Harvey Girl, Elizabeth Hazelwood |
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Tuesday, 12 April 2011 06:00 | |||
![]() There were few Harvey Girls sent in from other Harvey Houses to the small lunch and dining room in Canadian. Many local married women were hired to work in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and they were allowed to maintain their own homes. Single women were still required to live in the Harvey House Girl dormitory. For a widow with small children, the job offered security and a much needed extended family. Elizabeth’s daughter, Sis, remembers her visits to the Harvey House every day after school when she and her brother waited for their mother to leave work. Elizabeth remembers worrying about her small children because of the proximity of the Harvey House to the railroad tracks, and the busy rush when a train came in. She claims she never took a vacation, and she doesn’t remember travel passes being offered to the local Harvey Girls. “It was just a good clean job for a woman. It was very strenuous, but a clean woman, a woman who didn’t smoke, curse, or drink, could get a good job if she could keep up with the work.
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