The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-06-12
THETONIC OFiTOIL
Work With a Purpose a Cure for Ennui.

I believe emphatically that every
woman ought to have a job; no woman
should allow herself to be idle simply
because she has plenty Of money and
servants"
With this declaration Of principles
Mrs. Hobart Characterization, who, by
reason Of her wealth and brilliant per-
sonality, has easily ranked as one of
the foremost leaders in the social life
OF Chicago, entered upon her career as
a business manager in the loft of q
building in the very heart of Chicago's
business district. 4 bookbindery was
her enterprise.
The casual visitor who climbs the
stairs to her shop expecting to find
a society engaged in exploiting
a fad courts disappointment. The pre-
siding genius of the bindery is not
long n making plain an intense earnest
ness in her project.
Mrs. Characterization firmly believes
that the women of today need work
outside of the home and social rounds
to keep them from mental gossip and
%idleness; going down town to buy
q paper of pins and coming back home
@ASSAoo Will 11iChOS wiz L dlSo
idle the failings Of servants; a dull
monotony Of trying to look pretty;
Of pathetic fits and starte to originate a
new thrill for ones social set; oc-
c%assional travels in search of energy.
These all, she believes, serve only to
increase the WEAKNESS.
Promptly at ten o'clock every work.
day morning Mrs Characterization
opens shop, puts on the blue apron,
takes her place at the bench and be-
gins her labOrs on the volumes at hand.
She has two cO~-workers, young English
women, who learned the technique of
the binders art in the shops of Paris.
Mrs. Chatfeld-Taylor served her ap-
premiership at the same place.
The method at the Rose Bindery,
as the Chicago establishment is call
ed, is not to hurry but by careful effort
to make toll produce its finest results;
to embody some ideal Of beauty in de-
sign n execution; to see what the
best of tools can accomplish on the
best materials. In short, Mrs. Chat
field-TaylOr wishes to supply the mar
ket in these days Of cheaply, hastily
made books with volumes constructed
with artistic taste and durability. She
has not, however, taken up her work
from a devotee's standpoint, but from
a pure business view point. She studied
the situation and decided there was
an excellent opportunity for a good
genuine maker Of books. There is
nothing of the dilettante about the
owner of the Rose Bindery.
The interior of the bindery shows
the touch of an artistic hand in it's
hangings and furniture. 1t is not such
a shop as man would fit up. A few
rare drawings, paintings and pieces
of satuary graceful arrangements
of draperies relieve it from the sug-
gestions of a mere work room. The
sun, fltering in through a large sky
light, in spite of the smoke clouds that
hang over Chicago makes the place
cheerful. The long bench at the side
of the room is hidden from the view
of visitors by a series Of screens. The
tools are those seen in the ordinary
shop of the kind.
In this pleasing spot, for the practice
of the gospel of works, Mrs. Chatfield-
Taylur's absorption in her labors is
refreshingly positive. The tonic Of toll
has taken possession of her, and the
energy of her movements expresses the
delight she gains from the occupation.
Admitting that she is often tired when
the time comes to close the shop at
five O'Clock in the afternoon, she as
serts resolutely that she has entered
the ranks of the craftsman to stay with
a view to having something to occupy