The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1905-10-18
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.

big cities where women flock to max
u a living or name; whether in Pari
e London, New York, Chicago, San Fral
s cisco, one must have ones highly pc
e fected speciality in order to win e7e
q moderate recognition.
0 Don't scatter" is the very best az
vice to the girl worker. "Oh, I kno,
how to do ever so many things" say
the latest entry on the books of a bi
employment agency.
"Can you cook? asks the managers
with breathless eagerness.
YES" is the reply rather shame
Good! TIL put you down unde
Cooks"
But, don't want to cook. Pve beel
through our 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 IL you'll
cook" says the manageress in her take
my-advice tone. "Why, any girl thai
can pretend to cook, if she don't know
a souffie from 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 a
constant cry of what can I do?" 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 candalmongering 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 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 quest for a place as nurs-
cry governess. 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
year she had saved enough to take
trip to Paris during the summer.
She bought not single model but
gathered impressions, went back to
New York, rented couple of rooms
in a side street between the shopping
and the residence sections, dropped a
little note to each of her patrons saying
she had taken flyer abroad-and the
rest was easy. -
Choose Congenial 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 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
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 I'M
dertaker-have already been exploited
Dy 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 I do for liv-
lngf"
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 were 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. It is further
shown that in the last decade of the
18th century the number of woman
bookkeepers in the United States In
creased by about $4,000, the number of
woman clerks By. over 10000, the num-
Der Of saleswomen by over 100000, the