Doble Womanhood.

By CAROLINE M. HALLETT.

CHAPTER VII.

WORK AND EARNING A LIVING.

HERE is nothing more noble in all the world than work. And there is nothing, on the other hand, more contemptible than idleness. If you saw a man working with all his heart and might at breaking stones, and another lounging listlessly about with his hands in his pockets, should you have any difficulty in deciding which was the nobler of the two? I think not.

Though you may have been busy and useful since you were quite a little child, still I think it is an epoch in your life when you reach the age of realising, that now you have the power of doing actual work in the world, work that is wanted and is worth something, and is not play any longer.

Then it is that the question comes before you, 'What shall I be? How shall I earn my own living? What especial work can I do best?'

For I hope you do thoroughly believe in the honour and dignity of earning your own living. Or is a thought lurking somewhere in your mind that, though it may be a fine thing to work, it would be finer still to live independently of work; or, at least, 'it would be much nicer' not to be obliged to do anything unless you liked? No: I cannot say that I think independence of work is a fine or a good thing; for it puts a great temptation in one's way, and the temptation is to idleness. Of course you may resist the temptation to be idle, but a great many people never look upon it as a temptation at all. Many women make the mistake of imagining that if they have enough to live upon they are quite at liberty, if they choose, to do nothing. Never suppose that for a moment. If you had ten thousand pounds left you to-morrow you would be just as much bound to work as ever; only it would be rather a different kind of work, less for yourself and more for other people. Should you not still have twenty-four hours in every day for which to account to God, just as you have now?

Why did He give active feet and nimble fingers, and above all, thinking brains, to you and everybody else, if they are not to be used?

And so, if ever you hear anybody boast of 'not being obliged to do anything,' you may be quite certain that that person is a good way removed from Noble Womanhood. Her view of life must be a strangely distorted one if she thinks idleness a great good.

No; it is a great misery, and, if we call things by their right names, a great sin, for which we shall be judged hereafter.

The time is, however, past for thinking that having a calling in life is undignified. No lady (who is really a lady) thinks so at any rate. Hundreds of well-born gentlewomen are taking up professions which involve actual hard work for either brains or fingers, or both. And many others are working hard for the love of Christ as Sisters or Deaconesses, while all are as absolutely ladies as ever. Nay, they are something more than ladies; they are noble women, if for no higher reason than that diligent, hearty, zealous work always is noble.

And so I think you will find that it is a great gain to have a backbone of serious purpose running through your life over and above your ordinary womanly employments. If this serious purpose is earning a living, you will have a strong motive for exerting yourself to the utmost—one of the very strongest. 'If a man will not work neither shall he eat.' There will be no doubts and indecision to worry you if you are placed in a position in which you must do something for yourself. The only difficulty, perhaps, is to decide what you are most fitted for.

Teaching, Nursing, Household Service, and Needlework, all suggest themselves in turn. You are the most accustomed to the last, and as it has several branches, such as millinery and dressmaking, you think it might be the best and easiest way of earning money. Well, then, let me say a word about it.

Remember, first of all, that work to be worth money at all must be good work. Many a woman does not find out how defective her work is until it is brought into the market. Kind friends have hitherto made allowances; in the business world there are none or, the matter is very soon settled, indifferent work merely commands the extremely small sum it is worth, and not a farthing more.

I am thinking now more especially of what is called PLAIN needlework, for the simple reason that plain work is the foundation of all other kinds. have heard it said that if a woman can make a fine shirt well, there is no kind of needlework which she could not be able to achieve in a very short time. But a good deal is contained in the phrase 'doing plain work well.' Good work is characterised by that sort of evenness which is not laboured, but done with the ease of a practised hand. There is no puckering or pulling; the gussets and corners are masterly, with no suggestion of a struggle to get them right. The whole is clean, which at once tells of

rapid execution. On the other hand, indifferent work, though possibly neat, is much fingered, and its evenness breaks down at the corners or any difficult point. The gussets will not lie flat, and the gathers, though fine, are crowded and sit uneasily. Yet the whole has perhaps taken a long time, and pains have not been spared.

What is in fault? Why, in nine cases out of ten it is the want of training or practice. Training briefly means repetition; i.e., by going through an action a countless number of times you attain to wonderful skill in the performance of it. Now, many girls imagine that, after dallying a little with needlework for some years of their life, they will be able to gain a living by it if only they are apprenticed to a dressmaker for a year or two. That is probably the reason why there are so many inferior dressmakers in the world, because there are so few really good needle

women.

Never rest, then, until you have trained yourself thoroughly in the use of your needle. All work to be worthy the name, and to rise above mere employment, must be steady and persistent. Yet it is sad, though nevertheless true, that many women are wanting in persistence. Steady perseverance is irksome to them, and I am afraid I must add also that, not being as clear-headed as men, they do not see that this is the only way to reach excellence. Tailors and shoemakers often show a machine-like regularity in their work, not because they are more clever in handiwork than women, but because they have more idea of business, which to them is business and not play. The author of John Halifax tells of a lady who, after taking a world of pains to form a School of Instruction for women in a branch of art both pleasant and lucrative, is so much disappointed in her feminine workers that she fears after all she shall be obliged to take only boys as pupils and apprentices. She says, 'Girls seem to have no idea of going to business as boys are obliged to do, working steadily on, every day and all day long, whether they like it or not.'

All persistent work is more or less monotonous, and it is better to fight with the monotony and conquer it than let it conquer you. That is far nobler than to be continually changing from one sort of work to another, in the vain hope of discovering a light and amusing pastime that will do duty for work. No: in order to achieve real, good, noble work, we must give our minds, strength, and energies to it, not grudgingly, but heartily. And remember, too, that the discipline of daily work helps to train souls for Heaven.

CHAPTER VIII.

6

THERE are various other kinds of handiwork that are done by women in our large towns, besides needlework, which may be briefly summed up under the name of Factory or Industrial work. No doubt hundreds do gain an honourable living by these, yet I do not advise you to choose factory work if you have the choice of a vocation before you, even though the pay may be good. Why not?' you ask. Because the drawback of these trades is, that though a girl may become deft and neat-handed in her particular branch of work, yet it certainly does not fit her better to fill her true place in the world, which will be, we hope, that of a wife and mother. For instance, sticking pins in paper, folding envelopes, making matches, or assorting screws, may require a certain amount of skill and neatness, but do not exercise the worker's brain ; nor would these make her fitter to manage a house some day, nor train her hand to cook, clean, and mend, and all the housewifely arts that a true woman should esteem above all others. That is why I would rather that any girl I am interested in should take up either Needlework, Nursing, or Household Service, ast her particular line, for then nearly all that she learns will be of material use to her when she comes into her Woman's Kingdom; namely, her married home.

Of Needlework I have spoken already, and as Nursing, as a profession, cannot be undertaken until you are four or five-and-twenty, I will pass on to Household Service.

I need hardly tell you, who are sensible girls and striving, I hope, after Noble Womanhood, that Service is most honourable.

Yet sometimes there is an odd prejudice against it. Girls will prefer almost any ill-paid, unhealthy occupation, with the privilege of being called 'a young lady' and 'Miss So-and-so,' to the honour (for it is nothing less) of belonging to the calling our Lord Jesus Christ sanctified for ever, that of a servant. am among you as He that serveth.'

'I

To serve is surely the very watchword of our Christian profession.

And what is the motto of the highest gentleman in the land, namely, the Prince of Wales, but 'Ich dien,''I serve?'

What, then, causes the prejudice against service? 'I am not my own mistress,' a girl will tell you. 'I cannot go in and out as I like, particularly in the evening; I cannot dress as I like, nor make friends with whom I like which all seems a little hard.'

Yes, it may seem so, but believe me when I tell you

that many of these restraints are really a blessing, and not a misfortune. Womanhood, of whatever rank, is always the better for being guarded. Indeed, the higher the class the less liberty is considered desirable for the young daughters of a household. It is not young ladies who go about independently, but the class somewhat below them. I can assure you that many a young maid, guarded by a good mistress or upper servant, is often more like a lady in tone and manners, and even appearance, than the free and independent damsel living in lodgings, who thinks it delightful to dress in any extreme of fashion, and who may be seen walking out at any hour of the evening!

Again, what happy freedom from care a servant enjoys! She is secure of a comfortable shelter, plenty of food, and money of her own, whatever may be the trials, anxieties, and sufferings from bad times' of her employers. She has a distinct position and footing in the house, and is often honoured, trusted, and even loved, if she stays long in one family. But I will pass on to a little advice to you who are perhaps just thinking of entering upon service.

The first thing to keep in mind is, that there is as much to learn in service, as there is in any other trade or profession. Of course, a careful mother will train her girl well, and so the elements of cooking, housework, and nursing children are often learnt at home. Still there is a good deal more to be acquired, and so the first few years of life in service should be spent in a sort of apprenticeship to whatever work is your especial line. The mistake girls often make is to cut this learning time too short. Cooking will serve for an example of what I mean. A girl goes out at sixteen, and perhaps gets a place as kitchenmaid in at gentleman's family. She has plenty of scrubbing and cleaning saucepans to do, but she learns a fair amount of cooking as well. At the end of a year she leaves her place, but what does she do then? Oh, she takes a plain cook's place, or one as general servant, as she believes she knows quite enough to answer her purpose. If she is clever and painstaking, quick to follow recipes and gather up hints, she may even now improve herself a good deal. But the majority do not they remain exactly where they left off, and are doubtful, unreliable cooks, to the end of their days. The melancholy part is, that they do not love their art (for Cookery is an art), and so they rest content with failure, or at best a most moderate degree of excellence. Now nobody should rest satisfied until she has reached the highest point of perfection within. her reach. I have known girls who have patiently climbed the ladder, who have served as underlings for

years, going on from one step to another, learning ever more and more, until at last they have not only the satisfaction of having completely mastered every branch of their art, but find themselves in a position to command thirty, forty, and even fifty pounds a-year as wages. I do not say all have the ability to do thus, but many more might attain, if not to perfection, at least to something much nearer to it than they do at present, if their heart is in their work.

Jahe Good Old Days.

E often hear people talk with regret of the good old days; did it ever occur to you to ask when those days actually existed? sometimes seems to me as if nobody ever lived exactly at the right moment, it was always 'just before what they can themselves remember.' For instance, one's grandmother tells one that as a child she heard her father talking of the good old days, and saying that the country was now going rapidly to the dogs,' just as one hears people no longer young lamenting over everything that happens now-a-days.

Suppose one's grandmother to have been born. even 100 years ago, it would take a good many grandmothers to go back 600 years, and suppose each of these grandmothers heard their fathers lamenting the good old days gone by, you would imagine that by the time you reached the year 1280 the days must have been very good indeed. It happens that we have an opportunity of forming some idea of what life was in Norfolk at that period, and after hearing a little about it I think you will agree that we had better continue 'going to the dogs,' rather than return to those good old days!

In the February number of the Nineteenth Century Review there is a very interesting article by the Rev. Dr. Jessopp. This gentleman had been staying with a friend at Rougham Hall in Norfolk, and examining a quantity of old papers which he found there in a chest. What he learned was so interesting that he put it in the form of a lecture and delivered it in the public reading-room of the village of Tittleshall close by, to tell the present inhabitants something about their forefathers in the time of King Edward I. The lecture must have been especially attractive to those on the spot, but I think you will like to hear a few of the facts spoken of.

First of all, as to the houses. The manor-houses might be built of stone, but there was no brick—the old Romans made bricks, but the art seems to have

been lost. The smaller dwellings were dirty hovels run up anyhow.' They had neither chimneys nor windows; a hole in the roof let out the smoke and let in the light. The fire was in the middle of the floor, and the inhabitants crouched round it during the day upon the straw which was their only bed by night. They had no light except firelight..

Then as to food. The bread was black and tough; fresh meat during the winter was a thing unknown ; there was nothing to feed the half-starved cattle upon (the animals themselves were smaller, too, from the want of proper food); salt was so dear that even salt meat was only half cured, and was often alive with maggots; tea, of course, was unknown; sugar there was none, honey alone affording the means of sweetening any food; fruit and vegetables were scanty and poor, potatoes there were none till long after.

Some of us will not regret the absence of tobacco, perhaps, but our brothers will make up for our want of feeling in that respect.

The dirt of our forefathers must, however, have been something truly appalling. I don't think we who have been born in the age of cheap calico can sufficiently realise what it must have been to have no underclothing that could be washed. Just try to imagine never putting on anything clean except when it was new! The one garment worn was a sort of tunic with a belt round the waist, probably made of thick woollen material, or, in the case of men, of leather; and this must have been worn for many years, not only during the day, but also by night! The consequences I would rather not describe-the skin diseases, the itch, scurvy, leprosy, the living creatures that swarmed upon the garment and its wearer, I will leave to your imagination.

Then the lawlessness of those times, the murders, the robberies, and the frightful punishments that were inflicted in return. Our forefathers were not tenderhearted, it must be confessed, and they did not attach much value to human life. Perhaps life was so unpleasant that it did not seem much worth caring about.

I see by our Associates' List that the G. F. S. has reached Rougham, and perhaps some of our Members may have heard the lecture I am speaking of. I wonder what their forefathers would have thought of them, and still more what they would have thought of their forefathers if they could suddenly have been brought face to face! My own impression is that the good days are yet in the future, and that if we improve as much in the next 600 years as we have done in the last, the world will be a better place to live in, take it for all in all.

6. H. S. Industrial Department,

THE EUREKA SCALE.

HAT is the Eureka Scale? is a question often asked of me since I have become head of the G. F. S. Industrial Department, and have started classes for plain dressmaking. Let me add that these classes are not expected to turn out readymade dressmakers; for professions of any sort, proper apprenticeship is necessary. But these classes teach girls that which every girl may as well know, and is the better for knowing, viz., how to make a simple dress for herself, a mistress, or a friend. It was said that when our beloved Princess of Wales came to visit the Queen before her marriage, she with her own hands made some alteration in the dress of the dear Queen. If this were true I know not, but I know that, if true, the power to do so was another honour to that all-honoured Princess.

The difficulty in the way of our girls is not so much the making as the shaping of a dress. How few even of our dressmakers, except the costliest, have what is called a really good cut! How often there are creases by the neck or on the bust, or in many places where creases should not be! Now, what is wanted is a plain but scientific help in such cutting, and this is given by the Eureka Scale, the invention of Mrs. Tait, of 43 South Street, Reading, from whom alone the necessary 'rulers' and instruction can be had, the invention being patented. It is an adaptation of other scales used in America. 'But what is it?' you say; 'you have not yet told us what it is.' Well, fancy a thick cardboard ruler, straight on one side and curved on the other, about a foot long, and covered with numbers, and arrows, and curves. This is the ruler. With it goes a little book, exactly describing how the measure is to be taken. First, with a tape measure, the number of inches round the neck, arm, waist, bust, &c., are found and noted down, and then begins the work of ruling on a sheet of whitybrown paper the back and neck, and from them by due proportion the whole of the figure; and the best of it is that when this is done a perfect fit is obtained. A little wheel set in a handle is used to trace the pattern, which is then cut out and repeated in calico with turnings allowed. The proof of the excellence of the plan is that a medium-sized bodice cut by this scale will fit any ordinary figure.

The price of the ruler, with three lessons on its use, is 1. 1S.; but allowance could be made to a firm, society, or institution.

'And what does Eureka mean, pray?' It means