So the housewife loads the table with luxuries hitherto unknown; the pretty girl is tempted into all the caprices of dress that her little Vanity Fair may flaunt, while the father and brother can scarcely tell whither their dollars speed on such swift wings.
THE LYCEUM, PELZER, S. C.
Yet this wastefulness, too, is but a phase, destined to gradual elimination in the development of the process by which an agricultural people are converted into a manufacturing one. With all their illiteracy this class is not devoid of understanding; and when a certain bewilderment of these early years is past, it will be borne in upon them in countless ways, by their school privileges, their larger experience, their clearer views of the outside world, by their own innate manhood, indeed, that there are far other uses for hard-earned money than to be lavished on mere food, clothing and shelter. Many of them are already opening their eyes to the fact that for an abundance of things to eat and wear, they have bartered a certain independence and manliness which are fostered by agricultural pursuits, even the lowliest, and which breed sturdier virtues than mere factory dependents can hope to transmit to their children. Awakening perceptions such as these are leading to different results: to a rescinding of extravagance always; sometimes a return to the farm; occasionally to the laying aside of money or investing it in a home just outside the factory property. But in most cases I find a steadfast purpose growing,—to work straight on where they are for the present, and save every cent possible to educate the coming generation and set their feet in the path that leads to freedom. I have even found several young men and women putting aside money to go to school on when enough is saved, and many go to school and work through alternate half years.
But how can they save money? clamor those who have been studying the comparative wage-scale of Northern and Southern factories, without acquaintance with the actual conditions of the latter. By reasonable economy, is the answer in this case as others.
From $20 to $30 per month is paid good weavers throughout this section, while the average spinner draws from $10 to $16. These are regarded as good living wages in a country where the prices of necessaries range much lower than in the East or the West. Houses are to be heated only about four months in the year, and fuel is comparatively cheap, in many places less than $1.50 per cord for wood, while coal averages less than half the price it brings in Northern markets. Clothing in this warm climate costs far less than in a colder region. Farm and garden supplies are purchased for what seems to the Northern mind an absurdly low price, and dairy products are never high. Besides, in all the rural mill communities, which are now counted by the score to every one in a city, a garden patch always and often pasturage for one cow can be counted on with every cottage.
House rent is not a considerable item. The mill cottages rent by the month on the basis of 60 cents to $1 per room, and the houses range in size from three to eight rooms, four, however, being the rule. With few exceptions, these cottages are fairly comfortable, and built with due regard to sanitation. Outside of cities, each one has its ground space where the inmates may grow flowers and vegetables, thus fostering a form of local attachment that is by no means weak.
From this brief survey, it may be deduced that while the one-time tiller of the soil has surrendered something in becoming a factory operative, he has also come into new privileges and potentialities. When you strike your balance between gain and loss, do not overlook the weighty consideration of the school advantages and other educational facilities which such people have acquired by coming from sparse and remote settlements into their present community life.
During a recent cold snap the young and tender editor of this youthful publication accompanied the blizzard to a small Tennessee town. The office of the little hotel was full of commercial travelers trying to keep warm around a single grate. A half-frozen Italian organ grinder, with his monkey, entered, but was crowded away from the fire by the traveling men. He found a chair away back in the corner of the room and soon fell asleep. But suddenly he woke with a scream; the traveling men rushed to him and asked him what was the matter. He said he dreamed he was in hell and was freezing to death. “Freezing to death in hell! How is that?” asked one of the boys. “Well,” replied the Italian, “the drummers crowded around the fire so I couldn’t get to it.”—Robert. L. Taylor.
