She was going
with him."
And paid his car farei A fnc man he must
be!' and the plump girls lip curled contemptu.
ously.
IF 1 had to pay q mans car fare in order to
have him escort mo l think I'd go it Alone said
the brunette, taking tho hairpins out of her
hair, which romping about tho hall had
loosened.
1.-THE man is a nice man enough. and the girl
did just the right thing" said Miss Auburn
Hair. 1T was Miss b., that tall girl I intro
duced you to once. She is a stcnographer in an
insurance office downtown. This man friend Of
hers is in the same office. and lives somewhere
near her in Brooklyn. They get off at the same
hour in the afternoon, and he always goes home
with her. She made the stipulation that IL he
did go with her she should be allowed to pay
her own car fare. He kicked at first, but she's
got him in training now"
Does he give his five cents to the conductor
ana she give hers T. asked the plump girl.
"How funnyi'
mo. One afternoon he pays for both and the
next afternoon she pays for both. That's the
way men do, you know, and Miss B.. thinks that
a girl in business, earning q salary, ought to be
exactly like a man."
And how about tho tickets II they 20 over
the bridge I" asked the brun cite.
"She buys her share and goes ahead Of him
and drops two into the box, Just as a man does
when he is going nywhere with a woman"
And about the lunches in the restaurants :
Does she pay the whole check one day and he the
uextf'
"Yes, every time they go, but 1 don't think
che goes regularly with him
idon't know. II she married and stopped work
That Would w d. be plain " enough sfS f but s EHs sans ses P that
a woman in business ought to insist on being
treated purely as an individual and not as
woman; In fact. She argues that these very
eourtesies that Esen habituslly pay to women
are a drawback to women in a business way;
1acosrtesie s. paid 4 to. women a awback to
think you have been t~umbling about so on that
mattress that your ideas have got upside
"Idon't think It much of a drawback to have
aman oter me his seat in the car when I'm
"or to IA = MIN pass up my fare for me in a
ehakety bus. 1 think it's very nice of him" said
$50 it is nice OF him. but it is a hindrance to
you as a business woman, all the same" said
think. Even the everyday lifting Of a mans
hat to you and his standing aside for you to
pass are stumbling. blocks to you in your bust.
"she talks in riddles" remarked the brunette
listen; FOR a man to take e of his hat tHG to- a girl Is $
interfering with her business career; for him to
is a mortal INJURY. Did you ever hear the IKE /"
You can laugh II you like. know it sounds
its true. maintained the auburn.haired girl. "a
man takes of his hat in church, and he takes it off
10 q woman, but that SAINT act OF taking II off Is
one of the many things that put the woman on a
different footing from him and that prevent
right now she went on. who are working for
Si2 a week, when II they were men and OF the
same intelligence and able to do the same work
they would get S1SE'
The brunette nodded.
"One or two ! can think of, :" she said, but
what has th9t got to do with woman's paying
Not so much TO do with her paying the mans
car fare perhaps. but everything to do with her
women go on letting men treat us as though we
were different, observing all the little usnges
and customs that are practiced in social life
toward women who are not business women. we
will be set apart in the matter of standing. and
wages also. When a woman starts out in bust
ness she must uphold her independence. When
she stops expecting and a%ccepting these little
courtesies, which had their source in an entirely
different order of things when there were no
business women to consider at all, men will con-
sent TO treat her as an individual and ackno~l-
edge her worth on its own merits, paying her
Just the same tr her services as a man Is paid.
on see, lts TINS way, went on the thinker;
Wnen u man clerk mas n sweetheart, he's so
much our, 50 far aS expense Is concerned, unless
clerk has a sweetheart, she's so much in. The
sweetheart buys her theatre tickets, pays her
perfumery, flowers and candy. lie is really q
source of income to her. business men and
kind of women) can't. stand on the same plane
as long as that sort of thing holds, That is the
and women when there were no women wage
earners. 1t Is precisely because more is ex
more demands on his purse, that the business
firms pay him more and pay the woman less
OF a man than OF a woman. then either his
wages will be lowered to the woman's standard
or her wages will be brought up to his. Both
You think, then. that business women ousht
nary social Observance T. asked the small girl.
Not beyond 1t: exactly, but as not affected
tums and regulations that hold good for womcr
OF leisure were made to fit an entirely diiferen
acquaintances In social life a girls acquqint
Ances are made for her; she meets only those
men whom her father or brother or other rela
tive elects to introduce to her. The girl or th'
woman in business Is in u different atmosphere
Her business absorbs the greater portion of he
time and cuts her off from nearly all opportuni
" OF making social acquaintance. In II bus
mess way she sometimes makes thel
but she has 10 judge for herself of their fitness
or unttness for her friendship. The old code o
etiquette would prohibit her from accepting an!
attention from an acquaintance formed in tina
manner, so II she accepts such attentions sh'
must run counter to the code and strike out TO
DerSelI. III she Is inueDpDueut and meets suCl
advances just as a cOlnrade, insisting upOI
reciprocating them, she will avoid embarrass
ment."
"Reciprocating theml You mean II q maj
asks her to go to a play she must ask him after
ward TO go to anothcr 2"
Yes. IL she likes him well enough and h.
proves on further acquaintance TO be a reputa
BILE, pleasant fellow. OF course the woman VIII,
had a social experience before she became II bust
ness woman and was brought up in all that sor