Читать книгу Hard-Pan. A Story of Bonanza Fortunes онлайн

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“I don’t know,” she answered, “whether I’m all that. I may be some of it. But it’s so awfully hard for a woman to support herself. They have such a hard time, and get so badly paid, and there are so few things that you make money by soon, you know, without studying for years.”

“Why, it seems to me there are lots of things: dressmaking, and type-writing, and—er—trimming hats, and making jam, and reciting poems, and teaching children.”

Letitia laughed.

“Why, how could a girl type-write, or trim hats, or even make jam, without knowing how? You’ve got to learn those things. I’ve tried to trim hats a dozen times, and always spoiled them; and one summer Maud undertook to make some jam, and it was perfectly awful—I don’t mean the jam: I mean the house while the jam was getting made. Maud and the Chinaman and Mortimer were all in such a bad temper!”

They walked on for a few moments in silence. Then Letitia continued:

“Why, even the girls who have fairly good positions in stores don’t get enough to live on. The girl who shampoos my hair has a sister in Abram’s, and she gets seven dollars a week, and has to be nicely dressed. Just fancy that!” said Letitia; and then, in a burst of candor: “Why, I never in this world could dress on that alone, even if I gave up silk stockings and always wore alpaca petticoats like the woman who teaches Maud German.”