Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-20

various houses reporting rooms for
rent to the bureau. Thus, when the
bureau tslls . girl It can give her
. room 1t $12 . week, It knows ex-
actly what that room contains.
even TO the wall PAPER and the
Of lighting fixtures: which
Is fortunate. because some Of the
applicants are very fastidious in
their requirements. One stenogra-
pher who came to the bureau with
definite ideas as to what she want
ed for the price she could afford to
pay. was served by ak different in
reviewers, and inspected 4S differ
emit rooms before she announced
herself satisfied.
In addition to its room-renting
service, the bureau acts as court
Of arbitration between landladies
and their boarders, attempting to
adjust the many difficulties which
are constantly arising between the
two factions. Sometimes It is a
boarder who protests that her room
is cold, and again it is a landlady
who claims that her boarders are
using too much gas and electricity.
Miss Hanks has also recently start
ed sort Of housekeepers' club,
which meets once a month at the
Y. w. c. A. headquarters, for the
purpose of acquainting landladies
with the latest facilities for house.
keeping and with advice as to rent
ing rooms. Columbia university is
cooperating with the bureau in sup
plying lecturers on house furnish
ings and interior decorating, while
the officers of the bureau manage
to give the meetings a friendly, in
formal atmosphere by serving tea
and sandwiches.
As result of these meetings,
the bureau notices a slight inn
provement in the relations of the
boarders and housekeepers on their
lists. Many housekeepers have re-
Gently begun to exhibit personal
interest in the girls boarding in
their homes, and actually to help
them reduce expenses by suggest
ing the use of laundry and kitchen
facilities. = The old type of land
lady who spent her days inspecting
key holes in the fear or hope of
catching her boarders cooking over
the gas jet, is fast disappearing un-
der the friendly administration of
the bureau.
Not long ago, for example. a
! landlady appeared and handed $50
in bills to an officer of the bureau.
ut belongs to that last little old
lady you sent me-" she explained
"She left it In the desk drawer OF
her room, although she remem-
bered to take everything else with
her, even a couple Of towels"
Investigation proved the old lady
to be one who had been on the bu-
reau's list for a number of weeks
during which time she had rented
half a dozen different rooms. Ev.
cry time she comes to the bureau
she gives q different name. When
an officer Of the bureau called hel
attention to this fact, she declared
that she couldn't remember what
her last husbands name was, but
she thought it was Boyd. Through
the inform alton CLEANED by this
housekeeper, the bureau was able
to notify the old lady's anxious fam
lily as to her whereabouts.
l Miss Hanks, who is on duty {
Igreat deal during the evening, say:
that this period is particularly pro
life OF queer stories, some inter
esting, some amusing and som,
tragic. Perhaps the thought o
being alone in the city becomes ap
palling as. night approaches" sh'
says, land the need to talk thing!
over with someone becomes NOR,
urgent"
! The other night, it was Mar.
Smith. q cook, who had left he
position because of a misunder
standing with her mistress, ant
had to be supplied cheap room
j right away. Mary, who wore /;
distressed expression, confided t,
the interviewer that in her ange
she had placed a curse ON her EN-
ployer, and then discovered just a.
she was leaving the house that tn,
lady was the mother of Doroth,
Arnold. the young girl who wa
kidnapped few years ago. Sh
was overcome with remorse, an,
wasted to know If the interviews
could not tell her of a &c ID FORUM
teller who would be able to rende
the curse impotent.
A little later. it was a little sho]
girl who appeared and said sh
could not remain at the club hous
: recommended to her because of
requirement that she wear rub
bers. She had never worn rubbers
she said. and she did not intend tc
They made her eyes hurt. Woul
: the interviewer please give her tn
address Of place where she coul
live without being spied upon whel
she went out?
, Then, a few nights ago, came tw
. plainly dressed girls, who timidl
asked If the Y. w. C. A. would fin
rooms for actresses. They wer
two sisters, the daughters of
: small-town clergyman, who wer
on the vaudeville stage doing class
: ical dancing, trying to save enoug
! money to go to college. The rel
; erence they gave was a bishop.
Eyes, its's very interestin
work" said Miss Hanks in ansve
: to the usual question, but rattle
! hectic. New York is no place for
flgirl to live in now"
:,
the liquor traffic. Mr.. Sanders I
now serving his second term in tb
lower house Of congress.