Omaha daily bee., 1915-09-26
Committees and Governing Board of BrgsNash Welfare Association

Mabel Is a bundle girl From $50 In
the morning until o'clock at night she
sits in a little cage and wraps the mer-
chandlse, the statesmen and saleswomen
sell into neat bundles for the customers.
At night she stays at home and scws the
clothes she must wear or sometimes
spends an evening at a moving picture
show.
Mabel is very much the same as other
bundle girls. She is about 1e or Il years
Of age. She is a very skillfull bundle
girl and her packages arc always neat
they never unwrap when the customer Il
caught I'm the crush OF a crowded street
car and she Is quick at her work. But
bundle girls are plentiful. There are al
ways more bundle girls to be had than
there are Jobs. As result bundle girls
do not draw very pretentious salaries
Mabel receives $50 I'm her pay envelope
each Saturday night, that IL all she Is
worth, because as we said before. bundle
girls are plentiful, the supply is much
larger than the demand.
Mabel lives with her widowed mother
and her older sister, who Is q salesgirl in
the same store with Mabel She was
moderately happy, sometimes, Of course
she wished for the things other girls
have, but she was only a bundle airl and
she realized that was all she was and
generally she was content with her lot.
1t really wasn't so hard to live on $50
weeA, living at home.
Mabel Taken sick,
But one day Mabel became sick. She
was very III and for four weeks she was
confined to her bed.
To the ordinary bundle girl working in
the ordinary big department store where
a mere bundle girl was not even given a
thought in the busting activity OF the
big store sickness would be a serious mis-
hap. A bundle girl in the ordinary big
department store ia only a very small
! cog in the immense machinery Of tho
store. IL she fails to appear for work at
| the usual hour some day her name is
scratched off of the payroll and that Is
ell there is to 1t.
/ Four weeks of sickness would be a Sc
rious predicament TO the ordinary bundle
| girl. 1t would mean the loss of four
weeks pay. IL not her job. IL would
mean big doctor bills, big bills for medi-
cine and countless other bills. Tho ordi-
nary bundle girl would not know from
where the money to pay these bills would
be forthcoming.
But with Mabel it was different
For Mabel is bundle girl at the Bur-
gess-Nash store and is a member OF the
Burgess-Nash Welfare association. For
the infinitesmal sum of 10 cents
month Mabel retains a membership in
this association. And that 10 cents
month and the welfare association pro-
1 - ,nI
Association - Great Success.
The Burgess-Nash Welfare association
was organized in May of this year. 1t
was organized under the sponsorship and
encouragement of Louis Nash, manager
of the store, and during its short term
Of life up to date has proven a great
success.
In the constitution of the association
It is stated that the objects and pur-
poses shall be to assist the members in
sickness and distress, to promote spirit
OF good fellowship and fraternity"
And that is why Mabel considers her-
self so fortunate. During her long illness
all of her doctor billA were paid. DR.. O.
c. Allison is chief of the associations
medical staff And when any member
of the association is i'll DIR. Allison and
.
icsI attention and the association foots
| the bill.
In addition all drugs which may be
necessary are provided by the associa-
ton. And again the association pays as
an insurance benefit one-halt of the
salary earned during the term OF illness.
So thus # was that Mabel had all her
doctor bills paid, all her medicine pro-
vided without cost and 1915 a week. one
half her salary, paid her. SO when she
returned to work, once more healthy ana
able, she did not owe a person cent.
The case of Mabel. the little bundle
girl, is not the only one the Burgess
Nash Welfare association has recorded
on its books. Several other similar cases.
others which entailed minor operations
others not so bad, others far worse the