The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-03-24
N hy Hobbies Are Valuable
 To Women
Ry ,HIIA H0YT

[rTAvE you a hobby? Do you ride it
 hard? It's very wise thing to have
 9ne. A hobby need not be something
 extremely important; 1t may be almost |3nything that you do to pass the time land keep interested. 1 think that each |lf us, rich, poor, man. woman, child, |should have hobby to ride. It may | 1e the salvation of LIS sometimes-es- |oecially in the case of a girl or woman |who may suddenly be thrown on her 'Swn resources. Then ones hobby can De turned to ones livelihood. l feel rather strongly on this subject, |1aving happened to have come in con Fact just lately with two cases: one If q mother and daughter suddenly left without any money. The daughter not pnly is unqualified for any work but |seerns to have no ambition to try to become qualified. There is nothing much more discouraging, 1 must admit, nan to attempt to suggest work to |sorne girl brought up with the average educatoin and the desires and tastes of most girls who have had many advan- Ea8es. There is no market for social and people will only |,ay for services rendered.
 However, 1t is interesting to see the Engenuity of some people. I met the other day woman with no training |pf any kind who found herself suddenly
 n position with husband incapable 9f work through illness, and a son to support and educate. She had always
 been interested in character reading
 from faces. People had often told her khat she had very quick powers of Judging people from their faces. At |A loss to know what to do to earn Some money she remembered this and
 mmediately studied further into the |science, and is now earning money enough to support herself and educaet her son.
 It took imagination and courage to |start out on as novel as road as this. |t also showed that she had the intel igence to recognize the potential value n quality that most people would not nave considered of any value whatso- Isyer and to turn what at first thought would seem nothing but at most a pas |lme into commercial asset.
 It is hard to think of any so-called hobby that could not he turned into commercial value if necessary, provided she individual has become really edu- ,ated in that hobby. It is certain that he person well trained in some spe- siai subject finds herself with com nercial value, while the person gener- siiy intelligent, but trained in nothing, 1nds that she is of very little use to anybody. Many women who have al- ways in their hearts considered them selves rather clever and efficient per sons. find to their amazement. when suddenly forced to make money for shemeslves,' that there is very little money for them in any paid position. This class of women is getting smaller, z IS true; more and more girls are brought up to study and learn some hing that may prove of value to them financially later on, but nevertheless here IS still large percentage of the 3ther kind.
 Only the other day I was told sfory of young girl who came with aer grandmother into an employment agency for work. They had suddenly ost their money aud had no one to turn fo. Being of much older generation me grandmother of course had no train Ing. But neither had tie girl. She came into the office and told with great importance that she had been edu- gated at a fashionable finishing school. ~-~.A NS0SA MAAL oiiS W db IO 10 she admitted that she was qualified tor nothing. But she was most insist mt that the work she did must cer. tainly not be boring! In other words. she not only was of absolutely no value commercially but seemed to have no apprecaitoin of the fact and felt that she could more or less dictate what work she would do. It is tragic thing to talk to girl brought up as this one has been brought up and real lze how small her value is and how un- mercifully practical people in business are forced to be.
 Whats the remedy. It is: If you are a girl, be sure to have hobby. Your hobby may some day be more Important to you than your social status."
 On Tuesday: Some Suggestions for Hobbies"
 --NA--