The Troubles of the American Seamstress.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 193, 5 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Troubles of the American Seamstress.

On both sides of the Atlantic the struggle for existence involves frequent tragedies. Tho story of Mra Mor^n, who attempted suicide in Jersey City, ia hardly an extreme case among womon workers in ki go cities, although there wae an added anxiety in her case that finally broke do\n all st-if- control. She had four children to cupport, and she went out at washing in the daytime and worked at dressmaking at night. Before such a labour strain as thin demands for eight hours and acquiescence in ten hours' work fade into insignificance. Right though they tnay bo, they Boein even trivial claims, as maio by fetrong men, when compared with this awful race among sewing women against starvation and time Seventeen and eighteen hours for a day's work is not aa uncommon stretch of toil among the poorest paid working women, and it is not unlikely that this helpless struggler who tried to combine two trades worked all of eighteen hours a day. With every muscle aching and every nerve excited from the severe day's toil at her wash tub, ehe sat down at night and threaded her needle for another dull wearying tax u, on skill and strength, It in pitiful, it si? tragic, and yet hundreds of livob are worn out in this ■way to supply the cheap ready-in-uJe underwear, the handsome cloak? and coats, the economical, stout, and endurable clothing for men and women.