The Saint Paul globe., 1904-10-22

pie Who Are Bored and Tired of
Spending Money Require Her Serv-
ices
What an extremity of depression we
must have reached as a people when
there is a young woman in New York
who has become a professional cheerer
and goes out by the hour to make de-
pressed persons smile. An account of
this young woman and her work is
given in one of the November maga-
zines. and it is called Sunshine by the
Hour" The young woman who thus
turns cheerful disposition into money
is a Miss Townsend, brought up in. Cal
ifornia, but later she went to New
York, attracted by the field there is
| supposedly in that city to earn liv-
| ing. Strange to say her business be-
came dealing in stocks. and stranger
still her present vocation grew out Of
| it, az having many long talks with her
customers she seldom left them with
out their saying "you have done me
good" This was said so often, and she
found SO many who needed a little en-
livening society that the thought came
to her to turn her ability in this way
to account.
She did so and now is busy all the
time and doing no end of good. Her
patrons are chiefly women, and it is
quite unnecessary to add, rich ones,
who probably have more money than
brains. When woman has spent all
the money she can, has more diamonds
and gowns than She can wear, she gen.
orally becomes depressed. To this mill.
| lionairess Miss Townsend will go with
a smile, tell her funny stories and say
bright things, until the victim of the
blues has forgotten herself for a mo-.
! ment and really becomes interested.
| This professional sunshine companion
! is really a boon to persons suffering
| from ennui and boredom. She amuses
| them and they pay for her company.
! Surely it is as legitimate a business as
any in the world, but it is a comnen-
| tary upon the times and the fact that
/ those who have to be cheered have
/ everything in the world that money
can buy, speaks volumes. Sometimes
/ Miss Townsend goes to convaleScents
who have dismissed their nurses but
are not yet able to take up their duties;
sometimes to house where terrible
trouble or disgrace has fallen upon
some member of the family and the
1 children are to be amused and kept
from the painful knowledge; then
1 it is a stranger in New York at a hotel
whose husband is consumed with busi-
ness all day and his wife is alone and
| does not know her way about or what
| to do with her time. Then Miss Town
| send is sent for and accompanies her
on shopping expedition, or to gal
1 leries, and show places, or out driving.
] The conditions which make useful the
! services of Miss Townsend are too nu-
merous to mention, but they are
| enough to keep her very busy and
happy. OF course it goes without say
| ling that this purveyor Of cheerfulness
| is herself of a very happy disposition,
not given to introspection or taking
herself too seriously. 1t is a profession
| which really develops character and
| would make one utterly unSelfiSh even
if one was inclined the other way.
But what of the rich women who re-
quire her services? All, with them 1t is
different. For a woman with plenty of
means and the ability to make SO many
happy, to have to pay some one to get
her out of herself and make her forget
her depression, shows that there is a
tserew loose somewhere. There might
| have been time once when a woman
] alone in the world, let us say, with
means, would have found time hang
rather heavily upon her hands, but IN
| this day and generation the ways in
which a woman can anause herself or
! interest and educate herself, are legion,
leaving out of account the many beau
| tiful things she might dc for her
friends or those less fortunate. What a
pitiful person it is who must pay to be
| amusedi What pathos Is involved in
Miss Tewnsend's profession when 1t
goes outside of the legitimate one
| of cheering the unfortunate or poor.
| What Miss Townsend does for the rich
for pay the Friendly Visitor does for
| the poor for nothing. and thereby
| makes her own soul. as the French say.
The idea which Miss Townsend is
| working out is the basis of that splen-
did organization, the International
Sunshine society. which sends good
cheer to the shutin invalid, or to any
one in need of a helping hand. The
| women who are rich and in need of
Miss Townsend's ministrations to keep
the wolf Of the blues from the door,
confess to a weakness every time they
send for her. Without in the least de-
string to break Miss Townsend up in
business, should like 10 advise every
rich woman who feels depression steal
ing over her to put on her hat and coat
and seek some persons who need
cheering in vastly different walk of
life. She will not have TO go far; and
if she makes q friendly visit upon a
poor neighbor and leaves. if not money.
at least sunshine behind her, she will
be surprised to find that her blues
have disappeared. It is nothing but
self-absorption and selfishness that ails
these women. Go out and find some
one more wretched than you and go
into the cheering business yourself,
| and life will take on a different as
pect. Miss Townsend is not in the
! least to be blamed for taking adyan-
| tage of the whims of the spoiled rich,
she might just as well have their
! money as any one else, as they would
! be sure to spend it for nonsense, and
her profession is an absolutely honest
one, but oh, the pitifui condition Of a
rich woman who does not know what
| to do with her time Or money: With
the sin and suffering on every hand
crying out for alienation, for some enc
| to lend a helping hand. and then the
isrich pay a woman to make them
! laughi 1t fairly makes one i'll. Cheer
fulness grows by. self-saerifice and do
| ing for others, and the woman who has
the ability to make smooth the way of