The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-03-08

V@ ri III luC okOOpihS, Squtit
iEG l9ll ing. strained motion Of her
eye.ids indicated a granu-
lated affection. Her home was a little.
three-room tenement, high up in IL
Of those old double-decker tenement
houses which abound in New York.
There are thousands upon thou
sands Of these hulks Of tenement
houses. the construction Of which far
antedated the enactment Of the present
Tenement House law, and the house
she lived in was but a routine specimen
OF vast blocks of the same type. Two
stores on the ground floor and four
families to a floor, two in the front and
the same in the rear-for five stories
skyward, that is the rule. You found
yourself in a dark hallway, and by the
aid Of the balustrade you CROPPED up the
uncertain stairway until you reached
the fourth story front to the right.
There were no names downstairs to
show where each family lived, and in
Quiries had to be made as you as
ceade6. .u
There were no s~uperhuities about her
home. One room served the combined
purpose of kitchen, dining, sitting and
work room; the other rooms for sleep
ing. 4 stove, 4 table, a sewing ma
chine. and a few chairs were the outfit
Of the main room, with its many pur-
poses. and some cheap pictures hung
on the green painted walls, and bits of
crockery such as are given for trading
stamps or for certain purchases of tea,
adorned the mantel.
She lived there with her husband and
their boy of four years. Back a time,
when a girl of ifteen years, she had
begun working in box factories. - She
had made all kinds of p%asteboard boxes
handkerchief boxes, shoe and cigar
cite boyes-boxes for all manner Of
things. For eight years she worked
thus; and by being nimble and sticking
at her task from s in the morning until
s at night. with a half7hour intermis-
sion at noon for lunch and a half-hour
at night for supper. she had managed
TO make a living. In the busy season,
from July to September, she made from
$40 to S12 a week. After September
the slack season would set in. She
would work eight hours a day then,
and made 81 4 week. Later. in the
winter months. a rush of orders would
come in, and the factory would run
twelve hours a day again.
4 FAMILY'S EARNINGS.
She thought herself well of. There
were fully 5000 -boX-making girls in
New York, and not many of them could
excel her in duickness of work and in
amount of wages. The pay was by
piece work; the best pay went to the
best workers. She considered the lot
Of most OF the other girls. Many of
them earned only So or Sc a week.. On
tais sum they had to live. How they
managed to do it she didn't know. She
lived at home with her father, her four
brothers. and Z sister. The combined
earnings Of ali amounted to $40 a
week. The fahiIy had a pleasant fiat,
and Tessie-for that was her name-al-
ways had money enough for dresses.
fnery and amuSements.
Tessie symnatIized deeply with most
Of the other girls. How could they pay
board, buy apparel. and live decently in
genera! on s. or Sc q week? Many
Of them had no families. and most of
them were il debt to the instalment
dealers. They would buy their dresses
aid coats from these dealers--cheap
garments at exocbitant ~prices-and pay
twenty-five or dfrt cents a week on
account. But those girls never could
succeed in clearing off their debts. The
instalment men were always dunning
them. As for hats and shoes, the girls
hadn't much to spend. A quarter was
the limit for Il hat, and forty cents for
ribbon. to adorn it. To may more than
S1.23 for 4 pair Of shoes was IN un-
heard-of extravaganza; the shoes. with
care and periodic mending, would be
pressed into service for a year at least.
Tessie was i fortunate girl compared
to the most o. them. At least she
priZed her lot 80. Now and then she
would delicateiy make presents of her
old dresses and coats to some Of the
most needy.
. Tessie was , flvorite at dances. She
was q pretty girl, and always had at
tractive clothes. 1t followed, of course.
that there were not wanting SuitorS,
for q pretty, we'll dressed girl with a
pleasant home and ability to make a
good living. vas a dazzling star in
the n~righboriiUod in which she lived.
THINGS THAT APPEALED TO
TESSIE.
There were rivals. Tessie chose a
cood-looking young fellow. True, he
did not make US much money as TeSsie
did. He was all assistant porter in
a cloth store, and his wages were 50 4
week. But Tessie thought him an ex-
ceedinsly pleasant fellow. He was
always neatly dressed. his hair was
faultiessly oiled. his handkerchief Was
eerfumed, ami lie wore a scarfpin that
caught Tessie's fancy. The big ruby
and the diamonds surrounding it were
glaSs-and not the finest at that-and
the gold was brass, but Tessie didn't