he strain upon her muscles by leaning back
against the shelves, but on the entrance of a customer she must be all
obsequiousness. While she might have rested, she was unfeelingly
forbidden to do so. Now the customer must be waited on, no matter how
completely she may be overcome by fatigue or prostrated by lassitude.
Either was sufficient to destroy her spirits; the combination of the
two, springing from a fixed cause, was sure to undermine her health.

My cousin suffered keenly from this almost unexampled cruelty. She came
home at night worn out by the strain upon her muscular system. Her spine
was the seat of a chronic uneasiness. All day she was upon her feet,
being allowed no other rest than such as she might get by leaning
against the shelving. At the week's end she was fairly overcome. Sunday
was hardly a day of recreation, because she was rarely free from pain
induced by this unintermitted standing. All this was suffered for the
sum of four dollars a week. It is true that she had earned less at her
needle, but then her health had been remarkable for its robustness. Her
increased earnings now were the price of that health.

Nor were others among the saleswomen less dangerously affected than
herself. Some, of feeble organization, quickly broke down, under this
unnatural discipline, and abandoned the shop, sometimes rendered
temporary invalids, sometimes permanently disabled, while but few
returned to fill their thankless places. Reading, while in the shop,
whether employed or not, was out of the question, as that also was
strictly prohibited. There was therefore no recreation either of body or
mind, even when it might have been harmlessly permitted. It was either
work or absolute idleness, but in no case rest or relaxation.

Under this monstrous system of torture my cousin at length broke down so
completely that she, too, was compelled to leave the establishment. Her
resolute spirit led her to endure it too long. When she did give up, it
was in the hope that entire rest would bring relief. But it never came.
Her physical organization, strong as it was by nature, had been so
deranged that recuperation was impossible. Medicine could do nothing for
her. A curvature of the spine had been established,--she soon became
unable to sit up,--and at this writing she lies comparatively helpless
in her bed, still beautiful in her helplessness. Her health was
permanently ruined by the barbarism of a man so destitute of sympathy