The suburban citizen., 1901-03-30
THRIVING INDUSTRIES.

women Who Mako 81 GOOu Living Dy sup
plying Needs of Government Clerks.
Numbers of industrious women in
Washington make good living by ca
tering to the needs of the Government
clerks. Women clerks have not much
time to sew, and less time to buy the
things with which to sew, and the
woman who brings for sale a satchel
full Of neat little parcels, each CON
tanning skirt braid, a spool of silk,
hooks and eyes, a readymade pocket
20 insert In a skirt and loops ready
made to tack on for hanging skirts, is
hailed with pleasure, her parcels
snapped up eagerly and fair price
paid for them
Certain of these women pedlers get
the cream of the trade There Is one
old woman who has never offered any
thing but aprons and sleeves, such as
school children wear, and with which
the clerks protect their clean gowns
and shirt waist sleeves in Summer and
their cloth suits in winter. She her.
self dresses in black, and wears a most
distressed expression, as though it real
ly hurts her to part with the black and
white aprons and sleeves she has 20
neatly made. 1t is currently reported
that she earns as much in year as do
many of the clerks.
AS a rule, every woman in office likes
to have her desk look well, and her
needs for this purpose IRE met by
cheerful lame girl, who brings for sale
cheesecloth busters, with loops to hang
them at the back of the desk when
not in use. This young girl has also
learned that old kid glove wrists are
the best Of all things on which to wipe
pens, and she gathers quantities of
these and sells little packages Of them
at five cents each.
The shoulder brace woman is always
well patronized. Constant leaning over
a desk develops round shoulders, and
Government clerks are as vain as 9th
er women so when they discover a
tendency to stoop they begin to think
Of braces. 1t would be troublesome to
buy them in a store, but it is no bother
to have shoulder Brace Mary" as
they call her, come at noon and fit
them on while they are eating lunch
con. Many a half-dollar is exchanged
for pair of braces which Mary guar
antees will cure the worst case of
round shoulders and which she makes
herself according to her own ideas of
anatomy.
The inner woman is not forgotten by
the office venders. At noontime GER
tain favored merchants come hurrying
in with their baskets OF good things.
An old colored woman who makes the
best doughnuts ever tasted by depart
ment clerks has her basket emptied
and her pocket filled with nickels in
the twinkling of an eye. A pleasant 1t
tie widow brings delicious angel cake
to those whose orders she has taken
the day before, and her order book is
always full. The favorite fruit pur-
veyors are two little girls of Ten and
eight, who can scarcely stagger along
under the baskets Of apples, oranges
tnd bananas, which are rubbed until
they shine alluringly.
Many of the women clerks make tea
for luncheon They are no longer al
lowed to heat water on alcohol stoves,
as of old, several explosions having oc-
CURED, but they get plenty of boiling
water from the engine rooms. A poor
woman who knows that clerks like tea,
also that they are always hurried and
often forget to bring it from home,
comes round daily with neat little
drawings of tea done up in Japanese
paper. The tea is Of excellent quality.
and the clerks are willing to pay a fair
price for it.-New York Tribune.