The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-08
Tells How Women May Work
and Still be Happy.
GIVE TONE TO THE OFFICE
Some Women Succeed Best in
Cheering Up" Business.
SOME SERVE 6oUToNNiEREs
Talks About Books ard. the Store, and
About Who will Take CIorind S
Part in the Lady of
Duality.
(St Louis Republic.)

(St Louis Republic.)
There is no doubt that the number OF
ladies in trade is increasing every day
Society permits woman to go into bust
ness, since she is only following the ex-
ample of the Countess of Dash or Lady
Bank. 1t is just as well that society does
approve, for it gives, does this seal of So
cial aspiration, a pleasant feeling to the
workers themselves. y woman Is less
than a woman when she does not value
the opinion of the world. And the wo-
man who tells you that she doesn't mind
what anybody says about her is either
absolutely lying or else she has lost some
of her wonanliness. A gentle woman
gives considerable thought to what the
world says, and she is willing to throw
her heart and soul into her work when
she is encouraged by more fortunate wo-
men.
/ have taken much interest in watch
ing the women who succeed, and / have
come to enc conclusion-the woman who
succeeds is the woman who does her work
| to the best of her ability, who is pro-
perly busnesslike, but who never loses
| ity. She never becomes chummy with
men. She is polite with them, but when
business forces her to talk to them she
never let's them forget that she is wo-
man. Not because she whimpers to
them; not because she tries to fascinate
them; but simply because she's herself.
Then, meeting her, the average man
says, or thinks, Mrs. Floyd Robinson is
cssTsa
coed, and I'll throw in her way any work
/ can" And he does. Some newspapers
| and public speakers have an unpleasant
way of telling us of the disagreeable
! things that happen when woman is
introduced, in business way, into an
= office where men are. a man who is no
better than any other, probably from a
moral standpoint worse than some, told
me fl,at he had never regretted taking
a lady typewriter into his office. He
. said size had improved the whole tone of
the place: that no man in his office ever
used prof;tne word before her; and that
by common consent a hasty fellow who
sarted to tell an off-colored story before
her was ostracised. He said the men
were all more polite than before her ar
rival, and he believed it was entirely due,
this change for the better, to the woman
herself And yet she had said and done
nothing She had only taken it for grant
| ed that the men around her were gentle
men, and when she was not well posted
about her work she hadn't hesitate TO
ask their help. And she had gotten it be-
fore she expected TO. She wasn't young,
and she wasn't beautiful, but she was a
woman who had that peculiar womanly
power Of influencing men for good. 1t is
the power that comes from woman as
unconsciously as the perfume from a
rose.
SOCIAL AND BUSINESSLIKE.
Then, too, the successful woman has
not been the woman who lives her social
life with the men who were about her
IN business. Ii you will think it over
you will find that men in the same office
are seldom in touch socially; and that
woman who goes into business makes her
First and greatest mistake when she ac-
cepts an invitation or invites a call, from
. her fellow-w0rkers, a man. But to return
| to the women who are in business. An
other girl who is extremely versatile, but
who isn't sufficiently strong in any one
point to make her profession one of music,
or languages or anything else has fol
lowed the first bright girls example and
is another worker Sin the cheering-up
. business" For a dollar an hour she will
come in where there is an invalid and
entertain her; she will read; play check
ers dominoes or any mild game; she will
show a new stitch in crochet or knitting;
she will sing a pleasant song or play a
quiet little tune, or, if it is preferred, she
. will entertain the invalid with innumera-
able stories and interesting gossip. Sup
pose you were i'll; suppose You were get
ting better, and you had the invalid 5
WEAKNESS of everybody around you, the
. invalid's desire to be amused and the
invalid's longing for fresh face. Here
comes a bright cheerful woman who of
fers what you want. Well, it seems as
il the 'scheering-up business" ought to be
a success, and so far believe it has been
WOMEN WHO MAKE DAINTY
THINGS.
Then, there are two young women who
have gone into the flower business. For
% cents a week they will put on your
desk a little bouquet every morning,
which will prove a rest to your eyes and
a reminder, all the day long, of pleasanter
things than accounts and percentages, OF
debts and credits, stocks and bonds.
like this idea. 1t is getting at the people
who enjoy the dainties of life, but who
cant afford to pay for them at prices de-
manded by some of the big shops. There
are women making bonnets and women
making frocks for little children; there
are women busy hemming ruffies to be
put upon the linen that goes to form the
frousseau of bride; and there are wo
men setting dainty stitches into fine fabric
and soft flannel intended to make part
Of the layette for a newborn baby.
don't believe there was ever woman
lived who didn't like to make baby
clothes. Personally, / can never see the
little petticoats, the tiny shirts, the fine
fsocks. and the warm little knit jackets
without a desire to hug them. They are