Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1897-12-31
LABOR ENNOBLES.
is LABOR BETTER THAN "DAWD.
LiNG?"

6tN0
The Question Answered by Mrs.
Cora Urquhart Potter, Former
FavOrite of the "4OO," After
Ten Years of Hard Labor on
The Stage.
Lately the Examiner asked the lead
ing actress to answer this question:
els career OF work better for Ameri-
can girls than dawdling around in so.
ciety; are temptations less and inde-
pendence and self-respect greater?"
1t is fairly difficult question to an.
swer without being egotistical to apply
my own experiences and teachings to
persons in so removed sphere from
my own, answered the actress. l can
only deduce conclusions from my own
experience as working woman.
Let me start with this axiom: Only
one life on earth, one beyond, is given
us. Surely We should make these
lives as beautiful as possible. Any.
thing beautiful must be true. With
truth there can be no falseness; there
fore, in life anything tending to the
false is a digression from the direction
of making life beautiful.
Labor is sacred. 1t is prayer. We
must labor to live long in the land.
Labor is the watchword of the living
1t is the guerdon of the dead, the
crown of the immortal. When the
final Well done, thou good and faith
full servant" is said, it is the labor of
life that is beautified, and after the
stress and storm it is the labor that
gives US crest" ...-.
Can then useless" dawdling," as
you express it-life be good for Ameri-
can girls? From my experience of
life, NO!
Look on these pictures-you compel
me to be personal-and feel the eyes
of my friend, "my enemy" upon the
paper while 1 write. Well, am used
to criticism, laudation and abuse.
was not born to money, and have
never known the advantages of wealth.
danced at other peoples balls, ate
dinners, accepted hospitality 1 could
not return, wore fine gowns (the gifts
of sympathetic friends), envied the
fine clothes, the fine houses, the fine
horses and carriages of others, the
like of which I could never possess;
coveted" their possessions and
sighed for the moon. In brief, I did
all the stupid things young girls do
and as long as the world revolves, dis
regarding their silly dreams, will con-
tinue to do.
was an atom dawdling in society"
that fawned on me for its amusement,
and played with me as a toy. Ichased
the firefy. of ambition and bright
hopes-till my ambitions we're crushed
out OF me by the sordid surroundings
of miserable society" existence of
keeping up appearances, as unsatisfy-
ing when kept up as they were false
until at length some good angel whis-
pered to me the secret of life here and
hereafter" Work"
Work. My God! yes; but how2
Women are fettered by the laws of
custom. What could do?
For whole year pondered-I took
counsel-and in the end made up
my mind. l became a working wo.
man.
Day in and day out-for ten years
by day and night my life has been one
of steady labor. From useless
dawdling woman of society" I be-
came the means of livelihood to hum
dred-aye, thousands. The gray veil
of my miserable do-less life was lifted,
and the sun of the working world
shone on me.
found at my feet all l had craved
for-and with what result? I cared for
none of the things that seemed so
short time before the be-all and end
all OF existence.
l travelled and retraveled this in
teresting world. / met every one who
has made q name in the world or
inherited one in my generation. l
am independent, and have awealth OF
recollections-of beautiful memories
- of excellent friends that money
could not buy, friends from all over
the world, friends of every caste and
color-and owe them all to what?
My own individual effort and labor!
OF the two pictures, which is the
more enviable and creditable- Mrs.
Potter of ten years ago, patronized by
a set and dawdling through use
less existence, or Mrs. Potter of to-day
the workwoman known and loved and
greeted wherever the English language
is spoken?