Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-07
WAYS OF THE WORLD.
New York Lacks Accommodations for
Transient Women.

From the New York Tribune
ut is not generally known that any I'M
protected woman who, through some IN
foreseen accident such as might easily oc-
cur in travelling or missing train, should
find herself alone in New York at night
would be placed in a serious predicament,"
said matron.
1T is strange but actual fact that she
would not be admitted to any hotel all
though obviously a gentlewoman, and per-
fectly able to pay her way. That a mascu-
line stranger should be able without any
trouble to find comfortable accommodation
anywhere and respectable woman be re-
fused shelter. seems almost Incredible but
until the much-taked-of woman's hotel be-
comes an actual fact 1t is literally true
that woman who might be obliged to
stay unexpect edly over night in New York
would not have a place to lay her head. If
she were Ill she might be taken to the hos
pital. and doubtless there are charitable or
CARNATIONS that would give her shelter
but to acquire the right to board and lodg-
ing in an ordinary way would be impossi-
BILE.
That a delicately nurtured young girl
of good social position should have to face
such state of affairs If she found herself
accidentally alone In New York passes be-
lief. An incident which occurred last sum
mer might happen to any woman similarly
placed. The victim was Miss X whose
family had closed their house for the sum-
mer. and were spending the season on the
coast of Maine. She herself had been vis-
Ting friends at Long Branch and found
through some mistake on reaching New
York that she had missed the last connec-
ton for the night Being a young woman
of an Independent turn Of mind and after
wiring her people that she had been de-
| tanned. she got her dinner comfortably at
the railway restaurant. and then hailing a
cab drove to hotel where she frequently
had attended and given luncheon parties in
the winter.
ITO her diSmay and CONSERVATION, how
ever. she was CURLY informed by the night
clerk that no unaccompanied women were
admitted. There were several men stand
ing about the Office, and, dreading any pub
licity, she hastily retreated and sat down
in the parlor to consider the situation. She
soon remembered to have heard before that
women were not admitted to hotels in New
York II they were alone, and she decided
that she would not expose herself to a sec
ond refusal: but to go somewhere was a
necessity. Her first thought was Of their
own empty house, but the keys were in the
charge of a burglar-proof society, so that
was impossible All her friends were out
of town. Finally, she thought of little
seamstress that the family employed and
whose address she remembered-the one
person in all the whole city that a popular
New York girl with hosts Of friends and
belonging to a Well-known wealthy family
could think of as a refuge. So once more
taking a cab she drove to the dressmaker's,
who received her with kindness and won
der, and gave up her own room to her for
the night. If any one told me- said the
girl afterward in narrating her experiences
that in my own New York 1 could possibly
be treated as pariah and an outcast l
would have believed him