The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-01-31

ANeN VIM so@NStfit.
think wha ] could do" said the woman
/ possess one talent. l have a voice
and l want to make the most OF that.
Nothing else relieves me OF the ofdl-
nary daily round of society mat J. nave
known all my life. L may not have much
talent as it is. but 1t is all l nave. l
am going to cultivate that, therefore,
until / make something out of IT.
Her friends knew that she spent w
hours every day at the piano, had three
lessons "a week from her singing teacher.
in addition 10 perfecting herself IN the
languages that she thought would be
necessary TO her in attempting to sing.
Such serious devotion to her art was
not necessary. as the II woman IN
question happened to have sufficient In
come. Her case is typical of the pres
ent desire of New York women to do
something.
Il can run over my list of acnuaint-
ances,' n woman said. and find that =
majority of them are extremely in
terested in some kline of work. l know
just ordinary New York women who
do what the majority Of New York
women do and are not specially gifted
beyond the rest of their race. Yet ]
will tell you what their specialties are.
Not long ago they never thought of
doing anything beyond enjoying the
ordinary social pleasures of their class,
and thought they were doing their full
duty when they looked after their
homes and their children.
Zone of them, who speaks Italian
we'll, wondered what use she could
make of hat gift beyond reading for
her own pleasure. She had Il friend
who had established q school In which
italian girls were taught sewing and
other means of supporting themselves.
Everything about this club had been a
success, but the woman who founded
1t could never get hold of a secretary
who was competent and able to speak
Italian. Here seemed to be just the
chance that this girl wanted. so she
goes three times a week to the school
and spends the greater part of the day
there. apparently happier than she ever
was. TO do such work as that requires
more than ordinary intelligence. In Or
depriving of the work some girl who
needed the money she makes the so
ciery pay her n that amount she di-
vides mons the Italian girls who come
there and seem to be really in poverty.
Not for Money Gain.
~ know two women who are just low
moving heaven and earth to get orders
for household decoration. Neither has
the least need of money, and what
each wants is to get out of the amateur
class. They think tina can be done
only by getting q legitimate order from
somebody TO decorate a house. SO hey
haunt the offices Of their architect
friends. 1t was a great feather in the
cap of one Of them when she succeeded
in getting permission to decorate sew
eral rooms in a hotel in which her hus-
band was a s~tockholder. h makes a
speciality of the French school, while
the other devotes her talents to the
Italian renaissance. One of them has
decorated her own house in the Italian
style, but us there are few ordinary
New York homes suited to such a per-
Tod she is longing for hotels and rich
mems palaces to conquer.
Both these women have husbands
and children and do not neglect their
duties toward them. That is another
phase of the new desire of women to
ave something they can do. They seem
to be just as efficient with their other
ON to speak slightingly of women
who think of nothing but society.
1.-The hardest worked woman | know
is Il painter, who leaves a beautiful
home early in the morning to spend the
day in her studio, working on portraits.
She never sells any of them. as she has
not yet reached the point at which they
would be good enough, and her hus-
band probably would not allow her to
if she wanted to dispose of them in
that way. Her ambition is not to make
honey but to develop a talent which
artists have assured her that she pos
seEses. Two years ago before she took
her own studio she went as regularly to
the league and to other classes as If
she had been dependent on her success
for her daily bread. Another hard
worker in my acquaintance and a rich