The San Francisco call., 1908-08-30

were sewing. Did you bring your
thimble and need1eg she asked Of&
course I hadn't. BIT one OF the Oh
women who was busy at skirt oblig-
ingly supplied me with both articles.
which she said / could regard as 4
loan. I took a skirt and served But
as 1 sewed 1 figured out that it woulf
take me all day to make 10 cents al
the rate of payment. so when I had
finished two skirts / returned the
needle and thimble and gave my work
to the old woman who had lent them
Amt you going to set your money foN
them@ she asked You can have thu
s cents for the loan OF the thimble.
said l. and said goodby What. tired
so soon? Don't you like the jobr asked
the head woman I explained that !
was a poor sewer and couldn't make
enough money at IL, and went down
stairs more quickly than I had gons
up. How would you like 20 sew braids
on dress skirts for 8 cents skirt
Working in the Coffee
My next experience was in a coffss
mandatory down in Washfnxtor,+
street. One hundred girls were advsr-
tised for. and I was one accepted. We
had to sort the beans. which wers
placed on a strip of canvas which
moved by machinery. You had to snatotI
the beans quicklys as they passed OF,
the canvas and place the good ones IN
one tin box and the bad ones In an
other. 1t was hard work and mada
your head ache, the machinery befn
noisy and the rapid movement OF tha
canvas causing giddiness. Some ~
the workers were little girls, not NOR
than IL years old. Fifty cents a day
was the pay, hours from $50 to g. wfth
a half hour for lunch. The forewomar
was named Name and one OF tho
girls told me that though Name nov1
received So a week. and was stuck %
just in mustard and only got dollar
a day. In mustard necessitated ths
changing Of ones Clothes as IL Wa
dirty work and not nice smelling. Ons
Of the mustard girls told me that sha
lived IN Jersey, and had never ba.uI
uptown In New York nor seen theater
or a large store. though her sister
worked in Siegel & Cooper's and got
$6 week. and knew all about the nfca
stores This girl had worked In New
York for four years, ever since shs
was old enough to work at all yet had
seen nothing outside Of Jersey, whers
she resided because the living was
cheaper. Some other girls met az thsf
factory lived in Brooklyn for the SAND
reason. and walked back and forth over'
the bridge to save carfare. They were|
not bit blue about IL. and dfd not|
seem 10 mind their poverty. One girl
who had worked in Macy's told me 81
her chum who was in store and re-
ceived s. a week. and supported a
mother and small brother on that. They
lived In one room in Brooklyn.
Don't you think 1 met some rather
interesting people? OF course I know
lot Of the other kind newspaper writ
ers and stenographers and artists and
girls living in cute little flats, sharing
expenses and having all sorts OF COM.
forts and good times. but enjoyed best
meeting the other kind, though IL made
my heart ache to think could do Moth
ing for them to make their hard lots
easier. One OF my new friends was thu
office boy on a big daily. He was an
Irish boy from Connecticut and hoped
he might get to be the Sunday editor
OF his paper some day. He was a good
lad. and told me when he first came
to New York he aid not know soul