Read Online A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick - Free Book Online
Authors: Jane Kirkpatrick
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her words about the mercury. “But six months without pay. I think we’d best discuss this when your father comes home, Jessie. Meanwhile, you go change your shirt. Those ragged sleeves look like a dog chewed the edges.”
“Lilly, will you help me sew them back on?”
“If you ever get them returned. Your new employer is a strange one, if you ask me,” Lilly said.
“I don’t remember that I did,” Jessie said. She smiled. She’d gotten through her mother’s and older sister’s objections. She just had her father’s to deal with now.
Lilly, with her perfectly coiffed hair despite a day’s work as a seamstress and packager at Stott and Son, sat across from Jessie at the supper table. Selma adjusted her spectacles and slipped into the chair beside Lilly. Both Selma and Jessie had eyes that required correction with lenses; no one else in the family did. Roy fussed with the oilcloth, and Jessie put her hands over his to stop the fluttering movements. He looked up at her, surprise in his eyes. Sometimes Jessie wondered if he was aware of things he did. She wished she could give those hands something productive to do, but right now she prepared herself for the questioning she knew would come. She only hoped she could carry her arguments through to acceptance.
A parent sat at either end of the dining room table, and her father blessed the food. This was followed by the passing of potatoes and opinions about Jessie’s active day.
“I’ve already decided,” Jessie defended when Lilly told her she was being taken advantage of. Lilly’s comment had surprised her, as she’d thought Lilly would say it was just part of the working world to be apprenticed out without pay. Lilly presented herself as so much wiser all the time. “It’s a fair trade,” Jessie continued. “No different than going to school, but I won’t have to pay for the apprenticeship. Because that’s really what it is.”
“It’s forced labor,” Lilly said. “We’re forming a club at work where we can talk about things that the women workers all have in common, and one of them is how we’re treated at our employment.”
“Stott’s a good employer,” Jessie’s father said. He was a tall man with a full head of hair that had just begun to gray. Jessie thought him handsome. He must have weighed thirty pounds more than Mr. Bauer did. He had wide, short fingers, and Mr. Bauer had long musician’s fingers. Her father’s bushy eyebrows lifted as he spoke to Lilly, passing the potatoes as he did. “That’s a good job, Daughter. One not to trifle with.”
“I know that, Papa,” Lilly said. “But they’d never ask us to work for six months without pay.”
“I’d like to have him take my picture sometime,” Selma said. The big bow she wore at the back of her head dwarfed her pale face, made her look younger than her eleven years.
“I’ll photograph you after I’ve had my training,” Jessie said.
“It just isn’t fair,” Lilly insisted, her arched eyebrows perfectly plucked.
“Your sister could be right, Jessie,” her father said. He combed his thick mustache with his fingers. Lilly beamed as she leaned back into her chair. “Six months is a long time without pay. Most apprenticeships at least provide room and board while their workers are learning.”
Jessie couldn’t explain it, but somehow the sacrifice of no earnings and no photograph taking felt, well, warranted. It would make her success have more meaning.
“But it’s a professional apprenticeship, not just learning a simple skill, Papa. That takes time. Some of the photographers in town charge for such classes. And girls aren’t even allowed to take them.”
Her father nodded. “Well, now, let’s take a look at it. Every opportunity arrives in a carpetbag. Sometimes there are rocks in that bag and sometimes gold nuggets. We all have to decide how to convert whatever we’ve got into whatever we want.”
“I—I—I w-w-want—”
“What? What do
“Lilly, will you help me sew them back on?”
“If you ever get them returned. Your new employer is a strange one, if you ask me,” Lilly said.
“I don’t remember that I did,” Jessie said. She smiled. She’d gotten through her mother’s and older sister’s objections. She just had her father’s to deal with now.
Lilly, with her perfectly coiffed hair despite a day’s work as a seamstress and packager at Stott and Son, sat across from Jessie at the supper table. Selma adjusted her spectacles and slipped into the chair beside Lilly. Both Selma and Jessie had eyes that required correction with lenses; no one else in the family did. Roy fussed with the oilcloth, and Jessie put her hands over his to stop the fluttering movements. He looked up at her, surprise in his eyes. Sometimes Jessie wondered if he was aware of things he did. She wished she could give those hands something productive to do, but right now she prepared herself for the questioning she knew would come. She only hoped she could carry her arguments through to acceptance.
A parent sat at either end of the dining room table, and her father blessed the food. This was followed by the passing of potatoes and opinions about Jessie’s active day.
“I’ve already decided,” Jessie defended when Lilly told her she was being taken advantage of. Lilly’s comment had surprised her, as she’d thought Lilly would say it was just part of the working world to be apprenticed out without pay. Lilly presented herself as so much wiser all the time. “It’s a fair trade,” Jessie continued. “No different than going to school, but I won’t have to pay for the apprenticeship. Because that’s really what it is.”
“It’s forced labor,” Lilly said. “We’re forming a club at work where we can talk about things that the women workers all have in common, and one of them is how we’re treated at our employment.”
“Stott’s a good employer,” Jessie’s father said. He was a tall man with a full head of hair that had just begun to gray. Jessie thought him handsome. He must have weighed thirty pounds more than Mr. Bauer did. He had wide, short fingers, and Mr. Bauer had long musician’s fingers. Her father’s bushy eyebrows lifted as he spoke to Lilly, passing the potatoes as he did. “That’s a good job, Daughter. One not to trifle with.”
“I know that, Papa,” Lilly said. “But they’d never ask us to work for six months without pay.”
“I’d like to have him take my picture sometime,” Selma said. The big bow she wore at the back of her head dwarfed her pale face, made her look younger than her eleven years.
“I’ll photograph you after I’ve had my training,” Jessie said.
“It just isn’t fair,” Lilly insisted, her arched eyebrows perfectly plucked.
“Your sister could be right, Jessie,” her father said. He combed his thick mustache with his fingers. Lilly beamed as she leaned back into her chair. “Six months is a long time without pay. Most apprenticeships at least provide room and board while their workers are learning.”
Jessie couldn’t explain it, but somehow the sacrifice of no earnings and no photograph taking felt, well, warranted. It would make her success have more meaning.
“But it’s a professional apprenticeship, not just learning a simple skill, Papa. That takes time. Some of the photographers in town charge for such classes. And girls aren’t even allowed to take them.”
Her father nodded. “Well, now, let’s take a look at it. Every opportunity arrives in a carpetbag. Sometimes there are rocks in that bag and sometimes gold nuggets. We all have to decide how to convert whatever we’ve got into whatever we want.”
“I—I—I w-w-want—”
“What? What do
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