The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-26

the most complete domesticity, she is a
bit startling.
1T was q long time before could get
Mrs. Whitney to talk on law. First, I
tic life. and hear recounted all the cute
sayings of her children. But though she
has the Gracchi pride in her three jewels
she is still tremendously interested in her
profession-for the present abandoned
and especially in regard to its new re-
cruitS.
To-day a girl has a much better chance,
IS surer of fair play than Twas: for since
1890 (When | began to practice) more than
two hundred women lawyers have sprung
up to smooth the path: SO | would unhes-
itatingly advise a girl to study law if she
possesses 4 legal mind: that is as neces-
sary to her as to a man. l would say
she must always have had the desire for
such a profession. 1t must be more of an
instinct than an engrafted resolution. She
must be born with a legal tendency Of
mind as others are endowed with the ar
tistic, the literary or the commercial. Even
as a little girl at school parties, l was
always given Il miniature law book for a
favor. OF course, q woman must possess
a logical mind no, not felninine-or mas
culine. Logic is logic; being an abstract
quality it is devoid Of sex. Then she must
have facileness. which is not facility; it is
surer than that, just as fuency in writing
is sometime more than mere fidelity. Be
ing buSineSS-like is an absolute essential,
but softened with tact it is more effective.
She should be pertinacious and above all
she has to know how to fight, otherwise
she will be trodden under foot. Litigation
is nothing but fighting. When two OPP
posing counsel face each other in court.
the man drops his chivalry like a hot cake.
He gives the woman opposing him no
quarter, nor should she ask any.
with these qualities, 4 woman ought to
succeed. handicapped as she must be fer
a while in this profession, until men are
they hold towards a woman lawyer. A
girl should have college training or the
equivalent before she studies law. 1t is
more necessary for her than for a man, be-
cause she needs a careful academic under
structure to give her the poise and as
surance that the newness and stranseness
of the proceedings encruStlnS the law may
"Rut SUPPOSE a girl cannot afford all
this 2"
"Lack of money IS no barrier. Many
of the most successful young women no"
practicing in New York were originally
unouestionable feminine traits. render her
ed the law school ut night and after grad
uating returned to the office as law clerks.
Their legal knowledge, together with their
stenographic ability, Melted them about SO
or $50 a week. From that they went into
pracice."
rs there any particular branch Of law
that women are especially fitted for:
eff a woman lacks the spirit to tackle
il in the open. there is a good opportunity
for her as a law clerk. Her habits of so
hriety together with loyalty and fidelity
nnouesionable feminine traits, render her
more valuable 10 her employer than a man.
Who is concerned only with his own get
TING on and uses his employer as Il means
r. his own advancement. Then probate
work is a sheltered nook, and there is a
great field in patent law for a woman who
the time and patience to obtain the
na 80 sDecial equipment. If a woman
nossesses these natural qualities l have de-
scribed. it is preferable for her TO go into
80 through life at the unremunerative
snd nnindependent work that society has