Four Years in the Underbrush: Adventures as a Working Woman in New YorkAnonymous
History
Four Years in the Underbrush: Adventures as a Working Woman in New York
Anonymous
Women employees -- New York (State) -- New York
“Who, Miss Sojowski?” she replied. “She’s got these men beat to a
finish. That’s what’s the matter. She’s buyer for women and girls’
suits, hats, and coats—four jobs in one. She’s been with the firm five
years, and she’s never made a mistake—all her styles sell, no
left-overs. Sure she makes big money. Three times as much as any of
these little simps pulls down.” She glared at the men buyers, who could
not have avoided hearing every word she said.
My next-seat neighbor at this place was a young man from Canada. He
spent his time breathing darkly hideous threats against the Germans,
what he would do once he “got across.” Bit by bit his fellow workers
learned that soon after England entered the war he had induced the
sixteen-year-old daughter of his employer, a prosperous farmer, to elope
with him. When, in spite of his marriage he was called to the colors, he
eloped alone to the United States, and had been living in New York under
an assumed name.
It was a shame, he declared, that a young fellow of his ability should
be forced to address envelopes. He had expected to get a position as
manager of some millionaire’s farm—a sort of all-pay-and-no-work job. He
would have got it, too, he assured us, if the people in the States were
not so prejudiced against the Irish. Soon as would-be employers learned
that he was not born in Canada, they turned against him, he
asserted—gave the position to a “dirty Dago” or a man of some other
inferior race.
Recalling the abundance of king-descended men and women of his race, I
inquired about his forebears. Sure enough, he gave me a long list of
kings and saints, and assured us all that only the tyranny of England
prevented him from living in a palace without having to “turn a hand.”
The day that the addressers were paid off this slacker suggested to a
lame man who sat across the table from him that it would be a friendly
thing for him to start a subscription—get up enough money to pay his,
the slacker’s, railroad fare back to Canada.
“If your wife’s daddy is so rich, why don’t you ask him to send you the
money?” the lame man, a middle-aged Jew, asked.
“Him!” the young, healthy Irish-Canadian exclaimed contemptuously. “He
don’t want I should come back. Both of his boys were killed by the
Germans. Now he’s trying to turn my wife against me, saying I deserted
her.”
“Well, didn’t you?” the lame man demanded. “You told me your child was
more than a year old, and you’d never seen it. You said you had never
got enough ahead to send your wife money.”
“She don’t need I should,” the slacker replied. “Her father’s richer
than butter, and she’s all he’s got now.”
The lame man struggled to his feet and lifted his crutch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account