St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-02-12
From a Working Girls Standpoint.
EDITOR CALIFORNIAN

EDITOR CALIFORNIAN:
Thinking the enclosed clipping may heIP
solve some of the problems now before
the Christian people Of St. Johnsbury'
send it to you with few bits from my
own experience.
A Young girl once said to me, Il never
did thing which believed to be wrong
and if the daughters Of those mothers
who condemn me had been in my place
they would have done no better"
A woman who had been tor tortYy years
the trusted helper in one city home SAID;
1.-THE trouble with this life is its loneli-
ness"
Twas once a stranger in little village
A young lady caller, upon leaving SAID
"You must be lonely. might have called
sooner, but never thought"
But evil is wrought by lack OF thought
as well as lack of heart" r.
If all the women on the other side OF
the desk and counter could only realize
that we, the women who work for our
daily bread, are made of the same clay
as themselves, there would be less need
| for societies for elevating the working
! classes.
Once for all, let me announce that ques'
tions considered impairment and 1nqulsl
tive in parlor and reception room, are
still impairment and ilqulsltive when al
dressed to shop girls and working PEG,
pie in general. For example, how Wouia
the average woman like to be asked
where she lives, whether or not she helps
support her family, how often she at
tends church. with various Other cues
tons, all by strangers and during bus
| mess hours?
Again and again women have said to
me: Don't you get tired waiting on
customers all day?' and without wait
! ing for a reply demand Extra service per
haps without buying a single article.
the people who are really anxious to
assist working girls should know that
the one thing needful in most cases is
what business men call Backing" How
many girls would go wrong, do you
think, ii each one had a sympathetic
sensible friend to whom she could GO
with her joys and sorrows? Sometimes
a little thing will lit up struggling girl
into a better position that years OF
patient effort could not do.
Ia my own short business life, it has
been my good fortune to have better
place, with higher salary, than many
girls who started long before did, simply
because a few people with influence were
my firm friends:
1t is impossible for many to realize thu
influence a refined, sensible woman might
if she chose, have over the triendess CIR
who works for her living. A little low
ing counsel as to dress, language anC
manners, often means increased SALARY
and respect for the careless young clerk
"But," you say "all this takes time anC
patience" OF course it does but it Il
better to gladden. the lives OF few PEG
pie than to spend time and money on (;
number of clubs. And cannot think 81
lightly Of my fellow laborers that the,
would overstep the hospitality show
them. | know it is the fashion wit
some newspapers and magazines to REP
resent the girl who works as a loud
pushing creature who chews gum, flirts
and performs various details Of her to-
let in public but it is cowardly an
decidedly un-American fashion. Her
= aud there you may find such person
bat the majority of working girls ar
, Just what your own daughters would b
under similar circumstances.
Il you are too busy to undertake any
thing of this kind, there is still somethiu
every woman can do: Take the none
s Gou spend in charity and pay bette
Wages to every woman you have o,
casion to employ, and am sure the
VIII appreciate it. Do not make the mis-
take of thinking you are interested in th
? working classes when you ask question
:, about their private affairs and invit
them to club meetings. The little kindl
e attcnt IONS, the books, the music, the plea
ant walks and drives that make yor
daily life worth living are doubl
+ precious to the girl who can count hi
# friends on the fingers of one hand.
y Try and see if the result is not sati
=, factory. Into your hands may be give
Il the pleasant task of laying the iound
e ton of the bridge over that great CT
s. between capital and labor Exchange