The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-05-23
WHEN DREAMS
COME TRUE
lBY Z. p. Marsh.l

In company with the other members
of the executive board of the State
Federation of Labor, ! paid a visit last
Sunday afternoon to the new home Of
the union mattresses of Seattle To
begin this story right it is necessary
to briefly review the struggles the
girls have gone through to make their
home a reality.
The history of the mattresses taken
as a class is largely history of home
less girls-girls who have been forced
out of the home nest by stress of eco
nomic necessity to make their own
but it's doubly hard for a girl Life
is bitterly hard on the working girl
or woman. There are none of the
home comforts, the little attentions,
the care and solicitude that surround
the girl who doesn't face the working
world Life for a waitress who has
no home is a nightmare. There's the
daily strain in the restaurant and then
back to little room in a hotel or
rooming house. If she rebels at the
monotony and goes out in the evening
for little relaxation, evil tongues ply
their trade. Whens she's ill, it's the
hospital with its depressing atmos-
phere. It's hard lines any way you
look at it.
Long ago, Alice Lord, who is a moth
er and friend to every waitress in Sc
attic (and MANY working girls who
are not waitresses) dreamed dream
of union Mattresses home-a real
home, not a mere lodging house. A
place where the girls out of work.
homesick, weary, downcast, might
come for nominal cost Alice has
had years Of experience in this worka-
day world and she knew what such a
place would mean to her girls. And
so they began planning and working
for it. The money came slowly The
girls have so many, many calls on
their hard-earned money and it took
i3t TO get the right location and the
right sort of building erected and fur
nished. But they gave dances and en-.
tertainments and they saved for it.
They got together enough finally to
begin to see their way clear and they
got location. And they found their
location had no sewer connections and
no immediate prospects Of any Dis
again. And then one of
those things happened which usually
only happen in fairy books. Mr.. Kean.
a big-hearted lumberman, had watched
the brave-hearted struggle of the girls
and it came into his mind to do some
thing big for them. In a beautiful
residence part Of Seattle, command
ing a splendid view of Lake Washing
ton and the university district. Mr..
Kean had just completed a three
story, fourteen-room residence. 1t is
a residence such as only a man of
wealth with an eye for elegance and
would build Hardwood
floors, big roomy rooms, little rest
iens, concrete basement with furance,
laundry and storerooms, and all that.
You've seen the kind of residence if
you've never been fortunate enough to
own one. Nobody had ever occupied
tin fact, it was hardly fresh from
he painters hands. To make a long
story short, Mr. Kean donated that
beautiful home and grounds to the
vaitresses' union of Seattle without a
single string attached to the gift. In
act, he didn't want Alice to make
public the name of the donor. There
re some big-hearted employers in this
world and Mr.. Kean is one of them.
So we went out there Sunday to
ook it over Alice and few of her
,irls met us at the door Were they
milling? Could you wonder? It is
,eing furnished now The union cleo
ricians have given a handsome rug.
mother organization has given a com
'lete china set Bit by bit the whole
louise is being completely furnished
md the placing Of those furnishing is
llmost a religious rite. Up and down
tairs we went exploring and praising
md not until the girls had shown
very nook and Granny OF the beautiful
lone would they let MS 80. And III
idmit some of us were just wee hit
ealous and began to wonder. why not
home for homeless men. And in
Iced, why not? There would be less
.erelicts afloat on the sea Of human
ty
Alice and her girls have got their
Iream of years and the union means
more to them than it ever did before
n their lives And there's a hint here
o girls in other localities. GO thou