Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-06-15
Boston's Girl Students.

There are many classes Of people
gathered together in the great cities
Of America, but of them. none is more
picturesque and interesting than wO-
men students-nOt the girls who are
attending the institutions where there
are dormitories. but the young women
who come to the cities to work inde-
pendently and to live independently.
In studying them, the first thing that
fmpresses one is the fact that they are
poor. l have yet to find one who has
more than she actually needs. while
many do not have half the necessaries
OF life. 1t is astonishing how many
parents send their daughters away to
study, dress and live well on an al
lowance that would be considered
small to give a college man for spend
ing money. There are girls in Boston.
for instance, that are shOckingly
poor. yet they belong to excellent fam
lilies and are accustomed to comfort
able homes. They come with small al
lowances and their first step is to get
the best instruction. What is left Of
their money they live on, and it is most
interesting to see how they do it.
know one girl who decided to take
up art after she was graduated from
the high school of her own city.
Well" her mother said, you know
there are no advantages to be had
here, and you know that we cannot
give you money enough to go away.
But the girl was not satisfied. She did
not want to stop studying. and simply
live quietly at home. doing moth
ing but dancing and going to the
teas" She was ambitious. So finally
her parents agreed to give her the
money that would naturally go for
gowns and spending money, and let
her do what she chose with it. She
came to Boston and paid her tuition
at one of the art schools and got what
artists materials were necessary to
begin her work. There was almost
nothing left to live on. but the little
woman was not in the least discour
aged. She tramped all over town and
finally found an attic room that has no
heat, save for the good intentions of
the most useless small fireplace on
earth, and that has one dormer win
dow from which nothing can be seen
but the house opposite, not even
glimpse of the street. There is only
one place in it where it is safe to stand
full height and that is right in the
centre.
1t Is room that one would not think
of putting a servant into. but my
friend and another art student took it.
1t was deplorably shabby and dirty.
but the girls gave it a rousing cleaning
and banished the big bed, getting two
narrow cots. with bright inexpensive
covers, to use in it's place. They have
90 irt, 10 no
cots suggest comfort. The comfort"
by the way, is only an idle dream.
They covered the dingy old walls with
few framed pictures and lots of
sketches and studies in pencil and
color. One of the girls has a brass
kettle and some cups, SO they rugged
up a tea table and set it in front of the
window and bit under one of the
caves. with great effect. on the man
tlepiece are few good books and the
fire, although a farce in most ways, is
still cheerful to look into. These girls
have to climb four flights of the crook
eldest, narrowest, steepest, darkest
stairs in the West End. l have been
over miles of old stairs in Boston, but
l have never seen the equal of these.
l never call upon my plucky artist
but ungrammatical old soul l know
who once said. in describing a trip up
mountain, that she elm and she
elm, and she elm, til she clum clear
to the top" But the only reference
these young women have ever made to
the self sacrifice shown by their
friends in going to have a cup of tea
with them. is sign painted in jolly
nd cE,rll
and tackled onto the outside of their
door. 1t reads. Heaven One Flight
Up"
Economy is subject that is pretty
thoroughly understood by the students
They know where to get the most for
the least money-that is they do after
their first year. But, oh, that first
year, The aiacrity with which they
accept the invitations of grand
mammals and Uncle Johns stupid old
friends ito run out to Dorchester and
Newton often and just have a plain
home dinner is something appalling.
Last year four girls living together
never asked one another what engage
ments they had for the coming week,
but instead: We'll, girls. what square
meals have you in prospect" Ere
Quently a girl living this way does not
take board by the week because she is
apt to be in one part of the town at
noon and somewhere else at six
o'clock. So she gets sandwich and
cream puff for luncheon. and at night
she is too tired to care about anything
to cat, so she decides not to go out
again in the rain but stay in her room
and eat some fruit. And so it goes,
until enough friends speak of her pale
ness to make her wonder what the
me tier is. Girls have to learn the i'm
portance of regular meals and whole
some food. They economize in the
wrong place. But the second year they
are likely to have more to eat, and go
to the theatre less.
l met a girl year or two ago who
went one entire winter without either
umbrella or rubbers. She said she
could not afford to have them. This
girl had scholarship at one of the
art schools. and she lived on what she
could make decorating dinner cards
and calendars and candy boxes for
shops. She used to wash her clothes
in the bath tub and wear them rough