Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-07-27
SCANDINAVIAN
WOMEN'S HOME
Girls from Denmark, Sweden and
Norway Are Sheltered at
Home in Brooklyn.

Fridhem-meaning in English
Home of Peace"-which was estab-
lished by the Swedish Pilgrim church
in Brooklyn for newly arrived, unem-
ployed and overworked Scandinav-
ian girls, has just finished a very sue
cessful year. Eight hundred girls
were taken a of.
The home is now located at 149
South Portland, avenue, Brooklyn,
where the church has bought two
lots, the home located on one and the
residence of the pastor, Rev. G. G..
Ellstrom, on the other. The home is
an old-fashioned building, with a big
porch running round two sides, and
it will accommodate comfortably
forty-five young women.
New arrivals can stay in the home
until they become acquainted with
the language sand customs of this
country, and then places are found
for them. When they lose a place
they can stay at the home until they
find a new one. The fee charged for
board is only a nominal one, but no
young woman is debarred from a So
iourn at the home because of the
lack of funds.
Ally OHe Ill Heeu VI lClldlC hCit'
can go to "Fridhem" and procure .
servant, feeling sure that she VIII
get a good one.
There are few girls at the home
during the summer, because most all
are employed, but in the fall and
spring, especially moving time, ser
wants change quarters, and thea
those two seasons bring many nov
arrivals from their native countries,
and the home is crowded until en-
ployment is found.
y Swedish women come to this coun-
try in large numbers. They Often
arrive here at an early age and they
usually find work without much dill
Guilty. They are very hard workers
and very honest and because of their
Willingness are, often overtaxed. The
difference in; climate and in alimen-
tary conditions, are very great and
these girls break down physically,
hence Fridhem is indeed a Home OF
Peace and rest to them. New York
has no such home for young Swedish
women and so the Brooklyn n is
very often overcrowded. With hard
ly an exception the Swedish girls
work as Mattresses and cooks. A few
oil them, after they have acquired
the English language, which they can
Go in three months, take up dress
making, nursing and a few other oc-
equations. But as a rule 1t Is not
easy for them to find positions othei
than as cooks or mattresses and they
do certainly. surpass as servants. In
brooklyn there r many of these
Swedish women who are paid as high
as $35, $40 and $50 a month, and
in Manhattan they receive $50 and
SIS a month.
The Norwegian women do not emil
crate in very large numbers, nor do
the Finnish and Danish. Brooklyn
has a small home for Danish young
women so Fridhem does not have
many from Denmark. Finnish wom-
en- are excellent servants, and be-
cause of their physician strength and
good nature, they are much sought
after. 1.
This past spring, has seen a great
decrease In the number of Scandinav-
ian women emigrants. Past eXper-
fence of friends and relatives has
taught them that they are better off
in their own countries because their
possibilities are better for going into
higher fields than they can in this
country. Even the educated women
in professional lines cannot follow
their bent because of their ignorance
of the language and customs, y
those who do come never 1ntenn "
stay permanently because OF TINS H.
l9hey work as servants md ave t,l.il
money and return 10 their hatiye
heath after a short s~ojourn' IN very