The Washington herald., 1920-06-20
WOMAN CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONER TELLS OF SUCCESS
H.
Most Limit Of Your
"Do WHATEVER you're most inter.

0Do WHATEVER you're most inter-
~ ested in to the limit of your capacity
This very pleasant formuh for success
sounds contrary to all the customary rules
for hard work and no play, but it has
brought its exponent, Mrs. Helen II. Gar
dener, to the highest position In the United
States Government which has ever been held
by a woman.
Mrs Gardener recently was appointed to
the United States Civil Service Commission,
the largest employer in the world. She is
one OF three on the commission, and for the
first time the gold letters over one Of the
doors, Commissioner Gardener" trace the
name Of a woman
When Mrs. Gardener is pointed out to
people on the streets Of Washington as ne
first woman civil service commissioner, the
usual exclamation of the observer is, What
q little woman for such a big job!'' But
that is because they are Of the younger
generation and are not familiar with a name
which Is recognized by the older medical
men, literary lights and 'just folks" every
where.
ITO BE sure, when one enters the room Of
= Commissioner Gardener one is greeted
ny very tiny lady, who, when she sits at
her desk, has to, use hassock because her
feet won't touch the floor. 1t takes very
important little person to impress the in
terviewer with a great sense Of capability
Yet Mrs. Gardener gives that impression
without any effort on her tart
She is little pink apple blossom of
woman. Her cheeks are delicately flushed.
but her finely carved features have the
stamp Of character and determination which
causes the casual ,passerby to mark her as
a woman of achievement. Her hair is white
and waves over her temples in charming
little scallops Her very steadfast brown
eyes are remarkable not only for their ex-
preston, a seeming to see not only little
things that most people overlook but also
very big things far Of that most eyes would
never search for, but for their coloring.
which is in delightful contrast to her white
hair and pink skin. She is just the type
a miniature painter would sele,t, only, per
haps, with an air of little less incapable
softness and a little more practicality.
Mrs. Gardeners axiom about doing what
one likes best to do might not lead to a
life of achievement for every one who fol-
lowed her Instructions, because few, like
Mrs. Gardener, prefer working for the ad-
vancement of humanity to any other occu-
patton in the world. Mrs. Gardener would
not thus describe her life work. but the
men and women who have read her books,
those who have heard her eloquent pleas from
the lecture platform and those who know
Of her sincere campaign to get governmental
self expression for women through suffrage
work would approve the term.
When Mrs. Gardener was quite a young
woman residing in New York city, where
she spent twenty six years of her life, she
began her work for the general welfare.
At that time education for women was
not generally believed in. Women were not
admitted to the leading colleges of the coun-
try and most Of them were not given even
q high school education. When q few far
sighted persons began discussing the matter
Of giving women the same educational op-
portunities as were offered men, many SNUG
pedagogues declared that higher education
would be wasted on women because they
were not capable of the same mental proc
esses as men. Woman's brain was smaller
than mans, they said.
She believed in a higher education. for
both sexes and desided to refute the prop
aganda about woman's brain. She began
to study under DR.. Edward Spitska, Of New
York, then one of the leading brain special
lists of the world. She devoted months to
intensive study of the human brain and its
functions. When her mentor pronounced
her capable she began writing her answer.