Evening star., 1938-06-06
. EMS Of thousands of girls are
being graduated now from our
high schools and colleges, and

= Il IANo Va tAiouodlfOS VI SlliS are
being graduated now from our
high schools and colleges, and
a as they stand bewildered at
the crossroads Of life they are asking
themselves: Where de we go from
here?
In what we call the good old times
woman did not have to worry over
what occupation she would follow. 1t
was settled for her at birth when the
doctor said: ITS a fine girl, ma am"
Father would support her while she
was growing up. Then she would
marry and be a wife, a mother, a
housekeeper and fill that station in
life to which it had pleased God to
call her. And that was that.
But nowadays few fathers can az
ford the luxury Of a parasitic daugh-
ter. and as soon as Mary Jane is out
OF school papa expects her to rustic
up job and help him take care Of
the remainder of the family. Nor can
any girl look forward with any degree
of certainty to getting married; or, if
she does, Of getting a husband who
will not expect her to provide her
own bread and butter and finger
waves.
Such being the case, 1t is virtually
certain that the average girl is going
to have to earn her living before mar
riage, and oftener than not follow
some gainful occupation after mar
riage in order to exc out her hus-
hands inadequate earnings. So it be-
hooyes her to give more serious
thought to choosing her career and
preparing herself for it than she has
done heretofore when she cherished
the idea that it didn't make much
difference what she did, or how she
did it, because she was only going to
work until she could find man to
work for her.
r TNDER the delusien that any Job
was merely temporary bridge
between the schoolroom and the altar,
girls have given no serious considera-
ton whatever to choosing their life
work, or their fitness for what they
were undertaking to do. They went
into this or that because Mamie or
Sadie was doing it, or because they
thought 1t romantic or glamorous, and
this has given us the army OF stenog-
raphers who can't spell and have no
vocabulary. the saleswomen without
personality or taste, the school teach
ers who have no faculty for imparting
knowledge or inspiring q love Of cul-
ture in the youthful breast.
And because they have believed they
wouldn't have to typewrite, or sell
goods. or try to hammer learning into
thick little skulls for long, most girls
never wasted any time and energy in
even attempting to do good work or
make themselves experts in their line.
They never even seemed to grasp the
fact that there is any connection be-
tween good reliable work and the size
of = pay envelope.
It is to these myriads OF girls who
are about to face the problem of sup
porting themselves that am speaking
today, and I would like to say to them
with all the earnestness which can
command first to put out Of their
minds the belief that they are only
going to have to work for few days
or months until some Fairy Prince
will come riding along and bear them
on to his palace in Palm Beach or
his penthouse on Park avenue, and
they will have nothing to do the re-,
mainder OF their lives but spend money
instead Of earning it. Maybe he will
come, but the odds are million to one
against 1t. So grid yourself, girls, for
the long struggle that leads to self
earned independence.
i + 4
THEN / would impIore them to study
their own aptitudes and find out
what they are best fitted for. Most
failures are the result of round pegs
getting into square holes Work is
only work when we are doing some
thing that bores us and that we do
badly. The work we love is the great
est Joy and thrill and excitement that
the world can give us.
/ you'd call their attention to the
practical, homely,- everyday occupa-
tions, and especially to those that be-
long peculiarly to their sex and for