Poor -- New York (State) -- New York; Social settlements
The forewoman, after a few minutes, consented to accept the condition. The
worried look left the faces of the young girls, and they beamed on the
gracious lady who consented to waive her own dignity in their behalf.
Perhaps it is well to state here that the forewoman never made any
donation, and that she would have been dropped from the club for
non-payment of dues but for the knowledge that such a step would mean that
she would make the girls leave the club. She was by them considered a good
forewoman, kind, and ready to help a girl if a girl tried to earn more
money. She had to be consulted in everything attempted for the girls.
Fortunately she was so afraid of revealing her ignorance, which was dense
outside of her work, that she always supported the workers directing the
club affairs.
This woman was taken ill. The director of the club found that she boarded
with a family consisting of a father, mother and three children, living in
three rooms. She was found lying on a mattress on the floor, destitute of
sheets or pillow-cases. She did not own a nightdress. The tan silk dress
with the bead trimming hung on a nail over her head, surmounted by the
gorgeous hat. She was very ill and penniless; yet the poor about her were
devoted to her and considered her most remarkable.
[Illustration: A CORNER IN AN OLD SECTION.]
Several years ago both of the clubs referred to consolidated with another
club whose directors kept the club-rooms open throughout the entire year.
After the consolidation a house of three stories in a good neighborhood was
rented, and devoted entirely to the use of the club. Only those who have
watched the development of these girls could appreciate what the club has
done for them. Cooking and sewing classes, lectures on city government,
talks on books, on art and nature; the weekly contact with women of culture
and refinement, who carry the conviction that club work is a pleasure, that
service for others is a delight, has borne fruit, and the girls in turn
give their service to those whom they may help--oftenest the members of
their own club.
The evolution of character through the contact with others is, after all,
the highest attainment of the working-girls' club movement. It brought the
working girl into entirely new relations. Constantly she was forced to see
the folly of placing emphasis on the wrong thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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