Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-01-03
TIE FARM GIRLS CITY sIsTEE-
ny 8. M. CLINTON.

Farm girls who envy the girls OF the
lefty and imagine that they lead lives
Iof comparative ease and pleasure. would
have their eyes opened If they really
knew what city life means tc3 the work
ling girls. The girl who has 20 earn her
living with her hands in a great city is
doomed to life of drudgery The great
army of scrub women who swarm down
town at evening to clean up the great Of
flee buildings and stores tell the story
of disappointed lives of city working
girls.
ost of these women come from the
great army of young women who, hav-
ing become too old to serve as cooks or
maids in the smart homes of the rich.
Ior who have married poor men unable
TO support them and their families and
are obliged to take up the hardest and
most mental work that falls to the lot
Iof women. They toll all night long
Iscrubbing, cleaning cuspidors. busting
rugs and furniture. and earn only a poor,
bare living. To this bitter end thou
sands come every year.
Working girls in big city taste lit
tie Of the sweetness of life. but much Of
its bitterness.
In order to live cheaply they must rent
rooms in the suburbs-a long distance
daylight, ride many miles in crowded
cars, after standing. pushed and jostled
by rough men and after long hours of
hard work are pushed jostIed and
crowded in the fight for standing room
lin the homeward-bound cars at even
ing.
Many Of them are but little better than
slaves. The men who hire them get
every ounce of work out of them that
they are capable of wringing. They are
Iobliged to register the time or arrival
lat the workshop and their departure
They cannot leave the workroom with
|out permission. They IRE often COM
PEELED to work with men and boys. and
in many cases the Surroundings are Oft
en- decidedly unpleasant and even revolt
ling to girls of good morals and clean
minds
No factory girl can hope to earn more
than a bare living. Her clothes must
be of the cheapest quality and her food
limited to actual necessities Her pleas
|ures are few because wherever she goes
she must pay, pay. pay. She must count
every penny for living expenses, and
when they are counted there are none
left for pleasure.
She has no social advantages, and her
acquaintance are limited to her mates
n the shop, who live miles apart anu can
never be seen outside " working hours.
If she marries, it must be to some man
who. like herself. earns his living with
his hands, and seldom little more. The
day she marries her wages STOP or even
&c she keeps on at the factory for a few
months, the first baby stops her earning
capacity Then there are mouths to feed
with her husbands earnings only, and
the condition is worse than before Pow
.erty is the evil Of the city, and falls
heaviest on the women and children
The country girl may well contrast her
own condition with that or the city girl.
and she will find it vastly better. She
has home with good food and bed and
clothing, and enjoys the society Of her
relatives and neighbors-
she is independent and free from the
terror OF old age and poverty, which
clutches the heart of every city working
girl who has passed the innocent and
hopeful stage of youth and realizes what
the future holds for her.
The country girls opportunity for
marrying well and rearing a family In
comfort and independence is vastly bet
ter than that of the city girls. She has
to work hard, naturally put not as hard
as the city girl, and her surroundings
and conditions of life on the farm in
every way are healthful hopeful and full
the possibilities OF usefulness and hap-
piness in old age