Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/748

 728 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

My first day ended at half-past six. Through some over- sight, a supper ticket was not given to me, and so I was allowed to go home. I went wearily to the cloak-room and more wearily to my boarding place. When I arrived there, I could only throw myself upon my little white cot in the dormitory and wildly wonder if it would be all right for a working girl to cry. Pres- ently I was dreaming that blows from an iron mallet were falling fast upon me ; and in a little while it was morning, and another day was begun. Hundreds of clerks in the city were starting out for work just as weary as I, but with them there was not the knowledge that labor could be ended at will.

It must be understood that "our house" was open every evening till about ten o'clock, and the only compensation given for the extra work was a supper, the market value of which was about fifteen cents. That, like the lunch, had to be eaten in great haste. The maximum time allowed, in either case, was thirty minutes, but our instructions were to "hurry back." That half an hour was wholly inadequate one can readily imagine. It sometimes took ten or fifteen minutes to get a simple order filled in the crowded restaurants near by. The lunch outside meant from ten to fifteen cents a day out of our small earnings, but the breath of even the smoky outdoor air was worth that to us. The air inside was always foul, and the continual noise was fairly maddening. We were obliged to eat our supper in the store, where it was provided. The second day I partook of what the management magnanimously called the "free supper." We were fed in droves and hurried away before the last mouthful was swallowed. The menu consisted of a meat dinner and an oyster stew, the latter of which I always elected with the lingering hope that it had not been made of scraps left from the regular cafe dinner earlier in the day. The said stew consisted of a bowl of hot milk, in the bottom of which lurked three oysters, except on that memorable day when I found four.

The days in the store were much the same, with their endless fatigue. At times the rush would be great ; then again we would have nothing to do but stand around and talk. Thus we became surprisingly well acquainted in a short time. We talked about