The chief of these, worry over the situation of her younger sister, still
in Russia, had been enhanced by her observations of the unhappiness of a
friend, another girl, working in the same shop--a tragedy told here
because of its very serious bearing on the question of seasonal work.
Rita's younger sister was in somewhat the same position as this girl,
alone, without physical strength for her work, and, indeed, so delicate
that it was doubtful whether her admission to the United States could be
secured, even if Rita could possibly save enough for her passage money.
The friend in the shop, hard pressed by the dull season, had at last
become the mistress of a man who supported her until the time of the
birth of their child, when he left her resourceless. Slack and dull
seasons in factory work must, of course, expose the women dependent on
their wage-earning powers, most of them young and many of them with great
beauty, to the greatest dangers and temptations.[21] Especially at the
mercy of the seasons were some of the fur sewers, and the dressmakers,
and milliners working, not independently, but in factories and workshops.

Helena Hardman, an Austrian girl, a fur sewer, had been employed for only
twenty weeks in the year. She sewed by hand on fur garments in a Twelfth
Street shop, for $7 a week, working nine hours a day, with a Saturday
half-holiday. The air and odors in the fur shop were very disagreeable,
but had not affected her health.

At the end of the twenty weeks she had been laid off, and had looked
unsuccessfully for work for seventeen weeks, before she found employment
as an operative in an apron factory. Here, however, in this unaccustomed
industry, by working as an operative nine hours a day for five days a
week, and six hours on Saturday, she could earn only $3 or $4.