Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-02-18
ONE: /.
.WONAN'S
WAY
BT CAROLYN BECKER
@ 1919 or. csRoIYH~ 0stGN6l2
CEAETEE EZ

/" HAT we have to take the bitter
with the sweet / was soon to
l. realize. l was so happy in
my work, so more than happy
in my engagement to Frank Lam
pheer that l could scarcely believe
it when the doctor told me mother
could not live. She had taken a hard
| cold and in her delicate condition it
| had developed into pneumonia. [ was
with her through her entire sickness
LESS than a week / was absolutely
stunned by the Suddenness. the aW-
fulness, of my sorrow. Since we had
lost father we had shared each 9TH
er's every Thought. We had been
chUms and companions as well as
mother and daughter. Now she was
| gone.
one clear day in December. Now,
aside from the old servant we had
had for years, I was alone. Frank
urged me to marry him at once, but
l refused. [ would not go to him
saddened by SO fresh a sorrow. l
would marry him in June as 1 had
promised. With that he had to be
content, although he tried to make
me change my mind. My mourning
precluded my going out to any ex-
| tent, even with him. But he often
spent the evening quietly with me
and at such times / would feel that
with such a lover L still had some.
| thing to live for even though 1 had
| lost mother
Mr.. Barlow had been most kind
He urged me to take a months Vaca-
| ton. To go away. But / told hims-
and truthfully, that ] should be hap
| pier, my loss easier to bear if kept
| right on with my work. SO the day
| back to the office.
The joy and thrill of work had by
! this time become necessary to my eX-
istencc. I could not imagine living
| without it, going back to social at
fairs and giving my days and nights
to society. L knew that great num-
| 5erS of women, through the work
they had done during the war, had
| been made to fell exactly as I did.
| The same spirit Of adventure and pa
| triotiSm which had brought thou
sands of men into the war was the
| same spirit to which tile women also
responded when the call came. Some
| of these women had been workers,
but others, like myself, who for the
| first time tasted the joy of actual
toll, had not so easily stepped back
| into their former lives. And many.
also like me, had decided to remain
| in the class who industriaIIy had a
| place in the scheme OF things.
Even the home life could not al
| together satisfy a woman who had
| become interested i'll the great world
of affairs. That they could, with
out in anywise neglecting their do
| LI1CSI1C uOClSo, VI OduSI IL 81 lIldl
they could also be of use to others
to the world at large-had at last
| become plain. 1t had been one Of
| the great questions which had Dech
what will the American girl do
and be when she comes back?"
This question was being fairly an
sWered by scores, yes, hundreds, of
women who had taken up the study
of economic conditions in America
and who were fast making good.
l ha We several such girls in the
office; girls who had done splendid
work either here Or abroad while the
war lasted and who now had re
fused to take up. their social AND
| domestic interests born OF their WORK
during the war. Many of them were
women of settled age, of no fam
lily. Others the daughters Of wealthy
| parents used to all the social amen
| tiles of life but who willingly nal
| given up all they meant for the
sake of helping when help was need