The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-11-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. RAsKIN. Dresses.
waahanxton. q. G.
THE POOR WORKING GIRL PLAYS


could only see us now.'
The girl who made this remark
stood poised on the edge of a large
boulder somewhere along the Pali-
sides, one arm thrust forth in the
atrical gesture for the benefit of
second girl below, who was balancing
a camera. A chorus of appreciative
giggles came from a group of girls
seated about a camp fire in the shad-
ow of the boulder.
! Say, you people in the front row,
move up a little closer together" d.
rected the girl with the camera. Il
can't get you all in"
A wild scramble to get within the
focus of the camera followed, in which
one girl almost fell into the camp fire
and another into the nearby Hudson
river but when all were finally seated
| 1t made an extremely interesting pic
ture.
As a background. there was the
wide river, bearing an occasional ca
noe and motor-boat, and all aglitter
| in the sun. Against this, like huge
grey blot, stood the boulder. decorat-
| ed with girls. Most of them wore
| "middies~sand boomers. sturdy sport
shoes. and had bobbed hair. They
looked very much like children, except
for an independent something about
/ them which one somehow instantly as
sociates with a steady weekly pay
check. They were-aH of them
This term is oId-fashioned nov.
There are no poor working girls in
New Y ork. Or at least. there need
not be. There are plenty of girls who
make very little in the way of wages
who live in impoverished neighbour
hoods. and who cannot afford to buy
any but the cheapest kind of clothes
But they are not poor. Their lives are
a good deal richer than those of many
al. -, -4r Ta& laot,.
parents support them, richer even than
those of many of the business men
who employ them, richer even than
those of some of the society damsels
who contribute large sums for their
entertainment. For thruout New York
there are dozens of agencies ard or
CARNATIONS constantly at work to see
that the working girl does not o. er-
work and that she does not become
lonely or disconnected.
Do you remember the O'Henry
heroine who had nothing but the por-
trait of Lord Kitchener to keep her
on the straight and narrow path?
Well. such a heroine is obsolete now
The Y. W. c. A. and the Community
Center and the War Work Council
have absorbed and completely changed
her. The New York working girl to-
day lives one of the busiest social lives
ever invented. She has scarcely one
night in the week free for a life of
luxurious crime or for any of the other
lures and pitfalls of big city which
are always being discovered in the
movies. She usually belongs to half
dozen different clubs, from which
she is constantly going and coming.
The girls we left posing for their
photographs along the Palisades, for
example, belong to the Health Center
club here, which .employs-a recreation
director for the sole purpose of plan
ming healthy outdoor and indoor rec
reation for them They attend the
club at least two nights a week-one
night for physical culture exercises
and another night for games, includ-
ing basketball and volley ball, and
skating. After the games are over
Marian Taylor, the director, reads to
them or tells them stories That is
how the girl on the bouider~becam
acquainted with O'Henry. Never hav-
she joined the club she is now pur-
suing IN entire reading, course outlined
for her by Miss Taylor
On third night during the week
those girls who can afford it go horse
back riding. The club has been able
to secure reduced prices for its mem
bers. on the basis. of ten riding lessons
for fifteen dollars. The riding acad-
envy also supplies the riding outfits.
The first group of eight girls took its
riding lesson the other night thru
Central park. Most of the riders had
never been on a horse before. and.
while eager to try it. were somewhat
terrified by their own daring.
rs he wild?' asked one of the girls
as a sad-looking nag was brought for
ward from one of the stalls
Upon being treasured by the riding
attendant, she mounted awkwardly,
tho doggedly, and sat clinging franti-
cally TO the saddle while the horse
stood gently nibbling a wisp of hay
Don't hold the saddle" command
ed the attendant. Hold the reins."
But is that all you have to hold on
to-" the girl wanted to know.
I'm not a bit afraid declared her
companion. q plump little Hebrew
stenographer, who had managed to
climb up unassisted on a meek brown
horse. ST figure that if 1 fall off I'll
break my neck anyway, so it doesn't
NATTER
"A few days later, however, the same
girls were able to speak of the ex-
perience in a bored and sophisticated
| manner to those of their companions
who did not go along. IT'S easy"
said the girl who had chung to the
saddle. Il didn't fall off once" - .
Every Sunday, the girls of the
Health Center club go on hike. Last
Sunday, they crossed by ferry to the
Jersey shore and walked for two or
three miles along the Palisades until
they found what they considered an
appropriate camping place. Here
they Immediately shed their skirts
and appeared in boomers, in which
they set forth with great agility to
obtain driftwood for campfire. In a
short time, they had a fire burning
| and each girl brought forth from her
lunch bag all sizes and shapes of
sweet potatoes to roast in ii. Then
Miss Taylor, who had brought along
the club coffee-pot, made coffee
which was passed around in tin cups
in the usual camp-iike manner, to ac-
company fat "hot dog and bacon
sandwiches.
On a girls hike eating is the most
conspicuous, il not the most impor-
tant. activity. 1t begins as soon as
the party reaches the first pump or
spring. and continues turnout the