New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-24
FINDS NEW YORK
FULL OF SPIDERS
Bars Latest Portia Says
City Has Few Advantages
for Business Woman.

No alarming spider perched beside
her can brighten Miss Mufet' from
law-book tufct in spite Of all the
spider can say she calmly spoons up
her bread and whey.
Miss May Patterson. OF - William
Street, the latest port.a admitted 70
the ranks Of New York lawyers. and d
most iusis-eEt cquai.tr-iu-braia5 advo-
cate. quotes her Mother Goose as
above. Blond-Iaired and Efficient, She
has jourucycd from stcnOgrapher to
full-Nedged attorney. with single Of
her own, By the gentle art or Ignoring
spiders.
"Thc city is Pull OF them" she de
clareG Yesterday. IL mean j. is full Of
things 10 brighten woman away from
the profession she has chosen. New
York Is the most unequa! place in the
world for the woman IN business. offer
ing her all Of It's disadvantages and few
OF frs benefits. But m going 10 STICK
TO law just the same"
Rights for women is Miss Patterson's
creed, and she believes IN Il even more
than iu votes for women, though she Is
an ardent suG-agIst. Those who think
no woman ever stands p mother one
might benefit by hearing this slender
Young lawyer talk. She has chosen ter
profession partly because she believes
that it is one of the most practical
ways Of helping her sisters
THE women get the worst or II right
along" she argued. her blue eyes snap
ping. III YOU ever 90 10 night court
YOU viii see how much harder even the
law is upon women than II Is upon
Il strh | n T.
all that o<
course. / shall. / thia.. that divorce IS
one Of the most wonderful things that
civilization has offered Us. That doesn't
mean, though, that II ought TO be en-
tered into lightly. any more than mar
rage ought. ] preser surrogate cases
1 think that most women do-but
shall take criminal cases, too, II they
come my way
Then Miss Patterson stopped and
smiled winsomely.
you mustn't think that I'm knock
ing men just because I'm standing up
Tor women. will you?" she said. I'm
not. / like mon, and they are nice 10
work with. Sometimes man lawyer
has a sort Of I-should-worry attitude
when he discovers that "a woman -
arguing against him, but az rule they
are very nice
In spite of her clear headed mascu-
line views and her preference for poll
tics instead Of pink teas, Miss Patter-
son is as thoroughly feminine an attor-
ucy as ever hid frills beneath a legal
robe. Rights for women" IS one OF
her notices in life, and Don't get
fat" is another. She accords the same
. .Tfs .saFf faIa al q
new Easter nat that she gives 20 the
purchase OF pondcrous la" tome;
81 cannot understand how any clever
woman can be careless about her ap-
pcarauco." enc declared, her dainty
white wa.s. buttoned modishly up TO
her chin and every hair on her smooth
blond head IN its proper place. he
clcvcrer woman is, the better she
ought 90 be able 10 look.
feminine? Perhaps ! am, but III
tell YOU one thing don't like 70 cook.
! believe IL is an ancient delusion that
every woman is by nature fitted for
housekeeping and that no woman
should have 20 DO IL who does some
thing else better But I'm not sure
that / think n married woman ought 70
remain In the business world. OF
course. the only answer 20 that for me
is: Don't get married.
During the eleven years Miss Patter-
son was IN the employ of the city, in
the Department Of Parks, she acquired
her law education by studying nights.
She resigned when she had been admit
ted 10 the bar, and on March went
into practice FOR herself ct p William
Street. She IS a member Of the Pro-
fessional Woman's League, OF the Fed
GRAFTON Of Women's Clubs and Of the
Woman LAWYERS Association.