There is a direct law of attraction that very few people recognize. In
the beginning of the society, if Tom Vivian had been told that he would
marry soon, he would have scorned the idea. “I am devoted to the cause
of the people,” he would have told you, “and I have no time to devote to
love affairs,” and yet he was the first to succumb. Nellie Gaylord was a
friend of Scoris Vivian, and when the society was started she took an
active interest in it. It was soon seen that Tom Vivian referred oftener
to Nellie’s opinion than he did to others in cases of importance, until
he believed that she was necessary to the success of the society. That
he was in love no one doubted, and it was a satisfaction to many members
when they were able to say: “Didn’t I tell you so? Oh, you can’t fool
me.”
Nellie’s life had been a sad one in some respects before she became
identified with the society, then everything changed for the better. She
had some one to love, honor, yes, almost worship, in Tom Vivian. I am
going back in her life, though, to the time when she was earning her
living before she was married. She had been a stenographer and when her
eyesight troubled her she found that she would have to take employment
in something that would require less application. At this time she was
in a factory where she was head forewoman over a large number of girls,
all running power sewing machines, making ladies’ underwear. Her duty
was to inspect the work and see that no one wasted time. She sometimes
regretted that she had to work among a class who never seemed to think
of anything beyond pay-day or “their fellows,” as they expressed it. The
idea of bettering their condition never seemed to enter their mind
unless it was perhaps some day to marry a rich man like some other girl
they had heard of. To marry one day was fully expected, but pay-day
generally outweighed all other considerations. Today, however, she was
thinking of herself as this was her twentieth birthday and it brought up
the sad memories of a time when her mother used to remember it by some
little gift, or her father would arrange to take her to some amusement
in honor of the occasion. Now both had gone from her and she was among a
lot of girls to whom she thought she couldn’t possibly talk of the
things that interested her most. She looked up presently and saw two
girls holding out a silk waist for the admiration of their friends. “I
am thirty-six bust measure and will try it on if you like,” she said, as
they were looking at her after asking who was that measurement.
“Oh, what a pretty waist; whose is it?” she asked. Their mother’s
birthday present, they told her, which would be next day and the mother
would never suspect they had walked to and from work every day for two
months to save car fare, and had done without fruit or cake for their
lunch, just to be able to make it their own present. “For you see we
give her all we earn and it is all we three have to live upon, and she
makes it spin out someway by earning a little, sewing when she can get
it to do, but she does our sewing and washing and takes care of the
home, so this is something she will prize, and we are so glad we could
get it in time,” they explained.
“Well, girls, you are lucky to have a mother, and your mother is to be
congratulated for having two such self-denying daughters. I lost my
mother just two years ago and this is my birthday.” One of the girls
took her hand and held it lovingly, while both remarked how nice she
looked in the waist and hoped their mother would look as well.
[Illustration: Mary Smith, the only support of the family.]
This little incident, born of sympathy, the touch of the hand, the
kindness to the mother, spoke volumes to Nellie, and she and the sisters
became friends. She had felt alone when she first came into the factory.
When one spends long, weary hours with people who have different ideas,
life is more lonely than if one were in a solitary place.
She had been considered reserved, or “proud,” as some had called her,
but her quiet, firm manner had been her main recommendation to the head
of the firm. She acquired a great liking for many of the girls, however,
as their little difficulties came under her notice. Their hardships with
poverty, although never called by that name, were borne so bravely. The
insults they endured from girls employed in offices or stores on their
way home at night, the sneers and the drawing of their clothes aside for
the fear of coming in contact was enough to make them feel inferior,
even though they were not. To Nellie this was abominable, for labor is
labor, in the banking house, store or factory, in the home, or anywhere,
and should be respected.
One day a little cash girl had been hurt by a street car. The newspapers
told how this little child of eleven years was the only member of a
family of four who was earning anything, and all she got was two dollars
a week; how she lived two miles from her work and had to walk each way,
then run from eight in the morning until six at night.
When one evening while returning home the accident occurred. It was
pitiful to hear her cry after her ankle had been attended to, for the
pain was not the worst part of her trouble. Oh! if she should lose her
employment, what would they do at home? she cried. Baby Bob couldn’t
have his milk. Why, they couldn’t have any food at all. Her anxiety
about the money touched the girls’ sympathy who were taking her home.
They had carried her to the car and were trying to comfort her.
The girls found an old frame building that had been abandoned as unsafe,
propped up to keep it from falling. There were no lights and voices were
heard asking what had happened. They got her to bed, still in the dark,
and no one offered to help. Through sobs that shook the whole building,
the mother explained that she couldn’t move because of rheumatism. The
father was also too weak to do anything and the baby cried because Mary
and his mother were crying. The girls went home for their mother and a
light and when they returned saw the most pitiful sight they had ever
seen. Four helpless people, and not enough food in the house to satisfy
the hunger of one.
The Healey girls did not forget little Mary Smith, the cash girl, but
said nothing at the time in the factory. Every few days they went to see
that she was not in need and did all they could for the family. Mrs.
Healey soon drew the story of their wretched life from them, and their
gratitude to her and her daughters was the opening of a friendship that
only those who have gone through such misery can realize its strength.
John Smith, the father, had been a builder and carpenter, and though he
was a first-class workman and his labor had helped to build some of the
best homes in the city, yet he had only a condemned shell to die in, for
dying he was, from the effects of poverty, sickness and inability to get
work. This last stroke of misfortune, Mary becoming helpless, at least
for a time, was too much for his shattered nerves and two days
afterwards he died. The shock had been so great that both mother and
child were stunned as well as helpless. They had one comfort, he at
least had not been separated from them, which had been his greatest
fear. Many times he had laid on his bed, unable to escape the cold winds
that blew through cracks in the wall or the rain that fell through the
roof. There was no comfort for him unless it was being with his loved
ones and they knew if the authorities discovered his condition, he would
be taken away and possibly they would never see each other again.
Before coming to this place, the Smiths had been unable to pay their
rent, the husband had been ill for more than a year; so one day feeling
better than usual, had gone for a walk. When he returned, he found all
their possessions on the sidewalk, the door shut against them and
nowhere to go. His wife was away washing. He saw the things they
treasured scattered around at the mercy of any one and was too weak to
gather them up. All he could do was to watch them until some kindly
neighbors came and moved them to this old ramshackle place.
When Mary came home at night, weary, footsore and worn out, there was no
warm supper to cheer her, not even a shelter, and it was some time
before she found her parents and Bob. Poor little soul, she had been
forgotten in the efforts of getting the household goods under cover
before night. All events till now were dated back to this last
degradation. The mother had become unable to work since then, and now
even Mary was helpless. What would they do? It was a trial an older
person might find hard to bear, but a child of eleven years looked upon
it in desperation.
“Surely there must be something wrong with our whole social structure,”
Nellie had thought when the girls told her the next day. “What can we do
to help in such cases? Simply nothing. We have all we can do to earn
enough to exist ourselves.”
Fortunately the city sent help, and as the girls talked it over in the
large work room, it was rather interesting to hear the old wornout ideas
get their quietus as a quiet, pale-faced girl sitting in a corner by
herself remarked, “But this was not a case of drinking or laziness, but
misfortune caused from ignorant management in the affairs of our city
and we may say, in our country itself. Employment should be provided for
all, then such things wouldn’t occur.”
“Well,” one of the girls said, “we never receive charity and I don’t
believe any one needs to become so poor as to need help from the city.”
“I don’t see why they shouldn’t,” the pale-faced girl continued, “when
they are the ones who contribute all their labor to provide, not only
for themselves, but their employer besides, and make it possible for the
city to have a fund for that purpose.”
This caused a general roar of laughter from most of the girls. The bell
rang. Work began and was continued for the rest of the day, but the next
day some one of the girls asked her what she meant, and Nellie, seeing
them a little excited, joined them also. Then she said that Annie, which
was the girl’s name, was right.
“We are all employed by Mr. Forbes. He pays us so much for our labor or
time. Well, he has to have a large profit, or it wouldn’t pay him to
hire us. Out of our labors, he has to pay rent, support his family and
see that he gets sufficient interest on his capital. All this comes out
of our labor. He merely manages the buying and selling and it does not
end here; his landlord has to have the rent to pay taxes and receive his
living. That is what Annie meant. Who do you think is most dependent,
Mr. Forbes, or us?”
“Why, we are,” they all exclaimed.
“No, you are wrong. We could take our sewing machines at home and earn
just as much as we do here, if the market was assured us. He could not
earn single-handed what we earn for him, we three hundred girls, don’t
you see? Now in this case you have been so interested in, that man has
built a large number of homes right here in this city and yet he was
unable to even have the use of one to die in, let alone to live in.
Girls, I belong to a society that some time I would like you to visit.
It would help you to solve some of the problems of life, that no one has
a right in these days to shirk, for it is our industry and every other
working person’s that keeps the machinery running, not only of the
factories, but of the cities.”
“Then we sent money and provisions to keep that family from starving,”
one of the girls remarked, “even though we did it unconsciously.”
“Yes, all who work do their share towards paying the taxes and when the
society called ‘The Wealth Producing and Distributing Society’ is
stronger and been in operation twenty or fifty years, we will cease to
have human beings living at the mercy of so-called charitable
institutions, poorhouses, or, worse still, starving to death, as they
are at the present time. There is another thing, girls, that I want to
tell you; whenever you are called ‘factory girls,’ as you are so often
by shop girls, just keep a dignified silence. Your labor is just as
necessary as theirs and if you only considered it a little, you are of
as much importance also. Every intelligent person should honor his own
industry and remember that he is fulfilling his mission in life, and if
all did so, heartaches would cease. Any bright person would do the best
he could under existing circumstances and would even raise conditions
which he considered beneath his dignity to his own level, as you may
learn if you join our society. Respect yourselves and address each other
as you do Mr. Forbes. Learn to appreciate yourselves, your advantages,
and then create new opportunities as your ability points out the way.
All useful employment is honorable, and now is the time to raise labor
to its proper dignity among all honorable people.”
Many of those girls not only attended the meetings, but joined the
society. Even Mr. Forbes, who owned the business, saw that he could do
better by becoming one of them, so he became a member and eventually
moved out to the Colony.