this class is the "Working Women's
Protective Union," the head-quarters of which are in Bleecker street, a
short distance east of Broadway. It is organized for the common benefit
of all those women who obtain a livelihood by other employments than
household services. It aids them:

"_First_. By securing legal protection from frauds and impositions free
of expense. _Second_. By appeals, respectfully but urgently made, to
employers for wages proportioned to the cost of living, and for such
shortening of the hours of labor as is due to health and the requirements
of household affairs. _Third_. By seeking new and appropriate spheres
of labor in departments not now occupied by them. _Fourth_. By
sustaining a registry system, through which those out of work may be
assisted in finding employment. _Fifth_. By appeals to the community at
large for that sympathy and support which is due to working women."

The members each contribute the sum of ten dollars annually to the
support of the institution. Outside aid is also liberally given. The
Union has done much good since its organization. It has compelled
dishonest employers to fulfil their contracts with their operatives, and
in one single week compelled the payment of the sum of three hundred and
twenty-five dollars, which had been withheld by these scoundrels. Out of
two hundred complaints against employers in a single year, it secured a
fair settlement of nearly two-thirds. In 1869 it procured work for 3379
women and girls. It also looks after friendless and homeless women who
seek its assistance, and helps them to secure employment.

[Picture: STEWART'S HOME FOR WORKING WOMEN.]

The "Home for Working Women," No. 45 Elizabeth street, is a massive brick
building, six stories high, and will accommodate about five hundred
boarders. It is supplied with a reading-room, a reception-room, a
parlor, a restaurant, and a laundry. The upper floors are used as
dormitories. The beds are neat and tidy, and are arranged in rows and
separated from each other by white screens. The rooms are large and well
ventilated, and the whole establishment is kept scrupulously clean and in
perfect order. One dollar and twenty-five cents is the charge for a
week's lodging and washing. The restaurant supplies meals of an
excellent quality at an average cost of twenty-five cents. Lodgers are
admitted until eleven o'clock at night at the price named. If they enter
af