each thought
about Lizzie. Armenian stock was very low that day. Just then Lizzie
appeared, a very attractive, neat girl who had been friendly and kind
to me. I had no idea it was she about whose character such blusterous
words were being spoken. With Lizzie and the Irish girl face to
face--Heaven help us! I expected to see them at each other's throats.
Such talk! Finally another Irish girl turned to the Armenian. "Why
t'hell do you get so mad over it all, now?" Lizzie stopped, gave the
second Irish girl a quizzical look. Slowly a smile spread over her
face. She gave a little chuckle. "Ho! Why t'hell?" We all laughed and
laughed, and the fight was off.

It seems Lizzie was known far and wide for her temper. She had been
fired from waiting on the chefs because she let it loose in their
dining room one night. Now they were trying her out up at our end of
the service floor. Minnie, the oldest Irish woman at our table and in
a decidedly ruffled mood that day, claimed it was the Armenian in
her. "They're all like that. Shure, I got a Armenian helper--that kid
over there. Wait till he says one word more to me. I'll bust a plate
on his head and kick his prostrate form into the gutter. It'll be a
happy day in my life!"

They all asked me about my work and how I liked it. Evidently mine was
a job high in favor. "Shure you're left alone and no one to be under
your feet or botherin' with y' every minute of the day. You're yo'r
own boss."

The talk got around to the strike at the Hotel McAlpin of a few years
ago. It was for more pay. The strike was lost. I asked why. "Shure,
they deserved to lose it. Nobody hung together."

We discussed domestic service. Every day at that hotel I wondered why
any girl took work in a private home if she could possibly get a hotel
job. Here was what could be considered by comparison with other jobs,
good pay, plus three nourishing meals a day, decent hours, and before
and after those hours freedom. In many cases, also, it meant a place
to sleep. There was a chance for talk and companionship with one's
kind during the day. Every chance I got I asked a girl if she liked
working in a private home, or would change her hotel job if she got a
chance. The only person who was not loud in decrying private service
was Minnie during this special Thursday lunch. But Minnie was so sore
on the world that day. I do believe she would have objected to the
Virgin Mary, had the subject come up. Minnie had worked