Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-19

vice. She fed the seven daughters with the
greatest care, weighing every meal before
they were allowed to eat Il, and discovered
by accurate experiment how little a grow
ing girl can eat and yet retain health and
vigor. Later they confessed that they never,
until they had homes Of their own, knew
what IL was to feel a sensation OF hunger.
Yet they thrived upon this severe system,
all seven growing VI tall, handsome and
vigorous, with alert and brilliant minds and
retaining always the slimness of their
figures.
OF all the seven, the youngest. Beatrice,
was the most remarkable. She pursued her
studies under the direction and with the
assistance of Herbert Spencer, who has al
ways declared hers TO be the most remarka-
Bile female mind he has ever encountered.
She was the tallest of the seven, and when
sho was introduced to London society was
said to be one of the most beautiful women
OF her generation. Such a girl, who pos
sessed beside an ample fortune of her own,
was not likely to want for admirers and the
most brilliant men OF England were glad to
be her friends. One day. without warning,
she disappeared from the ball rooms and
drawing rooms of May Fair, and was not to
BIO discovered by any of her whilom COM
p%anions. Something had directed her atten-
ton to the condition of the working girls of
London, and, putting on the costume of one.
she went into a sweat shop and shared their
existence, with the secret purpose of study
ing Its hardships. Two months later she
reappeared with a mass of facts and statis-
tics which she had collected herself, and
which she embodied in an article in one
of the reviews, that stirred all England,
was made the subject of debate in Parlia-
Il A n,l ~a,,1.- 49,. A. r
commission which investigated and reformed
the sweat shops. From that day Beatrice
Potter returned no more to the world. Her
sisters had all married men of position, but
she scorned their happy, busy, domestic
lives, and was to be found only among tn,
manual laborers, sharing the curious delu.
sion of other socialists that the only labor
worth consideration is such as may be per.
formed with the hands. Her studies led he,
all over the continent of Europe. Occasion,
ally she would reappear for a brief space anC
gather about her for an afternoon her earl,
friends. but her real companions had ceased
to be the men who were making and rulins
the English empire, and creating its science
literature and art. Her friends were thos,
who called on her in their shirt sleeves ant
smoked clay pipes in her drawing room
Five years ago she astonished even thos,
49, ' HNi cNSb ~ ip' ms mum
Webb, the socialist. They set up a modes
home in the East end of London, all he,
fortune, beauty and talent being finally ant
irrevocably devoted to the cause of manua
labor.
TWO years ago the fruits of her studio,
appeared in the form of a onunenta worl
on the subject of labor and wages. In i
no theories were advanced, no doctrine!
promulgated. 1t contained simply the mas.
of facts out of which doctrines and theories
might be built. This year another grea
work, bearing her own as we'll as he
husbands name, has appeared. Ii
it she Celebrates the conclusions sht
has drawn from her facts, and
while profounder students of the social ques.
ton by no means accept her theories, it il
universally admitted that no more masterl,
and scientific presentation of the question
has been made of recent years, ana that thi!
beautiful young woman, who deserted tn,
London ball rooms less than a decade ago
has produced a work which will be a tex
book and a mine of reference for all stu,
dents of modern sociology.