friend trimmed them.

She spent her vacation with relatives on a farm in the country. Railroad
fares and the occasional purchase of a magazine were her only
expenditures for pleasure. But she had many "good times" going to the
beaches in the summer with friends who paid her way.

She considered that with careful planning a girl could live in fair
comfort for $10 a week. But she saved nothing.

The drawback she mentioned in her own arrangements--the best she could
obtain for her present wage--was not the cold of her hall bedroom, warmed
only by the gas-jet, but that she had no suitable place for receiving men
friends. She was obliged to turn to trolley rides and walks and various
kinds of excursions,--literally to the streets,--for hospitality, when
she received a man's visit. She spoke frequently of one man with whom she
had many "good times." She could not take him to her room. Trolley
rides, and walks in winter, would pall. She hated park benches as a
resort for quiet conversation. Where, then, was she to see him? Although
she disapproved of it, she and another girl who had a larger and more
attractive room than her own had received men there.

Zetta's income for the year had been $520. She had spent $130 for rent;
$105 for dinners; $55 for breakfasts, luncheons, and washing; $195 for
clothing, summer railway fares, and incidentals; $15 for carfare; and $20
for insurance.

IV

Zetta's interest in her daily occupation is somewhat unusual in the trade
chronicles of the shop-girls. One frequently hears complaint of the
inefficiency and inattention of New York saleswomen and their rudeness to
plainly dressed customers. While this criticism contains a certain truth,
it is, of course, unreasonable to expect excellence from service
frequently ill paid, often unevenly and unfairly promoted, and, except
with respect to dress, quite unstandardized.

Further, it must be remembered that the world in which the shop-girl
follows her occupation is a world of externals. The fortunes, talents,
tastes, eager human effort spent in shop-window displays on Fifth Avenue,
the shimmer and sparkle of beautiful silks and jewels, the prestige of
"carriage trade," the distinction of presence of some of the customers
and their wealth and their freedom in buying--all the worldliness of the
most moneyed city of the United States here perpetually passes before the
eyes of Zettas in their $1.20 muslin waists so carefully scrubbed the
midni