MARIE VAN VORST

INTRODUCTORY

VII. A MAKER OF SHOES AT LYNN

VIII. THE SOUTHERN COTTON MILLS

IX. THE CHILD IN THE SOUTHERN MILLS

CHAPTER VI

INTRODUCTORY

There are no words too n.o.ble to extol the courage of mankind in its brave, uncomplaining struggle for existence. Idealism and estheticism have always had much to say in praise of the "beauty of toil." Carlyle has honoured it as a cult; epics have been written in its glory. When one has turned to and performed, day in and day out, this labour from ten to thirteen hours out of the twenty-four, with Sundays and legal holidays as the sole respite--to find at the month's end that the only possible economics are pleasures--one is at least better fitted to comprehend the standpoint of the worker; and one realizes that part of the universe is pursuing means to sustain an existence which, by reason of its hardship, they perforce cling to with indifference. I laid aside for a time everything pertaining to the cla.s.s in which I was born and bred and became an American working-woman. I intended, in as far as was possible, to live as she lived, work as she worked. In thus approaching her I believed that I could share her ambitions, her pleasures, her privations.

Working by her side day after day, I hoped to be a mirror that should reflect the woman who toils, and later, when once again in my proper sphere of life, to be her expositor in an humble way--to be a mouthpiece for her to those who know little of the realities of everlasting labour.

I have in the following pages attempted to solve no problem--I have advanced no sociologic schemes. Conclusions must be drawn by those who read the simple, faithful description of the woman who toils as I saw her, as I worked beside her, grew to understand in a measure her point of view and to sympathize with her struggle.

MARIE VAN VORST.

Riverdale-on-Hudson, 1902.

A MAKER OF SHOES AT LYNN

CHAPTER VII

A MAKER OF SHOES AT LYNN

"Those who work neither with their brains nor their hands are a menace to the public safety."--Roosevelt.

Well and good! In the great mobs and riots of history, what cla.s.s is it which forms the brawn and muscle and sinew of the disturbance? The workmen and workwomen in whom discontent has bred the disease of riot, the abnormality, the abortion known as Anarchy, Socialism. The hem of the uprising is composed of idlers and loungers, indeed, but it is _the labourer's head_ upon which the red cap of protest is seen above the vortex of the crowd.

_That those who labour with their hands may have no cause to menace society, those who labour with their brains shall strive to encompa.s.s._

Evils in any system American progress is sure to cure. Shops such as the Plant shoe factory in Boston, with its eight-hour labour, ample provision for escape in case of fire, its model ventilating, lavish employment of new machinery--tells on the great manufacturing world.

Reason, human sympathy, throughout history have been enemies to slavery or its likeness: reason and sympathy suggest that time and place be given for the operative man and woman to rest, to benefit by physical culture, that the bowed figures might uplift the flabby muscles. Time is securely past when the manufacturers' greed may sweat the labourers'

souls through the bodies' pores in order that more stuff may be turned out at cheaper cost.

The people through social corporations, through labour unions, have made their demands for shorter hours and better pay.

LYNN

Luxuries to me are what necessities are to another. A boot too heavy, a dress ill-hung, a stocking too thick, are annoyances which to the self-indulgent woman of the world are absolute discomforts. To omit the daily bath is a little less than a crime in the calendar; an odour bordering on the foul creates nausea to nostrils ultra-refined; undue noises are nerve exhausting. If any three things are more unendurable to me than others, they are noises, bad smells and close air.

I am in no wise unique, but represent a cla.s.s as real as the other cla.s.s whose sweat, bone and fiber make up a vast human machine turning out necessities and luxuries for the market.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A DELICATE TYPE OF BEAUTY--At work in a Lynn shoe factory]

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THE SWELLS OF THE FACTORY: A very expert "vamper,"

an Irish girl, earning from $10 to $14 a week]

The clothes I laid aside on December 18, 1901, were as follows:

Hat $ 40 Sealskin coat 200 Black cloth dress 150 Silk underskirt 25 Kid gloves 2 Underwear 30 ---- $ 447

The clothes I put on were as follows:

Small felt hat $ .25 Woolen gloves .25 Flannel shirt-waist 1.95 Gray serge coat 3.00 Black skirt 2.00 Underwear 1.00 Tippet 1.00 ---- $9.45

When I outlined to my friends my scheme of presenting myself for work in a strange town with no introduction, however humble, and no friends to back me, I was a.s.sured that the chances were that I would in the end get nothing. I was told that it would be impossible to disguise my cla.s.s, my speech; that I would be suspected, arouse curiosity and mistrust.