Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-07
WORK ON THE STREETS
Thousands Of Women Ped
dlers in New York.
KEEN IN BUSINESS
THEY NEED THE MONEY AND
THEY USUALLY GET TT.
Have Entered Into Active Competition
With the Masculine Fakir- ~
How They Keep House.
KEEN IN BUSINESS

From the heart of New York's kaleido-
scopic life comes practical contradiction
of the common belief that women form the
weaker sex. Fully 5000 women work on
the streets of the American metropolis in
fair weather and foul.
The sidewalk is their shop, the curbstone
their counter. They know nothing of the
barest comforts afforded by a poorly ap-
pointed store. They stand or walk about
the whole day long, while carrying on their
petty businesses.
Yet they are strong, they enjoy life after
their own fashion, and they lay up treasure
in banks of whose stability they have the
best assurance
This steadily increasing army of street
saleswomen does not include agents of any
sort who make a house-to-house canvass,
nor beggars who wear the guise of pedders
1t represents only those who have placed
themselves in open competition with the
male peddlerS who cry their wares and the
fakirs who offer anything salable on the
street corner, from half-frozen fruit to near
gold watches.
Among them are numbered the pushcart
women of the East Side the newsgirlS, the
proprietors of vegetable and fruit stands
from the Battery to Harlem the clerks con-.
nected with the dry goods stores on the up
per East Side, the body snatchers' on
Division street, the women who work cafe.
and theater entrances with smokers sup
plies and the Romany women who infest
the fashionable shopping districts with So
called "hapd-made laces."
Not So Badly Off.
AS the neutrality-suspicious. 10 per cent-of
these women live ON the East Side, it is
worth while to hear the opinion. of Ghetto
physician who has large private practice,
and who is connected with one of the lead
ing dispensaries
'Never waste your pity on these women
who cry their wares on the street. They
are more healthy than you ever dreamed
of being, and infinitely better off than the
women who shut themselves up in stuffy
flats. Their diet is simple and this, with
their open-air life, seems to harden them
to all changes of weather In summer 1t is
a rare thing for one of them to be overcome
by the heat, while woman who spends
her days in doors will easily fall a victim
to the heat of the blistering streets. In
winter they rarely apply for cold or grip
remedies, and rarer still is it to find case
of pneumonia among them AS rule,
they enter upon the life because they like
it. The mercantile instinct is strong within
them, and If they cannot share the business
of father, husband or brother they coolly
enter into competition with the men Of
other families"
How They Care for Their Families.
The most interesting phase Of the life of
these street saleswomen mostly Of Jewish
extraction, is their dual mercantile and
domestic ability. "a bachelor maid Is I'M
known among them. In truth, the mother
of the family is most often in business, and
If there be a daughter or unmarried sister
she continues to do her share of the house
hold duties, and boarding away from ones
relations is unknown. Wives and mothers
both business and home with remark
able success.
If the saleswoman looks after a fish cart
or a bread wagon, she must be in the
wholesale markets at an early hour, but
before departing for the scene of her labor
she starts the simple breakfast of coffee.
rolls and perhaps eggs, leaving the family
to complete the preparations. In her alb
sence the husband leaves for his work,
which n ay be in tailor shop or on the
sidewalk gathering up old clothes or junk
The children make ready for school, and
the morning work which they cannot do
awaits the mothers return during lull in
the mornings trade. Toward noon she
trundles her cart homeward, picking up
what she needs for lunch as she goes. The
amount of Homework she dispatches in that
brief noon-time respite is amazing, and af-
ter it Is done she reappears at her stand
for the early afternoon trade. The prep
aration of the evening meal Is frequently
left to the children, who early learn the
lesson of responsibility.
Children Go to School.
III the older boys WORK. their earnings,
with those Of the father and mother, go
into a common fund, but the children are
usually kept in school until the grammar
grades at least have been reached. The
mother may not have so much as a char
coal brazier to warm her hands while at
her cart, but she will keep the children
presentable for their teacher.
More fortunate is the woman who runs
a dry goods cart. Her hours are shorter
and there ia early morning tramD to
the wholesalers. Her stock Is merely a.