a basket, but I don’t dare, because they would make so much fun of me.”
The girls sent out for lunch and I asked of them the prices. For five cents they get a good pint of coffee, with sugar and milk if desired. Two cents will buy three slices of buttered bread. Three cents, a sandwich. Many times a number of the girls will put all their money together and buy quite a little feast. A bowl of soup for five cents will give four girls a taste. By clubbing together they are able to buy warm lunch.
At one o’clock we were all at work again. I having completed sixty-four lids, and the supply being consumed was put at “molding in.” This is fitting the bottom into the sides of the box and pasting it there. It is rather difficult at first to make all the edges come closely and neatly together, but after a little experience it can be done easily.
On my second day I was put at a table with some new girls and I tried to get them to talk. I was surprised to find that they are very timid about telling their names, where they live or how. I endeavored by every means a woman knows, to get an invitation to visit their homes, but did not succeed.
“How much can girls earn here?” I asked the forewoman.
“I do not know,” she said; “they never tell each other, and the bosses keep their time.”
“Have you worked here long?” I asked.
“Yes; I have been here eight years, and in that time I have taught my three sisters.”
“Is the work profitable?”
“Well, it is steady; but a girl must have many years’ experience before she can work fast enough to earn much.”
The girls all seem happy. During the day they would make the little building resound with their singing. A song
