Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-11-28
HOME OF PARTISAN GIRLS.

HOME OF PARTISAN GIRLS.
The Club Women.-Providing homes
Tor working girls in great cities is a
problem of extreme interest. Euro
pean cities are accomplishing import
ant results along this line. This was
forcibly impressed upon me, writes
Mary R. Cranston, when I went to live
order to have first-hand knowledge of
such an institution in that city. Sit
ting there in that accomplished home
I remembered long line of efforts
that had been made to create just
such a place in New York. 1t had
come to nothing it set out to do.
To be sure, / had thoughts of Lon
don where there are many places for
shopgirls, milliners and dressmakers'
apprentices to live at little expense.
But even there in London, while the
places are usually clean and reason
ably comfortable, there is little of the
privacy, and still less of the daintiness,
which characterizes such places in
Paris.
About six years ago a few influential
Partisan women became concerned
about this question of housing for the
wage-earners of Paris. The struggles
of working girls to live decently upon
their small salaries, smaller even than
with us in America, and the unspeak-
able temptations which beset them,
aroused a desire in these women of
wealth and fashion to provide home
| where a girl may live comfortably
and decently for small sum, to give
them, in other words, residence place
to which the name home" would be
reality and not conventional
phrase.
Strangely enough, it was the gener-
osity of a wealthy American woman
living in Paris which enabled them to
purchase and suitably equip struc-
ture for the purpose. Originally this
building had accommodations for thir
ty girls. Rooms for as many more
have recently been added.
This home, which is called Cercle
Amicitia standing in the midst of an
cient Paris in the Rue du Pare Royal,
has history that dates back to the
days of Henry OF Navarro.
AS the years rolled on, ever-changing
fashion, little by little, withdrew from
Rut du Pare Royal. Gabrielle dEs-
treess home, together with other his
! toric houses in the neighborhood, un-
derwent successive changes, until
Times Transforming touch completely
obliterated all traces of former gran
deur.
When Cercle Amicitia was opened in
1898, the house had been renovated,
restoring as far as possible the ar
rangement of the large salons. One
of them is now the livingroom an
orthe the restaurant, while the garden,
with fountain to add it's attraction to
brilliant flower beds and 1uxuriant
vines, is an exact counterpart of the
enc of former days. The bedrooms,
about ten feet square, are on the sec
ond and third floors, each girl having
a room to herself, a luxury they fully
appreciate.
To a stranger one very patent factor
sonality of the directress and her two
notwithstanding can exceed their
unfailing courtesy, genuine kindness
and interest Each inmate is very
sure of real friends, wise advice and
/ most sympathetic attention to all the
small worries as we'll as pleasures of
everyday life. Those in charge are
always near by, as friends, and as
though the home circle would be in
complete without them.
Prayers are conducted morning and
evening, but beyond a, single mention
of the fact to new arrival, no attempt
is made to force attendance upon any
one. And here is something institu-
! tons in other countries might copy
with advantage: the religion is
there, but without the least suggestion
OF coercion, and in consequence It GER
tainly seems genuine.
Nobody has a latch key, nor are the
/ occupants required to be in at GER
tain hour of the night, but after II
o'clock the porter who OPENS the door
expects small fee for his services.
Cercle Amicitia was the first work
ing girls home in Paris, and was not,
in the beginning, financially success
full. Tn this experimental stage what
ever deficit there was in it's finances
was made UP by the ladies who make
the home possible. Today, however,
it is self-supporting.