Evening star., 1905-11-05


IA Yorkshire. for she seems to have
N discovered the secret of twentieth
century happiness. 1t isn't auto
rnobiling, or horse racing. or balls, or par
ties. or dresses, or anything. in fact. which
the strictly modern woman is supposed to
crave
one cannot read her straightforward story
told practically in her own words-without
feeling that Mrs. Dickson is at least not
fanatic, although she puts her own theories
into practice to an extreme degree. She
boasts the glorious privilege of living her
own life In her own way. Though possessed
of considerable means in the form of large
landed estates and number of fine houses,
she believes in personal labor ION prin-
clple." She is her own architect, landscape
gardener carpenter. bricklayer, glazler,
baker. painter plumber, tinsmith and even
dressmaker She admits that her attempts
at dressmaking would suit no one else but
herself. for her clothes. she wittily re-
marks. are without form and void. like
the Creation before the Almighty set 1t
straight"
In the little village of Sleights, near Whit
by few miles from the sea. In one OF the
prettiest parts of Yorkshire, Mrs. DICKSON
Is looked upon with awe and wonderment.
The villagers kept busy guessing what
her next move will be. The power of her
personality peTNautS the pace I1St mas
terry of farming and the minute technicali-
ties OF various trades makes 1t impossible
for any farmland or laborer to overreach
her and should any one she employs get
d dissatisfied and quit Mrs. Dickson takes up
the work where it was left off and finishes
1t with her own hands.
n
The writer has just made the 2J0-r1ile
Journey from London in order to call on
Mrs. Dickson. She was not at her home.
but out in the fields somewhere She
was finally discovered experimenting "a
gang of men who were laying down some
drain pipes on her estate The day was
rainy, and Mrs Dickson had arrayed her
self in a suit of oilskins and regular
"sou wester' helmet such as sailors wear
IN thick weather. She came out of the
ditch. where she had been examining the
joint of one of the pipes, and shook hands
just as a man would do. Her hands had
some clay on them. It's clean dirt" she
remarked. brushing the mud off.
Mrs Dickson Is a tall, broadNshouldered
woman of heavy build, who at once i'm
presses you with the idea that she would
have made a splendid man. Her face Is
broad. the forehead high. and the chin par
ticularly firm. The head Is massive and
her slvery white hair gives her a command
ing appearance. Her complexion is ruddy
from exposure to all sorts of weather.
Though Mrs Dickson is fifty-five. she has
bic Of doing a full days labor along with
any of her workmen.
1T isn't an easy thing to manage a gang
of men, she said. Il have to watch these
fellows al every turn. | examine the points
of all the drain pipes laid down on my
place and If there is anything wrong they
have to put Il right before | will pay. Some
of the men, when they first come here
try to make trouble; but they soon find out
that | mean business and won't stand any
foOllshneSs. Some men won't be bOSSed by
a woman. l don't try to boss them; but l
want them to know that / have made a
study of pretty nearly every kind of work
that has to be done about a farm or n
building estate. When they realize this
they stop trying to do me and we get on
well enough.
THE great difficulty I meet with down in
this country district is employing men who
belong to unions. I have men who come
here to work for me. and they carry their
IT, because the union wouldn't allow it l
have had men strike work on this account
Last year 7 had brlcklayer leave In the
midst of an important building job. l had
to have the thing done at once and as ]
had laid the bricks on my own hearts and
built up small walls where required in my
own garden, / set to with the mortar and
trowel and finished that wall. Some OF the
other men who stayed nearly fell off the
sCahold when they me at work; but
we got the job through. and 1t was done
properly, too.
II know what I'm talking about. for Il
worked among the laborers at the docks at
Liverpool when my husband. who is a civil
engineer, was constructing the new north