Rose Schneiderman on keeping earnings

DESCRIPTION: In her memoir, All For One, Rose Schneiderman explains her mother's reaction to Rose's decision to keep some of her earnings for herself. TEXT: I learned to use the machine in three or four weeks and after a trial period with Cornelia [the woman who got her the job], I was on my own. The first week on the job I earned six dollars, more than twice as much as I had earned at Ridley’s. However, Mother was far from happy. She thought working in a store much more genteel than working in a factory. But we needed that extra money. When I gave her five dollars out of my first pay, she wanted to know where the envelope was. I told her that I had it and that I had taken out a dollar for my own expenses. She didn’t like this, either. She thought that as a dutiful daughter I ought to hand over all I earned and let her give me what she thought I needed for the week. I didn’t agree, so we continued in my way. That was my first revolt toward independence. RIGHTS: Rose Schneiderman and Lucy Goldwaite, All For One (New York: Paul Eriksson, Inc. 1967), 43-44.

Time Period: Modern (Spinoza through post-WWII)