The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-22

My summer trip costs usually about 500,
. as / generally go 10 Chautauqua Lake for
a few weeks. and sometimes to the shore
OF Lake George, where / have a sister
living. The railroad fare and hotel bills
eat up about 500. This leaves me SIS for
a little spending money through the year.
My recrea;ions are few; an occasional
long walks after school are all the dis
sipatons l have"
This young lady explained that she had
no cause to complain of her salary. She
said that she did SOME writing for papers
which afforded a little income and that
was the way she was trying to save a
little. She lives upon her salary, and
the amounts received trem the work of
her pen go scrupulously to the bank ac
count, which she admitted was now Of re-
spectacle proportions. She would not say
that she suffered any hardship on account
Of the small salary. By economical living
and plain dressing she declared that she
had enough and was content. She ad-
mitted, though, that If she felt called upon
to save any considerable part of her earn
iIgs in the schoolrOom it might be hard to
do so.
On n $50 Salary.
The reporter afterward called upon a
teacher who receives $3.50 year for her
services. This young woman, it was evil
dent, was living on 4 much narrower scale
than the one described above. She boards
with a relative and pays 81 week for
room and board. That consumes $500.
She said that 800 year was all that she
could afford for dress. and she allowed s25
q year for laundry purposes. THAT leaves
me SIPS for everything else, and / have
to figure close" she said, ito get through
the year on that, if l have any rest in the
summer time away from Washington" She
explained that it was economy in the long
run to spend the summer away from
Washington. She stated that she tried to
stay here all summer once and had to
pay for 1t by large Doctors bill that
completely shattered her years earnings.
She borrowed money the next year to 20
away with, and she thought she profited
by it.
No, / can't save anything ON $3.50
year, she remarked in answer to n uues-
ton. 1T seems to me We ought to have
more. The work is hard and requires all
our time, and when vacation comes there
are few girls who teach who have the
strength or the inclination to do anything
to earn money If they have the oppor-
tunity. When l think of the millions
spent by Congress and the District on pol
iticians. whose only claim to big salaries
is being henchmen of somebody, ! think
the Congressman ought to turn n few of
them out and give us poor teachers
enough to live on comfortably. do not
often complain. / just go on doing my
work and economizing, seeing thousand
things l want and can't have, but tell
you l have to grit my teeth once in the
while to keep my temper from rising when
think of what have to live on and the
work / have to do
How n $500 SnInry liz Used.
The last teacher interviewed mentioned
tc the reporter the case Of young woman
teaching in the Washington schools who !
had herself and two little sisters left on !
her hands by the death of their parents |
to support. A CHEEKY faced woman met |
the reporter at the door of her home !
with her head tied up with an old veil |
and broom suspiciously near revealed !
the fact that she had been mixing the !
art of schoolkeeping with that of house
work. The reporter stated his errand and
was invited in, and seated in the parlor
this capable teacher and sister mother to
two little girls told something of her
struggle to get along on $500 a year. las