Making Both Ends Meet | Page 7

is unsatisfactory to the
board. Women not members of clubs may, under certain conditions,
join the benefit fund as associate members, and pay 50 cents a month
for a benefit of $5 a week, 30 cents for a benefit of $3 a week, or 80
cents for a benefit of $8 a week. These amounts are severally payable
for six weeks in any one year.
A number of the stores have trained nurses and doctors in their employ,
to whom the girls may go if they are ill. Several of the stores have
recreation rooms; several have summer homes; several have employees'
restaurants, where a really nourishing meal can be obtained for 15
cents.
Miss Carr, struggling against overwhelming odds, lived within $6
without charitable aid. With her experience may be compared those of
two other older saleswomen, who were wholly self-supporting.
Mrs. Green, a shrewd-appearing woman of thirty-five, had been
wage-earning only two years. She began work in Philadelphia in a
commission house as a saleswoman and corset fitter. Here she was able
to save from her salary. She also saved very carefully the wardrobe she
had before she entered business. With these reserves, she came to New
York to work in department stores for the purpose of gaining
experience in salesmanship and a more thorough knowledge of corsets.
She expected to be able to command a high salary as soon as she had
thus increased her competence. She went at first to a new and attractive

Sixth Avenue store, where, working eight hours and a quarter a day,
she earned $10 a week. Laid off at the end of five months, she was idle
a month before finding employment at another Sixth Avenue store.
In applying here she told the employer that she would not work for less
than $12 a week. He offered her $9, and a commission on all sales
beyond $400 a week. She refused, and the firm finally gave her what
she asked.
It proved that her choice was wise, for she found that in her very
busiest week, when she was exhausted from the day's rush, her sales
never reached $400 a week, so that she would have received no income
at all from the proffered commission.
She had a small room alone in an attractive hotel for working girls. For
this and breakfasts and dinners she paid $5.10 a week. Luncheons cost,
in addition, about $1.50 a week. She paid 50 cents a week for washing,
besides doing some herself. Riding to and from work nearly every day
increased her weekly expense 50 cents. This left her $4.40 a week for
clothing and sundries.
Mrs. Green seemed extravagantly dressed; she said, however, that she
contrived to have effective waists and hats by making and trimming
them herself, and by purchasing materials with care at sales. In dressing
economically without sacrificing effect she was aided palpably by skill
and deftness.
She was in good health; and, though she did not save, she had not spent,
even in her idle month, any of the reserve fund she had accumulated
before she began to work.
Another self-supporting saleswoman aided by her experience in
domestic economy was Zetta Weyman, a young woman of twenty-eight,
who had begun to work for wages at the age of eleven; at this time she
still attended school, but did housework out of school hours. When she
was older, she was employed as a maid in the house of a very kind and
responsive couple, who gave her free access to their interesting library,
where she read eagerly. A trip to Europe had been especially

stimulating. Her employer was considerate, and tried to make it
possible for her to benefit by the experience.
Throughout this period she had been observant of dress and manner
among the cultured people she saw, and had applied what she learned
to her own dress and conduct. At twenty-six, wishing for larger
opportunities than those she could have in personal service, she
obtained work in a department store at $7 a week. Here she soon
advanced to $10 in a department requiring more than average
intelligence. At the end of two years she was very much interested in
her work. It made demands upon her judgment, and offered opportunity
for increasing knowledge and heightening her value to the company.
She expected soon to receive a larger wage, as she considered her work
worth at least $15 a week. Aside from underpay, she thought she was
fairly treated. She greatly appreciated two weeks' vacation with full
wages.
Zetta gave $2.50 a week for a furnished hall bedroom and the use of a
bath-room. The warmth from the single gas-jet was the sole heat. She
made coffee in her room for breakfast; a light luncheon sufficed; and
dinner in a