The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-02-21

has changed in character somewhat;
others have come into it, and she
sees her discharge in the near fu.
ture, as she confesses that she is
kept on as a matter of courtesy large
ly and that will not continue. long.
She has not been able to lay by more
than a pittance in savings, and she is
worried as to her future. About one
week after she does not meet her rent
she will join the list of women with.
out a home.
Another woman 1 knew was a
school teacher who had received one
of the small salaries considered by
the city to be enough to live on. She
had grown old in the service and had
been dismissed. Her savings were
nearing the end. One time she said
to me: I will have enough to live
on as long as 1 live, il am not fool
enough to live too long But she
did. And later / heard her story Of
being without place to go.
"A friend came into my Office Just
before Christmas. She had been a
successful woman in business, but
had met with reverses. 1 knew that
she had been dispossessed a few
weeks before from her place of busi-
ness, as she could not meet the
monthly rent. had not, however,
realized that she was so near the end
OF her bank account until she said:
I cannot pay my hotel bill, and can
not go back there until get money
enough to pay it. I do not know
where to spend the night / asked
her about the relatives she had near
the city, and learned that this and
that one were entertaining relatives,
and could not receive a visit from
her, and she was actually without
person to turn to or place to go for
the night. A few months before she
had considered herself a successful,
Independent woman. That secured
for her Christmas invitation was
matter of small import in the large
question presented, for if 1 had not
happened to be in my Office when she
called she would have been 'on the
city
"One woman Of perhaps sixty, of
fine appearance, came to me, for as
sistance. She had been a correspon-
dent for newspapers and periodicals,
and had wide reputation, A series
of failures In her material left her
without enough to pay her bill at
the little hotel, and the landlord had
threatened to call in the police and
send her up as she told him she
had no place to go. l secured for her
some private charity for few days
and then sent her to the Organized
Charities. My experience with that
organization in that instance has not
made me wish to try that source Of
help for any other person. There was
80 relief given to this woman; a
long line of investigation was opened
up, and meantime she sat on the
park benches, making up her mind
not to end 1t all in the East River
"At one time I investigated the
matter of homes for INDECENT women
and found that every home was filled
to the limit, and all the cheap lodg-
ing houses were overflowing. II a
home, or on the point of being dis
possessed. confess would not know
where to send her. Yet there are
dozen persons of my acquaintance
who are on the verge of this very sit.
uation.
Last week ! learned of q young
woman who returned to her room one
N fr n p..N
to secure pace as a maid, to find
notice that she must vacate that
night. She had been hungry for
days. That night there was a trag-
edy enacted, and the light went out
from one of the brightest young
women of Western city, who tried
to be independent in New York.
THE young woman who tries and
fails, however, has a much better
outlook that the older woman who
has tried and succeeded and outlived
her usefulness. The spectacle of
women battling with the problem Of
earning a living in the business
world, while home making is going to
the dogs for want of efficient help,
and hotels are filled with bachelors
who do not see their way to main
tanning homes of their own because
of the difficulty of securing the
feminine touch, is, to my mind, the
deplorable outcome OF the emancipa.
tion of women from housework.
II believe that this whole upset.
ting of the domestic circle has been
for the purpose of demonstrating
that there is value to housework-
that the woman who stays in the
home is earning her living, and
should not be considered as of the
supported class. But 1t also demon
strates that the old theory of the
strong oak and clinging vine was
good, and trust that the old order
of things which kept the women from
going out to earn wages or fees or
salaries will again prevail. New
York Tribune.