The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-06-10

as $3.50 or SO she is indeed doing
we'll. II she rises to be head sales
woman OF the department she will
perhaps get 81. She is told when she
takes her place at the store that this
small salary is SO much clear gain, as
her bed and food are provided for
her, but she soon learns that fines
are numerous and very often entirely
in the hands of the shopwalker, SO
1t behooves her to keep in his good
graces lest she is fined two cents
here and three cents there, for arriv-
ing behind the counter two minutes
late, for wearing piece Of jewelry,
for talking in the dormitory, for do
ing many and various things, until
her $1.25 is reduced to half It's pro-
portions at the end of the week. She
begins her morning in the store at
any time from to s; that depends
on where she is employed. To fortify
her for the day a breakfast is fur.
nished of tea, bread and butter or
cruel. When dinner time comes she
has fifteen minutes recess to eat what
is provided, and that in room crowd
ed with her fellow workers, who are
all calling out, boiling their food and
rushing lest they should be fined for
lateness when they arrive at the coun-
ter. At 4 o'clock she has another
fifteen minutes in which to take her
weak tea and bread. When the store
closes at and the last bit of work Is
accomplished by half past she has a
supper of bread and cheese. Then
she may go out If she likes until II
o'clock. If she comes in five minutes
late she is fined, and in many places
II she is fifteen minutes late she can
not get in at all and spends the night
on the streets with the thoughts of
the next days probable dismissal to
enliven the hours. If she does not
wish to go out she may retire to
dreary, unheated sitting room, with
accommodations for SO few girls that
should too many stay home the same
night bed is the only refuge for those
who cannot crowd into the room.
If she goes to bed she makes her
way to a cold dormitory with any,
where from fifteen to thirty beds in 1t,
a toilet table at each end and wash
stand with two small pitchers Of
water. She has one nail on which to
hang her things, and bath is out
of the question. If she drops off to
sleep she is soon awakened by her re-
fur nfne fAc nh irlo
from all parts of the country and Of
varying characters. She may go home
from Saturday afternoon to Sunday
| evening, or il her family live too far
away she may go where she wishes.
Also her Sunday privileges include
lying in bed half an hour later, and
permission to buy herself something
extra to eat, which will be cooked for
her If she can give a modest tip.
OF course there are stores where
things are better managed than this,
| but there are many others where
things are far worse. In one depart
ment store the housekeeper admitted
that for the weeks food she allowed
81 head.
The moral side of the question it Is
just as we'll not to dwell upon. Where
1900 persons-men and women, boys
and girls-are lodged as they are at
one huge store, not much attention
can be paid to what they do or where
they go. A fashionable West End
shop gives the girls latchkeys, and no
questions are asked If they are late
unless 1t happens too often.
! DR.. Clifford, a we'll known preacher,
aroused greatest indignation and ve-
hement denials from owners of big
department stores not long ago by a
speech he made in which he said:
Nothing has been more mournful
than the accounts have had to hear
of the practical impossibility of living
a true and worthy life in the condi-
tions offered in these huge establish.
ments."