The record-union., 1896-04-26


In some new phase. From time to time
we hear of women earning their daily
bread by means of the anvil, the barber
shop and the bootblack-stand. We find
them solving the problem of existence
in single instances, as a woman trolley
car conductor, woman bridge-builder,
woman undertaken, etc. These all
come decidedly under the above head
ing, and seem, in such cases at least as
che personally hears about, to enjoy
their business and reap an income suffi-
Gent to their needs.
London has woman who claims the
proud degree of Master of Surgery.
Her name is Miss Louise Aldrich- Blake,
and she has a brilliant record. Last
year she took her NJ. D., and this year
she has passed a successful examination
qualifying her for a degree which no
woman has hitherto gained. Five young
women in London will become full
fledged Bachelors of Surgery this
spring. America has many women ply
sicians, but surgery is a branch of the
medical profession which SO far has
proved to possess nc attraction for
them
The new woman has invaded another
field of labor also. She is going to be an
elevator girl, and why not? 1t is strange
scme of our quick witted, enterprising
women had not thought of it before. tits
in slow, conservative Philadelphia that
the pioneers of this movement are to be
found. In the Young Women's Chris
tan Association building, at Arch and
Eighteenth streets, are two young
women who are following this line of
work. They like it, too, and say it is
not nearly so hard and unpleasant as
standing all day in a store.
Perhaps we condemn too hastily the
woman who seems to infringe so decid-
edly upon mans especial vocation, for
we hear sometimes of conditions and
circumstances that force a woman to
take hold and manage affairs that have
shaped her career without the slightest
anticipation on her part: when this hap
pens, as it sometimes does, it is a brave
woman indeed who fuifills her destiny
in the line that offers, be 1t congenial
or otherwise, instead OF bemoaning her
fate and waiting like Micawber for
something to turn up" or depending
Upon the efforts of her friends for as
sistance.
An instance has come to my notice
which depicts womanly courage in a
most laudable and encouraging light
1t is the account of brave little San
Francisco lady, left to the support of
herself and five children by the sudden
death of her husband, who was at the
time of his demise owner and Captain
cf the tugboat Ethel and Marion in San
Francisco Bay. The lady's name is
L CHI ha
ally assumed management of the tug.
rot because 1t is the fad to take new
departure, but because it seemed the
orly way open to continue to secure for
her little family the ample income which
would otherwise have ceased at her
husbands death. For a time she con-
tinued his business with the aid of hired
help, but the tugs net earnings under
this regime were insufficient for her
needs, and she then concluded 1t was her
wisest course to learn the business her
self. With the engineer at her elbow
she took her first lessons. and ere Ions
was able to steer the tug as we'll as a
veteran. She cannot yet be officially adj
dressed as Captain for she is not ye;
possessed of the papers" without which
&c one is permitted to engineer a tug on
the bay but she is quite competent t.
pass the statutory examination, and in
tends to do so soon, then she will BE-
titular Captain of the Ethel and Marion
as she is now in fact. The engineer is
sill with her, as, grasping the wheel ir
her soft white hands, she sends the littl
tug putting about among the ships bu,
she does not need his services in the
least. she is quite capable of managing
for herself. which she will do when shs
has passed her examination. She rings
the bell with a brisk business air pretty
to see, and with her hands clutching tn
wheel and her bright eyes intentlg
watching with unremitting vigilane,
her forward course, she starts the tu
en- mission that means bread for :
family of six.
Mrs. Thorrold does not know she is {
new woman, and she is not particular
anxious to vote, but she is proud of III,
TACT that she is the only woman skipper
OF tugboat in the United States.
When woman is not forced to as.
sumo vocation for which nature never
intended her, when she is free to choos,
her path in life, think with Frederick
Warde there is nothing more Lowell.
than a womanly woman; who is con
tent to do her duty in that state of lif,
unto which 1t hath pleased God to cal
her.
To be a true wife and mother mean,
more than women as a class realize, o
indeed, in many cases. care to know
John Ruskin seemed to understand tn
on 4l,@ 10