The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-06
WOMEN STUDENTS WHO WORK.
How Poor Undergraduates Manage to
Make Ends Meet.

Alice Fallows, in July Century.
Just within the entrance of the gymna-
SUM at Smith College is a small square
room which looks like a booth at a church
fair. The bulletin boards on its walls are
covered with blue prints, copies OF Gibson
Pi rie y padhtee frames; conegs nags'
pillow covers, and a score Of other fancy
articles which seem the pastime of an idle
hour In reality each one represents the
serious investment of q girl who is work
ing her way. The Smith College calendar,
hanging in a corner; took one girl half
posite paid the incidental expenses of an
other for a year, while the jolly pair of
football players. constructed out of tissue
paper and pecans. sitting on the window
sill made the temporary fortune OF their
inventor. A day after she had slipped in
and put them there they became the college
fad, and for weeks she could not turn them
out fast enough TO fill her orders. Then
suddenly their popularity waned; no one
wanted them; and now, faded and covered
with dust, the two favoriteS of a past hour
sit neglected in their corner, a pathetic
warning of the Inconsistency Of college de-
mand.
Like Smith students. college girls every
where try these picturesque methods of
making money. The pretty trihes which
they sell might seem to a poet the spon-
taneous expression of the feminine instinct
for grace and beauty, but they illustrate
rather a poverty of financial opportunities.
A college man, in his effort TO support him.
self, is limited only by his capacity He
can break stones in the road or publish a
paper, as his talent provides. He is free
to enter any trade or business in the town,
or invent a new one If he pleases. He may
wander where he will along economic high
ways and byways. No one thinks Of put
ting an obstacle in his wav.
But when a girl, out of the ~fuilness Of her
desire, determines to work her way through
college. she must first rid herself OF the
notion that she can copy her college broth
er. Otherwise she will meet with disap-
pointment, for long ago Mrs. Grundy set a
distinction between labor fitting for men
and for women and eur colleges for girls
still respect II; During undergraduate days.
at least, they believe in an emphasis Of the
woman womanly. The s~elf-supporting girl.
therefore. finds before many an industry
open TO her college brother a sign on which
custom Of the college president has written
the uncompromising words. n Admit
lance She can neither weed lawns nor dig
gardens, clean furnaces nor shovel snow.
TIL girl who should turn grocery clerk or
who became a component part OF a bakers
or butchers or hotel keepers staff in her
college town would be a focus for the
puzzled attention of the whole faculty.
while a student dairymaid. fruiterer or
butter merchant within the confines OF the
college would raise a storm of protest from
Maine to California. Yet college men I'm
similar positions meet only praise and com
msndaten.
Doubtless some Of the occupations in the
diminished list for girls declared official by
college censors will seem trivial enough 10
the masculine student-merchan who sells
milk by the thousand quarts and butter by
countless pounds. Nevertheless. the college
girl invests as much energy and strength
and originality in her tasks as the college
man in his. III she earns as much money as
he. her effort must be almost doubled. Few
girls, under the circumstances have the
physical exuberance necessary 10 meet the
strain of entire s~elf-support. They must
stop short at self-help. But the attitude OF
a woman's college is strongly paternsl.
Though restrictions are laid on the student
who works her way. scholarship and loans.
as far as they 60. are the compensations.
and, when these ere exhausted, a protective
care and watchfdlpess which seldom fall TO
the lot of the college man.