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    WORK AND WAGES OF WOMEN IN FRANCE. 323

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    »— The World Seems Now Astir. Many Are L...

    Houses which , must have tainted the very atmosphere around , _streets into which no one dared penetrate except the wretched

    inhabitants , have been cleared away from the face of the great city of Paris . What has become of the sickly creatures whose weary

    days and nights were dragged out in those garrets , whose toil-worn feet found their way through those dirty alleys ? Have clean and

    • decent homes been provided for them when their old dens were demolished ? Most of them have found refuge in some suburb

    of Paris , although that involves the long walk to fetch and return their work , for which the poor creatures , who are only

    earning at the rate of Id . an hour , can but ill spare time or the ¦ additional cost of extra shoeleather .

    Many women , who cannot manage to get together a little furniture , are reduced to the necessity of living in a furnished

    lodginghouse , among the very scum of society , "In many of these lodging-houses" the Commission of Inquiry tells us " men and

    , , _^ _wxDinen have but one common sleeping-room . _" The poor girl waits till nightfall to take home her work ,

    in order that her tatters may not be seen ; she shudders at the thought that perhaps some part of the pittance may be kept back ,

    or payment put off till next time ; the moment she gets out into the streets all the luxury of the world meets her eyes . She sees

    the heroines of vice pass in their carriages , splendidly dressed . The sounds of music meet her ears as she goes by the theatres , the

    concert rooms , the ball rooms . If she has no family ties , no reliion in her heartwhat is to keep her back ? What is to teach

    her g when the choice , lies between misery and luxury , always to , choose honest misery ? She sees that she has it in her own

    _3 > ower to exchange suffering for pleasure . She knows very well that the elegant profligate , whom she saw drive past her , has her

    house in town , that she goes to the public gardens , to the balls , that every branch of literature writes about her class , and extols

    the virtues that remain to her . When poor shop-girls and sempstresses witness the triumphs of vicehow are they to be still

    " pure in heart" ? Is it not to be expected , that they will make those mental comparisons which drive men to hatred and revolt

    , . and which plunge them into profligacy ? They are happy and comparatively safe who find a lover of their

    'own grade in society . They seldom find a husband . A respectable workman when he thinks of marrying , seeks a wife in

    some quiet family . Sometimes this kind of liaison is prolonged through so many years that it constitutes by its duration a legal

    marriage . But it is a sad life for a poor woman , to feel that she lias no recognised position , but depends solely on the caprice of a

    lover who may leave her at any moment . These poor , desolate pen _igirls to , who take are up grateful with an for unprinci the first pled g fellow leam of are affection very soon , if they cast hap off . -

    , A man who has no deeper feeling than mere _sensixality , leaves

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    Work And Wages Of Women In France. 323

    WORK AND WAGES OF WOMEN IN FRANCE . 323

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/35/