172

One of the swells of the factory: a very expert "vamper,"
an Irish girl, earning from $10 to $14 a week, 172

"Learning" a new hand, 184

The window side of Miss K.'s parlour at Lynn, Mass., 196

"Fancy gumming," 210

An all-round, experienced hand, 210

"Mighty mill--pride of the architect and the commercial magnate," 220

"The Southern mill-hand's face is unique, a fearful type," 240

* * * * *

THE WOMAN WHO TOILS

CHAPTER I--INTRODUCTORY

BY

MRS. JOHN VAN VORST

* * * * *

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Any journey into the world, any research in literature, any study of
society, demonstrates the existence of two distinct classes designated
as the rich and the poor, the fortunate and the unfortunate, the upper
and the lower, the educated and the uneducated--and a further variety of
opposing epithets. Few of us who belong to the former category have come
into more than brief contact with the labourers who, in the factories or
elsewhere, gain from day to day a livelihood frequently insufficient for
their needs. Yet all of us are troubled by their struggle, all of us
recognize the misery of their surroundings, the paucity of their moral
and esthetic inspiration, their lack of opportunity for physical
development. All of us have a longing, pronounced or latent, to help
them, to alleviate their distress, to better their condition in some, in
every way.

Now concerning this unknown class whose oppression we deplore we have
two sources of information: the financiers who, for their own material
advancement, use the labourer as a means, and the philanthropists who
consider the poor as objects of charity, to be treated sentimentally,
or as economic cases to be studied theoretically. It is not by economics
nor by the distribution of bread alone that we can find a solution for
the social problem. More important for the happiness of man is the hope
we cherish of eventually bringing about a reign of justice and equality
upon earth.

It is evident that, in order to render practical aid to this class, we
must live among them, understand their needs, acquaint ourselves with
their desires, their hopes, their aspirations, their fears. We must
discove