Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
. MONEY MADE ATHOME


Johns salary has been reduced s. a
month, and our rent has been raised the
same amount. Result, a deficit of $40 a
month in our family exchequer l have a
little leisure every day, and I do wish I
could earn little money to help out Why
didn't you teach me dressmaking or mil
hnery or something's
So wrote the mother of two half-grown
children to her own dear mother thou
sand miles away. Back came the answer
to her question, prompt and to the point:
Il taught you to be expert member
and darner Why don't you do the thing
which lies nearest to your hand? The
world is full of half-naked dressmakers, but
there are few darners''
The anxious wife and mother folded I'D
the letter and went to her own room
There in her bureau drawer were gloves
eXquisitely mended and cleaned by her own
hands, lace handkerchief in which some
broken threads had been skillfully Joined
and the one pair of silk stockings in her
possession. daintily darned when other
women, less def with the needle, would
have cast the treasures aside. Very care
fully she did up these evidences of her
handiwork, dressed herself in neat tailor
ed suit, and bravely turned her face toward
a woman's exchange.
We'll you can register-it will cost Won
Sand If We have any requests for work
of that sort. 1 will be glad to notify you"
was the only comfort vouchsafed by the
none too intelligent superintendent of the
exchange. But we've never handled mend
Ing. Now, if you could make fine baby
clothes or German favors-'' Her voice
trailed off into Indebtedness. and the appli-
cant for fine mending. looking at a show
case filed with unstable goods. set her lips
firmly. Two dollars fee and little en-
enlargement for getting it back. AS she
turned toward the door, a well-dressed
yho !, b14,
pies at the next counter, stopped her.
Did 1 understand you to say that you
could do fine mending? Can you darn lace
curtains?"
Certainly" said the little mother,
IF you will come to my house and go
over all my curtains which 1 am having
taken down for the spring cleaning, I will
pay you s1.50 a day"
II am sorry, but I can only work at
home. 1 have two children who come home
for noon dinner, and"
Very we'll, then 1 will have the curtains
sent to you. Also, l want my blankets re-
bound and tabiecloth that is an heirloom
darned before it goes into my daughters
dover chest.
It Was Her Start.
And that how it happened that
certain woman's exchange lost 81 fee and
a clever needlewoman started a trade in
fine mending that not only made up the
troublesome so deficit, but put maid in her
kitchen and started an individual bank ac-
count on which the entire family is free to
draw.
With rents and general living expenses
steadily advancing, women the country over
are facing the problem of adding some
thing each week to the family income. This
desire is not to be COMPOUNDED with the
wish to earn more pin money. The added
income is actually needed for solid wearing
apparel, to meet the ubiquitous landlord
and to tighten the husbands load of care,
or perhaps to send some bright, ambitious
lad to college. 1t is entirely praise
worthy ambition and one to be encourag ed.
A woman should first take an inventory
of her talents. The one thing She can do
best represents financial opening for the
laborer who can turn out a well-darned
stocking has a better chance of making
money than she who daubs away at I'M
slightly and unmarketable dinner cards.
The woman living in a city or even a
large town can secure weekly customers at
the humble work of mending. One woman
who lacked the courage to make personal
canvass for customers called on the man
ager of the largest laundry in her town
and asked him to distribute her cards
among his men customers. The first week
after the cards We're sent home with the
clean laundry three came back with soiled
clothes bearing the welcome message
scrawled across the printed face: Have
them mended." This woman SO arranged
her work that she could go to the laundry
beginning she worked up a large private
trade.
What Widow Did.
A widow left with three children, small
cottage and a 5000 life Insurance decided
to bank her little all and work. as her hus-
band had, among "the railroad boys" She
had some neat cards printed, setting forth
the fact that she was prepared to do darn
Ing and mending of all sorts. from stock
ings to gloves. Her first order came from
an old engineer In the yard. who wanted
the back of his vest lined with red flannel
to ward OFF rheumatism. But when the
boys found that .'Jims wife" wanted work
they rallied round her and soon from board
ing and lodging houses frequented by the
single railroad men work fairly rained In