The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-08-04

One of the most moving records or
the hard experiences of a working girl
are found in THE Long Day" 1t is
not the record of a woman like Marie
Van Worst, who investigated the con-
dition of the working woman as an
amateur 1t is the genuine story of
girl of good education whom the loss of
parents left without means of support
and who ventured alone and friendless
to seek a Livelihood in New York. Of
course, if She had had more worldly
wisdom she would never have sought
the great city as a place for a start.
But she was simply an average girl,
developed in some ways by the prac-
tice of teaching school, but with no
more trained capacity for work than is
possessed by the ordinary girl gradu-
ate of the American public school
With no knowledge of tina way of mas
tering any handicraft she attempted
to make her way, and it was naturally
thorny and full of trouble. She is a
good story-teller anu she gives a Sc
ries of pictures of the working girl as
she found her in a half dozen different
factories and finally in a foul, I'M
wholesome steam laundry. The Incl
dents of her life from very good read
ing, but it is the grim facts of tht
small hold on the working girl of the
churches and the charitable societies
that are most significant. When in
dire distress this girl finally took re-
fuge in home for working girls, and
her picture of the avaricious matron,
who cheated poor girls in giving them
change and who starved them at table,
is one that will not soon be forgot
ten. All surroundings in this miscall-
ed home" We're dreary and repelen.
to the last degree, ye, It was sustained
| by charitable women and was govern
ed by a board of directors, who never
| dreamed of the rapacity and mean
| tyranny of the manager or of the many
ways in which the.lives of the inmates
We're embittered by petty eXactions
and needless harshnoss.
One of the striking truths which this
| girl brings out is the lack of any real
education among the American work
ing girls. She can usually write a
good hand, but she has no exact knowl-
edge of arithmetic, reading, spelling or
| geography. instead or feaulnB BOOu
books she revours the cheap, trashy
novels that are ground out by certain
publishers who cater to this trade.
She doesn't know how to buy. clothes
for herself that will wear well or how
to feed her body so that she may en-
dure the nervous tension of hard, eX-
acting work. The writer of this book
finally graduated from manual labor
into stenography and typewriting and
declares that she is making 800 a week
at work that she enjoys, but this was
only achieved by attending night
school and making up the defects OF
her early school education. The book
is full of good, hard common sense fol-
the author tells the truth about the
average working girl She does no
mince her words but she declares tina
the coarseness of speech and the
hardness of the life of so many Am
erican working girls is due mainly tt
poor early training and to evil sur
roundings. Most of them have no hom'
life and no refining influences. TIL
book will be widely read, and If 1t Il
read Alright It should lead to the es
adjustment OF cheap hotels for work