yin 5 YEUNG ‘auewys eo aT Seal es HA LAS an 7 Genisan lr LIBRARY Martin P. Catherwood Library School of Industrial and Labor Relations “EFFICIENCY, FITNESS, ABILITY, THESE ARE WHAT MAKE WORK A PLEASURE AND BRING SUCCESS.” “=s 2 SS Seed n C = rw * THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER ns, 4 TS THE THREE FRIENDS The Young Woman Worker BY MARY A. LASELLE THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO : = COPYRIGHT 1914 BY LUTHER H, CARY THE PILGRIM PRESS MARTIN 2 CATHERWOOU LitKAKY NEW YORK STATE SCrOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS Cornell University To THE GOOD FRIEND OF MANY YOUNG GIRLS MRS. JOHN L, JEWEIT INTRODUCTION : - It is evident to all thinkers upon so- cial -conditions that young women workers, both the efficient and the in- efficient, are receiving more attention from the public than ever before. Their wage, conditions of work, and efficiency are the subjects of carefully- written editorials in the daily press and of much expert writing in the leading periodicals. Lawmakers, business man- agers, social workers, educators, and » leaders of thought in every line of ef- | fort are thinking and are talking about the life of the girl worker. Most of the discussions reveal a real desire, intelligently expressed, on { the part of the public to secure better 8 conditions of work for these. young ¢ girls; and they show, also, a willing- ness on the part of many employers to }\_« yield in a considerable degree to these (2 demands. In fact, some of the clearest y thought in regard to the character and *; needs of these young women has been expressed by. their employers. SJ 1D ES a THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER It is interesting to trace the eat that led to this demand for better con- ditions for the worker. The path seems to lead from the employers to the pub- lic schools, and to social betterment organizations, and then back to the employers. Briefly stated, the facts are these: Business men complained of the ineffi- ciency of their young employees, and as a result of these complaints and also in response to the demand for skilled workers in the trades, vocational train- ¢ ing and direction were introduced into many public schools. In the attempt , made by the schools and by social workers to give direct vocational ad- vice and assistance and to secure posi- tions for these young persons, it was found that the wages and the physical and moral environment in many busi- ness houses were most unsatisfactory. This was especially true in regard to conditions of work for young women. & In many places a surface investigation # was made into the young woman’s chances in the working world and this was followed by a deeper and broader inquiry in certain sections of the coun- [ viii J ee SS oS. ee. “GB: fn OM = i nee. oe * * ee at oo) -- INTRODUCTION tees F. try. This probing into the condition — of girls’ work will undoubtedly result ' in better wages and a better working «_. environment for all young women. : Recent legislation in several states has —. _ already greatly improved the working |! ‘ conditions of large numbers of women. ° It is significant of the broad-minded '; attitude of many employers toward their employees that, during this dis- | %y _, Cussion, these employers have given » _} much evidence as to the strength of y character of these girls. The fact that -! a girl’s uprightness does not depend *:.; ¥/ upon her working wage has been em- . phasized by responsible persons who :. . know their employees thoroughly, but 7 } better salaries are removing the possi- | bility of certain kinds of temptation. , It is worthy of note that many sincere |\@:4 tributes have been given by employers haa to the high-minded, ambitious, self- |/ denying type of girl represented in ’ large numbers in all establishments where many girls are employed; and evidences of a desire to improve office, | store, and factory conditions can be ob- served in many places. That this attitude on the part of em- | Lix] eS 7 yAwiw FRCS ho = om sb on - eee te ee = erveses yi (a Su THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER ¥. ployers will result in greater efficiency ' on the part of workers is, of course, in- “ evitable. And it is also certain that the "Yj young women themselves and all who (a work with and for them will endeavor in all possible ways to increase their efficiency in order to meet these im- proved conditions. ’ In the states where minimum wage laws have been enacted the result, un- doubtedly, will be to eliminate some of | the most incompetent workers. Better » wages, better hours, and better condi- tions must be met by young women who are of greater value to their em- » ployers than those who are being dropped. We cannot expect a girl in her teens to have the wisdom that an adult should possess; but we must expect that our girl workers go to their tasks with a foundation of what is generally called good sense, and a knowledge of ,.j, working conditions and of themselves <=) —their aims and desires, their strong and their weak points—and the re- quirements of the position that they are cient helpers. to fill, that will make them truly effi- oO eo— | factory conditions, as these will cer- INTRODUCTION All who love young girls welcome tainly add to the happiness and value {VY of the worker. But the greatest help @9) received by any young girl worker is { \ that given by the white light in her own breast which, even when the road is very hard and narrow, illumines her path and enables her to walk steadily on toward the goal of efficient service. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . MANNERS FoREWoRD ‘ ‘ 5 ‘ ‘ I Goop MaNNeERs IN THE HoME II Taste MANNERS / III THe MANNER OF THE YOUNG ; GirRL TowarRps Her MotTuer IV Goop MANNERS IN BUSINESS V Goop MANNERS IN PUBLIC PLACES VI Goop MaNNERS IN SOCIETY . VII THe Conracion or Manners HEALTH VIII Tue Neep or Goon Bioop . IX Proper AND ImprRoPeR Foop X Tue INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL Uses oF WATER XI How to Have Stronc NERVES XII Tue INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE MIND AND THE Bopy XIII How to Increase Menta Erri- CIENCY PAGE Vu 14 17 1 @ 2! 28 NY 32 Ey CONTENTS DRESS Woman WorKeER FRIENDS XV Tue FRIENDSHIP OF Books . XVI Tue Frienpsuip or Music . XVII Tue Frienpsuip oF PEOPLE HABITS } XVIII Mentat Hasirs . XIX Puysicat Hasirs XX Hasits oF SPEECH AIMS XXI Tue Aim To BE or VALUE IN THE Home XXII Tue Am To BE or Vite IN BUSINESS . S ‘ | XXIII THe Aim to Bs or Waite To \ a SocleTy XXIV A Vision: THE Rows OF THE , WorKERS > OUTLINE . BIBLIOGRAPHY . PAGE XIV Goop DressiING FoR THE YOUNG 89 . 109 . 11g . 119 + 135 - 145 . 150 - 159 . 163 - 168 . 171 - 179 . 188 ae Sop ae LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THe THREE FRIENDS . : Frontispiece A Girt or GENTLE MANNERS : 2 i A Courtzous SALESWOMAN. . 2at } @ Tue MANAGER OF A TEA Room . ‘ 55 sae A Girt Wo Won Honors at Cot- LEGE . ‘ ‘ A ri ‘ F 472 8 A YOUTHFUL STUDENT OF MILLINERY . 81 A Younc TEACHER 93 An AccuRATE BANK CLERK . MANNERS ,; was evidently about to leave the office, “Miss Smith’s pleasant, courteous manner 1s of great value to this office,” said a business man to his partner. “We must raise her salary this month.” “That is right,” heartily responded the person addressed. “The gentle, friendly, dignified treatment that she gives to every person, high or low, rich or poor, who enters this office wins and holds a great deal of business for us. I notice, too, that her courtesy is con- tagious. The other day, I actually saw \©€ that crabbed Miss Jones ask a tired- Dey looking woman if she wouldn’t like a more comfortable chair. The woman | but she sank back into the seat that Miss Jones brought forward and later left some valuable business with us.” “Mr. Brown, you .may tell that young woman at the handkerchief counter that we shall not require her | services after today,’ directed the superintendent of a department store. }@ “I have stood here ten minutes watch- | f# ing her, and during that time she has ignored three customers who were try- ing to attract her attention, while she a woman who asked if gentlemen’s . handkerchiefs were on sale at that ia, counter, and she is now polishing her Sw ® nails with a total disregard of the scru- tiny of several would-be customers. Such an ill-mannered girl does the store incalculable harm. Dismiss her at once.” “Let us make Helen Young the President of our Guild,’ said one young woman to another. “Helen is talented, energetic, and also has execu- tive ability. Where could we find a better President?” “Well,” hesitated her companion, “that is all true, and we who know Helen well excuse a number of faults | in her that she should have corrected long ago, but we realize that Helen’s | manners are distinctly bad. I can see Mother looking at her in horror when she is at our table. Now, the President of our Guild would have to preside at banquets .and meet all the visiting clubs, and we should be ashamed of Helen’s manners, in spite of her really excellent ability.” SPT! ®: i GOOD MANNERS ~ “Yes, you are right,” said her friend, “but what a pity it is that her manners are such a handicap.” 1 a “Mr. Long, I have called to see if | my daughter Jennie cannot be trans- @ ferred to Miss Bennett's from Miss Black’s room for the rest of the year.” “But, my dear Madam, Miss Black is one of our very best teachers. She is faithful, conscientious, thorough, a fine instructor,’”— “Yes, all that is true, but I regret to say that she is also ill-mannered,”’ replied Jennie’s mother. “I do not care to have my daughter remain for a year under the influence of such a § woman—no matter how capable she may be.” “Hail, ye small, sweet courtesies of life, for smooth do ye make the road of itl” The first object of this book is to give some points gleaned from the actual experience of different persons, show- ing the value of good manners in the @& home, in business, in public places, and in society. wn 4 Bl a a < = By a) B a wm 9S 1) ° a oe ms o < , grandmothers. The courtesy, the dig- | est pictures in the memory. All of the | in the sitting-room when the two ® feeble or aged, but the son immediately | ) that day. The entire family greeted CHAPTER I GOOD MANNERS IN THE HOME As these words were written at the head of this chapter, there arose in the | @ mind of the writer the memory of a }} Sunday afternoon visit in a certain de- lightful home in which were a father, ‘ mother, three daughters, and two nity, the exquisite manners that pre- $$ vailed in this home make the remem- brance of a visit there one of the choic- family and the visitor were gathered grandmothers entered. Neither was | arose and drew up two comfortable \\ chairs for them, one granddaughter (3 brought some footstools for the ladies, } la and another advanced to meet the | es grandmother whom she had not seen VA yee LCN {71 \) deference and respect that should al- ‘J ways be given by younger persons to these two elderly women with | honorable Old Age. There was a good deal of music during the afternoon, and these older ladies were asked on several occasions to suggest favorite selections. In every way they were shown to be persons of importance in that household. The young girls exhibited toward their father and mother just that cour- tesy and comradeship which illustrates the ideal relationship between parent and child. One could see that “Father” and “Mother” were syno- y nyms for the best in life for these girls; and while there was much freedom and gayety, there was no instance of a lack of respect and courtesy in the treat- ment of the parents or grandmothers by the young daughters. : ¥ = So ne: Two young men called during the afternoon, and it was delightful to , watch their manner in this lovely family circle. The suggestion was made that a visit be paid to a nearby church to view the decorations, and the mother was immediately invited to [8] 25S at Sees) @ oe. —_ SS a —_@6—— =o=— = @ % | CHAPTER III THE MANNER OF THE YOUNG GIRL TOWARDS HER MOTHER We hear a good deal in these days . of the work of a “Mother’s Helper.” When there is a daughter in the house- pa the problem of the mother’s f helper should be solved in so far as that household is concerned. ‘There ; can be no more delightful sight in a ¢ home than the daughter who is the re- § spectful, deferential, loving comrade of her mother; the daughter who by pleasant, winning manners helps to keep the wheels of the machinery of the family well oiled, the members of the family happy; the daughter who | ( lightens the cares of her mother and by [ her winsome, thoughtful presence, puts 4 real happiness into the life of the household; the daughter whose man- each day is such as to make the lovely . [27] RS OE TERN more cheer, more courage, and more My, ner toward all the small events of -7) @® high standing was told to come to the position in a large mercantile house of manager’s office on a certain day, ac- companied by her mother. When the manager was asked by an acquaintance who had witnessed the interview why he had wished to have the girl’s mother present, he replied: “I always do that with every girl that I employ. The girl’s manner towards her mother is what wins or loses the situation for her. If her manner towards her mother THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER flower of contentment blossom in the home. A young girl who had applied for a and deferential to her, we know that such.a young woman would be able to 4 meet our patrons acceptably. We can- | not bother with coarse-grained, un- | refined, ill-mannered women in our | business. ‘The manners of our sales- } people are among our greatest assets.” @ Another young woman who had al- *; most secured the promise of a position | as stenographer in a fine publishing } house received a short note one day in- \j forming her that the position was® filled. She complained of the treat- | } [18] ment to a mutual friend, and he re- VY monstrated with the publisher for { } dropping Miss X. from his list of ap- T@ plicants. The publisher then told the }\/ friend of witnessing the following @y? scene: “T was standing at the entrance of the subway,” he said, “when Miss X. and her mother entered it to take a car. The mother had four or five rather large parcels and was walking slowly down the stairs, when the daughter, who was considerably in ad- vance, called sharply back: ‘Mother, 4 you’re always behind time. Now 7% we've lost that car.’ A small matter? Not at all. In that one sentence was § revealed a coarse, unkind nature, with- out even a veneer of good manners. We do not keep such girls in our em- ploy. They are too costly an invest- ment. They are not pleasant to have in the office, and they lose business for | us. A girl of such dull perceptions as to be discourteous to her mother in a \_£ public place would be discourteous to «@y: any one unless constantly watched. THE YOUNG GIRL AND HER MOTHER —— Os Sou es te We cannot employ such women.” | ® With her brothers, the girl should () 0, be a good comrade, but should always pyz« [x9] | i 8 THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER hold her womanhood so high that all \¢¥ young women would be respected by “y him for the sake of his sister. Many a sister has, by her winning, sympathetic ~* manner and her insight into the troubles of young people, lured her brothers from dangers of which their father and mother were totally ignorant. The sympathetic, winsome daughter and sister! Literature has recorded again and again her work of bringing sunshine and fragrant balm to sorely tried hearts in the household. Again we quote from Emerson: ‘A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face; a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form; it gives a_ higher pleasure than statues or pictures; it is the finest of the fine arts.” Le met fap Oz \ [20] / ae UN Sa Ree A COURTEOUS SALESWOMAN \ ==, f A) | K CHAPTER IV GOOD MANNERS IN BUSINESS Business is a very broad term cover- ing many enterprises, but the code of manners that applies to one kind of business can be applied to all. As it is true that “Despatch is the soul of busi- ness,” it is also true that “Manner must adorn knowledge [of any business] and smooth its way through the world.” In any business in which a young | woman may engage, good manners are among her most valuable assets. The salesgirl, the stenographer, the (@ teacher, the nurse—all persons who work with other human beings—will find that with a winning manner, the battle is nearly won before it is fought. In any business one’s manner must be businesslike; alertness, energy, sin- cerity, persistence, patience, accuracy, 4 courtesy—all these qualities must be in. | constant use by the successful business woman. The indifferent salesgirl, the over-dressed, simpering stenographer, [21] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER } the crabbed, impatient teacher, the in- ! sincere, lazy nurse—who has not seen them? And the corporation or institu- tion with which they are connected employs them to the injury of all con- cerned. Countless sales are lost, busi- ness is confused, parents and school boards are antagonized, patients lan- guish, because of the unsatisfactory manner of the person employed to do certain work for the public. A question that is always asked the members of a school of salesmanship =<. by a certain Superintendent of a large department store is this: “Who is the 5 Boss of this store?’ ‘The true answer, which is never forthcoming, is that the customers are the Boss, and that the } employee is bound to please them. Despite the teachings and the admoni- tions of the heads of departments, there are comparatively few large | stores in which there are not many in- different, ill-mannered saleswomen. “T will not trade at that store,” said a woman who would be a valuable cus- tomer in any store; “the goods are well selected, the prices are reasonable, the store is conveniently arranged, but I a GOOD MANNERS IN BUSINESS cannot submit to the indifference and ¥ thinly-veiled insolence of those clerks. [ J I feel that I have lost in self-respect { every time I trade there.” “Why did you not hire Miss , Burns?” asked a gentleman in regard ® to a young friend whom he had recommended. “T am sorry not to take her,” replied his friend, “because she seemed well prepared for the work, but it was ap- parent in a very brief interview that ® she was one of the languishing, senti- mental kind, and we cannot have those young women in this place. Business is business, and every moment here counts. We cannot employ girls who in business hours think more of them- selves, their feelings, and emotions than they do of our work.” The manner of the girl “whose iponed is her honest thought” is so dig- Soo— : ma nified and refined, although it may be pleasant and attractive, that she does not suffer from undue familiarity from employer or other employees. The in- telligent girl will not be unduly suspicious, but the moment that she detects a tendency in the conduct of any the line of friendly business relation- ship, she should encase herself in her armor of true womanliness and by her alert, energetic attention to her work, discourage with finality any such over- : p THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER f person with whom she works to pass tures. If an icy, detached manner will not check the confidences of one’s employer as to his domestic trou- bles, one should promptly seek other employment. A young girl who had foolishly listened sympathetically to her em- @ ployer’s story of vexations in his home, was greatly chagrined one day when | his wife was in the office to find that she was not introduced to her. The i girl’s eyes were opened to the fact that, although she was the recipient of the husband’s confidences, she was not con- sidered worthy of an introduction to his wife. Many girls, through ignorance of f the dignity and self-respect that should encase a young business woman as in steel, have been intensely humiliated y 1 — by the disagreeable position into which they have been placed, because of this lack of knowledge as to their [24] j a7 MN Se whee) or the men employees with whom they { ) are brought in contact. The girl of an \ me emotional, sympathetic, imaginative }\/ type should be very guarded in her ' intercourse with her fellow workers. f , GOOD MANNERS IN BUSINESS proper relations with their employer The very richness of her nature makes her especially subject to the danger of {f undesirable confidences and relation- ships. It is entirely possible to culti- vate an alert, energetic, thorough- going, but pleasant and refined manner that throws around one an atmosphere k through which evil cannot penetrate. Zi This manner is the protection of se, business woman. Too much stress cannot be laid upon © \' the value of what might be called a | little extra kindness on the part of a subordinate in any business. The writer remembers one occasion ! when she became much exasperated “ over what seemed an extremely long j\ delay in the doing up of a small parcel. \\ 4 The clerk at the counter seemed so in- @ eo different that at last the waiting cus- tomer made her way to the bundle girl » to find the cause of the delay. This (\- girl had just finished tying up the )¥ [25] : THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER - | \y bundle, and flashing the pleasantest -¥ sort of smile at the customer, she said, “yY “I am afraid you are tired of waiting, but I had to go to another part of the store to get the right kind of box for your purchase.” With that smile, all irritation vanished, and the point of the story is this: The customer had intended when she entered the store to make quite a valuable purchase after this first one. In the long moments of seemingly unnecessary waiting for the first parcel, she had decided not to make the second purchase in that store, but in the sunlight of the bundle girl’s pleasant smile and words, the buyer’s > feelings became softened, and the pur- chase was made there. A’small mat- ter? Yes, if there were only one such ina year. But as a matter of fact, the pleasant, attractive manner of one clerk often gains and holds a great deal of business for her employers. There is a mine of truth in the fol- lowing little verse: “The thing that goes the farthest towards making life worth while, That costs the least, and does the most, is just a pleasant smile; [26] (S55 a7 IZM Sa hee) — So om petenenee’ a ae eS ~o=— OS Sy SSS GOOD MANNERS IN BUSINESS The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellow men Will drive away the cloud of gloom and coax the sun again; It’s full of worth and goodness, too, with heart- felt kindness blent— ' It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.” ; —Baltimore American. CHAPTER V @ GOOD MANNERS IN PUBLIC PLACES The writer was once seated near the end of a well-filled car when four a@™,\| fashionably-dressed ladies entered. ®\)| Several gentlemen near the door arose at once and gave them their seats. At the next stop, an elderly woman, a laundress, judging from the basket of clothing that she carried, entered the JA. car. She reached mechanically for Sy the strap, and probably had no thought of securing a seat. Perhaps a moment elapsed in which no one stirred, and then two of these ladies, who had just seated themselves, arose and offered the woman a seat. Confused and abashed, she volubly declined the offer of each; but one lady took her firmly by the hand and led her to a seat, while the other followed with the laundry basket in her immaculately-gloved hand. Here was an exhibition of good 3% manners in a public conveyance that [28] as. orn RS = == G5 awe GOOD MANNERS IN PUBLIC PLACES should be of help to all young people. The young girls who sit chattering ( with their school friends while tired elderly women stand before them must } be dull in perception or a little cruel “yy at heart. As a contrast to the above story will be given the conduct of some High School girls as told by an eyewitness. These girls and their teacher entered a car in which all the seats were taken. The teacher walked through to the front of the car, but the girls stood near | the rear door. As seat after seat near the girls was vacated, they dropped into them, never offering one to their teacher at the other end of the car; and, at last, she stood there alone for some moments—the only person standing in the car. A pathetic, weary figure she looked, and she must have been ashamed of the conduct of her girls! | “Oh, those careless, thoughtless girls!” commented the speaker. ‘Can it be possible that they will ever develop into thoughtful, courteous women?” At a recent lecture in. a _ public library the rule regarding the removal of women’s hats was not enforced; THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER nevertheless, nearly every woman re- moved her hat out of courtesy to those behind her. One young lady who wore a vety large and hideous hat, which totally obstructed the view of two per- sons behind her, was pleasantly re- quested to remove it. Totally ignoring the request, this young woman sat with the offending head-gear casting its umbrella-like shade over those behind her until the lecture was concluded. As she left the hall, an envelope was quietly handed her by an usher, and its contents expressed this sentiment: ON os “You've had your way, But did it pay For such a hat To act like that?” =, xt Three good rules by which to govern one’s conduct in public places are these: . A First, Be punctual. This would ‘ mean being in your seat at the theatre, { concert, opera, or lecture before the performance began. Second, Be quiet. Do not talk or ‘laugh loudly or much at the theatre, ] concert, opera, lecture—or on the street i [30] =— mi ot SS OS Ee ON GOOD MANNERS IN PUBLIC PLACES or in a street car, and do not speak of } persons by their names in these places. Ly Third, If a young woman is alone in a crowded public street, she should assume a business-like air, and should @& walk briskly along, looking at people / “ as little as possible, and not attracting attention to herself in any way. =. aay ae is ts) Sane. @’ GOOD MANNERS IN SOCIETY “Society” is a vague term which may signify any meeting of human beings; but, as used above, it means the meeting of men and women for purposes of pleasure and recreation rather than of business. Social gather- ings may take the form of parties, balls, ‘<4 receptions, musicales, picnics, church socials, club meetings, dinners, ban- A quets, lunches, and other functions. It is impossible to formulate a code of | rules for these many functions that would decide for the young woman every possible question as to correct procedure. What is usually termed common sense will answer many ques- tions that may arise and if that common. ™ sense is possessed by a person of natu- @i tally refined instincts, one cannot go \ q far wrong or far from the conventional standard of proper conduct. y ) There are a few general directions S y, that it would be wise to follow in every : [32] CHAPTER VI | ' ————— Ss —~ — oe wd GOOD MANNERS IN SOCIETY case. At a reception, musicale, “at home” or other similar function, the young woman should at once make her way to her hostess upon entering the room in which she is, without stopping to greet her other friends, unless by a nod and a smile. After this greeting is Over, circumstances must determine further action. In any case, a visitor should remember that she must not become a dead weight to be lifted con- versationally and in all other ways by some one else. She can, at least, be a good listener and can say a few words at the right time to the different people <, about her. In the effort to make the occasion a pleasant one for other people, she will thoroughly enjoy it herself. In the matter of details as to | order of entering the reception room, accepting or declining refreshments, taking one’s leave and other points, the young girl should watch persons who are well informed as to those matters, for her cue. At a formal dinner, a young woman } (o might not be expected to take a leading | © part in the general conversation; but (j she should be an interested listener to yy [33] ( THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER her near neighbors at the table and thus contribute to some extent to the pleas- ure of the dinner: There are a few things that the young girl needs es- pecially to guard against. Some of these are exaggerated forms of speech | in conversation; a bored expression and wandering eye when talking with older persons; too much attention from any one person; too little attention given to the hostess; the neglect to ex- press pleasure in the occasion when taking one’s leave. ® During a visit of some days in a private home, the young girl will have many opportunities to make herself a general favorite in the family, or the j reverse. “Don’t ever again invite that girl to this house,” grumbled a man to his wife as they turned away from the station where they had been gladly bidding }), farewell to their guest. “She is cer- tainly the most upsetting visitor that | employees were constantly troubled with digestive disturbances to the great 4 discomfort and annoyance of them- selves and the managers. The physician in charge of these cases stated that in his opinion the larger number of these sicknesses were caused by the substitution on the part of the girls of large quantities of strong tea for nourishing food. y, The matter was investigated, and «@ the food improved in quality, and al- most immediately an improvement was | noticed in the health of the girls, as a result of their dropping the tea habit [57] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER /\) had been stimulating instead of nour- “\j ishing their bodies, and the result of »), drinking several cups of strong tea @{ cach day had been disastrous to the "\, nerves of the stomach and. to the entire system. It is impossible to formulate rules for the diet of all persons, but the young woman worker would be safe in following these directions: 1. If a meal must be eaten hurriedly, » | or when one is very tired, it should be 1 light and of easily-digested food—good bread and butter, eggs, a light soup, a well-made pudding, fruit, sauce. 2. Do not drink large quantities of ice-water while eating. 3. Do not substitute tea or coffee for food. These drinks stimulate but do not nourish; the after effect is bad. 4. If possible keep the mind cheer- ful while eating. Try to banish troublesome thoughts. 5. Do not overbalance the diet with sweets. 6. Remember that “Good digestion waits on appetite and health on both.” and eating the appetizing food. They. Se ae i = on , CHAPTER X THE INTERNAL AND EXTER. )*” NAL USES OF WATER A scientifically prepared chart of the human body showing its ele- ments proves that a very large part of |'@ the body is composed of water. In } fact there is more water than all the other substances—proteids, fats, \.~ carbohydrates, and mineral matter— ; combined. © Water is essential to all parts of life, = growth, and repair. It is found in every tissue of the body, some of them containing nearly ninety-eight per _ cent of water. Water is needed for the proper plac- ing of nutriment in the cell bodies, for } the circulatory system, for the flushing =z systems of the body in the matter of maintaining the internal heat at a cer- tain temperature. The consensus of medical opinion UZ seems to be that water is best taken as )¥= THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER follows: a glass on rising, one or two ‘ \ glasses in the middle of the forenoon, / two glasses or more in the afternoon and one at bedtime. It should be ¥ sipped and not drunk hastily, nor should one drink much water at meal- time. Many persons in business offices do not drink a sufficient amount of water because of the inconvenience of getting it. While it is true that all civilized people bathe, it is not true that the skin is always perfectly cleansed by the or- dinary bath from the impure matter secreted by the perspiratory glands or ? from the impurities that have accumu- lated upon it from external sources. It is extremely necessary that the sweat glands be kept open in order that the internal heat of the body may be prop- erly regulated. If the waste mixed | with the water of the perspiration be- comes mixed with oil from the oil j, glands and with dust from the air, it @ stays like “a snug, thin, perfectly fitting coat on the outside of the body from head to heel.” This, of. course, inter- feres with the healthy action of the skin, and in time seriously affects the S55 a7 IAN Fe ee === @ aS AS ae USES OF WATER efficiency of the bodily functions. Fre- { quent warm baths with plenty of good ¥4/ soap are necessary for cleanliness, and gq these should be followed by a cool ,\j® shower or at least a “spatter” for stim- @i¥® ulation of the skin. es In regard to cold baths we can only say that if one feels alert and joyful after a cold bath, it will do one good, but if, on the contrary, one feels cold | @) and tired and weak, then the cold bath |V"" is doing one more harm than good. Of one thing we may be sure—a | @ thorough daily bath for cleanliness is %, imperative if one would keep up to the — highest degree of efficiency. wn A salt-water bath or a salt rub has excellent tonic properties and is of ||) much value in stimulating the skin when one is in a “run down” condition. > " oe CHAPTER XI HOW TO HAVE STRONG NERVES Scientists tell us that if we could separate the nerves of a human being from the rest of the body, and if we could stiffen each nerve and then stand » || the group on a framework in the shape 4 which it had in the body we should be | able to follow perfectly the outline of | the person to whom this network be- \ longed; and, they say, also, that if we should open that nerve figure we should find large groups of nerves that @.|| show the outline of each organ in the nS || body. The nervous system of the body is . made up of nerve cells—the nerve telegraph stations—and nerve fibres,— @~ the telegraph wires that carry mes- sS7q sages all over the body, as they are sent from the central stations,—the brain ~ ,j and the groups of nerve ganglia. Y¥ Now it is quite possible by wrong [ 62] Cone Ie aes, ee C= HOW TO HAVE STRONG NERVES habits of life so to injure the masterful ¥ | brain and splendidly efficient nerv- { ) ous system of a man or a woman \ gM that no clear, vigorous thoughts can | originate in the brain cells and the glistening white nerve fibres cannot carry messages accurately to their \ destination. Young women are particularly prone to suffer from a disorganized nervous system, with the result, of course, of inefficiency and its conse- quent unhappiness. Work alone, if & mixed with a proper amount of recrea- | tion, very seldom leads to a nervous breakdown, but if a young woman tries $ to work faithfully seven hours a go day, and then to spend her evenings ||~ in social gatherings that necessitate { late hours, or great demands upon the emotions and general strength and vitality the result is going to be | disastrous. The classes of young women who }.¢ suffer from disordered nerves are QJ; three: First, the over-conscientious girl without a sense of humor that will help her to ward off small trials. To this Dee [63] fe leSIS aM Se AE THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER , class belong two girls who have re- cently come under the writer’s obser- vation. One had received a thorough | preparation as a teacher but broke (@ down in her first term in a very easy school because she took all the whims and caprices and trifling remarks of the students as seriously as if they were parts of a tragic drama. The other young woman, after six years of col- lege work, which she had accom- | @|| plished under heroic conditions, broke down when she was confronted with Nj the prospect of teaching one study that A VW she had not mastered. veS A sense of humor, of laughing at trifling difficulties and absurd per- plexities, would have saved the day for both of these fine young women. There is a little poem that would help this class of persons, whose only fault is to make tragedies of trifles. “Are you worsted in a fight? 4) Laugh it off! & Are you cheated of your right? ‘ Laugh it off! Don’t make tragedies of trifles Don’t shoot butterflies with rifles. Laugh it off! 55S a7 MS Ree) =a ee ee —— oe o— HOW TO HAVE STRONG NERVES “Does your work get into kinks? Laugh it off! Are you near all sorts of brinks? Laugh it off! If it’s strength of mind you're after There’s no recipe like laughter. j Laugh it off!” The second class of nervous persons \ are those who suffer from emotional disturbances: too late hours, too much excitement, too stimulating food or drink, too many exciting novels, wrong companionship. The prevention of this sort of nerve deterioration, of course, lies in chang- ing one’s mode of life completely: earlier hours, simpler food, better | books, a different class of friends, new interests, an out-of-door life. . The third group of nervous persons consists of those whose lives are hedged in by narrow walls. Possibly monoto- nous daily household tasks or factory one-piece work seems to consume all the time and energy of the workers and like the pendulum in the farmer’s clock they “stop” because they cannot bear the thought of performing those tasks countless times in succession. Such persons should reach out to as [65] & LP IZ ‘ Se, Ik @ MEI ee -* Interesting books and daily papers, music of some sort, even if it must be a Victor or a Gramophone; interests in out-of-door life—vines, trees, flowers; club-meetings; grange-meetings for the women upon the farm; all these agencies that will bring color and in- terest into life must be utilized by the person whose daily work is monoto- nous and narrow in scope. By far the greatest number of suf- ferers from nervous exhaustion are brought into this terrible condition be- AS! cause of worry: sometimes the worry is , over very real and painful conditions ‘SY and sometimes it is over mere trifles and shadows. In either case it is abso- lute folly to worry. If the trouble is real and cannot be lightened, one must resolutely concentrate the mind upon some other subject as much as possible. A young girl whose maturing years were a horror to her because of the habits of members of her family kept her life as serene as was possible by the study of music; another young woman under a similarly dark cloud saved her [66] —_— ee ants renee, CaM ae HOW TO HAVE STRONG NERVES health and mental poise by raising . fancy poultry. | To prevent a disorganization of the ) nervous system is much easier than to j restore the nerves to normal condition , after they have become disordered. Plenty of life in the open air, the habit | of drinking a good deal of water, with i no tea or coffee in the diet, long hours ; of rest in bed, plenty of occupation for } the mind—occupation of a nature that } supplants for the time the possibility of suffering from any worrying or dis- 4* turbing thoughts—a habit of laughing 3% off trifling vexations and of seeing the <4 humorous side of a perplexing situa- ¢ tion; all of these are means of keeping the nerves in good condition even when the spirit may be sorely tried by the burdens and the complexities that come into the life of many a young 4} woman worker. Laugh off the small ® troubles and keep the mind so busily i employed that it cannot dwell unduly | J upon the large troubles. See to it that @y the habits of eating, sleeping, and ex- | {* ercising are excellent, and seek the} ‘ society of good, sensible, helpful, cheerful persons. VA Dy THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER If these rules are followed faithfully ¢¥ the nerves will carry the messages from an efficient brain to an efficient body. CHAPTER XII | THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF THE MIND AND THE BODY ‘What the mind really is and how { thought is evolved has been discussed in a great number of ponderous vol- umes filled with language whose mean- ing it is very difficult to understand. | , It is sufficient to assume that what we \— call thought is produced by some 7% chemical or other changes in the brain cells and that, as the efficiency of the mind depends largely upon the num- ber and conditions of those cells, it is of the highest importance to keep the | entire body in the best possible condi- tion, if one would have a vigorous brain and a satisfactory amount of mental ability. Proper food, exercise, rest, bathing |\ 2 —all habits of life that give tone to the general health—help the mind also, and when the mind is in a healthful, cheerful state, the bodily conditions are better than when worry, grief, [69] SeTANse aa Mw ex == © ' sola oa a 9 pe a heat SE Fn ne IO eencdeo sy ¥ the mental tone with their depressing a influences. A physician recently told of an ex- fs, perience of his while studying mental conditions in a London hospital. One day, he walked through a ward in which were no very sick patients and spoke in the most cheerful tones to all of the patients on the right-hand side, congratulating them upon their im- proved appearance. Later, he walked through the same ward and spoke to each patient on the left-hand side in an entirely different tone, asking the pa- ) tients solicitously how they felt, and suggesting by his manner that he | thought their condition quite serious. ' In a few hours, several of the patients on the left side of the ward were really worse, while there was an unmis- takable improvement in several cases : THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER { } anger, malice, or jealousy are lowering ¥ on the right side. \ A young girl once said to the writer, ®) “Tt doesn’t pay for me to get angry, for I always have a dreadful cold as a y consequence.” Headaches, indigestion, disturbances of the nervous system, anemia, exhaus- [70] 95 IT a7 Bae THE MIND AND THE BODY tion,—all have been traced many times to wrong mental states. A girl worker who wishes to be at her best state of efficiency—and who does not?—must drive out anger, jealousy, malice, worry, as she would drive out any enemy that threatened bodily destruction. In recent years a scientist (Professor Gates) has proved by an interesting series of experiments upon human be- —— ings that their emotions actually pro- ® duce chemical changes in the blood, which can be detected through the » microscope in a changed color of the perspiration. Anger, jealousy, worried and ma- licious thought, are in a literal sense | poisons to the body and if long in- | dulged in produce a distinct lowering 1 of the bodily health. | We can control the other mental © states, but it is hard sometimes to elimi- nate worry. If one realizes, however, that in no case can it help anyone, and § that it will certainly injure the mental and physical health of the person who | worries, we realize how foolish it is to indulge in this “poison.” zd C7] I gan of thought, and as blood is the food §@) the upper hand and runs away with its THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER J As the brain is the commander-in- ¥ chief of the body, because it is the or- of the brain, and the quality and amount of blood depend largely upon the supply of oxygen that the blood re- ceives, we see how vitally important it is to keep the blood pure by working, eating, sleeping—in a word, living— in well-ventilated rooms. If one’s work is necessarily in a badly-venti- lated place, the worker should stay out of doors as much as possible after working-hours. Then, too, the quality of the blood depends upon the kind of food we eat Y and the manner in which we eat it; and, therefore, the question of mental ability is involved very closely in our. habit of eating and chewing the food well. If the mind can be kept in the highest state of efficiency the body will be a good servant, but in the condition of weakened mentality the body gets 8 AT 2a —=@ @=— master, seriously impairing the useful- ness of the whole human machine. Two famous Italian doctors, Dr. Mosso and Dr. Maggiora, have proved S SBMS o— ® A GIRL WHO WON HONORS AT COLLEGE & =—E Co C= THE MIND AND THE BODY that tired brain affects muscle power | and also the reverse, that tired muscle affects brain power. These proofs were made by certain fatigue tests \ which these scientists carried on at dif- gig ferent times for a long period of years. It is not possible or necessary to explain the tests here; but we can remember the facts conclusively proved by them, which are that if one keeps oneself under constant pressure, by sitting up too late at night, sleeping too little and getting up tired every morning, he is 4 reducing the power of his brain and +> consequently is diminishing the value <“ of his work, and he is also disorganiz- 4 ing his physical organism, and seri- ously injuring his nervous system and his health. Every one has had in his own experi- ence illustrations of temporary ab- normal bodily conditions caused by | peculiar mental strain or stress. The parched tongue and the neces- sity of swallowing one’s words when ¢ “speaking a piece” before the school or replying to a toast at a banquet, as well } as the cold perspiration and trembling knees that often accompany these other THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER symptoms of mental distress; the loss of appetite, languor, and exhaustion that follow the receipt of bad news— {all these are common phenomena of fay everyday life. It is a self-evident fact that in view of the close interdependence of the body and the mind, that the latter should be kept in as cheerful and hope- ful a condition as possible. One’s thought should be positive instead of | negative. That is, a girl should say to ’ herself in regard to her work, “I will succeed,” instead of saying, “I hope I shall not fail.” She should say, “I love ¢ truthful people,” instead of saying, “I do not like liars.” She should look for goodness, health, cheer, and prosperity | and keep her thoughts as much as pos- sible from wickedness, sickness, gloom, and degradation. § If forced to live or associate con- | stantly with irritable, gloomy persons, @ni She should try to appreciate their # sterling qualities, of which doubtless they possess a good many, and to ignore the irritation and the gloom as much as possible. A good supply of cheer- SSS eo ful books, of music, a walk or ride in |] \/ with those and right principles of ac- } ® tion a successful, useful life is bound | ) to be hers, and she can take her place We i % THE MIND AND THE BODY the open air will help one in enduring the companionship of people of a gloomy temperament. Plenty of recreation is needed. The , young girl who feels discouraged and ¢ disheartened by her home environment ™ should read Mary Antin’s “The Prom- ised Land” to know what great pleas- ures are all about one if one only has the mental eyes with which to see them. The kind of recreation must depend upon the girl and her work. For the girl who sits in an office all day, some gymnasium work, folk or esthetic | dancing, tennis-playing, or walking, would be valuable, while for the girl NS whose work necessitates vigorous mus- cular exercise or standing upon the feet all day, some recreation such as a quiet game, reading, music, or not too | @y vigorous exercise in the open air | We would, of course, be better. Whatever the exercise, the purpose f of it, as well as of all the efforts of the | _/ young woman, should be too produce g@, “a strong mind in a strong body,” for | (™ [75] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER } in the honorable army of workers, which numbers and has always num- } bered the greatest of the world. = 8 NI Sta CHAPTER XIII HOW TO INCREASE MENTAL 7° EFFICIENCY | The writer thinks of no better way to explain the methods by which a very modest amount of mental power may | @& be augmented, reinforced and made ¥ available than by giving the story of a highly respected “first citizen” of an eastern city as it was told her by this = person. This gentleman, when a boy, had al- § most no schooling, and, according to his own estimate of himself, was the possessor of a somewhat meagre men- tal endowment. He drifted about from one low grade of employment to another until finally, through a happy } combination of circumstances, he came into a considerable fortune when nearly forty years of age. Sy) Now began the struggle to increase | (. his mental efficiency. His memory } @ was very poor; he had almost no {) knowledge of history or of literature, | \ C77] ao AS Gt = Giz SQ CGg== THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER } music or art; nor did he have any par- ¢ ¥ ticular longing to acquire a knowledge of those subjects. He did wish, how- ever, to become an honorable, re- spected citizen, whom his children could look upon with satisfaction, as | they called him “Father.” So, with this laudable ambition, he set about the work of mental improvement in the most thoroughgoing manner. To de- velop his memory and also to famil- iarize himself with the best literature, he memorized, a quotation, verse or short selection before breakfast each morning. At first this was an almost é impossible task; but twenty years later, when he told this story, he could learn a long poem in a very short time, so persistently and thoroughly had he practised this kind of work. He studied art by getting small copies of famous pictures, reading descriptions of them, and then, if possible, visiting jj the art gallery in which the painting \~) was hung. He travelled a great deal, and, before making his trip, always read the best descriptions of the places ¥ he visited. He usually took a camera on 7 —_ = 6S oe MENTAL EFFICIENCY with which he entertained a boys’ school that he visited each week when f athome. He had little ear for music, | but attended the symphonies and the | other best concerts and became famil- | lar with a great deal of musical litera- 5 ture and the lives of the famous com- (} posers.. After a few years of this sort | | of effort he frequently addressed clubs f upon subjects suggested by his travels, } and at the time of his death was the president of the Historical Society of his city and a member of several of the most important social organizations of }> the place. This record would not be remark- able were it not that this man possessed only a.very moderate amount of natu- | ral ability (he said of himself that he | had absolutely no originality), and | that he had been given no opportuni- | ties of securing what might be called | %, culture, until comparatively late in life.. In fact, he began the work of | brain development at an age when very «@, many people have ceased to grow men- tally; yet, for many years before his death, he was regarded as an educated, cultured man by all who met him. ¥ read the authoritative statement of % striving will give any human being THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER We are sometimes discouraged as we / scientists that brain cells do not multi- ply, and that no amount of wishing or more than he started with. But we are encouraged by the statement that the paths between the brain cells can be immensely improved and increased in number, and that persistent practice in any line of effort—writing, music, sew- ing, cooking, memorizing poems or other work—develops these paths be- tween the nerve cells which control that particular line of thought or of A, effort. Good, hard thought in any subject produces greater power of | thought in every subject. It is often said of a person, “He does not use all of his grey matter.” That is, he does not think deeply, and con- sequently, he does not grow mentally. A young Jewish girl in New York was recently sent out from a technical school to take a position in a certain business where the work seemed to promise to be rather narrow and dreary. Her teacher saw her a few weeks later, and asked her how she was [80] C2 NE = a o— ) angen @ $5 Cat EM Se rhe] Oriel Se So aS =e) te eee oy MENTAL EFFICIENCY progressing. “Qh, it is very interest- \ ing work!” was the reply. “I am ] ? learning so much every day! I am Fam going to try to learn everything that (\y" any one can know about all branches of @) the business.” Every girl should try to do what this girl was determined to do—master thoroughly the work in which she is engaged. One’s knowledge of one’s own work should be deep, broad, and very accurate in detail. To observe closely, to memorize 4 something each day, to reflect upon important matters, to refrain from {¢ foolish and unworthy gossip and chat- & ter, to learn all that it is possible to learn about one’s business, are the best ways of improving one’s mental power. The wonderful mental power, en- |@ ergy and desire for service of Miss Helen Keller, are an inspiration to every young woman. Miss Keller vantage: her mind was not constantly disturbed by trivial matters. Gossip, THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER was saved. It is possible to keep one’s { {| mind so constantly filled with interest- \ ing thoughts that the trivial, the fool- § ish, and the unworthy thought will find typical, high-minded girl worker—a girl who is constantly becoming more efficient in every way. Memory, habits of accurate observation, concen- tration of attention, reasoning power, judgment—all of these must be im- ‘ proved by our earnest girl worker. As Jenny Jones looks out upon the pleasant morning, she learns, as is her no place to enter. Let us imagine a day in the life of a t habit, a short selection, before she | i called to breakfast. This morning, % she chooses one in harmony with the season: “The year’s at the Spring, And day’s at the morn; Morning’s at seven, The hillside’s dew pearled, The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in His Heaven— 4 (WS) # All’s right with the world!” fi As she rides into town on the open @ trolley car, she observes the different { MENTAL EFFICIENCY reds and greens, the greys and browns and yellows of the trees, with their bursting buds; and she notices that the tulips are out in the garden where none were visible on the previous day. The white-flecked azure sky, the tiny cro- cuses hiding behind the tall fence, the ripples upon the river—all are inter- esting to her. And so, too, are the pas- sengers on the car. She sees with pleasure that the little conductor cheerfully helps on the rheumatic at the corner, and that the woman in black is evidently going back to work 33% again. She gives her a welcoming smile, although she does not know her name, or anything about her, excepting that she is apparently in trouble. When she reaches the office, she finds it necessary to turn very quickly from one task to another, giving com- plete attention to each one in its turn, without trying to drag the thoughts of task number one into the performance \\_/ of task number two. At many steps of «@): her work, she has to compare, to con- ff /~ trast, to weigh, to balance—in a word, | to reason. / After dinner, she has to decide ,¥% [83] 20S eB THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER whether to use a theatre ticket that has been given her, or to spend the evening at home. Her judgment finally tells her that to spend several hours in a crowded theatre, witnessing an excit- ing play, and breathing the bad air of the place, is not so good a way to pre- pare her nerves for the work of to- morrow as a quiet visit with her mother and father, a little music, and the read- ing of an interesting book would be. Memoty, observation, attention, rea- son, judgment—all have been helped by the manner in which Jenny Jones has spent her day; and as a result Jenny is more efficient in the work of the next day. ; As an illustration of the manner in which one’s mental efficiency may be increased by stimulating companion- ship of the right kind, will be given a true story of a young country boy as told by his city cousin. . This young man left his country home a very uninteresting, rather stupid boy, using the slipshod, inaccu- rate language and possessing the un- refined manners of an unfortunate environment. He was known by his [84] oF =2S3 oe FY. Say, a, far West and nothing more was heard ¥ } from him for several years, when sud- denly a brief note was received from him stating that, as he was in the East on business, he would come to visit his cousin upon a certain day. No pleasur- able anticipations at the thought of the proposed visit arose in the mind of his city friends, and their delight and surprise were great when he presented himself, a very intelligent young man ® of fluent, accurate speech, and irre- 4 proachable manners. His changed » mentality and manner were such a mystery to his friends that they asked ¢ him many questions in regard to his environment in his western home. It was found that, for five years, this young man had lived in a lonely min- ing camp and that during those years two scientists of the best type of French gentleman had lived with him, sharing his little shack, and being constantly in | / closest companionship with him. qo Their isolation had made them prac- tically his only companions; and from them he had both consciously and un- : consciously acquired the keenness of [2 [85] ‘ a es rs i - Sata me RT ’ MENTAL EFFICIENCY relatives to be in a mining camp in the ¢ } and the polished manners which he 2 J possessed. yj Edward Everett Hale is often § quoted as saying that he intended to learn something every day from every one with whom he talked. Even people of very limited knowl- edge or shallow minds can teach one something, if one is only ready to search for the good, the interesting, the “worth-while” and ignore all else. The mind, like the body, needs food of the best quality in generous quantities. ANY THE YOUNG WOMAN oe | \Y thought, the fund of intelligence, =z DRESS CHAPTER XIV GOOD DRESSING FOR THE fe YOUNG WOMAN WORKER In a certain girls’ school there is |f upon a large chart on the front wall of one of the rooms this statement: A Business Girl Should Have . A neat, simple hat. N eatly and plainly dressed hair. A clean collar and jabot. A plain skirt and coat. A clean laundered waist. Clean and plain underwear. Whole stockings. Sensible shoes. Clean, whole gloves. to. Clean hands and finger nails. It is apparent to every one who has § sight that comparatively few girl wage- earners dress in a proper manner when at their work. The hat is usually © freakish, either in size, shape, or color; the hair is inartistically and un- tidily dressed, and oftentimes the abomination of the “rat” or “puffs” is [89] ot Saye Se es ° ‘¥ priate material and color; the much Ws, embroidered and oftentimes unclean THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER in evidence; the wide collar is of cheap and gaudy lace; the suit is of inappro- ‘lingerie waist is too low in the neck and too short in the sleeves, and many times insecurely fastened in the back; the outer apparel suggests uncleanly and unmended undergarments; the feet even in January are enclosed in gauze stockings and pumps with the highest of heels; the gloves are soiled, and the bare hands and finger nails show great need of attention. There is no doubt that one reason why working girls have been induced to dress themselves in this foolish, un- becoming, and unsuitable manner is the immense quantities of cheap lin- gerie waists, cheap hideous hats, and cheap goods of every sort that the ) merchants have heaped upon the coun- ters of the stores which are largely } patronized by persons of small means. &@) A clean tailored waist with a fresh 1 collar each morning costs a little more } in time and money than a gaudy em- ’ broidered waist, but the girl who wears the fresh tailored waist with its clean —o=— DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN ° white collar and tidy little jabot or tie presents a far more attractive appear- ance than does the flashily-dressed girl in her attempts at finery; and in any , store or office the girls who are most ,; quietly and tidily dressed are, as a rule, the ones who are of greatest serv- ice to their employer and are conse- quently those who are moved up the line for promotion, as opportunities occur. The unsuitable dressing of the working girl is also due to the fact that she lacks sufficient judgment to dis- criminate concerning a style of dress suitable to a woman of wealth who ¢S\ rides down the avenue in her limousine, who walks in her thin silk stockings and tiny slippers only upon thickly- } carpeted floors, and whose gorgeous hat may not be out of place when it adorns the head of a wearer in a private § equipage. The working girl’s hat, { shoes, dress, and general attire are in too many cases a fantastic imitation of «© the costly costumes of women of large incomes. It seems difficult for our | girls to discriminate between a style of dressing suitable to a wealthy woman }\@ Cor] { vam THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER } of leisure and that suited to a girl in \¥ an office on a salary of possibly $12 y per week; or to distinguish between really valuable clothing and pinchbeck %@, imitations. In a certain girls’ high school, where at one time there was much tawdry, foolish dressing, the pupils each morning for the girl who was most suitably dressed for school work. In every case the girl with the trim sensible shoes, and tidily-arranged hair secured the popular vote. The results of this method of calling attention to fest in the greatly improved style of clothing of many of the other pupils. The broad-brimmmed sailor hat sup- planted the shapeless structure with the bedraggled plumes; the pumps in many cases were discarded for sensible shoes; the low-necked, short-sleeved (@) waist was thrown aside for a well- fitting shirt waist. In a certain high-class office in New York City where many young women : « are employed, the legend, “We expect [92] were requested to record their vote | > sailor hat, tailored waist, serge skirt, ¢ appropriate dressing were soon mani- : Sola 74 | € \ A YOUNG TEACHER qos —- : ogee | os DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN all the young women in this office to ¥ | dress neatly and simply,” is displayed 7 7’ in the manager’s office. Any girl who ignores this request is promptly dropped from the force. A teacher of ability was once being considered for an excellent position in a high-class private high school. Her education, training, and character were all that could be desired, and her dress was usually in excellent taste. In preparation for her visit to this school, | . preliminary to her taking the position, \. however, she arrayed herself in a hat 3 of startling size and adornments, a suit of very pronounced color and §> style, while several jingling ornaments added to the “loud” effect of the cos- tume. Unfortunately for the teacher there was a wise rule in this school that the pupils and teachers should always dress very quietly, and there was con- siderable amusement and consternation when this butterfly of fashion ap- |_4 peared as a candidate for a position (@y there. It is needless to say that she did not secure the much-coveted | place. In a Girls’ School for Trade Work- C93] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER ers the girls are taught to keep an expense account in the following manner: Receipts Date Item Amt. Apr. 8 Weekly Wages $8.00 Expenses Date Item Amt. Apr. 8 Hat $3.00 Then the items are placed in a classi- fied list under the headings “carfare,” ‘Junches,” “clothing,” “recreation,” “benevolence,” “church,” “indul- gence,” etc. This classified list helps the girls to see whether they are spend- ing their money wisely or not and to keep the items in proper proportion. What a girl can expend for dress de- pends upon her salary, ,and her other necessary expenses. If a girl is earn- ing $10.00 per week and from that she must pay $6.00 for board, room, car- fare, and laundry, she should not ex- pend more than $2.00 of the $4.00 re- maining for clothing. At that rate she would spend about $100.00 a year for clothes, which, with careful buying out of season, should clothe her very well, § = OE =e a - out of season, or when specially adver- DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN comfortably on $50.00 a year. Of \ course the girl who can make the most 7 » of her own clothes and who can keep them in excellent repair has a great ;\* advantage over one who cannot. The writer has asked a teacher who always looks well clothed, but who has a great many necessary expenses which leave her little money for dress, to tell what clothing she bought in one year. with $50.00. This is the list: One blue serge suit. . . . . . . $18.50 One gingham house dress . : Three shirt waists—5oc., 75c., $1 00 Two pair shoes (bargain sale) Six pair gloves—3 cotton, 3 kid . Two dress skirts (linoline, alpaca) Two underskirts . oe Sea Underclothing Two hats . Collars, ties, veils Of course, this list simply means that she added so much to the stock of clothing that she had on hand at the .@> beginning of the year. It means, too, | that most of the articles were bought } & tised as “bargains. ” A suit that is not [95] too pronounced in color, or freakish in style, will last with care for two or three years. The best hat of one year can, if of conservative size and shape, become the everyday hat of the next year. We are talking now of dressing well on a small income, and not of | what we would do if we had many | times that amount of money to spend ® THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER ( Ei on clothing. It requires intelligent thought and effort to dress well on $50.00 a year or less, but a great many ‘ women do this and many of them actu- <= ally enjoy the victory of dressing well on the small sum expended. The writer knows personally several, high- grade young women who look well- dressed on an expenditure of less than $50.00 a year. To dress neatly on a small sum one cannot buy jewelry; the sum that would be expended for chains, bracelet, necklaces and lockets \, should be spent for laundry purposes; °. __j, all of the hideous “additions” to the (@) hair must be tabooed; the money thus saved should go for a good shampoo at frequent intervals; the standard u —@ weaves of cloth, serge, mohair, cheviot, of a color that is always in style, should [96] 05 OS a7 ANG Se DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN be bought for suits. Many dollars may be saved by buying suits and hats toward the end of the season and not at the beginning. = Of some toilet accessories the young yy girl should have a liberal supply: soap \ of a good quality, brushes for hair, teeth, and hands, nail files, and a good soap preparation for the hair, and a mixture to remove spots from the worsted suit. The woman worker = =o, should remember that “Cleanliness is next to godliness,” and that no gor- geous hat, jingling jewelry, or tawdry finery of any sort will disguise or con- ceal a dirty skin and evidence of any $ uncleanliness of person. She should remember, too, that her _personality is expressed in the neat- ness or untidiness, the simplicity or the flashiness of her dress, and that in a . large degree her efficiency is estimated : mc | by these externals. The manager of.a large store was asked if he thought one of his sales- girls could dress appropriately for her work in that store on $50.00 a year. “Yes, indeed,” was the answer. “Many of our girls dress on less than that and ) \ C97] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER dress well, too—much more tastefully than some of the girls who live at home and spend every penny of their wages for clothes. It is the silly manner in which the girls dress that necessitates the large expenditure for clothes. You see that neatly-dressed young woman in the suit department,” continued the speaker; “well, she is supporting and educating three younger sisters on $15.00 a week. They have a little home out in the suburbs. Do you sup- pose she spends more than $50.00 a year for clothes? She could not and do all the good work that she is doing. Z, We shall give her a better place as soon as we can. We have a great many girls of that stamp in here; efficient, unselfish, fine young women. Unfor- tunately, as in every place where hun- dreds of young women are employed, we have some of the foolish, flashily- dressed, pinchbeck sort of girl, and it is those girls who seem to attract the «@) exclusive attention of the surface ob- © server of saleswomen.” A neat, simple style of dressing is as contagious as are many other habits of life. In a certain large insurance [98] EN =e 9 C2: tgp o— sD = DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN office about one hundred young women clerks are employed. A walk through the aisles between the desks assures one that these young stenographers, typists, bookkeepers, and clerks are clothed as a business wom dress: neatly, becomingly, a total absence of cheap finery. an should nd with a We give below the amounts spent by five women workers of different sal- aries and occupations. These items, of course, do not include the entire amount of clothing of any one of the five. They are simply the articles bought during one year. Miss A, a stenographer, salary . Winter suit Spring suit Dress skirts . Underclothing Shoes .. . Hats Glovés 4. 6. 28. wh ee ele Neckwear, handkerchiefs, etc. Waists . Raincoat Or 13 per cent of income. [99] $750.00 25.00 20.00 10.00 10,00 6.00 4 6.00 5.00 jie 3.00 Gy: 5.00 5.00 ry THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER Miss B, a saleswoman, salary . . . $600.00 Suit (bargain sale). . . . . . 15.00 Hat. sos 8 @ 8 % we w % 5.00 Underclothing . . ..... 7.50 SHOES! ge st eS ec Sele Gee cas 8.00 Gloves 2 ss « % & & & © & 4.00 Winter coat . . . 2. ws ew 9.00 Small wares . . . 1... 2 a. 2.00 Collars, ties, etc. . . 2. 2 2 3.00 WaistS 2.6. 6 3 6 @ be ae 4 3.00 Summer silk . . . 2... ee 7,00 ; $63.50 Or about 10 per cent of income. Miss C runs a tea room, income . . $1200.00 Suit . . . . . 1. ee ee) 50.00 Pratshs wee a. Sel es, BS Utes. Sg 5.00 Coat ayer oa ae pos a ae 15.00 Underclothing . 2... 2... 10.00 \ Waists BW We Re BA 7.00 $v Summer coat. . . . . 4... 10.00 & Shoes . .....4.4.2.6-4 6.00 Gloves . . . .. . . . « about 6.00 Neckwear . ee, ca 5.00 Silk dress . : Ser Pennie talk 15.00 $129.00 Or about 10 per cent of income, [x00] . Sat EM Se Ties iY oa ee ee a i) SCE DRESS FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN Miss D, a telephone operator, salary . $500.00 Three suits, a 5; $10, 7s 5O. .. 32.50 Shoes .. ees 6.00 Hats (two) . ....... 10.00 Underclothing . . 2... .. 10.00 4 Gloves! ia os: ai ee OS eS 5.00 * Raincoat . . . 1. 1 1 ee 8.00 i Neckwear. . 1. 1... 2 we ee 7.00 Summer dresses . . . . 2... 5.00 Walsts so. io Sar bk SP Gap Se ed AE bs 10.00 $93.50 Or 18. per cent of income. Miss E, a music teacher, income . . $800.00 Two suits. . .... 4... 50.00 WaistS 2.2 6. ea See 20.00 Underclothing . ...... 15.00 Shoes 5 ie: i ae Ge Ge 10.00 Gloves . . 2. 1. 6 ee ee 5.00 Neckwear . . . 1. 2 se we 1,00 Hats 6.00 $107.00 Or 13 per cent of income. \ oh ex It is significant that in no case did the expenditure for clothing amount to one-fifth of the income. All of THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER these young women are entirely self- supporting and have many claims Vj upon them. The mothers of ten high school | 2% girls, of the average age of seventeen years, were asked to state approxi- mately the sum spent for the clothing of these girls for the year. These young women were all neatly and com- fortably dressed. The approximate sums stated by the mothers were as fol- lows : $40, $30, $75, $90, $55, $25, $35, $50, $30, $45—an average of $47.50. No hard and fast rules as to amount spent for dress can be laid down, but any self-supporting girl who spends an amount in excess of $100 per year should know that she is exceeding the amount spent for clothing by many high-class women. The tables of expenditures for dress \| given thus far have been yearly addi- | tions to the wardrobe. We give below a model wardrobe and a budget of liv- (O) ing expenses for the young woman worker prepared in a Vocational School. This budget won favorable comment in the Columbia University Courses of Household Economics. [ x02 ] 255 a7 AN Sw hee) <é=—— ee aN Sw ew ee NWN SB eee Re ND NWW HW D summer vests . pairs stockings pair corsets corset covers . flannel skirts . chemises . . night dresses . pair shoes . . pair boots . pair sandals . pair rubbers . black satine skirt seersucker skirt white waists muslin dresses dark dress skirt winter hat. . summer hat . pairs gloves . suit. . . . Total pairs drawers (home-made silk waists (home-made) silk dress (home-made) winter coat (two winters) DRESS. FOR THE YOUNG WOMAN CLOTHING BuDGET winter union suits 4.50 4.00 13.50 3.50 4.00 |\Fe 1.50 BY 22.50 $84.00 This was the clothing budget of a girl whose salary was $500 per year. @ Her living expenses were apportioned | as follows: 74, cx, THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER Salary . . 2 - 6 se «© + « + $500.00 Board and room 50 weeks at Y. W. C. A. at $4.50 . . . . $225.00 Lunches (six days) 50 weeks: at Y. Ww. C. A. at 1502. s 8 45.00 Vacation two weeks . . . . - - 20.00 Operating Expenses Life insurance . . . . . $12.00 Fifty cents a week in the fants So ® 26.00 Dentist’s bill . . . 2... 6.00 Stationery and stamps. . . . . . 1.50 $45.50 Higher Life Daily papers. . . . 2 2 es ee $3.50 Monthly magazine ..... - 1.50 Church allowance . . By La Fae Sa 10.00 Amusements (50 yretks) a. By 12.50 Clothing Budget . . . . . . . $84.00 : $447.00 Incidentals and spending money . . 53.00 $500.00 This budget was prepared in 1912. As the cost of living and of clothing [ 104] $5 a? AM Sa Mee X ed c— "yi CHAPTER XVI @® THE FRIENDSHIP OF MUSIC When one tries to write of the Friendship of Music, one wishes that one’s pen were tipped with fire. Or, one wistfully scans the skies, wishing that some bolt from the blue might electrify the hand and energize the spirit of the writer, until the vague « thoughts of the heart could be ex- pressed in words of crystal clearness » and the highest import. The universal language of music! Poetry, painting, or sculpture cannot voice the feelings of the heart, stir the will to action, comfort the despairing, interpret every emotion and give an enjoyment that is akin to ecstacy as does this heavenly gift. > In thinking of the musical round of «(@) the year, our thoughts turn first to the Christmas season, with its quaint and beautiful carols, its special organ \(f) music, in which the shepherd’s pipe =<] can be heard upon Bethlehem’s e [114] J oa? UM Sees > ae THE FRIENDSHIP OF MUSIC plain; and its magnificent orato- \ rio, The Messiah. Surely a great | wave of friendship sweeping over all the world is connected with that music! _ For the woman worker in the city @ there are the organ recitals and the vesper services in which the choicest } music, both the old and the new, is ren- | dered by skilled musicians who love } their work. And if this woman loves } to sing in a great chorus, there is the | , \ @ People’s Choral Union, in which many 4= of the great oratorios are practiced ‘every year. The country girl, too, in these days, § can hear the very best music of the great masters as it rolls out from the Victrola, the Aeolian and the other wonderful mechanical instruments. In a certain small country town, the writer 4 found a group of young people who ‘ Ser, could recognize immediately the op- eratic selections that had been given in the nearest large city that winter, as ¢ they had followed the programme with } their Victrola records. They had also | formed a music club and had studied 7 the lives of several of the great com- Po Eee THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER J posers and knew a good deal about the % number and kinds of instruments in a large orchestra. { The methods of the ordinary music teacher in the past have been such as to turn out pupils who could possibly play a few selections creditably, but ‘ who knew almost nothing of music in f ‘any real or deep sense, and who had ® little love for the best music. In these days much more musicianly work is accomplished by teacher and pupil and the latter learns at least to appreciate good music, and if he finds he cannot be a performer, he can, at least, be an , intelligent listener. $ The glory of music is that it suits i every mood and every condition of life. If one is wearied and perplexed with the complexities of life, there are the grand old solid German chorals to calm one and make him feel again : the nobility of existence. If one feels . || gay and joyous, there are the dance K®) forms of the Spanish, the French, and others. If one loves vocal music, there is the widest possible range from the v melodious Italian operas to the gran- jj deur of the modern German school. SRS G7 EMS whee! 6) [6= o— SRS THE FRIENDSHIP OF MUSIC While if one is so fortunate as to be in a large city where he can hear one of the great symphonies occasionally, that is an event indeed. The grand ora- torios become the beloved friends of fe those who hear them often. An elderly {f lady once told the writer that she had heard The Messiah twenty times and that she was going to hear it every Christmas as long as she could get to the hall where it was given. The simpler music of the average home: the dear old songs, the hymns, the familiar piano selections—what +> sympathetic friends these are! Plain- = tive, joyous, light, majestic, rhythmic, $ martial, elevating, and sometimes even ecstacy-producing. Truly the value of music in the home is incalculable. Is a voice heard saying, ““What about rag-time?” Well, rag-time has its place (although some of its words have not), but a diet of rag-time in music places one in the same grade of | development as does very flashy dress- ing, or an inferior grade of reading. It is a pinchbeck sort of music. A little rag-time is interesting because of its peculiar rhythm, but an entire musi- })yZ [127] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER cal diet of it makes one musically anemic. The praises of music have been sung by all great authors, even by those who confessed they had no ear for it. And so, we close this chapter with the words of one of these: “Music is a uni- versal language. Where speech fails, there music begins.” CHAPTER XVII THE FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLE jig “Margaret Dean and her mother ff are just like two friends,’ com- | } mented a young girl upon one of her | acquaintances. “Well,” laughed her friend, to |@ whom the remark was made, “why young girl and her mother be the best of friends? a In the deepest sense of the word, 4 they are. But in the sense of the word friend, which means sympathetic com- | } panionship and identity of aim and | ideals, they are often very far from |@ | being friends. Many young people naturally place @ father and mother upon a different 4, plane from themselves. Little children | / place them higher. But the girl in her than a modern daughter with modern ) ideas, modern education, modern dress C119] THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER —yes, and’ modern manners—as she tries to conceal her shame of the pos- sible uncouthness of the hard-working father and mother. In her ignorance of the depth of human experience, and the self-sacrifice and effort which make them inestimably her superior, al- though their hands may be hard, and their habits of speech ungrammatical, she sometimes inflicts cruel pain upon her earliest and truest friends—her father and mother. A woman who was distinctly a leader in the best musical circles of a large city once requested an acquaint- ance, who was going to take a trip in rural New England, to call upon her mother, whom she praised with great- est enthusiasm, saying that she knew it would give her mother great pleas- ure to meet some one who had seen her daughter recently. The acquaintance in commenting upon his visit to the \_}, mother, said, “To my surprise, I found * we) her a dear, little, ungrammatical, un- lettered woman, bearing all the marks of very hard work i in the past. I had never admired Mrs. C so much as I did after that visit. If she had been a mae CS =e —» a 50 Ses & sf ‘ THE FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLE woman of a more shallow type, she would not have invited me to go to see 7) her mother. She was big enough to realize that her mother’s hard work ,\/* and self-denial for the sake of her chil- @¥¥ dren were greater than her own superb accomplishments.” While sisters usually feel real love for each other, the fact is evident on every hand that they are not always “friends” in all senses of the word. They are pitiless critics of each other’s dress, actions, boy friends, and tastes in general. They see so much of each other that when one wishes a really ' good time, she takes it with her latest chum of the moment rather than with 7’) her sister. They confide in each other || to a certain extent, but pour out the depths of their soul to some school friend. School friends often become the dear old friends of whom one thinks when he says, “There are no friends like old \ J friends.” But in many cases, we out- @@), grow them or they outgrow us. A few. are kept, and they are usually among the best and truest friends of our life. The friends made by the young THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER woman in her business life should be carefully selected. The very nearness of the person, the close companionship, make it easy to form intimacies that are hard to break without bringing about an unpleasant condition from which the only escape is in leaving one’s position. It is better to be friendly in one’s manner to all in the office, store, or factory, but to be intimate with none; or, at best, with only a very few fellow workers, of whom one’s instinct > and intuition say, “They may be unmistakably in her presence, “Here is 4 a real friend.” ~, If one were to try to analyze friend- ’|| ship, he would find the task impossible. We wish our friend to really care for us, but that is not all. We wish him to have a sympathetic nature, but he must also have some subtle spiritual quality that brings out the best in us, or we do not truly enjoy his friendship. 2 “T do not know what ails me when I am with Helen,” said a young woman, “‘but I am never so shallow, so deceitful, and so cheap as when with her. She seems rather a nice girl, too. [ 128] IS BON Ses hee =x Ste @=— 5 OO @ = THE FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLE But she always makes me despise myself, and so, I don’t enjoy her companionship.” One of the best things we can do for ourselves and for our friends and ac- @N¥ quaintances is to tap their brains. Almost everyone with whom we asso- ciate has something of real value to give us if only we would draw it out. We Americans are just beginning to realize the large contributions in the form of folk-lore, folk-dancing, pag- eantry, music, handicrafts, and skilled 4 e labor that the very humblest groups of recently-arrived immigrants can give ' us. The manager of a trolley line tells ¢ a good story that illustrates this point. This man had been thinking very hard for several weeks upon the problem of j | reducing expenditures by applying new methods in the powerhouses of his plant. During these days, he had taken long rides in his automobile with a chauffeur, a silent sort of man—a Swede whom he had recently engaged. @ While still pondering over this subject, ‘ his attention was attracted one evening to a notice of a lecture on economy of electric power to be given that night at | [129] y2 } the workingmen’s club in a different | part of the city. He sent for his chauf- feur to take him to this place, but, as he was not to be found, this gentleman was forced to fight his way thither in his own crowded trolley-cars. He says, “When I reached the hall, I not only heard the lecture on electricity, but -was also immediately ‘electrified’ to find that the lecturer whom I had made such an effort to hear was none other than my own chauffeur, with whom I had ridden hundreds of miles in abso- lute silence during the previous weeks.” We have thought thus far of imme- diate friends, only. It is possible to * word friendship and to think often of that word in a very different sense. Every person who faithfully performs | some piece of work by which other per- sons are made comfortable and happy \._j is a friend to humanity. The miner, “@) to whom all too little thought is given; the farmer; the men who do all the heavy, disagreeable work in cleaning ' the city streets; the inspectors of rail- roads; and many, many others, are E130] BN See attach a much wider significance to the | THE FRIENDSHIP OF PEOPLE all our friends, to whom we should at least send out friendly thoughts. Then, too, we are coming more and more to appreciate our friends in all other lands. Among them are the Ger- mans who give us such ideals of solid, skillful work in every department of effort from music to hand carving; the Italians, to whom we owe so much for what we have received from Italy in the past, and what we are receiving from her in the present. In fact, a great wave of friendship sweeping j @) round the world is constantly gaining FH in volume and power. Ci It is possible for the young woman Ss worker sometimes to catch a vision of herself as one of a whole army of fel- low workers; some at home, and some} } in foreign lands; all performing their e daily tasks with skill and courage and faith in the future. HABITS | in a different form of expression. ¥, her daily choice of action one or the | @ other of these contrasting mental CHAPTER XVIII MENTAL HABITS “Tll habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas,” sang one who knew of what he wrote; and wise old Epictetus tells us, “What- ever you would make habitual, prac- tice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it but habituate yourself to something else.” Modern scientists talk learnedly and accurately of brain paths being 7 made by the habitual repetition of acts, which is precisely what the great writers of all ages have said, though Every young woman is forming by habits: Courage . . . . Cowardice Truth. . . . « Lying and deceit Perseverance . . . Yielding to obstacles Punctuality . . . Tardiness Attention to work . Inattention THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER Kindness . . . . Unkindness Order . . . . . Disorder Cleanliness . . . Uncleanliness Work . . . . . Idleness An encouraging thought is that the , good habits gather by “unseen de- FN A grees” as surely as do the bad habits; and if one would prepare a list of these character habits, and aim to strengthen the one in which he was weakest by re- peated efforts day by day, one would as certainly develop some fine habits as “rivers run to seas.” Let us consider a habit that every one should cultivate, because the individ- ual who has it not is a source of much annoyance and trouble to other per- sons: the habit of being punctual. As these words were written, there came from the memory the story of two per- sons (one a pompous, impatient busi- ness man to whom every moment meant money) standing for an hour in a broil- ing sun, awaiting the arrival of a person who was never known to reach the appointed spot at the appointed time. The hour for this interview had been set for one o'clock, and it was five C= es 9 SS acre GD Seca 4 MENTAL HABITS arrived, to see a carriage disappearing ¥ | in the distance. The carriage con- 7} tained two probable purchasers of (@ some valuable property. They never }\/" returned. if The school girl who comes panting through the corridor one minute after the bell has rung becomes the girl who is always losing cars and trains and arriving late at her work. She is the woman who is late at church, whether the service begins at 10:30 or at 10:45. ||. Whatever the time of the meeting, 4 *4 habit makes her late. The way to cure this habit of tardi- <* ness is to be too punctual; to be on & hand at the school, factory, store, office, or church ahead of time. One should plan to do this. He should make him- { self do it; and at last the dilatory habit will be broken, and he will be as punc- tual as he was formerly unpunctual. The ugly habits of lying and deceit sometimes enchain one before he is ; aware. This is a subject upon which @ one is prone to become pessimistic. But we must remember that the Psalm- | ist’s words were: “I said in my haste, ‘All men are liars.”” Notice, that he THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER admits he was hasty when he made that discouraging statement. It is a melan- ¥ choly truth that some people seem to » be “natural-born liars.” One hates to think of it, and the statement does not look attractive in print. But, just as some people are born with the predis- position to tuberculosis or to nerve trouble, which may develop if the conditions under which the person lives are unfortunate, so some people seem to be temperamentally disposed to deceit and to untruthfulness. They lie to tell a good story; to give expres- sion to the imagination; to free them- selves from blame; to win sympathy; ‘| in general, to pose upon the stage of life. Now, what can be done to cure this habit if once acquired? The untruth- ful person should bring himself as y) closely as possible in contact with truth | at every point. He should read many books treating of actual facts stated in !) the most accurate, scientific language. 1 He should keep as much as possible with persons to whom lying would be abhorrent; and he should keep con- § =e MENTAL HABITS business, society, life itself, are based upon truth; and that a liar is an ab- ¥S/ normal creature which, multiplied by “g thousands, darkens and defiles the face \ of the whole world. He should re- @ig frain from mind wandering, and hold his thoughts closely upon the subject in hand; and he should be sure that he { has plenty of good, solid food for the mind. He should visualize life in many ways; as a web into which every lie is as a thread dropped; as a clean parchment, with clear writing, upon which every lie makes a blot; as a ladder to be climbed, from which every lie removes a round. The untruthful N person should ever hold before him the highest possible ideal of truth, and, if he is strongly tempted to be deceit- } ful, he should visualize a hideous little fiend whom he calls “Deceit,” “Un- trustworthiness,” “Lying,” “a Betrayer of Confidences,” as the case may de- mand. The naturally untruthful per- son should avoid circulating gossip and :@, scandal as he would avoid starting a ! conflagration. An untrustworthy per- | ® son must cure himself by heroic meas- 1 ures. There must be no softness, no y oe) SX for the work anyway. The sensitive f y} | ? 25 OS w OIE NS pampering of self, no palliation here. ‘Y The yellow streak must be cut out with “Wa hand made strong by the firmest de- “\/, termination on the part of its owner to 7% become a decent person, who is entitled THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER to a position among respectable people. The value of perseverance cannot be too strongly emphasized. Countless cases could be cited of persons who have failed of success by yielding. to obstacles, just as success was in their grasp. We sometimes solace ourselves in failure by saying we were not fitted person who is afraid of ridicule is the one who most readily loses positions which he is fully capable of filling. The following story illustrates a char- acter of the opposite type. A young girl tried to secure a position in a news- paper office. She was told to bring in some local news items to test her English and her ability to collect read- able news. She failed on both points. She returned to school, where she took a very thorough course in English, and at the end of the year, again applied for the position and was told that her news items showed a lack of knowledge [240] MENTAL HABITS of what news really is. She thereupon Y | made a study of the local news items of / ¥ several of the best papers, writing and rewriting until she had the happy knack of expression desired. With a batch of items, she again visited the of- fice of the paper, to be told this time that her personality was against her; that a local society editor needed to look healthy and attractive, and the hint was gently given her that she did not meet either of these requirements. This was a sting that would penetrate almost any heart, and weaken the will- = power of the most determined. But 3 this woman took advantage of a West- Se ern trip to improve in health and gen- eral appearance and, upon her fourth visit to the office, she was given the charge of a woman’s page, and is con- nected with that journal to this day. The manager of one of the largest | stores in the country recently told a class of graduates that perseverance, more than any other quality, won suc- ¢ cess in his store. He quoted many in- stances of sales persons who had been } refused promotion for which they had | asked, but who had persevered in ask- )yz Cx4r] SANS » 2 ing and in showing reasons why the promotion should be given, until ulti- mately it was granted. To illustrate the fact that one must not be deterred by ridicule or criticism from accomplishing one’s aim, the store manager previously mentioned gave this story. He said at one time there was a vacancy in the buyer’s po- sition in the umbrella department of their store. To the amusement of the managers, a young man who had just come to them applied for the position. When asked what he knew about um- brellas, he truthfully replied that he , knew nothing excepting to open them when it rained, but added that he could learn all that there was to be known about them. He was laughingly told to go back to his counter. Some months later, there was a vacancy in the silk department, and the same youth pre- sented himself for the position of buyer _ j of silks. He was ridiculed in the same ) manner and bade to return to his work as a salesman. Again he presented himself as a candidate for the position [342] ' of buyer in the china department, and @ as an experiment and a joke, the man- { MENTAL HABITS agers decided to let him try the posi- y tion for three months. He was a suc- ¥ ’ cess from the first, and is now with the Wa | firm, having filled the last-named po- / sition for many years. eas, : One of the most striking illustrations § of the value of persistence that ever came under the writer’s observation is | the following. A teacher of a class of | deficient children realized that singing | in her school would contribute much to the happiness of these little people; so she resolutely began the study of harmony and of vocal music, although += she had never learned anything what- <40 soever about music and had no ear for QYY it. In fact, she could not sing the scale - with any degree of accuracy. Her teacher admired her tremendous en- ergy and enthusiasm, but told her kindly that a person of her age, with t no ear for music, had better not at- amu. > tempt to learn to sing. She persisted, however, in the face of the opposition \ | and thinly-veiled pity of her friends, @ until at the end of the fourth year after y beginning her lessons, she could sing simple melodies very accurately and sweetly. THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER The habit of giving strict attention \? to one’s work, of doing every detail of »“W¥ it very thoroughly, and of mastering every department of it, has been urged in another chapter, but this truth can- not be too strongly stated. The young woman who makes herself felt in her place of business as one who can be relied upon to furnish accurate in- formation in regard to all the work of her department is bound to be a valued employee who will be retained when ‘© | others are dropped, and who will be co SD 1 promoted as opportunities occur. Such a woman will, of necessity, be very orderly. She will have her desk, her office, her counter, her work of whatever sort, arranged in an orderly manner, so that no time is wasted be- cause things are not in their right places. Lastly, the girl who succeeds will, of a certainty, be a real worker. Lazi- ness will be despicable in her eyes. A ‘sense of honor will cause her to give her employer her best service in return for her wage, whether that wage be small or large. “ d ‘ie DS AN ACCURATE BANK CLERK ex & . ‘° ® gen to enter the body, and the digestive CHAPTER XIX PHYSICAL HABITS The young girl worker should form the habit of carrying her body well; of holding herself erect while walking and sitting. A fine, erect carriage, with well-set head and _ shoulders, causes one to appear strong and ef- | , \ ficient as well as attractive. A certain 4=‘j physical culture teacher told her pupils : always to walk as if the chest carried them along. An efficient worker will ccna be a deep breather; i. e., much of the breathing will be done by the action of | _ | the diaphragm, by the method called |j¢ 1 by singers abdominal breathing. This method of breathing causes more oxy- ; tract is acted upon by the diaphragm | _/ in such a manner as to aid in the diges- @@y tive and assimilating processes. The J young woman who wishes to keep her | ) highest state of efficiency will always ) take exercises in the open air, if this is possible. If she is too tired after her (¥ day’s work to take a walk, to work in y.4 the garden, to play tennis, to row a ‘SJ, boat, to paddle a canoe, or to skate or swim, let her, at least, keep herself in the open air as much as is possible. She should form the habit of staying in the open air at least an hour a day. We are aware that this is impossible under certain conditions, but we are speaking now to the average young woman under normal conditions. i The necessity of the habit of the =. daily bath for cleansing and of the cold A“ bath for stimulation has been stated: 4 previously, as has also the need of habitually eating well-cooked, nour- ? ishing food. The young girl must re- | member that an efficient brain must have for its servant an efficient body, and that efficiency of the body depends | upon proper food, plenty of water, ex- ercise in the open air, and plenty of @ \._j rest and recreation, and that these fac- * x) tors in health must contribute regularly and not spasmodically to the general welfare of the entire person. \ The young people of this country ® are beginning to appreciate the open- { Oo AMI PHYSICAL HABITS air folk-dance as a healthful and de- lightful method of securing rest and | recreation in the wide “out-of-doors.” The flat roof of an apartment house, or the lawn, yard, or open field about @i% a private house is accessible to nearly + every group of young girls who would \ be benefited physically by a happy little dance together in the open air. We give the music for one of these sprightly little dances. The greeting can be changed to suit the taste of the dancers. “How do you dor” or “Now, 4. how are you?” would do as well as the Peace Greeting “Peace be to you.” oo aoa D> pate eo 1) when she shall need to do so. =<{ One of the most contemptible types { [160] apis gg VALUE IN THE HOME of humanity is the over-dressed, flashy, tawdry sort of girl who, because of yy some schooling (not education) that { she has received, has conceived the idea and mother and that she is ashamed of them—their speech, dress, and man- ners. Such a girl is beneath notice were it not for the misery that. she brings to her parents. The only cure for her is real education secured from association with genuine, refined, broad-minded persons. Occasionally some fine girl has to endure one of the most trying ordeals = that can come to one. She has to face $ the fact that her father or her mother is not worthy of respect. What is she to do? Such conditions are certainly { sad and dark, but thousands of girls have met them and have conquered them. Ifa girl cannot respect her par- | ents she can make of herself a woman that they are bound to respect, and in doing this she will treat them with such love and forbearance that the burden will be lightened in a great de- gtee. Oftentimes a good daughter will hold a family together with patience ) [ r6r] that she is vastly superior to her father (yy THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER and love and cheerful forbearance until light shines in upon very dark | homes. —— oe: CHAPTER XXII THE AIM TO BE OF VALUE IN BUSINESS A girl’s aim in her work should be very definite. Her ideal in that respect cannot be too high, the pains taken cannot be too great. Drudgery is con- verted into a pleasure when the work is thoroughly mastered. Attention to every detail, the study of every feature of the work—in a word, the mastery of * it—is the duty and the pleasure of the girl worker whose aim is high. Efficiency, fitness, ability to do the task better than any one else—these are what make work a pleasure, and bring success. In order to illustrate three types of girls in relation to their work we will consider the case of Miss A, a failure, Miss B, an average worker, and Miss «@ C, a very successful woman. We will imagine that all of these young women enter the linen department of a large store on the same day. They have been } ic THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER ) taught how to make out sales slips and ¥ have been given instructions as to ad- / dressing the customers and as to the general routine of the store. None of them has any special knowledge of linen goods: Miss A’s appearance is against her. She looks untidy and dresses in bad taste. In handling the linens she musses and soils them. She places the different patterns in the wrong drawers and much time is wasted in hunting for them. She is inattentive when direc- tions are being given, and wastes time in talking flippantly with the messen- ger boys and porters. She sends in sales slips with careless mistakes in re- gard to amount due, and at the end of two weeks she is informed that her services are no longer required. Miss B does the routine work for which she is hired fairly well, but she puts no enthusiasm into it. Her man- ner of greeting customers is never rude, but it is what might be called perfunc- tory. No customer feels that Miss B is taking real pains to please her; con- sequently no customer feels at all at- tracted to her. She keeps her stock in | — Cree 6 = VALUE IN BUSINESS good condition, but she knows little more about it at the end of five years than she did at the end of five months. She entered the store at a salary of five years she is receiving twelve dol- lars per week with no prospect of any further raise in salary. Miss C learns the routine work of the department quickly and is always on the alert in- giving to each customer her best service. The customers soon notice this and like to have her wait eo Eo her counter so deftly and with such clean hands that they are never soiled i or wrinkled. In her spare time she learns the make of all the different pat- terns that are kept in stock, so that she can tell a customer at once whether a certain pattern can be found there. at linen weaving that she gets books from of ‘the flax seed to the manufacture of the finest patterns woven. She asks in- ® telligent questions of the Buyer of the } Department and that person is glad to upon them. She handles the linens on = in becomes so much interested in § the public library and studies the | / manufacture of linen from the planting gy. seven dollars a week and at the end of @) ie THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER tell her anything that she desires to « { know in regard to the linens, and of the large stores in Belgium and Ireland “S/, where they are purchased. The Buyer “@e begins to depend upon her in certain ways, and the manager notices with sat- isfaction that she is “right on the job,” as he expresses it. After Miss C has been in the store five years and is earn- ing fifteen dollars a week she is called one day to the manager ’s office and ad- dressed something in this fashion: “Miss C, we have been watching your work in the linen department with much satisfaction, and the report that 2 Miss X has given us has corroborated our estimate of the value of your serv- ices to the store. Now, we are pleased to tell you that as Miss X is going to leave us soon, as she is to be married, we have decided that we cannot do better than to promote you to her posi- tion. You will start at a salary of $2,000 a year which will be raised reg- ce ularly until you reach Miss X’s. present salary of $4,000. You will, of course, have the pleasure of the trips abroad also at our expense. We are glad to = ( offer you this position, Miss C, as your [166] —_ @=— intelligent, faithful work for this House has entitled you to it, and I } would say, also, that your example and a influence in this store cannot be esti- ,\ mated in terms of salary.” @), hausting Sunday School class. A girls’ CHAPTER XXIII (© THE AIM TO BE OF VALUE TO | SOCIETY The girl who is of real value in her own home and in her wage-earning occupation is already filling such hon- orable places in society—places that demand the most of her time and strength—that she is obliged to select very carefully the organizations that will help her most, from the many thaf would be glad to secure her as a mem- ber. Her best energies belong to her employers, and she must not fill her leisure hours with tasks that make great demands upon her supply of } nervous force or lower her vitality. By \} constant attendance at church she may | help the minister quite as much as she } would by attempting to teach an ex- === gymnasium will help to develop strength of body, and a reading or a music club will bring very pleasant companionship, and while not taxing [ 168 ] RO VALUE TO SOCIETY the emotions or the nervous force will | bring a breadth of view and a bit of " color into the work of the week. a It is well for the girl worker to get ; a peep quite often, through lectures, classes and reading, of a larger world than that of her own city or country; but she must not attempt to manage two or three clubs, or to take upon her young wage-earning shoulders too many of the perplexities and complexi- ties of municipal or national affairs. The help that she gives society out- side of her vocational and home- making duties must consist largely in being instead of doing. If she aims to WN be kindly, gentle, and neighborly; to fill her place in life so cheerfully that a certain radiance is cast about her; to be patient even with the stupid and un- appreciative; to be a helpful, loving daughter, and a valuable employee, she will be doing as much for society as she should be doing at that stage of | her life. All of the work mentioned (:@s above is helping to prepare her to be- come a fine woman; strong physically, mentally and morally,—a woman who will probably some day be enthroned J BPS OK THE YOUNG. WOMAN WORKER as the Queen of Hearts in her own home, which she will be fitted to rule with wisdom, dignity and grace. i . [170] } Nay il | © CHAPTER XXIV A VISION: THE REWARD OF THE WORKERS I saw, as in a vision, a mighty shin- ing Messenger flash downward through the skies, and with a trumpet call, whose notes could be heard in all the corners of the earth, he summoned the | workers of the nations to present their achievements before the Judge of All Work. —< And then arose a glorious song, as SSX myriads of workers from every region of the world marched gladly up the Hill of Achievement toward the Hall { of Judgment. In the first ranks were many honor- able persons with heads erect and | haughty step, who carried exceedingly large bags of gold, and parchments | _f also, upon which one could read of the @&yy great deeds performed by these per- 4/ sons, and of their splendid benefactions @ to the world. Several in this division, {] | however, seemed troubled as they )y [172] ~ 6) — SG SS THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER neared the top of the hill, and threw down some of these bags, so that the gold was scattered about on the ground ; /, and eagerly picked up by those behind. % Others of this proud company hastily | marked some of their purses with la- bels: “Charities,” “Pensions,” “Public Buildings,” “Art,” “Education,” “So- cial Investigations,” and threw them down the mountain side, as they en- tered the Hall of Judgment. Now, to the great surprise of all who saw them, several of these persons seemed very sad when they came out of the presence of the Judge, and their heads were bowed upon their breasts. These men leaned over the edge of the mountain and seemed to listen to a low, monotonous chant from those workers who had not yet begun to ascend the hill. And as they listened to the words of this song, their faces grew pale, and they seemed greatly troubled; and, looking sorrowfully at each other, they exclaimed: “We forgot the other workers!” Upon the faces of some of the company, however, shone the light of a great blessing. [272] Then came a mighty army of men} ® ' | THE REWARD OF THE WORKERS and women, some old and care-worn, others strong and vigorous; and in the | 7 hands of some of these also were bags of money. Others held medals and honors. Some had their names in- scribed on rolls of fame; while still others had only the names of their sons and daughters. Artists proudly car- ried the mention of their masterpieces. Musicians brought long rolls of music. Authors had their arms filled with books, while others carried maps, and charts and diagrams of great bridges 4 BU they had built and other splendid work that they had done. Lawyers had their bags filled with papers telling of Ss cases they had won; and doctors had satchels in which were the names of the persons whose lives they had saved. Many of these persons also were very sorrowful as they came from the Hall of Judgment; and some who had the largest bundles of achievements threw them, as if in hatred, upon the «@y ground; and many of the lists of achievements were consumed and fell ® in ashes. But some persons who had 1) | entered the Hall with very little in ) [173] their hands came forth with joyful \) faces. : And now, another army climbed the steep pathway. And the song that they pia were singing was not so jubilant; but, — as they neared the summit, a strain of martial music reached their ears, and it gave them courage to mount to the Hall of the Judge. Many of these people were poorly though neatly clad, and their bags of money were so small that they could hardly be seen; and ;@ || very many had no bags. They seemed ‘<7 to fear that they had no real achieve- AN ments to present before the Judge; so some had brought the blessing of a sick neighbor and others a letter from the | old grandparents who were too feeble to climb the mountain. Yet others had young children in their arms, because the children could not be left alone | upon the earth. These all entered the Hall with _ |} trembling forms and downcast faces. G@®, But a great organ burst forth in mighty { harmony in which the sound of anvils and of hammers, of the merry voices of children and the blessings of old people formed the accompaniment to 6 ie 1 who rank among the workers?” | swered that the workers in the mines, | @ and the servants could not come be- i cause the people who did not work i would suffer and starve if they were ! left alone upon the earth. And as for » achievements to bring to the Hill. THE REWARD OF THE WORKERS a grand oratorio which told of victory won; and the faces of very many of { # these workers beamed with a glad { @ light, as they came forth after receiv- |. ing the “Well done!” of the Judge. Gy And now the end of the procession had reached the top of the hill and yet the sounds of labor could be heard from the world below and the Messen- ger with the trumpet asked sternly: “Where are the persons who serve for others—those whose daily toil it is to supply food and heat, shelter and transportation for those who do not 7 work? Where are the farmers, the employees of the railroads, the domes- tic servants and the miners, and where are the young girls and the young boys And the persons upon the Hill an- the farmers, the employees of railroads | the young workers, they had no But the Messenger blew a trumpet THE YOUNG WOMAN WORKER } blast which caused all the workers still upon the earth to throw down their task and start with forebodings o }, towards the Hill. And a great wailing went up from those who had not worked, who were left upon the earth alone. Now, as they walked, the miners and many other workers tried to find comfort in the books that had been cast down from the mountain. But, alas, many of them could not read, and some i had eyes that were too dim. But when this once uncouth, untidy company came forth from the Hall of Judgment, 7, behold! very many of them were straight and clean and beautiful, and they took their places with the Happy \ | Workers! Next came a sturdy, manly host of young boys, the most of whom passed safely o’er the miry places and seemed not to mind the obstacles. Some, how- ever, marched too rapidly and care- lessly; and these fell off by the wayside and were no more reckoned among the Workers. But very many of the young men came with bright faces from the ® % ag Ee mane Wy t@a—= OUTLINE 2. When Drudgery Becomes Pleasure. 3. The Woman who Was a Failure. 4. The Woman who Did Fairly Well. 5. The Woman who Was a Success. XXIII, The Aim to Be of Value to Society 1. A Young Woman’s Strength Largely Ex- hausted by Business and by Home Duties. 2. Social Organizations that Will Help the Worker. 3. A Young Woman Must Sometime Be Con- tent to Bs rather than to Do. 4. The Kind of Woman the Right Type of Girl Will Become. XXIV. The Reward of the Workers BIBLIOGRAPHY While You Are a Girl. L. R. Foxcroft. Pilgrim Press. The Girl and Her Religion. Margaret Slattery. Pil- é ' grim Press, Perfect Health for Women and Children. E. S. Chesser. McBride, Nast. Hygiene for Girls. F. H. Richards. Heath. Mind and Work. Luther Gulick. Doubleday, Page. Physical Education. Mary Coolidge Fish. Woman's Athenzum. Athletic Games in the Education of Women. Dudley and Kellor. Holt. =< Building Your Girl. K.H. Wayne. McClurg. Winsome Womanhood. Margaret Sangster. Revell. Personality in Woman. Margaret Sangster. Revell. Three Gifts of Life. N. M. Smith. Dodd, Mead. The Women of Tomorrow. William Hard. 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Hints en Clothing. M.S. Woolman. Teachers’ Col- lege Bulletin. Textiles (Clothing Budgets). M. S. Woolman and E. McGowan. Macmillan. Shelter and Clothing. H. Kinne and A. M. Cooley. Macmillan. Ornament and Dress. Charlotte M. Gibbs. Woman’s Atheneum, The Woman Who Spends. Ellen S. Richards. Whit- comb and Barrows. Women in Industry. Edith Abbott. Appleton. Young Working Girls. Robert A. Wood. Houghton Mifflin Co. Vocations for Girls. E. W. Weaver. Barnes. Vocations for Girls. Laselle and Wiley. Houghton Mifflin Co. oS =D on ‘a gig 2sat aM ie was uc 3 1924 091 730 303 “EFFICIENCY, FITNESS, ABILITY, THESE ARE WHAT MAKE WORK A PLEASURE AND BRING SUCCESS.” ,