After reading “Story of a Sweatshop Girl”, I could not help but feel good. This was one of those surprise stories that you would never expect to come from a sweatshop worker. Sadie Frowne was obviously an educated woman who had ambition. To read this document from her perspective was a very enlightening experience. Sadie was very intelligent and independent. She wanted to take full advantage of everything that America had to offer. Sadie educated herself by going to night classes. She recognized that through education and bettering herself she could achieve a better, fuller life. I thought it was interesting how she stated that she forced herself to go out after work instead of going to sleep. This kind of reminds me of the way young people are today. Many of Sadie’s characteristics give me the impression that she could live in today’s world. Sadie liked the finer things in life even on such a modest income. She enjoyed finer clothing in hopes that it could help her fit in with the higher class citizens. Sadie was extremely supportive of the union, yet was afraid of being associated as being a socialist.
What surprised me about Sadie Frowne was her calm demeanor throughout her testimonial. She seemed to emit almost no emotion when talking about the death of her parents and the injuries some workers suffered. Sadie never complained about the hardships that she had faced. I was rather shocked at how casually she would speak about getting injured at work. “We all have accidents like that. Where the needle goes through the nail it makes a sore finger, or where it splinters a bone it does much harm. Sometimes a finger has to come off.” One thing that I learned from this passage is just how strong of a person Sadie was. When times were troublesome, she was able to push forward and persevere.
Rose Cohen’s testimonial was not quite as surprising as Sadie’s. I feel that this was the typical sweatshop experience that many young women faced during that era. Rose expressed those dreadful feelings with a rare frankness. The detailed way that she depicted her sweatshop experience made me feel as if I had been right beside her. I could almost feel the frightfulness that she must have suffered through at such a young age. Just about every sentence in the testimonial includes sensory adjectives that give you a feeling like you were there. Rose worked the sweatshop to make her father proud. She did not want to let her father down, for she knew he was a hard-working man. When she did finally build up enough courage to complain about her treatment, her father was not sympathetic. Rose said to her father, “The boss is hurrying the life out of me.” Her father replied, “Work a little longer until you have more experience; then you can be independent.” She argued, “But if I did piece work, father, I would not have to hurry so. And I could go home earlier when the other people go.” Her father explained, “It pays him better to employ you by the week. Don’t you see if you did piece work he would have to pay you as much as he pays a woman piece worker? But this way he gets almost as much work out of you for half the amount a woman is paid.”
Oddly enough her father was siding with the sweatshop boss. He did not show any sympathy for Rose’s situation. Meanwhile, Rose was just looking for a way to earn enough money for her mother and siblings to join her and her father in America. This testimonial really made me feel for Rose. I can hardly imagine how difficult it would be at that age to be without a mother and in a whole different part of the world.
The testimonial “Among the Poor Girls” by Wirt Sikes was a short, heartbreaking true story of a girl named Susie. Susie was a beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter of a farmer from western New York. She was a superior seamstress that decided to move to the city to put her skills to good use and follow her dreams. It was not long after arriving that she found work for a dressmaker, Madame Fripperie.
Sikes had described the dressmaking workshop as “crowded” and “Faugh, how it smells”. Sikes describes the female workers as “pale and attenuated, and being robbed of life slowly and surely”. One more description that really stirred me was “they breathe an atmosphere of death.” Here Sikes illustrates the workers and the poor environment they work in. These are powerful depictions that expose a startling working environment that has sucked the vibrancy out of these young women.
When she first began working, Susie would hike the two miles to and from work each day without a problem; she was young and full of energy. That soon changed. Only three months later Susie could not find the strength to endure the walk. She began to ride the streetcar. Her liveliness and health were dissipating abruptly. Dark lines began to appear under her eyes; her complexion rapidly fading. Sikes describes Susie’s deterioration with these powerful words: “the poison had entered her system, and was killing her by degrees”. Susie’s pride kept her going and struggling on. She wanted to help out her family. One day it all became too hard for her body to handle and she dropped from her chair. Susie breathed her last breath no more than a year after leaving home.
The final testimonial by Clara Lemlich describes the shops. The girls work a thirteen hour workday, 7 am to 8 pm; only 30 minutes is allotted for a brief lunch break. The bosses treat the women as if they are an extension of the machines they are using. They disrespect the ladies through yelling and by degrading them. There are no special amenities to speak of in the shop. There are no dressing rooms for the women; there are just hooks for there jackets and hats. There is no adequate lighting; there is only window lighting for the first row of machines and gas lamp lighting for the others. I cannot imagine a more unpleasant place to work. The shop bosses also find ways to pay the girls as little as possible, including finding ways to take the money back. Let me explain. In most cases girls are paid by the day instead of the piece. This ensures that, as girls begin to improve and speed up their work, they will be paid the same regardless of how much work gets done. This only makes business owners more profits. Also, Clara reveals that girls get charged for material costs if there is damage to any goods whether it was caused by the worker or not. The final thought that Clara had was the most disturbing. During slow season, $2 is deducting from each employee’s weekly salaries. If it were not already hard enough living off their current wages, I cannot imagine getting a 33% pay cut!