The evening times., 1899-04-08

WHO WISH 10 6ucceeu III ile Shouiu cS
equipped for success. that they may not
drift into the ranks OF the poorly paid
workers who really cause hardship to
workingmen. An influx Of competent wom-
en- into professions which pay two thou
sand dollars a year is not, on the whole,
as bad for society as an influx Of less ca
pable women into the office work which
pays only eight or ten dollars week.
There is one point which has not receiv-
ed the consideration it deserves in connec-
tion with this matter. 1t is that for time
the career OF the educated woman will b,
shorter than that of the educated man.
The man is at his best at forty: he can go
into a strange place. with good recommen
dations. and secure work more easily aud
at a better salary than he could twenty
years before. The woman of forty cannot.
years, lessen the woman's chance of sue
cess. She must therefore make for herself
place in the world as soon as possible.
| that she may gain assured success before
she reaches middle age. Unless she is a
teacher, physician, a nurse, or an en-
phatic success in some other walk of life.
she cannot count on steady employment
after she is forty Employers prefer the
young girl whom they can train according
| to their own methods, and who Will accept
small salary. to the woman of experience
to whom they cannot in fairness pay the
wages of an apprentice. The woman Of
forty must therefore have her own busi-
, ness, which she can carry on independent
ly, or have made enough money to keep
her from want during the remaining years
Of her life, whether they are ten, twenty,
or thirty.
When this is considered il will be plain
that 1t is Of the utmost Importance that
the professional woman should waste none
OF the precious years in which she must
make her fortune or her place in the
world. She must not drift about the world
trying first one thing and then another. as
man may sometimes do with profit. She
must know how to do one thing well. and
make her living by it. and learn as much
about other things as she can And as
more and more college women enter busi-
ness the question will be raised: Does
college prepare women for life?
II takes four of the best years of a girls
life. 1t takes two thousand dollars or more
| in money. II takes her away from the So
| tial life of her home. What does it give
her?
II she intends TO teach it gives her an
| advantage, though even there she will find
| that her lack of experience outweighs her
diploma. If she enters a profession she
must take supplementary course of train
ing. II she marries, as most college girls
do. she has 10 learn all about housekeeping
| and the care of children and the making
OF home; the college gives her little help
there. II she goes into business she must
| begin precisely where she would have be-
gun al eighteen, and be content with the
salary of an apprentice. She has gained
some pleasant social memories, much
| knowledge, which. two years after gradu-
alton, she has piRbably forgotten, and her
| diploma.
In the case OF a man the associations of
college life often are OF material help TO
him. He can sometimes count on assist
ance from his classmates in an emergen
cy. But with women the bond is less
strong and the power TO help less great
| Of course. college life is delightful. and
| there is nothing which quite takes is place !;
but, on the other hand. there is necessary
| training for life which is missed during
those years. Does ii pay for a girl who
has only herself to depend on. TO spend
four years in gaining general culture
when the money and time so spent would
enable her to begin her business life with
advantage, or give her little hoard with
which to establish her housekeeping? Does
il pay for her TO spend in this aimless cul-
tivation process the four years in which
she should learn how TO take the worli
rightly by the handle" as the old Quaker
said, when, after her graduation she must
struggle and starye for another four or
five years, with all the tastes OF a culti-
waited woman and only the wages of a
shop girl? Would il not be better for her
TO become self supporting as soon as pos
sible, and secure her education as she un-
derstands the need of it These are ques-
tions which should receive attention: and
in the meantime, it may be as well for the
colleges to consider whether they cannot
in some way give the students real pre-
paration for life, in place of general cui-
ture which teaches them little of every
thing and not very much of anything
1t was freprcof house that was destroy
ed SO quickly by flames that the inmates
cOuld not pScane i'm New Ynri Jt ic No,