Drusilla with a Million — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Drusilla with a Million
John Stuart Mill · en
Drusilla wiped her hands on her apron and went into the house. Soon she
was ready and they were being whirled swiftly toward the East Side, a
part of New York that Drusilla had never visited. She was interested in
the women as they sat upon the tenement steps, and in the many, many
children playing in the streets. Spring was in the air, although it
could hardly be recognized here except by the people loitering in the
streets in order to get away from the crowded homes.
"What a lot of people!" said Drusilla. "Where do they all come
from--and the children! I never saw so many children in my life."
"Oh, but you should see it in July and August," Daphne laughed. "Then
it _is_ crowded, and the people sleep on the fire-escapes and even on
the sidewalks in some of the smaller streets. It is so hot in their
stuffy rooms."
Soon they drew up before the door of the Settlement, and were received
in the parlor by the head worker. Daphne left Drusilla, to go to her
sewing-class, and Mrs. Harris conducted Drusilla over the Settlement.
She was shown the kindergarten, the club rooms where the boys and girls
of the neighborhood danced in the evening, the clinic, the public
baths, and the play yard. Then she asked to be taken to see Daphne with
her sewing-class, as she could not get over the idea that it was a joke
of some kind for Daphne to teach sewing, knowing that the girl knew
nothing about the work. They found Daphne absorbed in cutting out very
full trousers and middy blouses by the aid of a paper pattern, while
eight girls were basting and stitching them. Drusilla watched them for
a while.
"Is this all the sewing-class you have?" she asked.
"It is all we have at present," Mrs. Harris answered.
"Do the girls in the neighborhood, the grown girls, learn it?"
"No; they all work, and have only their evenings."
"Why don't you have an evening class?"
"We have thought of that, but it is hard to get a girl like Daphne to
come down in the evening."
Drusilla watched Daphne frowning over the intricacies of the pattern.
"Now I think it is nice of Daphne," she said, "to want to come here and
help them girls learn to sew; but it seems to me that she'd be doin' a
good deal more good to the girls if she hired a woman, some one who
needed the work and knowed dressmaking, to come and really learn the
girls to make their dresses. Learn 'em from the start, from cuttin' out
the cloth to sewin' up the seams and makin' the last buttonhole. Them
girls don't want to learn how to make them big pants and that shirt;
they want to make their clothes--something pretty they can wear. I
think a lot of Daphne, but she'd be doin' more good if she hired some
one who knowed her business instead of tryin' to do somethin' she don't
know nothin' about. Quite likely it does _her_ good, but so far as I
can see it don't do the girls much good."
The head worker flushed, as did Daphne.