The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-20
NEW YORK'S
A HOME FOR WORKING GIRLS,
SAYS MISS ALICE SMITH.
The Mind Of Boarding House the York.
vile Probation Onicer would start II
She Had the Chanee-Perlls From
which IL Would save Many Women.

vile Probation Omeer would start II
She Had the Chanee-Perlis From
which IL Would Save Many Women.
In the opinion Of Miss Alice Smith the
probation officer at the Yorkville police
court. the greatest need OF New York to-
day IL boarding house where seif-respect-
ing working girls and women may have a
living place, with few OF the attributes
Of home.
What those two girls need more than
anything else In the world is a pleasant
boarding house to return to-" said Miss
Smith the other day.
The probation officer nodded her head
In the direction Of O couple Of attractive
looking girls who were leaving the York
vile court room after long, whispered
consultation with her. thev having been
turned over to her by the Magistrate.
There IL nothing harmful In either one
Of them, she went on, -but they are likely
to end as 30 many other homeless girls
have done II l cannot find a pleasant board
ing house in which they can live, a house
where they will find q homelike atmos-
phere and yet nothing Of the institutional
feeling about it.
-What New York needs more than any
other charitable work to-day ia q boarding
house where such girls could live and yet
feel that they were independent and free
and were paying for what they received,
-Those girls were arrested by an utterly
stupid officer for lettering, when In reality
they were just out for walk, and 1t III pos
sibe they would not have taken even this
after-dark walk IL they had lived in a COM
a. Ia ,lar tbar tNlnaoa a.
sitting room. with lighted lamps, where
book could be read in the evening or sew
ing done, or with cosey hooks and corners
where the girls could gather and visit and
gossip together in the evening, or even
ask their sweethesrts to come for an agree
able hour.
There are girls and young women by
hundreds, nay. unfortunately by tens
Of hundreds who cannot afford, upon the
small wages that they earn, to pay more
than -. $3.50, -, $3.50. or at the very most
IS a week for their board. Yet these are
honest self-respecting girls, who would
not only enjoy pleasant, agreeable
home, but would deeply appreciate its COM
forts as well.
AT the present time these girls are living
In third. fourth, and even fifth class board
ing houses, where the food is unwholesome
and wretchedly served, the house I'll kept,
and worse than all else. with no atmosphere
OF home. and no place where the girls and
women feel happy and free TO pass the
evening, mingle with each other and have
their friends come in to see them.
The majority Of the girls who are under
court instruction to report to me declare
that they GO out in the evening to meet
their friends. or wander aimlessly about
the Streets just because they have not a
fl or decent place into which to invite
their companions. or even spot in which
to sit themselves, outside OF their tiny over
crowded bedrooms.
For Is a week it is not expected that q
woman who is endeavoring to earn her own
living by keeping boarders can give much.
More often than not she 10 also supporting
three or four small children, 30 the land
lady Of these cheap boarding houses 10 not
to blame. poor thing. She is doing the beet
she knows how TO do. or oan. but the girls
and young women who live with her are
sufferers nevertheless.
-The room for such price ia necessarily
small, but that is not it's worst feature.
1t ia not kept clean, the odors are foul from
mouldy old carpets that have not been
taken up for years, and the furnishings
are hideous in their tawdry cheapness
and attempts at finery
4 have thought out carefully how such
an experiment should be made, but have
not yet met the woman who s brave enough
to undertake the task, for there would be
plenty OF hard labor attached to it. and she
also would need a small capital OF her own
with which to start the business. She must
be possessed OF an income upon which to
live, and she must then be willing to give
her strength. time and labor to the good
she is doing and be satisfied to make no
money--just pay expenses.
THE woman who is willing to enter into
this should choose one OF the cheaper neigh
borhoods not too far distant from one Of
the big department stores. or one Of the
huge factories where girls and women are
employed. Here many an old fashioned,
big, roomy house can be found that would
serve the purpose well, and it should be
simply but prettily furnished
There should be a large living room,
with plenty Of easy chairs and sofas. ia les
with books and lamps upon them, and a
piano, for there are many excellent must
clans among the girls who toll long hours in
shop and factory. II it could be arranged
it would be a splendid thing to have one
or two smaller sitting rooms, or a small
library and a reception room. where one or
two could get away from the others for
quiet and rest, or where they could take
a guest and be quite alone.
-On the walls should be good pictures,
not cheap, ugly things. but photogra apis OF
famous paintings, and here and Their good
plaster cast. The settlements know how
to make their living rooms attractive and
yet 1t is done on comparatively small
expenditure, and it could also be done by
the woman with good taste for limited
amount.
I'm the dining room especially good taste
should be displayed, not simply in what
is given the boarders to eat but also in the
serving Of the food, and inthe linen and the
ware upon which IL is placed before them.
IF / could undertake the running of
such house l would conduct the table
just as I would in my own private home.
inexpensive yet attractive crockery can
be bought for a very small sum. and we
all know how much this adds to the appear
ance Of a table. and how far reaching and
cultivating its influence is. A few flowers