Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-09


written, with the authors heart in every
line.
BARBIzoN DAYS. BY Charles sprague Smith.
Illustrated. New York: A. Vessels Company
Washington: VIM. Ballantyne & Sons.
One of the most interesting works on art
and artists which has come from the
presses this season is this work of Mr.
Smith His subjects are Millet Corot
rousseau and Barge. The book is pro-
fusely illustrated with examples of the
principal works of the painters named.
THE WOMAN WHO TOLLS. BY Mrs John Van
Worst and Miss Marie Van Worst New York:
doubleday Page & Co. Washington: William
Balantyne & Sons.
This book, dealing with social and eco
nomic conditions pertaining to the female
toiler In the United States, is of absorbing
interest and worthy the serious considera-
ton of the American public One chapter
in the book prompted President Roose-
velts recent forcible expression on the
question of race suicide as relating to
the American people, an expression which
has been widely commented on through
out the country The volume embodies the
results of the observations and experiences
of two women in comfortable circum-
stances, who became factory girls for a
time, in order that they might give accu-
A"'S iSpoit VI pi toiiuitlOHS among
laborers of their own Sex. In the graphic
accounts of what these women saw-the
mental and physical suffering the suualid
and pitiful surroundings of the female
toilers-there is material in abundance to
arouse the most indifferent reader to SYM
pathetic interest.
Mrs. Van Worst whose account occunies
the first part of the volume worked first
in a Pittsburg pickle factory and later in
clothing factory at Perry, N. Y. She
a nf bn
work, the life of the women and girls in
factory and home, their ambitions and the
effects of the employment and environment
upon the female workers morally socially
and physically. She states that 1.-The
women's highest wages were lower
than the mems lowest In explana-
ton of this she says: I'm the mas
cullne category | met but one class of
cempetitor-the bread-winner. In the fem
mime category l found a variety of classes
the bread-winner. the semi bread-winner
the woman who works for luxuries." 1t
Is this division of purposes, says the writer
that takes the spirit out of the female
workers as a class. The question of wages
is not vital to them all.
The conditions surrounding the female fac
tory hands in the south, according to Miss
Marie Van Worst. who has written the lat
ter part of the book, are more significant
than those noticed in the north The lax
1ty or the absence of laws relating to
child labor and to hours of employment
together with the lack of sanitary and
other regulations. make the environment
less humane in some of the southern states
than is the case in the north where legis-
1ation has interested itself in behalf of
those who labor.
One suggestion offered by Mrs Van Worst
for the relief of the women toiIers is as
follows: The self-supporting woman should
be In competition only With other self
supporting industrial units. The problem
for her class will settle itself, according
to just and natural laws, when the pur-
pose of this class is equally vital to all
concerned. Relief, it seemed to me, could
be brought to the bread-winner by sep
arating from her the girl who works for
luxuries." And another: Organic labor
therefore. SO well that the workman who
obtains her task may be able to continue
1t and keep her health and her seIf-re-
spect.' Concerning the female hands in
the southern factories. there is found this
more or less hopeful statement: THE wo-
men are still, despite their condition and
their white slavery. human beings thank
God, for 1t is prophecy for their futureD
not yet crushed to the dumb endurance Of
beasts