El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-06-04
C h oosiDg Your Wo k
By D orc by Dix

1T HE SCHOOL YEAR is nearly
over now. and thousand Of girls
- will be face to face with the
! problem Of choosing some trade or
profession by which they can earn
their own livelihoods.
To these girls I want to give one
bit Of advice, and that is this:
Capitalize Your Sex.
In choosing your work pick out some
kind Of womans work for which you
have an intuitive aptitude that is the
Inheritance Of your sex Thus shall
you follow the line Of least resis-
lance and gain the maximum reward
for your efforts.
Thousands Of generations Of women
before you, your foremothers have
cooked, sewed, and swept, and busted,
and nursed the sick. and taken care OF
children, and they have beQueathed to
you a knowledge Of these things that
is in your very blood and your finger
tips. Scientists call 1t the inheritance
| of acquired characteristics. and il
means the things We know how TO do
without being told, in contradistinc-
tion to the knowledge that is foreign
to US, and that we gain through blood
and sweat
The enormous advantage Of fighting
on her own ground a woman throws
away when she enters into the mascu-
line field of labor. There she is al.
has neither a mans physique. nor a
mans instincts about his work At
best she is only an imitation man and
all limitations are poor stuff. Even her
successes along masculine lines are
out the successes Of the dancing dog
not that she succeeds so well, but that
she succeeds at all
As to the Arts.
OF course we read in the papers &C
counts of women who have done ali
sorts rhfupa--1ndE-
and lady steeplejacks. and lady pilots,
and bronco buster queens. and so on
but there is probably not one Of these
women whose exploits have not been
equalled by some perfectly ordinary
man, who wasn't even considered a
headliner in his trade. Assuredly
there Is not one Of these women who,
II shed put an equal amount Of time
and strength and punch in some femi-
nine line Of work would not have
reaped thousand times better re-
ward.
The fine arts. music, and sculpture.
and painting, and acting. and writing
are OF course. mo mans land" in
these women are most successful when
they stick closest to their own sphere.
The world will remember Sarah
Bernhardt for her Camille and not
her L'Aiglon, and Maude Adams for her
Lady Babbie and not her Chantec-
leer- We want our women singers
to sing contralto and soprano. and
not bass and baritone. and women
writers are more interesting and con-
Vincing when they confine themselves
70 interpreting the mysteries OF wo-
man heart and the feminine psy-
cholosy than they are when they at
tempt to write like men and make
suesses at what men think and feel
Inc woman who elects to follow
me arts does best when she sticks to
her petticoats, when she paints or
writes, or, acts from the woman's
point OF view. and thus capftalizes
ner sex and her sex knowledge, be-
cause in so doing she gives to the
world something that is true and
vital and new. for women are fust
beginning to express themselves ana
the world is curious to know the
secrets that have been so long locked
up in women's souls.
IN business it is even more import-
ant mat a woman should work her
own side Of the street, instead Of
crossing over and entering into com
PelItlon with men. So much Of the
t DeSI PAID work in the world is essen
SlaIIy feminine that a woman is throw
ing away her inheritance IL rba
aoandons 1t for other fields