Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-06

Her name was Bertha; she was a
shop-girl twenty-one years old. Her
SLIM shape was attractive; her HAIR
was dark and heavy; h.r skin had q
Inc, clear pallor; her eyes were large
and serious. Cheap clothes she wore
with that subtle DISPLAY of good taste
which poor girls OF discornment man
age sometimes to acquire by observa-
tion OF the more fortunate women
whom they have to serve.
the mother did sewing, paid for by
the piece; towels, napkins, babes
clothing she made from materials
with which q charitable society of
women furnished her. b rtha worked
in a great department store, and her
week $ wages were IS.
She had been put to work in the
basement in the glassware Depart
ment. There, in an enormous, white
washed room as tull oil pillars as an
Egyptian temple, under the violet
glare OF arc-Lgnts sputtering in great
8lopes, from morning till night she
SOLD dishes, tumblers, cruets, fruit
jars, articles for q hundred homely
uses. Lengthwise in the place ran
long tables laden with gnstening
glass. t1ere were the samples and,
when q customer had made ner choice
1ron them young man hurried or
TO the sLoreroolns with the numDer of
the specimen, TO duplicate 1t. He
was q tai, bony youtn-tnls messen-
Ser-who shaved his Dlue cheeks every
day, but seemed seldom aple to af-
lord q haircut. His coat sleeves were
short; ms wrists were thick and one
saw no cuffs about them. His craVat
was invariably the same; faded blue,
with blulsh-Whlte polka dots. For
weeks, once, the top button OF ms
coat was missing. TINS annoyed
Bertha, who WAS always neat; she
mao often an impulse to sew new
button there.
Lutte ole afternoon a strange man,
q superintendent in q frocK coat
whine walking between the glass
laden tables noticed Bertha. He hes
itaLed, stopped and came back to her.
He stared at her lace, her HAIR and
especially at her figure
'1ow long have you been down
here o.
six months she answered, ana
was almost suffocated by the beating
of her heart. lie looked surprised.
REPORT for work at the dress
making department in the morning"
She rushed home; with glowing
eyes she entered the fiat and found
hel. mother in the kitchen ca.my
peeling potatoes.
"Mother. I'm to go into the dress
making department. 1t means nine
dollars Il week."
Her mother dropped the potatoes. |
which rolled about on the floor. The
two women embraced; there We're
even tears in their eyes Their sup
per was an event. The whole nat
seemed all at once more cheerful, and
they spent the evening planning u
faga az fTnnrnAyh-
'nent, now and then dreaming ind
silence OF the possibilities of the fu-
lure.
! IN tina morning Bertha became al
salesgirl i'll the dressmaking depart
lneht.
Here Bertha, tutored by her new |
companions, learned TO Halter, to |
najole, To tell untruth9 about her
wares and still, while doing SO, to |
appear frank and honest. Sne learned |
the names OF the women who came to |
shop, their affairs. the scandals in the
lives Of some of them, evolved in |
exact detail no one knew from what
sources but nevertheless implicitly |
believed by eager audiences. Her |
eyes were opened to strange world |
Things which before she had heard |
nf through indefinite hints alone here
were reeounted to her in plain ,
IuuHnaSe, ana With Tic SO-ctbileu prlil-
Z cipals % disreputable histories she
came ia actual contact, serving them
Curiouslg she would waSeh them
mean{ bile. wondering at the calm
ness - heir agreeable faces, their
beauts tdeu prosperity. Was this
then. le way that yiciousness was
Kerve,s2
Ono day. al some preposterous
story related by the forewoman-a
ruthless gdsSip-Bertha retorted al
most in evaporation:
zone would think there weren't any
good people ut all in a big city,"
my dear" said the forewoman.
looking at her intently, "those you
hear nothing about are the cleYel
ones"
Ten months passed; Bertha was
nearly twenty-three years old Her
life in the store continued in it's out
ward details as before. Day after day, |
with fluent praise and fiattery, she
exhibited costumes of silk, of velvet, !
of diaphanous tissue-perishable mas
terpieces of dressmaking on each of
which dozen working women some
where had used up their wits, stiff
fened their fingers, and worn out their
eyes. Nonchalantly she mentioned to
the customers the extrayagant prices
of these things, amazed no longer at
the thought that there were women
who could pay for a ball dress what
would keep her and her mother for
almost a year.
On her way home at night, walking
IT |