The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-04-12
FRANK E. HOWE, Editor and Pub.
BENNINGTON, VT, APRIL -, 1913
TO The GIRLS

Yesterday The Banner had short
article addressed to the boys, and to-
day it is no more than fair to devote
little space to the girls. The girls
need advice perhaps not quite as much
as the boys, but enough to warrant
reasonable thought by any girl or any
body who is endeavoring to bring one
up properly.
This is no sermon on morality and
virtue, but merely little business
talk and an attempt to consider the
problems of life from practical and
even mercenary point of view.
The time has passed when all girls
or nearly all can expect to get mar
ried and have charge Of a home and
family. The number Of unmarried
women is constantly increasing and in
some communities reaches the proper
ton nearly one in four.
For this reason a girl has to consid-
er two possibilities instead of one. No
girl, when the time approaches when
she must earn her own living, can be
sure whether her period of labor will
be the rest of her active life under
her own auspices, or whether in the
course Of few years she will join
partnership with some young man and
,Cfn hn,. fA If n
home and the bringing up of children.
Because of this uncertainty, her re-
sponsibility is greater than that of
young man. and the demand on her
tact and ability is even larger The fu-
ture of the race is more dependent on
the mothers than on the fathers, for
the mothers influence is usually par
amount in the home.
1t is only the most foolish of virgins
who in the days of their childhood,
fail or refuse to devote some time to
learning the gentle art of housewifery.
If they can cook and sew and pur-
chase the necessities of home with
judgment and economy, their chances
of happiness and prosperity, If called
upon to enter the marriage estate, are
tremendously increased. In this re-
spect the mothers should see that
their daughters are given every aid
possible.
If a girl. has to, or insists on earn
ing her own living, she can add to her
income by planning her future. Here
in Bennington, hundreds of girls go
into the mills. The wages of girls in
these mills vary from Sc to SIS per
week. Some of the more highly paid
have reached the better places through
years of experience, but others be-
cause of superior skill. Nowhere is
skill, industry and reliability more inn
portant than in a mill or factory. If
girl expects to work in mill ii will
pay her to make study of her work
and fit herself to be a skilled operator.
The same is true of the girls who
become teachers. telephone operators,
clerks, bookkeepers, or who go into do
nestle service. Those who are COM
petent, industrious and reliable always
have a place and are sure to get the
best paying places. The incompetent
and slothful get poor pay and are of
ten out of work.
The same thing holds true in an
even more marked degree in relation
to stenographers and typewriters. The
business colleges and other schools
are turning out thousands of ALLEGED
stenographers every year. Not one in
twenty of them is competent to take
first class position, and not one in six
ever becomes really competent.
The failure is usually in the foun-
dalton on which they have started. II
doesn't matter how good a shorthand
operator a girl may be IL she doesn't
know English grammer, spelling, pune
tuation and capitalization she won't
be able to hold good place.
Thousands of successful business
men are deficient in early education
and rely on their stenographer to put
their letters into good English and
proper form, and a girl who can do
this, is agreeable, honest faithful and
reliable, is a pearl of great value.
She can get big wages in the best Of
fees, while her incompetent sisters
are begging for job at six dollars a
week.
Then, too, with the increasing num-
Der Of women, who earn their own
living, the girls Of the future must
work into still newer fields. One of
these is the lighter branches Of agri- |
culture such as poultry raising, fruit |
growing and gardening. In these
branches women are proving more sue
cessful than the men, for they are
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