The evening times., 1898-06-09
TRHuKL THLkS
BY CAR MAIDS
Women Who Have Invaded
the Territory Of Men.
aEtroduced Originally ms a Luxury,
But Expcrience Proves Them to
:. Be Very Useful.


BE Very Useful.
Women are Invading fields of work
which men have considered their exclu-
sive territory. but some don't object. Last
took unto itself trim colored maids, and
the porters. in place of resenting their
advent seem to regard the innovation
as special dispensation of Providence
in their favor. while the porters of trains
where feminine society isn't furnished
by the company look upon their more IA
vored brothers with envy.
There are five maids in the service,
for, though the train Carries only one,
relays have to be provided. In this work
as in every other woman runs up against
her most hopeless limitation-want OF
physical strength-and the wear and tear
Of constant life on the road. aside from
any question of work, would make her
q wreck In no time. So the maid has
twenty-four hours rest in Chicago and
thirty-six hours in New York. and even
that doesn't prevent her looking tired and
worn.
The original idea in furnishing a train
maid seems to have been that she would
be an ornamental element-a finishing
touch to the luxurious mise en- scene. She
would wear the whitest Of aprons and the
most deliberately fiuted of caps. She
would stand by the door and receive the
passengers, SO that they might have the
sensation of entering a private house.
and fee. quite at home. Then she would
render such services to the women pas
sengers as the porter could not supply.
She wasn't a vital necessity. She was
luxury. and the railroad company didn't
realize that the travelling I.ublic would
literally jump at her. but that was what
happened.
Contrary to the usual sequence, the
supply created the demand. For years
travellers had with some assistance from
the porter been getting along very COM
fortably. They didn't realize that a maid
was necessary for their happiness. but
the company provided maid. and now
that part Of the public which travels on
limited trains couldn't live without her.
1t furnishes her with work enough to oc-
cupy ten women, and complains bitterly
because the company Is too penurious to
supply more than one maid for a train.
The maids regular working hours are
from clock in the morning until IL at
night. but II anyone needs her during the
night she must be on duty-and someone
usually does need her. Invalids, women
with little children. all persons for whom
railway travel Is hardship and who
wish to shorten the journey as much as
possible. prefer the limited train, and
consequently the maid comes in contact
with a great deal of attention.
Its rare thing said one of the
maids to Sun reported that We make
the round trip from New York to Chicago
and return without having at least one
passenger who is i'll enough to need con-
slant care. Some times a sick lady will
have her own maid or daughter with
her; but often she will just have her hus-
band. and then l take care of her. Some
times 1 wonder what those people did
before maids were put on the trains II
must make a big difference to them.
When We came from Chicago last time
there were six ladies who didn't get out
of their berths. / had to serve all their
meals and wait on them. and I was up
all night with one of them. 1 always
carry some medicines. camphor and head
ache powders and jamaica ginger and
toothache medicine and pepsin and quin-
inc. A hot water bag seems to be the
biggest aIl-around comfort. though l
could have made my fortune renting out
my hot water bag last Winter, but
week or two ago ! gave it to a little boy
who had toothache. and he punctured
holes in 1t with his knife, SO l haven't
any hot water bag now / reckon l won't
need ii this Summer anyway. My. but /
do SO dread the hot weather. The work
will seem so much harder. and everything
viii be dirty, and the porters say the pas
sengers get awful cross and cranky when
it's hot. Then the babies and the other
children will be fretty. and l don't know
what I'll do with them"
DO you have to take care of the child
ren?"
'Oh. yes. sometimes-when their moth
er Isn't well or wants TO sleep or read.
Lots of folks don't take the children out
to the dining-car. and just leave them
with me. 1 tell you, l have my hands
full sometimes. I'm real fond of chill
dren, but some of them are afraid of be-
ing left with stranger, and others are
just naturally naughty. and they cry and
fuss and tease until / almost so crazy. 1
believe that tires me more than any of
the rest of my work
Then. too. get terribly tired being on
my feet SO much. Unless l am too busy
about something important. have to walk
through the train every fifteen or twenty
minutes just to see If anyone needs me-
I'd like to know how far l walk between
here and Chicago. You see,- there are
seven cars. and twice the length of the
train Is right smart distance. If you'd
try walking it every fifteen minutes from
s in the morning until II at night. reckon
you'd understand why I need rest
There Is a porter to every car, and, of
course, they have to make up the berths;
but. aside from that, their work isn't as
hard as mine. But then every kind of
work Is hard and I like this first rate
One morning a lady rang for me to go in
and brush her clothes and dress her little
girl. Then she decided I might get her
breakfast for her; and when brought It
she said. You're very lucky. aren't you,
to have this fine place and nothing much
to do? That's the way some of them
seem to look at 1t; and it's sort of pro-
voking.
"It would make you laugh to hear the
things the ladies tell me. They get lone
some; and I know they make excuses to
get me into their staterooms just so they'll
have someone to talk to. Why. I've heard
more family histories than you could put
in book. and some of them are mighty
too: but I don't have much
time for just listening to conversation. 1
reckon the people think they'll never see
me again and don't know them and so
they relieve their minds and tell me ev-
erything they know. One night last
month a woman on the train rang for me
about II o'clock and said she was nervous