The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-04-23

vVIHlLE large part OF the pub.
w lie continues 10 sentimental.
lie over the poor working
GIRL fs.iere is n growing tendency
AMOS thoughtful people 10 discredit
the sbsurd fables about her. and to
ask intelligent questions regarding
her rea; characteristics and her in.
iluence in this work.a-day world.
Here are few of the posers beins
propounded to me nowadays:
What is womans best asset as a
wage Garner? What is the para
mount feminine weakness In the bust.
ness relation? What effect has the
feminist NOV ement upon the working
girl and upon her work? VIII the
new woman in industry strive for
permanent. economic independence
and for positions on par with those
OF skilled and ambitious men? Is the
economically independent girl grow.
ing masculine?
The last Of these suggests IN in.
cident in the New York suffrage cam.
paign. when Josephine Casey, n gift
ed member of the Street Railway
Employees Union, was asked. after a
suffrage address. whether she did not
fear that the ballot would make
women masculine.
You'd be safe taking chance on
that" was her reply. Look how
many sissy men there are who have
been voting for years. The ballot
hasn't made them masculine"
From my % years close associa-
ton with wage-earning women. am
ready to advise inquirers to take a
chance on woman's remaining femI
nine even though economically indie.
pendent.
The textile Industry is good one
In which to make study of this sub.
1ect. 1t employs more girls and
women than any other: was first to
Re factorizcd; and in 1t women often
do exactly the same work as men.
SILVER and Starve for Vanity.
A trip down the main street of a
typical mill town on special shop
ping night throws light upon this
prohlem-Fail River. Mass. for ex.
ample, one of the Oldest cotton tex.
tile centres in the country. Here.
every Saturday night you will find
continuous procession of mill girls
out Tor an orgy of shopping. And
one sees Immediately that. whether
OF not they are properly nou.ished
or warmly clothed. these girls will
have plumas in their hats, fur hoas
round their throats. and shoes which
are fancy. even though they may be
shaopy. The working girl may shive.
and starve, but the cravings OF her
Spirit for beauty and social conpan-
tonship must be satisfied nj all costs
This is true of them all. true OF
the stunted. grayfaced descendant of
generations Of English weavers. true
OF the stalwart peasant woman late
iy from the Hungarian farm. true nj
eli of the eight other nationallties
oil Fall River. 1t is perhaps especial.
ly true OF the French girl. who spends
ha!i OF her supper money for flowers
Tor her hall bedroom. And this is
distinctly feminine. for the averag.
man Will not so cold for love o;
feathers. or hungry Tor love of lose
Apparently there is only one thing
strong enough to make mill WON.
an foreSo iine feathers ana the Sat.
urday night shopping bee. and that
thing Is mother love. | overheard a
group Of women textile workers com.
pairing "reminiscences.
Many a time SAID one. lit is
O'Clock in the morning When hang
out the children's wash, and then
sleep in a chair for fear the bed will
make me forget 10 wake when the
whistle blows" Another delegate
had often taken in washing for nay
to add TO the family wash. which
might not reach the clothes line be-
fore broad daylight.
Sacrifices of Mother Love.
A third Dragged of stopping out
OF the MILL year before and a year
after the birth Of her baIy, In spite
OF a husbands protests, because o.
her determination that the child
should have fair start with
health" Still another. who had been
weaving "off and on for 80 years"
said she had kept at it" in order to
educate her nine children. All OF
the others told of great sacrifice
prompted by mother love.
II, after generations in the mills.
ever since 1855. woman still Is "a