Life On The Farm And In The City

Tliousands of young men, diacontenteil with the farm work of their fath"OrS have an ideal city life in thëir miiids, wheire the young man, gaily trigged out with f.ishiouably cut clothes miei jewelry, makea a stunning appearance and seems to be free i'rom ordinary human caros. A recent letter from Chicago gives a picture of clerical life whioh has a valuable hint in it to those who lus lor such employment, to enable thcm to escape the more laborious work of the farm. A short extract is given to show how thoroughly the indi vidual ity and the manliood must be cmshed out to give place to the mechanieal obsequiQus&eas of the clerk: "It is estimated thore are 20,000 in Chicago. The salaries of these anlmated antomatons rnnge from $6 to $15, seldom as high as $18 per week; and how uu der heaven they make the legeudary ' two ends ' meet is one of the mysteries. The salaries of those who gain their livelihood by their ' slinpe ' rather than by brains and brawn, have been cut down since the tire fnlly 100 per cent. There lias been no rednetion in living expenses consequent apon high rente, which have been very generally maintained. These clerks are compelled to lose their individuality completely, and have beeoine, in conscquence of their virtual slavery, veritable puppets. Supposing there was not the constant terror oí loss of i ituation - and there is, for au advertisement in the Tribune for uu y marnier of a clerk will bring from 5Ö0 to 1,000 ápplicants - each ablc to bring ' the very best refereucos, and we may say the clerk receives the munitieciit pittance of 12 per week, which is certainly the average salary. To get board at as low a price as 6 per week, aud this will only procure the vilest of hash, he must live from two to four miles from his place of business. As he must be bchind his gorgeous counter -money is put in fnrnishings, not salaries, in Chicago - at 7:30 o'clock promptly, it necessitates tho expenditure of 60 cents a week for car fare. His lunch is not often included in this dyspepsia-producing böarding-house regime, and $1.50 at least must be expended during the week for restaurant drtmérs. His washing will cost $1 more, for his linen must be spotless, and his absolutely necessary incidental expenses will swell this total to $10, leaving 2 per week with which to array himself in costly apparal, for he must be faultlessly drcss'ed. When it is t"ue that more clerks reccive 10 than $12 per week, and the fact that many have families to support is considerad, a picture of exquisite misery is f nrnished that rfiould prompt sume artist k aehieve rènówll ly portraying these miseries and making the clerk their embodiéd type. ' 'Bnt these are not all his miserie.-1. The ' floor-walker ' or foreman has au eagle eye for delinquents, and the slightest déreUetion is visited with a stinging reprimand, a hissed curse, or that consummation of all horrors, dismissal; and, so earful of this do these clerks beeome, and Sb grovclir.g :ire they obliged to be in consequenoe, that I have stood by in disgust and seen them ehew prints in proof of their ' fast color ' at the suggestion of ladies.{?) Mauliness, sentiment, consideration, are all evolved. Labor is valued iu ílxeeo liuge establishments at just what it will bring, and iive hundred employés are morally so muchmacliinery. The caprices of women with time on their hands to kill; the petulance of women who carry their shrewishness into their inquines for tape aud tarletan; the whimsicalities of graudmothers and the virulence of spinsters; tïïe torment of women who want forty dozen samples ' to send to a sick eousin in the country,' but who are really making patch-work and quilts; the thoughtlessness of girls who end a raid on a department with the remark, ' Gue'iS ma'll have to come ; ' snickering women, terrible women; handsome women, ugly women; holy women, thieving women; and all the countless contemptible little exhibitions of snobbishness on the part of all women who mistake tliem for evidences of womanhood and caste - all have to be overeóme aud smoothed away bv the despairing clerk, or judgment day comes."