Free press., 1907-01-12

and resoureeful, but skilled In any part1cu-
lar line Of work, as her education has been
general. She left her home a year ago
with exactly $5 In her pocket above the
assuming that even the poorest aspirant for
work starts upon her quest with that meagre
cisco she Immediately inserted the follow
ing advertisement in the three ieading news
"a young Eastern woman not afraid Of
work. desires position where energy and
WIIs waIt,6s De fd2 reniies Miss Rrsn en-
gagged lodgings at 81 per wek in one of the
"rOoming houses with which the city
teemed from end to end and meanwhile
the amazingly familiar manners of her
fellow-boarders put her ON her guard against
had out there" she was told when she
demonstrated with an extensively forward
Answers came promptly and in gratify-
ing numbers, but of character haroIy
oifered sheltered pleasant" life in ex-
change for "companiOnship three young
bachelors wanted agreeable honseAeepers.
and only one answer offered an honest re-
spectacle occupation, which happened to De
a manufacturing concern, where experience
was absolutely necessary. Miss BroWR then
tried answering advertisements, with slight
ly better Within the week she
obtained temporary employment IN a fruit
deftness of touch that she soon acquired
The pay was barely sufncient to cover her
current expenses but she kept at the work
until she obtained a slightly better paying
position in a dental office. All subsequent
= advertisements produced more less OBJ
jectionabIe answers, and many of the wants
s%ised sni ..personals." sui she Kent right on
looking for work for the sake of the desired
experience, Next she obtained a position In
a shoe store, where the male customers
treated her with iocund familiarity. Three
weeks later the opportunity came to MI
Miss Brown soon discovered that the s'heiIo
girl in California expects no consideration
men thar o fre99ent tPe ocee At the end
of three months. after having tried every
form of employment that the city afforded
except the professional branches, she left
for Chicago, with a very unfayorable report
women.
After FIVE days hunt for profitable en-
ployment in Chicago Miss Brown obtained
nominal position in a big department
store. at salary of So week. Her place
of operation was in basement among tin
ware, artihcially lighted and poorly venti-
lated; in fact. the only means of ventilation
consisted OF a double stairway, which let
floor of the store. She left after four
weeks, and resumed her quest of expert
For two weeks Miss Brown remained idle,
and meanwhile she lived very precarionsly
and walked many weary miles each day in
search of employment. and was finally
obliged to accept sentimental position as
During that month she spent every spare
hour in looking for other employment, and
demonstrating counter in a department store.
Taking It ali IN all, the Chicago experience
was less unpleasant than that of San Fran
courage the average working girl.
The next seat of experiment was Pitts
burg, where Miss Brown had the good for
tune to obtain employment at once in a
cigar, factory at So week. Her boarding
place very unsanitary, and the locality
literally choked with smoke from the
surrounding factories and docks. The field
did not look promising, for the only re-
munerative work in demand was shorthand,
which seemed to be in constant demand.
There was sprinkling of incidentaIs in
the way of nursery goyernesses, seamstress-
es, howermakers, and Mattresses wanted here
and there about the city, but generally the
outlook duh for the non-professiOnal
worker. Miss Brown tried ive different .oc-
cupatfons during her stay. and managed.
by rigid economy, to pay her frugal ex-
penses and save up the So necessary for
supplied by her father. who stood In readi-
to help her at pinch. Of course, but
Miss brown made out somehow without re-
Atlanta offered still fewer opportunities
than Pittsburg, and under vastly different
social circumstances. The newspapers car
those were generally of a purely domestic
character.
Finally. in despair of obtaining other
employment. Miss Brown took temporary
her a hard week two until she
found an opportunity to renew her original
quest, but she was unable to obtain any
thing better than a humble sewing task
during the remainder of her stay in the
city
without references and with only $5 in her
pocket She engaged a hall room in the
vicinity of Irving Place for 81, and I'm
mediateiy set about quest for employment
son and by letter. Many of the adVer-
tisers required previous experience IN manu-
ences, but there were half dozen opportuni-