The times., 1897-04-04

at is all very well to talk about economy
and light housekeeping, said the girl in
the scarlet shirt waist, but don't profit
by it, in the first place. / haven't time;
and then, my landlady wouldn't allow 1T;
and, in the third place, j can't COOK "a
thing fit TO eat. j don't believe you econo-
miZe so very much, either. You said your
breakfast would have cost you half a dollar
at the restaurant; but it wouldn't where
/ get mine"
That's u misunderstanding" said kath-
erine, calmly, Il said half dollar Tor the
two of lis; that is, twenty-five cents piece.
Ordered separately, my breakfast would
have cost, omelet, 10 cents coffee, .; rolls
aud butter, .; oatmeal, .. / know that
at the 15-oent dining rooms you can get
breakfast for less
II wonder,'' said the other girl, in
speculative way, 'if there IS another city
in the United states where living is so
cheap as it is here if one must economic.
Now, before l came south of New York
always thought 80 cents was fair price
for d dinner, and never expected to pay
any less I've gone into restaurants IN
Springfield or Boston and paid 60 cents
for lunch not Il bit better cooked or
served than l can get for D here Soup,
roast beef, pota toes. peas, coffee, ana PIE
you know the regulation dinner they
serve in some of those places. And at
any one of half dozen lunch-roOms here
YOU car get those things or an equivalent
for Just 3 cents That is about 81 Ii
week for breakfast and dinner, and one
can always buy d cup Of coffee or tea, and
rolls, for lunch That makes board cost
something like S2T5 week. why,
never thought of it, but were rich!'
The girls got pencil and paper and
figured it up. They were both wori:ing-
girls-one a saleSwOman, the other Il
stenoCraphcr-an their combined income
would have been about Sl1 per week.
Sometimes the stenographer made a little
more than her usual So, and sometimes
the ShopgriI got a little less than 80.
They were both young, courageous and
careful, the kind OF girls who come TO
the city determined to Ec independent, II
no Inore-who have dainty tastes, and
pretty ways, and a liking for things which
in England or on the Continent would be
considered quite aLOvc their station
1t is this difference in our social life
which evoked the puzzled query from
Mr.. Rudyard Kipling on his first visit
to this country. What is one to say to
a young lady-who, in England, would he
a person-whu earns her own bread and
quotes Theophile Gautier?" 1t is this
difference in social training which makes
the American girl what she is.
our two girls were OF the class, then
who must work for small wages at the he
ginning Ia many cities, where board and
room cannot be had for less than So per
week. they would have had to suffer actual
prvatiou, for however economical and
clever girl may he, She cannot dress on
nothing at all Il year, even with Il good
wardrobe al the beginning In Washing
ton it is different The girl in the scarlet
shirt waist paws for board somewhere he
tween 81 SO and S2,75 per week Her
room, which is of the hall bedroom
variety. costs her 81 20 more. That
leaves So for dress, laundry, and Incl
dentals Her room is near the shop, so
she doesn' t have TO pay car fare. Girls
YOU no live at home, and have all the
time YOU need for little bits of mending
and home dressingmaking, who can take
YOUR time to hunt the city over for the
precise shade that you want in dress goods,
and the very best bargains in cloakS, think
this over.
There are hundreds OF girls who have
made Just such beginnings. Some of them
are business women now, with salaries
away out OF sight of those small begin
nings There are hundreds of men who
are starting in the same way, with this
difference. that the man seldom depends
on his home people for help. He may live
at home. but he pays his beard. and he is
more likely not to live at home Some of
these men succeed, too. more of them never
do. if success means large fortune. There
is really better chance for the S6-a-week
clerk in washington than in most cities.
1t doesn't take quite all of the Sc a week
to keen body and soul together, and one MAJ y
nossible follow the advice of MI Rocke-
Teller, and save n little each week. and put
at least - cent into the contribution box
The 15-cent lunch room is feature of
Washington. Not all the people who 20
there are SO a week people by any means,
There are department clerks. business
men and people of leisure, and people of
enforced leisure, and representatives of
various other classes of society, 1t is a
marvel to the average householder how the
l5-cent lunch room manages to exist at all,
except as a charitable instit tution but the
secret of the whole matt ter is in buying