The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-10-13
WORKING GIRLS CHANCES.
CHOOSE CONGENLAL OCCUPATION
THEN HOLD FAST TO THE
FIRST GOOD JOB.
1t is Not the Kind of Work but the
Manner of Working That Brings
Forth the Dollars.

Just finished a beautiful beruched hat
for me, when l asked her to make one
of those pretty mousseline shoulder
ruches and she would do nothing out
side her speciality. So it is in all the
big cities where women flock to make
living or a name; whether in Paris,
London, New York, Chicago, San Fran
cisco, one must have ones highly per-
fected speciality in order to win e7en
moderate recognition.
Don't scatter" is the very best ad-
vice to the girl worker "Oh, l know
how to do ever so many things" says
the latest entry on the books Of big
employment agency.
"Can you cookT asks the manageress
with breathless eagerness.
"Yes," is the reply rather shame
facedly.
"Good! TIL put you down under
Cooks"
"But, don't want to cook. I've been
through our academy and I've gradu-
ated in all the latest accomplishments
Besides, I've come up to the city to
make money-a lot of money"
you'll make a lot of money If you'll
cook" says the manageress in her take
my-advice tone. "Why, any girl that
can pretend to cook, if she don't know
a soufle from a hoe cake can make
more money in this town than whole
class of academy graduates with ten
accomplishments apiece"
1t Is not the kind of work, but the
manner of working that brings in the
dollars.
A girl of twenty-three, thrown sud
denly on her own resources, made the
lives of her friends miserable by
constant cry of what can l doT' A
yellow streak of snobbishness made 1t
all the more difficult to help her. With
out even facility in writing, she begged
assistance in becoming a paid con-
tributor to a scandalmongering news
paper. Fortunately, she lacked as
much in perseverance as in literary
ability. Her next venture was in
trained nursing; but, being placed in
the colored ward, her southern pre-
judices drove her out of the hospital
Just three days later than her date of
entry. From a spasmodic effort to ac-
quire knowledge of stenography, she
set out on a quest for place as nurs-
ery governess. A practical friend met
her lust after her first rebuff, and
much against her will pushed her into
situation in a fashionable millinery
establishment, at So a week. Now IL
developed that trimming hats Is that
girls gift.
1t usually takes about three years IN
the workshops of the swell mllliners
to arrive at the degree of proficiency
which commands salary of $50 per
week, but the girl in question made
hats for her friends evenings. Her
friends sent their friends, and inside OF
a year she had saved enough to take
trip to Paris during the summer.
She bought not "A single model but
gathered impressions, went back to
New York, rented a couple of rooms
in a side street between the shopping
and the residence sections. dropped
little note to each of her patrons saying
she had taken flyer Sbroad-and the
rest was easy.
Choose a CongeniaI Occupation.
The secret of success is finding out
ones special bent or talent Usually
the thing that it is easiest to do, that
one likes best to do, is the work In
which one will be able to make greatest
progress. A very few are favored with
inspiration along original lines. Some
unfortunates commit the folly of choos-
ing q profession or trade because or
the results secured in it by others,
rather than because of any personal
inclination or adaptability.
Voluminous statistics show that
girl need not be limited in her choice
Of work, for some one hundred and fifty
occupations, meeting every need or de-
sire of existence-from doctor to un-
dertaker-have already been exploited
by women. However, for the average
girl. comparatively few trades and pro-
fessions seem within her scope. Out
side of the enormous number who be-
come teachers, very few women are
afforded the opportunity to acquire
profession; consequently, certain trades
required for carrying on OF routine
work in business offices, shops and
factories, have come to be regarded as
the only money-making channels open
to the girls who arrive at the end OF
their school days confronted with the
question, "What shall / do for iiy-
ing?"
Always Room for Good Ones.
Most discouraging of all the obstacles
to the girl seeking her living Is the
constantly repeated falsehood that the
occupations open to the average female
intelligence are overcrowded Thirty
years ago the same statement was
made to almost every female applicant
for employment as bookkeeper, clerk,
agent, stenographer, saleswoman, etc.
/ AT that time less than one per cent. OF
all the women wage earners We're en-
ployed in clerical positions. In twenty
years the percentage Of women in this
class increased to five per cent OF the
total employed. while the figures Of the
last census promise still more en-
couraging advance. 1t is further
shown that in the last decade of the
| 10Th century the number of woman
bookkeepers In the United States In
i creased hv about 10000, the number Of