The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-19

her. She does not find it difficult to OBJ
tain work. These bright young faces and
hopeful eyes find ready sympathies, and
with those who are in position to help the
girl applicant who, with her southern
drawl or Western burr, betrays her new
ness to New York.
THEY FIND THE WORK HARD.
Work in the professions in New York is
no trivial matter TO a woman. Ii means
requirements that not one woman in TWEEN
ty possesses in conjunction with one an
other. Physical strength is one of the first
necessities. and the girl who has this is
quite apt TO be handicapped by too great
fund of animal spirits, fondness for fun and
adventure. which will help to keep her
back if INDUCED too much
Endurance. patience. serious purpose,
keen perception and intuition, and, above
all, steady, Flooding industry, with i'm
mense concentration of thought-all these
are required from the girl worker in New
York. But any one accustomed to talking
to these girls and receiving their letters
soon learns that they have annoyingly
vague ideas of what is meant by work in
any field.
They fancy, a great many of them, that
ii is possible to step into positions that will
carry authority, large salary and easy
times without serving any apprenticeship.
They invariably associate success with I'M
limited time TO play. They have an idea
that there is quick road to mountain tops
II one can only find the way.
They learn in time If they remain in the
field. that success built on any but solid
foundations is no success at all, and that
truth must prevail in this as in every other
purpose of life
The home question the bachelor girl dis
poses of at first by settling in boarding
house, life that is drearier than any
phere of art that gives her a certain
glamour to others as we'll as herself. If 1t
were all joke, the girl who could afford
it would find plenty of real enjoyment out
of this debut in professional life.
In short time the boarding house proves
uncongenial. and the girl bachelor fees to
the studio building, which is not always as
comfortable as the hall bedroom that she
leaves. But there is freedom in the new
plan, and sometimes a restaurant in the
building does away with the necessity for
cooking meals.
These makeshift homes are always at
tractive In their unconventional furnishing.
Life in this fashion is picturesque, but IL is
an odd Bohemian existence that the bust
ness girl gives up for a small apartment as
soon as she feels that she can afford the
dignity of a real home.
But before she reaches this point she has
serious work before her, filled with dis
which none but sturdy spirit can endure.
1t is unfair to paint rOSe-cOlored pictures of
the struggle that women find in their first
attempts to gain a footing in the profess
sions. Nothing worth while is gained with
out effort, and the spurious successes of the
stage, of literature and other walks, where
results are obtained by certain forms OF
booming, fall to the earth like punctured
balloons when their brief authority is over.
MASCULINE CHARACTERISTICS DE-
MANDED.
The fact that such successes are manu-
featured and maintained with apparent Sc
curity is one of the severest trials that the
girl, working legitimately, will have to
| contend with. People talk and write OF
| the temptations of dramatic life, but the
| fact is that the stage is no more filled with
such opportunities than other vocations
| The right-minded girl will learn to value
success properly as she advances. and
| while her progress may seem slow 1T will
be the Surer.
| So ii is not the difficulty in obtaining
| employment. the poor rate of wages or the
drudgery of toll that prove the real obsta-
cles in the path of the strenuous girl. The
chief trouble will be the constant demands
| upon her for qualities of character that
are rare in women-the same qualities
| which make the successful man. Womer
are not physically fitted for the work a-day
world, but for the home life, and the most
| eminent of women lawyers, doctors anc
| actors are always women whose health
| has enabled them to stand the strain
| Perhaps the girl with the hardest row
| to hoe is the young woman with voice
/ She gains some fame and reputation a
4
spurred on by stories of sudden fame. sh,
/ comes to town with the notion that she viii
become Calve, Melba or Patti. Sh'
may have good but not powerful voice
| and she begins her task of finding a hear
| ing. The singing girl has always a pecu
| liar mental caliber and big ideas. She end!
| by taking place in a choir or else she join:
/ the chorus.
The girl reporter who begins at the foo
| of the ladder has to work right we'll in or
der to make living. She must work in al
| and lose much of her sensitive refinement
| In the inevitable contact with all sorts anC
| conditions of men.
The girl typewriter. the young woman
| cotillion favors, all have their own trou
bles. great and small. Some lines of worl
are more sheltered than others. and thes'
| are by far the most desirable.
| There is no high road to success, and
often as this is written. it cannot be re
| peated too often. When you hear a woman
| state that she has never experienced an,
| of the hardships and disillusions of life il
| her work. whatever Ii may be- you may b.
| sure that she is uttering a fasehood. Som
women make practice of writing. ano
| speaking in this strain. They insist that
| woman can go into any business field an,
maintain all her beliefs. her faith in hu
manity and her femininity as securely a
in her home life, but this is the exception
rather than the rule.
THE BEST ART OF ALL
1t is better that girls should understan
the dangers before embarking on such
sea- If girl can act sing, paint or writ
with any skill she will do il. If she Is re
quired to work for money she will utiliz
her talent; but Ii is a mistaken idea tina
the woman who turns into a happy do
nestle harbor and makes wifehood an
motherhood her profession abandons he
art There is very fine art in the max
ing of home.
OF the host of girls who come on fror
the South or West how many survive
And the few who gain a place are Away
anxious and ready TO drop the parchmen
| Of the lawyer, the crown of the STAG
queen or the pen of the poet to sing tn
cradle song of some happy fireside.
| 1t Is as IL should be. The woman frs
and last Nothing can change IL, and tn
girl who realizes this and keeps that sta
| in view seeks the best career. The wome
| who achieve are the first to admit thi
truth. The girl feverishly striving TO leay
her home and its environments TO pursu
a will-o'-the-wisp that in reality she know
nothing OF will always seem like butter
fly beating out its life against a wheel.