The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-10
A MERRY GIRL MILLER, SHE,
ONLY ONE ~ THE UNITED ST. TES,
THEY SAY ON THE PERkIOMEN.
Though hut ~ she Knows the Business
Thoroughly and Runs q Historic Old
Mill with PrOnt--T0sses lOO-lb. Flour
sacks and Is an Expert on Rye-Her
Mil Has Q Revolutionary Record.

| Thoroughly and Runs Historic Old
MIL with PrOnt--T0sses lOO.lb. Flour
sacks and Is an Expert on Rye-Iirr
| Mill Has . Revolutionary Record.
On the banks Of the Perkiomen River
not a great way from historic Valley Forge
is q -four mill which has the distinction
OF being owned and operated personally by
| the only woman miller in the United States
She Is hardly even woman miller
for she Is only II. but she carries on
her business entirely on her own hook.
and shows so much aptitude, good sensa
and shrewdness in 1t that that g. g may
| be considered to have attained brevet
rank.
! or the three and half million women
wage earners in the United States there ara
! few who do not have to work in factory
or an Office in which they have to obey the
! orders OF a superior. Miss Sallie Freichler,
! the girl miller is an exception. She is her
own master entirely, makes her own rules,
| does her own business, Keeps Ter own
! books and carries on her own correspon-
dence, obeying nobody's orders but those
| of her customers.
The mill she runs is one Of several in
those parts which were in existence in
Revolutionary days Washington SOL
| diers slept within it's walls and their bread
| was often made from the -four i, had
F, ground.
II passed into The hands Of Miss Sallie's
grandfather and from him to his son and
| now the sons daughter has 1t. She played
in the mill as child and as she grew up
helped her daddy, and, half unconsciousy
and half with thought Of the future, learned
the millers business from him thoroughly.
When he died here was no one else TO
carry it on so Miss Sallie took his place,
For two years now she has operated the
mill entirely alone. only calling in assist
ance when there is heavy load Of rye
[; to be taken in or large invoice of -four to
be shipped. She is at work before sunrise
in winter and keeps hard at 1t all day.
And she seems to like the responsibility
and the clean dollars her work brings in.
She caters to one Of the richest farming
communities in Pennsylvania and the COM
munity likes her and helps her to get
along.
She has been miller so long now that abe
is an expert. She can make good wheat
-four as we'll as rye -four and also grind
corn and oats into chop for the farmers
horses. She can even prepare the mill
IT ones--it took years to learn how to do
that--cutting thirty-two clean burrows to
an inch. with fine sharp feather edge
to each. And her mill is the cleanest in
the valley.
The huge grinding stones, which weigh
nearly a on each, are lifted with screwpns.
when it is neces sary to redress them; but
welding the sharpened mill picks. which
weight nearly five pounds apiece. gives
the young woman fine pair OF bceps which
she needs in other branches Of her business.
She puts her -four into compound sacks
and these she has to gather from the flour
ell. trans fer to the scales, weigh them, sew
them, and ri'e them ready for removal. She
doesn't pretend to be an athlete. yet she
considers 1t eas v TO hoist three-bushe! sack
full Of rye to the upper floor of her mill,
Its output, when water is plentifu-like
all the mills along the Perkiomen it runs
by water power-averages 1900 pouncs
daily and is sold all through the Eat.
Be- ides being a thoroughly capable
miller, Miss Sallie has won another sort or
reputation in the last year and a half. The
farmers round about cons ider her an ex-
pert on rye in all its stages. from the seed
to the ground product.
She il able 10 es innate the yield while
the grain is still standing in the field. and
she knows the grades of grain better than
most of her customers. Whenever a Perkio-
man farmer wishes to know the price OF his
cereals, he goes to the Girl Miller for the
market ullO atiOns