The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1906-06-30
THE RIGHT re WORK.

the daughter ofwealth is right in occu-
plying bread-winning position to the
exclusion perhaps of her sister who is
the daughter of poverty, is usually ig-
nored. If discussed, it is dismissed. las
irrelevant or ruled out Of court with.
out much considerat ton. The sons Of
our multi-millionaires go into business
and enjoy it's contests and rivalries. u
The daughters are not willing in multi
piled instances to be left out Of what
seems to them so interesting and SO
profitable
Twenty years ago, young girl who
could not find salaried position into
which she could fit and who did not
care for society, was apt to fold her
hands in some Encouragement. At
the present hour the same girl rents an
Office, purchases a few goods, sends out
her circulars and announces herself as
business woman on her own account.
Sometimes she starts little shop or an
informal woman's exchange or in
some novel enterprise arrests public at
tention. Women are born shop
keepers. There is no reason why they
should not succeed in buying and sell
ing if they are disposed to give time
and strength to the occupation.
A young woman left college several
years ago with honors, and returned to
her home in an eastern city prepared
to do whatever came next. The thing
that came next was a long siege of
nursing an invalid mother, who finally
died. 1t was then discovered that most
of what had been comfortable fortune
had melted away, but there was still
the house, ample and pleasant, in
downtown street. Fashion had desert
ed it and shops and offices and depart
ment stores had elbowed their way
close to the old homestead. House and
land were valuable, but could not yet
be sold until younger children should
grow up. The daughter took stock of
herself. She decided that she did not
care to teach and that to take boarders
and turn the home of her fathers into
a caravansary for transients would not
be to her liking.
II never could get on with paying
guests she said, ssand / should hate
seeing strangers in these rooms" The
one thing she understood was, in
word, clothes, She knew what things
suited people and she had artistic no.
lions that she thought worth something
in the commercial field. She started an
original dressmaking plant, engaging
people who knew how to cut and fit and
trim and sew, but she did not under
take closely to follow the dictates OF
fashion. From the beginning, her
terms were high, but clients came to
her and she received them with the air
of a princess dispensing favors. Be-
fore many months she had gained her
foothold and became herself the fash
ion, and to-day she is making another
fortune to replace the one that van
ished.
What change the future may bring,
no one can predict. The pendulum may
yet swing backward. In entering the
fields of business and the professional
arena, our girls have parted with some
thing of that sweet and appealing
charm Of femininity that was once
their birthright. 1t is inevitable that,
on the surface at least, woman shall
lose something of the daintiness and
distinction and delicacy that are pure
womanly, when she enters the lists and
fights for whatever advantage she
gains. On the surface, let it be added,
is theloss. Underneath in all that makes
character. true womanhood remains
forever unimpaired. What is lost in
delicacy is compensated for by endur-
ance, and in the end, the girl Of the
twentieth century need not suffer by
comparison with any predecessor.
Copyright 1906 by Joseph B. Bowles.)