The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25

that the number of ladies in trade is in
creasing every day. Society permits a
woman to go into business, since she is
only following the example of the Coun-
tess of Dash or Lady Blank. 1t is
just as well that society does approve,
for it gives, does this seal of social as
piration, pleasant feeling to the work.
ers themselves. A woman is less than a
woman when she does not value the opin-
ion of the world. And the woman who
tells you that she doesn't mind what any
body says about her is either absolutely
lying or else she has lost some of her
siderable thought to what the world says,
and she is willing to throw her heart
and soul into her work when she is en-
couraged by more fortunate women
have taken much interest in watching
the women who succeed, and have come
to one conclusion-the woman who sue
ceeds is the woman who does her work
to the best of her ability, who is prop
erly businesslike, but who never loses
what might be called the arts of femi-
ninity. 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 a wo-
man. Not because she whimpers to them;
but simply because she's herself. Then,
meeting her, the average man says, or
thinks, Mrs. Floyd Robinson is a clever
little woman; she means to succeed, and
I'll throw in her way any work I cam"
And he does. Some newspapers and pub
lie speakers have an unpleasant
way of telling US of the disagree
able things that happen when a woman is
introduced, in a business way, into an Of
fee where men are. They forget the other
side of the story. A man, who is no bet
ter than any other, probably, from moral
standpoint, worse than some told me that
he had never regretted taking a lady type
writer into his office. He said she had
improved the whole tone of the place;
that no man in his office ever used pro-
fame word before her; and that by COM
mon consent, a nasty fellow who started
10 tell an off colored story before her had
been ostracised. He said the men were
all more polite than before her arrival,
and he believed it was entirely due, this
change for the better, to the woman her
self. And yet she had said and done
nothing She had only taken it for grant
cd that the men around her were gentle
men, and when she was not well posted
about her work, she hadn't hesitated to
ask for help. And she had gotten it be-
cause 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
a power that comes from a woman as un-
Il. 10 ~f1HV11 frNVa
Then, too, the successful woman has not
been the woman who lives her social life
with the men who were about her in
business. If you will think it over you
will find that menin the same office are
seldom in touch socially; and that woman
who goes into business makes her first
and greatest mistake when she accepts
an invitation, or invites call from her
fellow-worker, a man. But to return to
the women who are in business. Another
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 followed
the first bright girls example and is an
other worker 'in the cheering-up bust
ness" For a dollar an hour she will come
in where there is an invalid and enter
tain her; she will read play checkers,
dornnoes or any mild game; she will show
a new stitch in crochet or knitting; she
81
little tune, or, if it is preferred, she will
entertain the invalid with innumerable
stories and interesting gossip. Suppose
you were ILL., suppose you were getting
better, and you had the invalid's weari-
ness of everybody around you, the in
valid's desire to be amused and the in
valid's desire Cor a fresh face. Here
comes a bright, cheerful woman who Of
fers what you want. Well, it seems as if
the ''cheering-up business" ought to be
a success, and so far l believe 1T has.
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 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 can't afford to
pay for them the prices demanded by some
of the big shops. There are women MAX
ing bonnets and women making frocks for
little children; there are women busy
hemming ruffles to be put upon the linen
that goes to form the trousseau of a bride;
and there are women setting dainty
stitches into fine fabric and soft flannel
intended to make part of the layette for
a newborn baby. 1 don't believe there
was ever a woman lived who didn't like to
make baby clothes. Personally, l can
never see the little petticoats, the tiny
shirts, the fine frocks, and the warm little
knit jackets without a desire to hug them
They are inanimate things that tell a
story, story always of the future. They
are made for the coming baby; they are
worn by the growing baby. and they are
laid aside because they are outgrown by
the eXpectant man. 1t seems wrong ever
to make these dear things with the aid of
a sewing machine. Every stitch ought to
be put in with a needle guided directly by
the feminine fingers. So it Is proper that
the woman who wants to earn money
should be making all these beautiful be-
longings, and best of all that, making
them well, which means daintily and ex-
quisitely; she is being paid we'll for her
work
There were women members, cleaners
and busters II you own any fine books or
any beautiful bric-a- brac. then You know
THAI the buster which passes over them
must not be a feather brush. welded by
recent rough female Importation from
abroad but that it must be kept free
from the bloom OF time by a silk buster
with brain behind it, And that Is WIN
where there are so many beautiful belong
ings, women who know how to treat them