Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-01-18
The Working Girl in the City

them is a neyer-settled problem. The
spectre of the rent, grim and gaunt
stalks through the noisome and reek
ing streets of the tenement neighbor
hood, bows women's shoulders. deep
ems the burrows and prematurely
ages the faces of men still young. AS
for comfort, it is an unknown guam
tity. Life is one hard, desperate, ter
rible struggle Opportunities tor
privacy are wholly lacking When the
working girl energies from such
home in the morning trim and tidy, |
looking as If she had taken a bath ana |
combed her hair in her own room, as
her sisters on the Avenue do. the re-
suit is simply another proof OF the
miraculous powers of conquering cir
cumstances that inhere in the modern
woman. The only spot In most OF
these homes where any of the family
may battle and comb their hair Is the
kitchen which is also living room and
dining-room by day. and sleeping
room by night, for two or three per-
sons who camp down on mattress
spread on the floor.
A working girl who has stood at
her loom or sat at her desk or waited
on customers all day, is tired at night
fall and wants fresh air and exercise.
| She wants beside these precisely
what the millionaire's daughter wants.
agreeable society, a little fun, whole
some entertainment and a pleasant
time. She has not single inch OF
space where she may talk and jest
with her friends, under her own roof.
| Therefore, she and her friends seek
relaxation where they may and the
street in good weather generally finds
4 them there. They are really much
better off out of doors than in when
the weather is fine. To accuse young
girls or young men in circumstances
like theirs of willful neglect of home
or of conduct bordering on indelicacy.
is arrant folly. They are merely
making fight for rest and health, and
for the fun to which young people
have legitimate title.
But the girls by no means spend
all their evenings in the company OF
their admirers and friends of the other
: SEX, working girl who Is ambitious
knows that her deficient education
must be supplemented by evening
study, II she is to advance In the
!; wage rate and to reach whatever top
notch Ia the goal on which her eyes
!. are set. Thousands of young girls
early interrupted In their studies by
, the dire need in their homes, valiant
: ly attack difficult text books and will
: ingly work in the evening schools
Y during the autumn and winter.
When the girls go aeyiy of to spend
t an evening at one of their clubs or al
a college settlement. their mothers
have no fear. concerning them, ant
v settle down without anxiety to the
y neighborly chat or the low-toned gos
Z sip punctuated with laughter, which
a are their recreations when the hus
l. baud has gone to the saloon and the
l. babies are asleep. The saloon, thu
r trap into which so much money fall
d that ought to be spent for the goot
e of the family, is the shadow forever IL
It the background in tenement life.
j. has its spacious temptations for thu
t. young working girl; its side entrances
e its reading room where there ar,
t. cards and snowy pictorial papers an,
d where Turk perils of the worst staml
l. for the girl and her lover The stree
'. Is safer for the girl than the bright,
o. lighted saloon with its superficial
Q. good fellowship and It's temptation [
If drink and make merry with evil com
E. panions.
g, The working girl cannot be expect
le ed to spend very many evenings 1
1t just the home that modern condition
e. allow her to have. There is too niue
re noise, there is too much crow dint
N there are scolding mothers, drunke
a fathers and crying babies. Well fo
n her IL Parish House. a Workin
Of Girls Club or Settlement number
n. her among its constant habitues.
he Copyright S06.by Joseph B. Bowles