The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-01-16
THE EMERGENCY WOMAN.
SHE HELPS OUT HUMANITY IN
VARIOUS WAYS.


triously Fitted Into the Pattern of
Life.
The untalented woman when she
faces the problem of bread winning Is
perhaps the most deserving of sym
pathy of any OF her sex.
One who found field calls herself
emergency woman" and gives it as
her experience that there Is plenty of
opportunity for other women to follow
in her footsteps. She admits, howev-
er, that the preliminary years Of
drumming up custom were not so
easy that one cares to dwell upon
them.
The emergency woman fills in any
gap in the domestic fabric at a mo-
ment's notice. While she has no one
great talent she has a smattering Of
many, and it Is by making a patch
work of them, which has been care
fully fitted to the pattern Of life, that
she has been able to manufacture a
cover for the very coolest weather.
She is called upon to do all sorts
and kinds of work, and has discover
ed that every sort and kind of inform
alton that she has ever gained can
be put to practical use. The trouble
with the woman who is obliged to be-
come wage-earner is that she is dis
couraged at the outset because she
cannot do one thing so we'll that she
is in instant demand.
The emergency woman when the
New York Sun reporter saw her was
putting up fruit cake and plum pud-
dings for long list of customers.
Il used to do this in my married
days as a joke; now find that l can
turn pretty penny by it. OF course,
l could not depend on this for my sup
port, but it is a fraction, and it doesn't
take SO many fractions to make a
unite, II they are only important
enough to begin with.
Housewives know the value of the
cake and pudding that are prepared
in the fall for the Christmas table,
There is as much difference as there
Is in the vintage of wine that is re-
Gently bottled and one that has the
bouquet of age"
In her spare moments the emergen-
cy woman has perfected herself in
the triple need of modern days, mani.
curing, facial massage and shampoo
ing. She does not care to make her
money in this way If better opportuni-
ties offer, but she can fill in unem-
ployed hours.
In the neighborhood of private
schools she can often be seen, trim
little figure, leading one or two child
ren to their daily tasks, and when
school is over she returns to escort
them home. Many women are unable
to spare servant or 70 go themselves
while the child cannot be trusted to
go alone.
Her care of children extends to a
wider field She takes them to the
dentist, to the matinees, to any and
all kinds of amusements. Often at
children's parties she attends,
to help out in amusing them,
and on her child list are the names
of two little ones whom she takes
once every week to visit their grand
parents, from whom the parents are
estranged.
While you might think that trade
would lag in the hot weather, the
contrary has been the case, and she
has been kept hard at work. Her
mail is large one, consisting of re-
quests from out-of-town folk to send
some forgotten article left in the
furry of departure, to do some shop
ping, to purchase bridge whist prizes
to take advantage of some bargain
noted in the Sunday papers.
"Just to give you an example," she
says between hurried steps from
pantry to visitor, zone Of my ladies
telegraphed me to get her some ar
rack punch for 5 o'clock tea she
was going to have, and the very
same mail l get hurry call to meet
a pet dog and have it taken to a
veterinary"
She is called upon often to open
and air apartments before the home
coming, to find maids and have them
ready-the most herculean labor Of
all-and in lieu of that to do such
work in tee apartment as may ren.
der it habitable.
Another of her interesting duties
Is the entertainment of guests who
want to shop or to go to places of in
terest of which their hosts are tired.
BY filling in day Of this kind she
relieves the situation and brings the
guests back at night tired and happy,
to find the woman of the house de-
lighted to welcome them, having had
her own day free.
'My scale of wages, of course,
fluctuates with circumstances. Some
times am paid by piece
work, whatever that may be;
again, with great many of
my customers receive a
monthly sum for all services render
ed. l keep an account of what have
done during the stated period, and
the items of time and services have
their separate values; so far no one