Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-02-13
By BEATRICE FAIRFAX.
There's a girl worker whom

want to intercede for.
She has written to me under
many names. Her cry Of protest
has a hundred variations. But at
the bottom of it all there's an I'M
varying something that. goes to
ones heart and ones sense of JUS
tice. It's the plight of the young
girl wage-earner who is treated as
a child at home.
But she is a childl-her parents
will answer me, with a good deal of
emphasis. And it's true--for it's
the girl of Is or 10 whom I'm
speaking of. The girl who ought
to be at school, and who isn't. The
girl who oughtn't to have to bend
her youthful mind and body to
long hours OF daily drudgery, but
who does do this. The girl who is
willing to be made use of to help
out the family support, but who
does rebel at having no individual
freedom.
Ever so many things are wrong
about this situation, Of course. 1t
goes a great deal deeper than any
l5-year-old can understand. With
out trying to go to the bottom of
things, let's look at it little.
In the first place, | suppose we
would all admit that a. l5-year-old
girl ought to be in school. If she
isn't, it means she's had a pretty
scant preparation for life. If she's
just an average girl, it isn't likely
that she'll take her own education
in hand and continue it. So she'll
suffer from the disadvantage al
ways.
In the next place, she oughtn't to
be kept at steady work, whether it's
in factory or in a shop or at a
typewriter. You see, she's only
about three-quarters grown. Its
distinctly crueI-not on the part of
her parents, who probably can't
help themselves, but on the part of
the rest of us, who look on and
allow it-not to let her finish her
growing.
Then, she's too young to have
any physical stability. Her health
won't have a really solid founda-
tion for a few years more. And to
tamper with her health is the worst
wrong of all.
But who can save her? She's
one of big family, perhaps. Her
fathers out of work, or earns small
wages, and the younger cnAdren
have large appetites, and pro-
visions have to be paid for in cash.
It's quite plain that somebody must
help out.
And, the 16-year-old doesn't de-
muir. That isn't what she's pro>
testing about. She's abundantly
willing to do her share, and a great !
deal more than her share, to keep
the family alive. It's a sacrifice to
break away from her schoolmates,
to spend all her young strength in |
an impersonal treadmill. But she
accepts this sacrifice as a matter of
course. Those young brothers and |
sisters need her help. There's
more to, be said about it.
So she starts in. And when the
first pay day comes around she !
brings home her wages with a |
great deal of pride and satisfaction |
and turns them over to her mother. |
It's rather a critical moment. Per-
haps she hasn't expected that
mother will accept those precious
dollars in quite the cool, .matter-of- |
fact way that she does. Perhaps
she has taken it for granted that
mother will say, How much are
you going to need for yourself, now
that you are self-supporting" or
something of that sort.
Has No Spending Money.
But nothing of this kind happens.
So, little teary and disappointed
md forlorn, she starts in on the sec
ond weeks drudgery.
And before many days have passed
ler new associates invite her to join
hem in some form of recreation.
Perhaps it's party at one of their
houses. Perhaps it's an expedition
% a moving picture theater.
She reports this invitation, timidly
,ut hopefully, when she gets home.
And it's just as she feared. Her par
.nts firmly tell her that she's too
,cung for evening amuseinents, that
hey can't let her go out Of the house
i night except in the company of
n older person, and that she needs
o go to bed early anyway.
And when Sunday comes it's the
anne story. She must mind the
children. And she has no
lothes except her working ones,
,oor little Cinderella. And she's
afer at home, they tell her, than
With boys and girls whom nobody |
,nows anything about.
Now, I agree with these parents
hat a 16-year-old girl ought not to
'e out late at night. l agree that
he must be carefully guarded. But
do feel when she has Joined the
army, her situation becomes
Iifferent. Some compromises must
'e made. And discreet parents will /
make these compromises before the
-irl finds herself driven to actual
evolt.
Every worker needs recreation.
Ind which one of them needs it
more than the girl who hasn't yet
cached safe and reasonable work
lg age9 It's her parents duty to
ee that such a girl does have some
iavtime, / don't mean that thew
hould let her 60 to dance halls. But