The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-12
VRY SHE is BETTER OFT HERE
L WORKING WOMAN'S LIFE IN
NEW YORK AND ABROAD.

Domestic service Compared BY q
scotch working Woman-AnsWer 70
~ American Complaint u Hard1fnps.
III you had to work for q living. Why did
Won come to this country. Bockyfs an
american working woman asked Q Scotch
working woman the other day.
She, the American working woman. had
.at up late the night before for the e1presa
purpose Of having her mind pumped tHil %
acts concerning the desperate conditton
OF the feminine wage Garner In the United
states by the educators. aBitatorS and
exaggerators at q meeting OF q wornsn's
irade union. Az a result ehe was In pro-
digiously low spirits and for the life Of hef
couldn't understand why any woman
should come 70 this man ridden country 20
pass the downtrodden existence which was
he fate Of all women who tried % earn .
wing.
why did you ever come. BeOkyt' she
repeated.
because / had 70 work. the SCOTCH
Woman replied, as she tucked a CORNER OF
Use spread under the bed che was making.
II Id been a lady Of fortune I'd as good
stayed where / were born. Being q worktn'
CONAN I come over here 70 mike money
and get human treatment
But do you make moro money? Are
.ou better treated2' the American woman
icrnanded, hammering hard on her verbs.
then she made q long dissertation on the
A. conditioned laws Of the country and
unjust burdens placed on the Shoulders
y working women.
sImade S5 a month on the other side, and
make $50 here" The Scotch woman had
1nished making the bed and stood crrmPling
! dust rag between her hands. Il worked
en- hours q day there. ! work the same time
mere. Ladies' tell me good morning hero,
ask me questions that give me a chance 70
ice my tongue. Over there only Quakers
ell their servants good morning and we
aren't speak unless we are spoken TO.
'My mother died when / was 10. 90 / had
% stay at home and keep the house for my
father. Whom I was 20 he married again and
[ vent into service as help TO a paralysed
,ady and l got s. a month. That was In
Glasgow. and @ was pretty good pay.
Il wa in that place six months, when /
loft and vent 10 Belfast TO live with my
married sister and work In q warehouse. II
waa q handkerchief factory and I was .
box folder.
Il worked three days 70 learn how TO fold
-nd after that was paid 70 cents for every
% dozen folded. The 6rSt week ] earned
50 cents. and although l was considered Q
first class folder, I nsve earned more than
s. week In the nine months / kept at IT,
From there I went to another place.
where I did the same work but with q better
Glars OF goods. On good weeks, that b
vheh ! worked every day and was not out
Tor any reason. I made S1.7S, Out of this
| paid my sister 4I.25 n week board kept
myself in decent clothes. and paid my church
dues.
We usually worked nine and q half
hours q day. and In rush seasons. when We
worked overtime. We were paid three oents
an hour. This was considered very good
indeed, for at most Of the other hHndker-
chief factories the extra time won't ct two
centa the hour,
Working people over there are not glad
to zee q holiday. There 10 no rejoicing with
them, I can tell you. because even the best
firms don't pay wages without work. /
thought Il was very strange when / first
cAma over here 70 find that they didn't
deduct for holidays,
According 10 the laws women are only
SIloWed TO work ten hours Q day except for
Gx WoekB in the year when they may be
worked three hours q day longer. That's
the law, but In those big houses often that
six weeks IL stretched out TO six months.
No, the girls never tell. Even whom the
inspector comes and asks them TO swear
I have known them TO swear TO O lie.
aOr~- h~wa y-hn~n Usrl, 49, lNH a. 49,
dollars q week as folders q dollar and sew
enty-fve cents may not seem worth lying
about. But on the other side, when IL Ia
all your weeks wages and people at home
are depending on, It I amt seen the girl yet
who wouldn't lie for It.
MY next place was with n publishing and
li~thographing firm. My work was bottling
marking fluid, mucilage, shoe polish, 10.
PEELED TO wear overalls. While II was heavy
and ~disRgreeable, the pay was a o week and
| STAYED there more than two years.
j know now that the house In which
We worked was not only unhealthful but
dangerous, but at the time ! was too
right before me
HThe house wa in the rear OF the main
building. II was an old wooden house
built In the days when there was O tax on
windows. The windows were only about
one-fourth OF the usual Bize. In the cellar
there WA stored large quantities Of !turpen-
tine, naphtha and other infammable fluids
and come dayp the fumes were 20 bad that
the girls would faint and have 10 be carried
home.
1--we heard some talk over here about
pensions IN case Of accidents, but I have
never, 90 far, had any experience. I'll
ell you how It works on the other ode,
though.
aIn one Of the handkerchief ware
rooms whore I worked there was an old
~oman who bad been an expert darner,
working with that a nrm for more than
forty years. Her eyes failed, and a. ahe
couldn't zee TO darn they put her IN the
starch room ut a. q week. She hadn't been
there very long before che slipped on the
starch, that n alWaya being spilled on the
door. and broke her hip. 1nstsad of oali-
ing an ambulance they ssnt her home In
a cart.
p, 0ySr y pay sn e%plSySs injured r. 4.
salary she 4 earning whom the accidsnt
OCCUR. Well. n an inspector hadn't been
proving around at the time that old woman
vaa taken out Of the cart and carried into
her house the firm MIGHT have Roe out Of
paying her the pension. Az the 0mbu-
lance was not called nobody knew anything
about the. accident e1cspt the employees.
and they knew better than to peach.
,o- Ihs trm paid hs, The RsnsiGn. q week
The !aW-snd ths gir.s In. the factory mads
up the othsr dolfaF q wesE. 10 wasn't very
hard. for there verS 90 ~ tie hotse.
bhe only lived q short while after the four
years, and when ehe died thsro was lnaur.
ance enough 70 bury her and pay oil her