"Your fifty cents covers a dozen pieces--no more.

If you want more you have to pay more, just as your employers do for your extra time." This last often happened.

No one on the face of it could ask more than ten hours of the swift, steady work given by the girls at but a fraction over 14 cents an hour.

Yet many times the housekeeper was anxious for more labor on special days; and the girls, unaccustomed to the three free hours in the afternoon, were quite willing to furnish it, thus adding somewhat to their cash returns.
They had a dressmaking class at the club afternoons, and as Union House boasted a good sewing machine, many of them spent the free hours in enlarging their wardrobes.

Some amused themselves with light reading, a few studied, others met and walked outside.