CHAPTER SECOND. THE CASE OF ROSE HAGGERTY 18
CHAPTER THIRD. SOME METHODS OF A PROSPEROUS FIRM 30
CHAPTER FIFTH. A FASHIONABLE DRESSMAKER 55
CHAPTER SIXTH. MORE METHODS OF PROSPEROUS FIRMS 66
CHAPTER SEVENTH. NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE GOSPEL 76
CHAPTER EIGHTH. THE TRUE STORY OF LOTTE BAUER 88
CHAPTER NINTH. THE EVOLUTION OF A JACKET 100
CHAPTER ELEVENTH. UNDER THE BRIDGE AND BEYOND 126
CHAPTER TWELFTH. ONE OF THE FUR-SEWERS 139
CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. SOME DIFFICULTIES OF AN EMPLOYER WHO EXPERIMENTED 150
CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. THE WIDOW MALONEY'S BOARDERS 160
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. AMONG THE SHOP-GIRLS 173
CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. CHILD-WORKERS IN NEW YORK 199
CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. STEADY TRADES AND THEIR OUTLOOK 210
CHAPTER NINETEENTH. DOMESTIC SERVICE AND ITS PROBLEMS 221
CHAPTER TWENTIETH. MORE PROBLEMS OF DOMESTIC SERVICE 233
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. END AND BEGINNING 244
In that antiquity which we who only are the real ancients look back upon as the elder world, counting those days as old which were but the beginning of the time we reckon, there were certain methods with workers that centuries ago ceased to have visible form. The Roman matron, whose susceptibilities from long wear and tear in the observation of fighting gladiators and the other mild amusements of the period, were a trifle blunted, felt no compunction in ordering a disobedient or otherwise objectionable slave into chains, and thereafter claiming the same portion of work as had been given untrammelled. The routine of the day demanded certain offices; but how these offices should be most easily fulfilled was no concern of master or mistress, who required simply fulfilment, and wasted no time on consideration of methods. In the homes of Pompeii, once more open to the sun, are the underground rooms where wretched men and women bowed under the weight of fetters, whose corrosion was not only in weary flesh, but in the no less weary soul; and Rome itself can still show the same remnants of long-forgotten wrong and oppression.
That day is over, and well over, we say. Only for a few barbarians still unreached by the march of civilization is any hint of such conditions possible, and even for them the days of darkness are numbered. And so the century moves on; and the few who question if indeed the bonds are quite broken, if civilization has civilized, and if men and women may claim in full their birthright of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," are set down as hopeless carpers,--unpleasant, pragmatic, generally disagreeable objectors to things as they are. Or if it is admitted that there are defects here and there, and that much remains to be remedied, we are pointed with pride to the magnificent institutions of modern charity, where every possible want of all sorts and conditions of men is met and fulfilled.