The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-07-09

OF their number, who returned to New
York to spend her vacation while
ago, said that. thet working girl had a
lots better time and a more enjoyable
life every waya Panama than in the
Metropolis, and that she wouldn't re-
turn for anything. Instead of a miser-
able little thirdsfioer back or front in a
stuffy boardngDhouse. she has cool,
airy room, prettily furnished, with cleo
trio lights and plenty of running water,
which Is furnished her. rent free, by
the Government. Splendid broad YER
andas surround every building, and it
is here that most of the social life is
carried on. Sometimes three or four
of the girls club together and do their
| own housekeeping useing the veranda
just. outside theirsTooms. for a dining
room, which they make real pretty with
mats, Chinese nlanterns, etc. With a
S15 refrigerator and four oil stoves.
dishes, and few cooking utensils such
menage is complete, and the quartette
can live very nicely indeed, giving occa-
sional dinner parties, for about SIS a
piece month. While everything in the
way of wearing apparel is frightfully ex-
pens1ve on the Isthmus, yet dressing is
very simple, since everyone wears white
almost entirely, and if a girl brings a
pretty good supply of shirt-waists and
white gowns down with her she does
not, need to replenish her wardrobe for
some time. Laundry work is beauti-
fully done by jamaican women who
will do any number of shirt-waists.
dresses, etc, for IS month. These
women also sew beautifully and charge
almost nothing for their work. They
have, however, no idea of cutting, and
are almost sure to ruin anything they
cut out themselves. But with good
patterns they do pretty well and will
improve in this respect undoubtedly.
For amusements the girls have all the
dancing they want and baseball. Every
one is crazy over the latter. The big
games are on Sundays, and every man,
woman and child goes, spending the
whole of the following week talking
about it. The salaries paid these girls
are about what is paid Government
employees in the States, from $50 to
SIS a month, only as before remarked
they are given their own room rent
flee A good stenographer is always
in demand there, and such girl can
get all she wants to do out of office
hours from private concerns if she
cares to do it. There are several ways
for an enterprising woman to make
money in Panama. There is great
need of a good book and stationery
store which would also carry a circulat-
ing library composed of the new novels
BOOKS are SO rare on the 1StnInuS tndt
one is borrowed and reborrowed until
it is literally worn out, and the chances
are that the original owner never gets
it back again. Another need is that of
a comfortable boarding house. A good,
smart woman who would take a fiat,
furnish it simply but attractively, rent
out rooms and give good board, would
not have to seek far for boarders.
While there are always those on the
Isthmus who are growing about the
heat, not having tfeaters to go to, etc,
and who are continually talking about
getting back to Gods Country" yet
those are the very people who are
crazy to get back to Panama If they
leave 1t. It is. just the same. with all
tropical countries.1i Once you have tast-
ed the free easy unconventional life, no
other entirely satisfies you again. There
is a nameless charm about it all that
Holds YOU a willing slave. You may be
conscious that theflife is unsatisfactory,
that the mind is not sufficiently stimu
lated, that you are not, worrying enough
for your own good, ETC., but. all the
same, it is a life so different from
the rushing. complex nerve-racking
life we lead here, $50 peaceful and rest
full, in a way, that one wonders which
is best after all, and If our Western
civilization wouldn't be improved by an
infusion of tropical laziness.