The Washington herald., 1917-11-20
Velus of Interest the Women Readers OF The Herald %

low workers because she scorned
them as beings of inferior social
caste. She skunk into her busipess
Office as IL she had been going to
some disgraceful rendezvous and
were trying to escape recognition,
and she tortured herself wondering
what some brainless cad she had
once known would be saying of her.
Is II any wonder that such a wom-
an holds her place only on suffer-
ance that will soon be worn thread
bare? Or that her work Ii bad? Or
that she will never get dollar
more salary, or be advanced to any
higher place? No human being ever
did any work we'll who was ashamed
Of 1t. 1t is only pride that puts
the punch In any labor that makes
1t great. To make a success. you
have to believe that the thing you
are doing Is the finest and best
thing in the world and that you
are the luckiest person alive to
have been elected to do it.
People complain that women's
work Is So often bad work. This
is true, and their work is bad be-
cause they are ashamed of II and
have no interest in II, but the fault
does not lie with the individual
woman so much as with the false
teaching of which women have been
the unfortunate victims.
Men have had the ideal of inde-
pendence bred into them. Men have
been taught that work was glorious.
that 1t was a shameful thing for q
man to pass his life in an idle
round of pleasure. and that the most
admired man was the man who did
his work best. That Is why men
| boast of being lawyers, doctors,
merchants. manufactured me-
chanics.
On the contrary. women have
been taught that If 1t isn't actually
disgraceful for a woman to work
It is at least a terrible misfortune,
When we hear of a woman who
has gone into business we draw
down our mouths and poor Mary
her, and poor Mary feels as humili-
ated as il she had committed a
crime. That is why women will
starve before they will go to work,
and why, when they do work. they
so oftenStry to work in secret and
try to camouflage it under the
name of charity.
How many of us buy cakes from
pathetic old ladies who pretend that
they are selling them for a friend
who doesn't want her name known?
Or how many of us have our fine
| lingerie made by some woman who
says that she makes her missionary
money that way because she feels
that the money she has made through
a personal sacrifice is especially bless
ed and efficacious in converting the
heathen?
How many Of US have endured the
discomforts Of living in untidy rooms
and eating meals that were never
on time or decently cooked because
we were staying with those who took
paying guests" but who would
have swooned in horror at the idea
OF being known as keeping a board
! ing house or a hotel?
| Now you can't get the teachings OF
centuries in a minute, and 1t is going
| to take time for women to rise above
the idea that instead of the brand
! Of being a working woman being a
stigma upon them it is an insignia
of honor, because ii removes them at
once from the class of dolts and dolls
and raises them to the level of in
! telligent and capable human beings.
And when women learn to be proud
of their work, proud that they have
enough gray mater in their heads
and skill in their hands and health in
their bodies 10 do The kind OIL WORK
| that Is worth while, and that the
| world is glad to pay Tor, We are go-
ing to hear no more about woman 6
\ Inefficlency. Pride Is the Psychological
lever by which the feminine ArcnI-
medes OF the future Is going to Tit her
universe.
You can see how pride in her work
spells success 1or q woman at every
turn. The woman who is ashamed OF
taking bOarders and calls them pay
! ing guests never sees that the Ueds
are swept under, or does her own
marketing, or does her daily stunt in
the Kitchen. She leaves that TO Ser
wants and she gUes bankrupt. The
woman who boasCs that She keeps the
best boarding house or hOtcI IN her
town is on 10 her Job at every turn
and she makes a lorCune.
The woman VINO would rather die
than have II known mat she is 4
dressmaker and who pretends 10 only
sew for a lew frienus for acCommo-
cation. makes the kind of frocks you
send to your country cousin. To IN,
woman who is proud of her designs IN
clothes you gladly pay out sood
money.
There is no woman in the world
who has SO mucn right to be proud
OF herself as the working woman. Al
sensible people respect and honor her
And the balance don't count.
Copyright, lSl7, by the Wheeler
Syndicate, InC)