Evening star., 1905-11-05

drunk and do all sorts OF things which
should disquslify them as citizens, and yet
their votes are counted; and the sober.
Woodworking woman can't say word. Is
it righta
Il believe also I'm a woman-worker's wage
II woman can DO a mans work. let her:
and let her have a mans pay-let the work
Ae paid for no matter who does II. Why
should women be driven into immortality
In 1875 my husband had the building of
the New North docks, the government
spending S20,o0o,0oo on the work. was a
district visitor among the poor, and. having
studied nursing, found a lot OF work cut out
for among the dockmens wives and
children. / saw exactly how these people
lived; and Ii was then that | became ac-
1uainted with the terrible struggle for ex-
istence that went on from day to day. II
1ad not been married | could have done
more for those people; but when the black
fever broke cut in Liverpool, being mar
ried and having two children to look after.
[ had to give up the district work: for, OF
course. my first duty was to my children.
II became convinced from what l saw
that 1t would be best for these dock la
borers to leave their squalia work and get
employment in some country village. Many
they should go back to it, Even half the
wages-if they can just subsist at all In
the country-is better than working in
crowded cities I am a strong advocate of
the -to-theoland-m movement. which
should lead to the emancipation of the
British labor slaves
While discussing these subjects Mrs. Dick
son had walked down the village of Sleghts
to her own home. cozy little cottage
which. from the roadway, presented very
unassuming appearance. save that 1t was
distinguished by porch. all glazed I'm like
q conservatory.
ns rNIaa h1t
folk can find it easily she said "as it is
the only one in the place that has porch.
The door of the house was conical In
shapet and evidently came from some
church. II was of heavy oak.
THAT door only cost me half CROWN
bought it at a saIe" she commented as we
passed through "All the glazing in the
porch l did myself. l always do my own
glazing. You will see that the lines Of the
panes do not run exactly straight-it WAS a
hard job TO get myself up through the roof
I'm so heavy-but l managed 1t; and 1t
doesn't leak.
The roof of this porch was made up of
probably couple of hundred panes of glass.
all of which Mrs. Dickson had put in her
self. She also pu. in all the windows of
her house, and was her own architect. She
Is an expert with the soldering iron, and
mends all her own tinware.
You just ought to nave seen this place
when l bought it-ramshackle wouldn't de-
scribe 1t at all. Roof caving in floor sunk,
window frames a.. out-in fact, the local
authorities intended pulling It down 1t was
such a rubbish heap. Well. took it. had 1t
lacked up and raised, new flooring put in.
and, practically, restored. l found 1t a very
quaint old place, with fine oak frame and
wooden ceilings. had the front faced with
stone and made a new place out of IT.
Il believe in the very latest sanitary inn
provements The Americans are very clever
at heating their homes. 1 have had
American heating appliances put in. and
hope to have electric light before long.
There is a stream down here with small
waterfall, and l am looking into the ques-
ton of getting sufficient electric light from
the water power to supply the town. The
Sleights villagers think 1 am holy terror
when l come out with these proposals; and
I heard man telling another IN
whisper that That ooman's the worst
deevil outen helF-but maybe they Will
know better some day.
The villagers about here scarcely know
just where to place me. and. as the Yankees
say, keep them guessing | do lot OF
work on Sunday, though l do go to church
now and then just to set a good example to
those who would not know how to behave
themselves if they stayed home. Those are
the kind OF people churches are for. l
think churches ought to be different, any
Way AS they are now. they are perfect
influenza traps-all sorts of draughts, damp
ness and the like. They build fire in a
church on Sundays about an hour before
service, and the place feels like an open
grave when you go in. In fine weather
why not hold the services out in the oper
air? You couldn't have finer vault thar
the dome of heaven, could you? The
churches ought to be shut up IN summer
and the fields filled with benches. The peo-
ple would go then and enjoy it-which is
more than they do now. No use in asking
why our churches are empty-its because
the congregations are made SO miserable;
las to working on Sunday, l generally
find It a splendid day for making archi-