The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-16
CHICAGO WOMAN
LIVES FIVE WEEKS.
ON SEVEN DOLLARS
Not as a Bid for Notoriety, but
as a Hard, Cruel Necessity Is
the Experiment Made-Story
of the Struggles to Which the
Unemployed Are Subjected.
70 live five weeks ON less than ST

! TO live five weeks on less than ST..
! This may seem, at first, an fmpossf-
| BILE feat, worthy only of a place in some
! imaginary existence, but Miss Jane II.
| Williams, of Chicago, is alive and
| cheerful to show that it can really be
accomplished. although real suffering
and actual privation accompanied the
| experiment-made perforce. Back or
| the experiment lies the sorrowful, oft
| told tale of a. clever woman, brave,
practically friendless, and but Ill
| equipped for the worlds battle, thrown
| suddenly upon her own resources With
out definite means of wage earning or
| financial support.
| 81 was born In the South, In Tennes-
| See," says Miss Williams, who has
lived in Chicago since last January and
| intends to continue living here-if live
| at all she may-despite the hardships
| of her Chicago experience, "and, al
| though I always wanted to earn my
| own bread and butter, my father and
! brother were shocked at the bare idea;'
| they felt, indeed, that I had disgraced
| them by the mere suggestion. But
when I was still under twenty five my
| father died suddenly-and poor-and
| my brother followed him soon after
| Then came the beginning of my hard
| times. san
| Seeking Fortune in Chicago.
Varied experiences followed. l
| learned typesetting and stenography.
| and tried school teaching, all without
much success. 1 found few opportuni-
| ties in the South. I drifted out to
| Texas, and so, last January, to Chi
cago. 1 had written and had accepted
some articles for Southern papers and
magazines. had read proof and held
copy I felt that surely here in Chi
cago congenial work could be found.
But my articles came back to me
promptly, or were retained. unpublish-
| ed. unaccepted. even when l Enclosed
postage. I made the round of the pub
fishing houses and the employment
agencies In vain. AT the latter I was
told frankly that I was too old to
hope for good position; that young
girls alone were in demand. I'm not
| in my second childhood yet. by any
means; I could do good work. and
| faithful, If I could get it to do; ana
Pm not afraid of hard work. either
But a temporary position at Sc per
week was all that I could find.
Beginning on S. Week.
| eft may be easy to live on Sc week
when you're used to it; l found 1t
hard. Two dollars weekly went for my
tiny hall room. was still at the plain
family hotel I had sought when first
coming to Chicago. Sixty cents went
for car fare, with another so for laun-
dry work, postage stamps and other
unavoidable necessities. Sometimes,
| too, 1 was i'll, and had to spend little
| for simple medicines. None too much
was left for my food purchased no
| clothing, of course, although my shoes
were poor and thin. Every day of the
| four weeks I held that S. position l
dined on buckwheat cakes, syrup and
a cup of coffee, for Is cents; / found I
could keep up best on this diet. l need
| ed the coffee to keep me awake. i
soon grew SO weak and tired. For
breakfast had simply cup of coffee,
with an uncooked cereal in my room
for supper. These were easy times and
| luxurious, however, compared with
those that came later. At the end Of
the month I found myself once more
out of a position, and with less than a
dollar In my pocket. But my room
rent was paid for week in advance
Searching for Work.
During my five weeks without en-
pleyment I earned $3.50 by miscella
neous Jobs of typesetting; kindly
woman in the same building somehow
suspected my plight, after a little, and
| helped me out with some good meals
| and little money for care fare-1 had
| to have car fare, because when I'd
walk down town from Thirty ninth
street 1 couldn't look for work An
other kindly woman loaned me a dol
| lar, still another SO cents and quar-
ter. But altogether I had less than 81
| in money during all that awful five
weeks-car fare cost me 10 cents every
! day.
How did 1 manage. Well, was
| careful. And I faced starvation many
times. Nobody knows the thoughts
that can come up in a human heart
while tramping the streets, cold, hum
cry, exhausted, looking for work, with
| well fed, prosperous, uncaring fellow
! humans on every side, never noticing
| or thinking of your plight, until the
| experience has been tested. Two nights
! and two days was the longest time /
| ever went without food, but I tell you
! my thoughts ran rampant during that
| period, and they were not pleasant
ones. Suicide? Why, yes, of course !
| thought of it, but I'm not a coward,
never did run away from distress or
danger. 1 wouldn't run then, although
| my courage sank low at times.
IF a drop dead on the streets I'll
| die all honor to the paving stones
drop on 1 told the one woman who
! and I'd only just made her acquaint-
ance-stood by me with sympathy and
| encoura cement, as we'll as practical as
| sistance now and then.
| Cakes and Syrup Chief Diet.
| 1.-The hotel was changing hands, and
| the tenants We're allowed to stay on,
rent free, until they could find other
rooms. So stayed four weeks. What
| if. I hadn't enjoyed this accemmoda-
ton? Well, I suppose 1 should have
| died. AS for food, did with little. Oc-
! casionally, when I had little money.
/ treated myself to a solid meal of
| wheat cakes and syrup; once kindly
/ natured woman invited me out to a
roast beef dinner. 1 hope she'll never
| know, from experience, how good the
first dinner, after you have been hun
cry two days, tastes. I couldn't accept
help from my one friend too often, you
see. Then I learned how to manage
long time without fainting on sin
gle cup Of coffee. And there's the pen
ny restaurant, too.
81 never saw another woman in it,
but I was treated nicely. I think, by
| the way, I must have met the incest,
best people in Chicago, the treatment
I've had all through. At this restau-
/ rant YOU can get two slices of fruit