The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1905-10-20
WORKING GIRLS CHANCES.
CHOOSE CONGENLAL OCCUPATION
THEN HOLD East TO THE
FIRST GOOD JOB.
1t is Not the Kind of Work but the
Manner of Working That Brings
Forth the Dollars.

q said the little French milliner who ha
S just finished a beautiful beruched ha
0 for me, when l asked her to make on
Of those pretty mousseline shoulde
: ruches and she would do nothing out
: side her speciality. So it il in all tn
big cities where women flock to max
t a living or a name; whether in Paris
London, New York, Chicago, San Fran
8 cisco, one must have ones highly per
e fected speciality in order to win evel
moderate recognition.
Don't scatter" is the very best ad
t vice to the girl worker. "Oh, I know
how to do ever so many things" say
} the latest entry on the books of a bi,
) employment agency.
, "Can you cook" asks the manageres'
} with b%reathless eagerness.
"Yes," is the reply rather shame
facedly.
Good! I'll put you down under
Cooks"
But, I don't want to cook. I've beer
through u academy and I've gradu
ated in all the latest accomplishments
Besides, I've come up to the city tt
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 soutfle from a hoe cake can make
more money in this town than a whole
class of academy graduates with ten
accomplishments apiece"
1t is not the kind of work, but the
Ipoonrnr nf yynrlyinu that hrinrS in thn
dollars.
A girl of twenty-three, thrown sud
denly on her own resources, made the
lives of her friends miserable by a
constant cry of what can I do?" A
yellow streak of snobbishness made it
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-
JUDGES drove her out Of tine hospital
just three days later than her date of
entry. From a spasmodic effort to ac-
quire a knowledge of stenography, she
set out on a quest for a place as nurs-
cry g%overness. A practical friend met
her just after her first rebuff, and
much against her will pushed her into
a situation in a fashionable millinery
establishment, at SO a week. Now it
developed that trimming hats is that
girls gift.
1t usually takes about three years in
the workshops of the swell milliners
to arrive at the degree of proficiency
which commands a salary of $25 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
a 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 a
little no,e % each of her patrons saying
she had taken an. : ahroad-and the
rest was easy.
Choose a CongeniaI Occupation.
Lie SeCIcJ vi SuCCcSS Is AuulIIS OuL
ones special bent or talent. Usually
the thing that it is easiest to do, that
n 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 a profession or trade because Of
the results secured in it by others,
rather than because Of any personal
inclination or adaptability.
Voluminous statistics show that a
girl need not be limited in her choice
of work, for some one hundred and fifty
sire of existence-from doctor to I'M
dertaker-have already been exploited
by m However, for the average
girl, comparatively few trades and pro-
seem within her scope. Out
side Of the enormous number who be-
come teachers, very few women are
afforded the opportunity to acquire a
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 I do for a liv-
Always Room fori 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 were en-
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 a 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
by about $4,000. the number of
woman clerks by over 10000, the num-
of saleswomen by over 100000, the