Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-09
HOMES FOR THE WAITS
Enterprises of Benevolent
Men and Women.
NEW HOTEL IN NEW YORK
No Girl Admitted Earning Over $12
a Week.
EFFORTS OF LOCAL PEOPLE
Opening the Guatemalan Railway.
Over $4,000 Bills Already Intro
duced in Present Congress.
EFFORTS OF LOCAL PEOPLE
BY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
There was recently opened in 102d street.
New York. a six-story lodging and board
ing house intended exclusively for work
ing girls. 1t has fifty-six rooms and is
capable of accommodating one hundred
girls. who will be required to pay only
$3.50. 50. $3.50 and 1915 per week for
board and room, according TO location,
and 80 cents a week extra for their laun-
dry. No girl earning more than So
week or over thirty years of age will be
admitted. There is common sitting
room and reading room, with newspapers,
magazines and books, and common sew
ing room with sewing machines and all
the appurtenances of a dressmaking es-
tablishment. in which the girls may make
their own garments, trim their own hats.
do their mending and assist each other in
similar feminine necessities. The hotel
has been erected by and will be under
the management of Rev. II. NJ. Tindall,
pastor of an interdenOminational church in
the same neighborhood known as the Peo-
pies Tabernacle. and it is intended to
furnish comfortable and attractive home
with clean and nourishing food for few
of the thousands of homeless girls who
are working for small wages in the city
of New York.
There have been several experiments of
this kind to furnish accommodations of
various grades for working women, but
this is the first institution which has been
able 10 offer much for so little to a
class that requires more care and needs
a home more than any other. 1t is
mystery how young women are able to
support themselves in city like New
York, where their wages are so low,
where distances are so great and where
the cost of living Is so high Saleswom-
en-. cash girls. Shopgirls. sewing girls as
a rule are paid less than So a week. and
the great majority receive only s. or SO
a week. on which they are compelled to
feed, lodge and clothe themselves, and
pay their street car fares between their
lodgings and their places of labor.
Local Homes for Girls.
Washington does not offer such a diff
cult problem. The wages of working girls
In private employment here are about the
same as they are in New York, in gov
eminent work they are much higher, but
the cost of living is less, the distances
are not so great, the temptations are COM
paratively few. and the accommodations
are much more healthful, agreeable and
economical There are several homes
Catholic and Protestant, where young
women can obtain board and lodging at
cost and where they are protected from
the temptations that women OF their class
are exposed to everywhere, although they
are by no means so great in Washington
as in other larger cities. AS a rule too,
nearly all of the working girls of Wash
ington> belong in the city and live with
their parents. The floating population of
this class Is much smaller. than in any
hth cit Of ito sig ShinptOn
is not a commercial or a manufacturing
town, and there Is little here to draw
girls from the villages and the farms.
The demand for their class of labor is
supplied by the resident families.
The Young Women's Christian Associa-
ton has home for working girls on 18th
street near N street northwest; a So
ciety of benevolent women have similar
institution called the Young Woman S
0hristian Home at 81 street north
Test, of which Mr.. George w. White,
Xcashier of the Commercial National Bank,
rs the treasurer. The Catholic women of
Abe city maintain st. GATHERINGS home.
On North Carolina avenue southeast, and
there are several other places where
homeless girls who are trying to earn
their living are kindly cared for.
The same conoiuons prevail concerning
WORKING boys. No other city of the same
esfse Is SO free from the evils of child
labor as Washington. There Is very little
demand here for the services OF young
boys, either in mercantile or manufactur-
ing establishments, and that Is easily sup
piled by The families of the city. Never
,theless a certain number always have
to be taken care of by benevolence. Most
of them are native children. whose par
erts are unable to provide for them;
widows who are compelled to support
themselves and younger children and can
MT earn enough to make both ends meet;
fathers who are incapactated by one
caus6 or another. and cannot furnish the
pe1ental care and support that their
children need. Many of the chamber
maids, mattresses, cooks and other serv-
ing women In hotels. boarding houses and
private houses of Washington are widows
who are not allowed TO keep their chill
dren with them, and who. in many cases,
have no relatives or friends with whom
the children can be placed. Sometimes
they are able to provide clothing and
even to pay for board in private fam
ily but it is difficult for mother Whose
occupation demands her entire time and
attention to watch over her children
even If she is able to board and clothe
them.
The Maulsby Home.
I. is gratifying 10 know that there is
a home In this city where the young sons
of women in such situations are taken
care of, where they can have comfortable
beds. nourishing food, wholesome sur
roundings, and the diversions and amuse-
ments that childhood demands. 1t is
called the Working Boys Home. and 1t
occupies an old-fashioned mansion at 2SU
g. street northwest, which was a legacy
from the late Mrs. George Maulsby. 1t
accommodates forty boarders and is sup
ported entirely by subscriptions from cit
liens of Washington who have a kindly
spirit for boys. Mrs. G. NJ. Ffoulke, 2O11
Massachusetts, avenue northwest. is presi-
de Mt of the board of managers; Mrs. Will
liam Kerr, 2013 . street northwest, is
vice presiuent; Mrs. L. y. Prindle, the
Ontario, Is secretary, and Miss F. q.
Childs of Chevy Chase. Md. is the treas
urr. u costs about 5000 to support
forty boys in this home for one year.
The sum of 500 will pay all the expenses
of forty boys for month. and SIS will
pay all their expenses for a day. During
The summer the boys spend their vaca-
tionS in a camp on hill in the woods
on the Pierce Mill road. near the labora-
tories of the bureau of standards. and
those who do not have to work are kept
out of doors for three months, sleeping
on iron cots and in hammocks and nav
ing beautiful time. During the winter
months they have the use OF a gymnasium
under the supervision of a competent
teacher; they have a library and an
amusement room, with all kinds of games
and every Thursday evening they are
entertained by volunteers who come in
to talk TO them to tell them stories to
sing with them and to amuse them In
other ways In addition to the forty