The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-01
SOCIAL, LIFE OF
 WORKING WOMEN.
Conditions Which Govern Their Choice of a HOme-Pitfalls of Girl Boarding Away From
 Home-Need for Whole

Choice of Home-Pitfalls of
 Girl Boarding Away From
 Home-Need for Whole
 some and Cheap
 Amusement.
 (Elizabeth Beards1ey Butler, Former
 Secretary Consumers League of
 New Jersey-)
 (Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 Burcau.)
 A sight of the factory does not en- able us fully to understand the life of working women. We must know the homes and lodging places; we must know to what extent social life agement, and in what way outside agencies supply the social privileges
 The tendency is strong for neigh borhood women to go into the fac tories whose smoke stacks have stared them in the face since baby by saving carfare to and from work The nearby factory sometimes means a saving in clothing, too, as in the case of the two young girls who went to the neighboring factory "because then they didn't have to wear hats as they would if they rode in the car''
 The neighborhood to which the working girl goes is less a matter of choice than an accident of birth or convenience. She is born into a family group that has drifted through race affiliations, for cheap rent, or for convenient nearness to the mills to one another section of the city.
 The girl who boards away from home is likewise limited in choice. She is not a fgment of the imagina- tion, this girl On the lowest esti- mate, there are 1o.5@o of the total working women in this class. Pow erty. sends the seeker for room and and sometimes 9ower, than the usual slum. She will hardly find room to rent in the thickly settled parts of the city for less than s1o a month It gave me fresh appreciation of the problem faced by homeless girls to hear a conversation between two whose house, twice raided within the few months past, again had a 'To- let'' sign on the door. Where do you work?" was her first question: in a cigar factory, the other that ''she worked down-town.' They prisoners before the bar rather than wage-e earning women in search of rooms. The Jewess eyed them shrewdly, noting details of untidy dress, stocky figure. curly hair. Work ing girls of their type, she thought, were not sufficiently promising cus- rooms are s2.5o a week, and I might as we'll tell you that I don't allow no companies, no gentlemen friends and no lady friends! I can't be hav- ing. no noise and talking in my house. Now if youSe want to see the rooms, youse can see thern.'' The barren e 0gtl90 tere erdsd bs by nn ngs in is further darkened by the character of many of the neighborhoods where the ITO Let'' signs hang.
 To the girl at home, the stimulus of her surroundings is slight and evenings pass with an unbroken sameness: The homes cannot tr,, of of are limited by mere lack of space. There is no opportunity for social in tercourse, for ton, except 1n connection with the family group that includes old and young- One is inn pressed by the lack of heart to make more than sporadic efforts to enjoy free hours. We just stay at home" one girl said. i've haven't anything else to do.' For those who have both the vitality and the desire for pleas ure, there are few opportunities for recreation except roller-skating rinks, picture shows and dance halls.
 In recognition of this need of working women, outside agencies have been developed to supplement the imperfect opportunities of the home for social intercourse. There are settlements and semi-religious as sociations. How far their influence goes, it would be difficult to estimate. Their impaIpable share in the life and thought of the community can not be gauged by roll-books or class records The classes of these institu
  ing and cooking in most eases are not for industrial training but to overcome the pftiful inadequacy of an experience that includes only fac tory work and leaves no time for a girl to learn the trade of housekeep- ing before she undertakes it. Danc- ing and gymnaisum work are also very usual features of their work as well as the maintenance of clubs and reading rooms Glasses in trade Stantly to battle against Weariness 1t the end of a working day, and they cannot be really recreative. The purely social clubs scarcely reach to the great numbers among whom, ex- cept for profit, there is no social leaven working.
 There were in Pittsburg in 1907, 22,185 working women in factories and stores, besides many more in occupations uncounted in this cen sus; yet of this number only 25S, less than per cent, were in touch with a, centre for social development and recreation, either in in the Play play or or re- is a by-product of life too valuable to waste, and the community is the loser if the free hour is spent only form of entertainment.
 Nickelodeons and dance halls and skating rinks are in no sense inher- ent1y bad, but so long as those main tained for profit are the only relief for nervous wearineSs and the desire for stimulation, we may we'll reckon leisure a, thing spent, not used. These amusements take a toll from the peoples income, disproportionate to the income gained. They divert, and to the working girl, diversion is es sential.
 I shall not soon forget a Saturday evening when I stood and watched men and women packed thick at the entrance of every picture show. The crowd of waiting people filled. the long vestibule and even part of Hhe sidewalk. They were determined to be amused, and this was one of the things labelled +tAmusern ent'' They were hot and tired and irritable but willing to wait for their chance to get in. Is not this eagerness as we'll worth conserving any river fall that makes electricity or drives a Tn large