The Canadian Girl at Work

_A BOOK OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE_

By

MARJORY MacMURCHY

Prepared at the Instance of the Minister of Educationfor Use in Ontario School Libraries

[Illustration: logo]

Printed by Order of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

TORONTO

Printed and Published by A. T. Wilgress, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty

1919

Copyright, Canada, 1919, by theMINISTER OF EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO

PREFACE

The object of _The Canadian Girl at Work_ is to assist girls in findingsatisfactory employment. The further aim of showing them what constitutesa right attitude toward work and toward life through work, underlies theaccount of each occupation. The book is meant for girls, and for theassistance of fathers and mothers, of teachers, and of those who areinterested in questions of training and employment. 

The life of the average woman is divided, generally, into two periods ofwork, that of paid employment and that of home-making. No adequate schemeof training for girls can fail to take account of this fact. They should beequipped with knowledge and skill for home-making, and assisted in makingthe best use of their years in paid work. Happily, it appears from aninvestigation of the conditions affecting girls as wage-earners that theknowledge which helps them to be good home-makers is necessary to theirwell-being in paid employment. Technical training and skill are not morehelpful to a girl at work than specialized knowledge in matters of food, clothing, health, and daily regimen. Lack of training in home-making isprobably the greatest drawback which a girl in paid employment can have. Her business during her first years of paid employment may not require muchskill or experience, but her living conditions require all the specializedwoman's knowledge that training can give her. 

To bring about in the life of a girl a satisfactory connection betweenpaid employment and home-making, and to show the home employments intheir rightful place as occupations of the first importance, are necessaryobjectives in any book of this character. 

When considering the employments of to-day as part of their own lives, girls of the twentieth century may well look back through the long agesto women's work in the past. [1] The study of anthropology appears toindicate that in primeval ages women began the textile industry and, possibly, agriculture. There seems to be no doubt that they were primitivearchitects, and that they tamed some of the smaller domestic animals. Theyhad most to do with the preparation of food and may have introduced theuse of herbs and medicines. They were spinners, weavers, upholsterers, and sail-makers. Most of these employments were taken up by men andspecialized and developed almost past imagination. It is evident thatwomen have always worked, and worked hard. If they had not done so, therace would not have reached its present position, and women themselveswould have remained undeveloped, without a realization of their ownpossibilities. 

The history of Anglo-Saxon times shows women engaged in spinning, weaving, dyeing, and embroidering, carrying on these industrial arts in the home, side by side with the work of the house. The work of women in homemanufactures was a by-industry, not occupying the worker's whole time, butnevertheless an important occupation. Later, women were employed in manykinds of industrial work as assistants to their husbands and fathers. It isdoubtful if wages were paid for such work. Employment of this kind is notto be thought of merely as a romantic or picturesque accompaniment of homelife. Houses and comforts centuries back were not such as they are to-day;and the work of women was toil, side by side with men who toiled also. 

The modern factory did not originate industrial work. The factory carriedmany industries away from the home where they had originated; and womenfollowed their work to large establishments where they were trained towork collectively. The statement can be made with truth that machineryhas made it possible for women to perform work for which their strengthwould otherwise have been insufficient. Through the industrial revolutionbrought about by factory work, the general body of women workers becamewage-earners, rather than unpaid workers who contributed to the financialearnings of their fathers and husbands. 

In Canada, the process of development of women's work in the past fiftyyears has been rapid. The grandmothers of the women of this generationcarded wool and used spinning wheels within the memory of workers of lessthan middle age. One old woman who died not many years ago told how sheused to bake in an oven out-of-doors and had dyed homespun with butternut. The soap cauldron stood on the levelled stump of what had been once aforest tree. Candles were moulded in iron moulds. Household industries werecarried on expertly in the homes of pioneers by the women of the family. 

When these days had gone, there followed other days in which the childrenof the pioneers devoted themselves to the schooling so highly esteemed butrarely enjoyed by their parents. The boys, after school life, turnedto business, railway employments, teaching, banking, farming, becameministers, lawyers, doctors, or gave their thoughts to politics. The girls taught school, were milliners or dressmakers, went into shops, or became the wives of nation builders in every walk of life. A few werenurses, journalists, doctors, or missionaries. 

The work of that generation has been followed by a century in whichCanadian girls are invited to share in nearly every form of activity. Thisgreat freedom with its many opportunities has come for noble ends. What thegirls of to-day must strive to do is to take up their work with a vision ofwhat it may be made to mean--men and women in co-partnership laying thefoundations of a new earth. 

It is probable that the social and domestic conditions of the earliestworkers were far below those of the average worker of to-day. But, althoughpresent conditions are better than those of the past, the process ofamelioration should be greatly advanced by this generation. The increasingopportunities of girls, both in home-making and paid employment, are likelyto become a contributing factor in the humanizing of every form ofindustry. We have learned to realize the possibilities of machinery. What we must do now is to imagine and realize the possibilities of theindividual worker. This can be done only through study, experience, andactual work in industrial occupations which offer employment to women. 

The woman of the home has work of unrivalled value. She has to study newstandards of living, to help to control the food supply, to improve thehealth of children, and to lower the rate of infant mortality. A standardof living in each community might be tabulated by women home-makers. Suchinformation should be available in each locality and should be accessibleto all classes in the community. How are workers--girls, boys, men, orwomen--to know on what sums individuals and families can live and maintainhealth and efficiency in one district or another, if these matters are notstudied, determined, and published for their use?

[Footnote 1: Acknowledgment is made to Miss B. L. Hutchins' _Womenin Modern Industry_. G. Bell & Sons]. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE

Preface iii

CHAPTER

 I. Thinking About Work 1

 II. The Girl Who Works in a Factory 4

 III. The Saleswoman 9

 IV. The Girl at Work in an Office 15

 V. Learning After the Position is Found 20

 VI. What Every Girl Needs to Know 24

 VII. The House Worker. Domestic Science 28

 VIII. The Teacher 33

 IX. The Work of a Nurse 39

 X. Dressmakers and Seamstresses 45

 XI. The Milliner 50

 XII. Making One's Own Clothes. Home Millinery 53

 XIII. Telephone and Telegraph Girls 56

 XIV. Hairdresser and Manicurist. Waitress 61

 XV. Farm Work for Women 65

 XVI. The Librarian 71

 XVII. Work for the Girl at Home 76

 XVIII. The Home Employments 82

 XIX. Journalism. Writing. Advertising. Art. Handicrafts. Designing. Photography. Architecture. Landscape Gardening. House Decorating and Furnishing. Music. Acting. Dancing 88

 XX. Banking. Law. Medicine. Dentistry. Pharmacy. Chemical Industry. Civil Service. Social Work 94

 XXI. Going into Business for One's Self 99

 XXII. New Work for Women 102

 XXIII. Money and Wages 107

 XXIV. Spending. Saving. Investing 112

 XXV. Health 116

 XXVI. A Girl's Reading 121

 XXVII. Necessary Work 126

XXVIII. What One Girl Can Do for Another 129

 XXIX. Civic Duties and Responsibilities 133

 XXX. The Best Kind of Work 138

List of Occupations 141

Bibliography 146

Index 149

THE CANADIAN GIRL AT WORK

CHAPTER I

THINKING ABOUT WORK

Thinking about work is the beginning of one of the happiest and most usefulof our experiences. Through work there comes to us the pleasure of agrowing knowledge of the great world and its wonders, the delight ofintercourse with other people, and the happiness of friendship with ourfellow-workers. Work well done is a doorway to whatever good things we mostdesire. Best of all, perhaps, to the girl who is earning her living, is thesatisfaction of feeling that she is a useful citizen, doing her part in thedevelopment of Canada. 

Canadian girls have a wide field from which to choose their particular formof occupation. To choose wisely is a duty we owe to ourselves and to ourcountry--to ourselves, because a wise choice helps to secure our happinessin work; to our country, because she has a right to the best we can offerher in return for the peace and freedom in which we live under her laws. 

Every year new varieties of employment and new positions in old employmentsare being added to the field of work for girls and women. Work at home isbeing systematized, and new devices are increasing the efficiency of thework of a home. Among the girls who are beginning work to-day are some whowill develop further the management of the home on modern economic andsocial lines. Forward-thinking people anticipate a great advance which willbe made by the girls of the twentieth century in the management of homes. 

But what of the workers outside the home? Opportunities of employmentare steadily increasing. Already women are making a business of growingvegetables and flowers, are engaged in the work of poultry farms, bee-keeping, and in dairy production. Women are undertaking the work ofchemical experts in factories. Girls are driving motors and collectingwaste. They are shopping experts, employment experts, house furnishers, agents for renting houses, and one woman has become an expert in testingflour for a great milling industry. These are new employments. Hundreds ofthousands of girls and women are at work in the long-established women'semployments, as factory workers, saleswomen, stenographers, house workers, telephone and telegraph operators, waitresses, milliners, dressmakers andseamstresses, teachers, and nurses. 

Some opportunities for employment are close at hand; others are fartheraway. Sometimes it is best to begin with the nearest work. But in any casethe girl should take time to think of her employment. There are varioushelpers to whom she may turn when she is beginning to think about work--herfather and mother, her teachers, the Government Employment Bureau, a goodprivate employment expert such as may be found in the Young Women'sChristian Association, or an older friend who is able to advise her and, finally, the girl should help herself. She should think carefully of thekind of work it seems likely that she may get to do and ask herself whatemployment she finds most attractive and whether she has some aptitudefor it. 

The following are some of the questions a girl should ask herself when sheis thinking of her employment: Shall I be able to improve and become moreskilful in my work? Will the work give me good companionship? Are thesurroundings clean and comfortable, and will they be good for my healthand the health of other workers? Is the employment likely to give me afair wage?

The statements made about wages in different employments apply generally tothe scale of wages paid in one particular city. No one set of figures canbe given which will state accurately the wages in many cities and towns andcountry districts. The value of wages cannot be estimated properly by thegirl unless she knows at the same time what her living expenses are to be. She must know, too, the standard of efficiency required in the employment. These questions are discussed specially in Chapters XXIII and XXIV. Whenthe girl reads any statement concerning wages, she should remember that thefigures given represent only an approximate estimate. That is, while thesewages have actually been paid in one place, the same wages will not beoffered in these employments in every part of the country. Generallyspeaking, the figures quoted represent mid-war wages. 

The most important fact for the girl to learn about employment is thatwhen she does well-chosen work in the right spirit, she will find in ithappiness and usefulness. Through her work she will learn what aninteresting place the world is, and because she is a worker she will bethe companion of great workers who are advancing civilization every day. She may feel sure that there is work for her to do, that she will findwork good, and the world a friendly place. 

CHAPTER II

THE GIRL WHO WORKS IN A FACTORY

A girl's first impression of a factory is likely to be that it is a busyplace. The people at work and the work itself will seem strange to her. She may even feel that she will never get used to her new surroundings. But she should not allow herself to be discouraged. Although she may haveforgotten her first day in school when she was a little girl of five orsix, no doubt the schoolroom seemed to her then a very strange place, buthow quickly it became familiar and homelike. 

The girl will enter the factory as a learner. Her wages will not be high, but she will be paid for her first week, although it is hardly likely thather work at first will be worth the money she receives for it. One of themore experienced factory employees will be given the task of training her. So the girl beginning work in a factory is really learning as she did atschool although now she is getting wages. The factory finds it worth whileto train beginners, and it does so in the hope that they will becomecapable operators who will be in their places regularly. 

One of the most important truths for the girl in the factory to realize isthat the more there is to learn about her work the better her future willbe as a worker. If there is so little to learn that she needs only a fewdays to become independent of any training, then she will be sure to findunskilled girls and low wages in this place of employment. She should notbe satisfied permanently with such work. The best positions are for skilledemployees and, therefore, every girl ought to become a skilled worker. To be a skilled worker means that you can command good wages and that youare more certain of steady employment than an unskilled employee, sinceyour employer will wish to retain your services even when the work in thefactory is slack. The girl, therefore, should not be anxious to find thatthere is little to learn about her work. When she discovers that it willbe some time before she can carry on all the operations required, then shemay be sure that she is learning an employment which will be of value toher. It is exactly the same as in school. No one was ever so clever as tobe able to learn to read in one day, yet we all know how well worth whileit is to be able to read. 

How is the girl to choose the industry in which she hopes to find work?[2]She should make inquiries about a factory before she enters it. She mayhave a friend who is working in a whitewear factory, or a biscuit factory, or who is making boxes. The friend probably will be willing to speak to theforeman or forewoman about the girl's employment. But she should noticethe surroundings in which she means to work. Is the workroom light andairy? Are the conditions under which she must work sanitary? Are theworkers respectable and well-behaved? If she is to work where there ismachinery, it should be properly guarded, so that she will not be indanger. She should not choose a factory where the hours are longer thanthe average nor one where over-time is encouraged. The management alsoshould be fair and considerate. 

The kind of work carried on in the factory should give her an opportunityto become a skilled worker. If the girls employed are all young girlsearning only a low wage, and there is little chance of promotion, then, while it may be convenient for her to begin in such a factory, she shouldnot be content to stay there. She must be sure to make herself a skilledworker, with a good chance of promotion and a fair certainty of receivinga higher wage than is usually paid to a beginner. 

When the girl knows the kind of factory for which she ought to look, shemay very well ask herself what qualifications she should possess in orderto become a successful factory worker. She should be healthy, of goodaverage physical strength, quick in her movements, with some naturalmechanical ability, good eyesight, and quick, steady hands. If she is tobegin where there is power machinery, it is an advantage to have had somepractice in running power machinery. Such practice she can get at a tradeor a technical school, most of which have night classes. Otherwise thereis not very much that a girl can learn about the actual work of a factorybefore she enters it. She must make up her mind, however, to learn whenonce she is in the factory. She should learn as many different operationsas possible. Nothing so increases the value of a worker as to be able tofill a number of different positions. She should try to understand as muchof the business of the establishment as possible. Then she will findherself taking a keen interest in the work and she will be better able toenjoy her own part in it. 

The girl's first wage in a factory is not likely to be large enough tocover all her expenses. But, when she is a skilled worker, her wage shouldprovide her with reasonable necessaries and comfort and leave a margin forsaving, emergencies, and improvement. Every worker should realize that goodconditions are an important part of what one gets for one's work. It isadvisable to be satisfied with a little less money in an establishmentwhere opportunity is given for promotion, the guarding of health, andrecreation, and where the surroundings are clean and attractive, sometimeseven delightful, rather than to get a little more money, and be drivenbeyond one's strength, or compelled to spend a great part of the day inunpleasant surroundings. Lunch and rest rooms, a separate locker for herclothes, books to read, an open tennis court or other opportunity for play, are greatly valued by the girl at work, as they constitute, in reality, a bonus in addition to her wages. 

As soon as she is experienced, the girl in the factory is almost certainto find herself on "piece-work. " That is, instead of being paid a dailyor weekly wage, she will receive a set price for each article or "piece"completed. 

Speed in piece-work as a rule is a means by which she can earn high wages. The wages of a beginner in a city may be eight or nine dollars a week;wages vary, however, according to the locality and the character of thework. The wages paid to experienced operators vary in a number of casesfrom fifteen to twenty dollars a week. Exceptional workers who have specialability earn more. With regard to piece-work, the girl should havesufficient judgment not to force herself beyond her strength. She may loseher health by a few years' overwork and become unable to support herself. The speed of the worker is a subject for careful study both by the girl andher employer. The girl will find that she can maintain high speed for acertain length of time only and that her output actually will be greater, week in and week out, if she slackens when she begins to feel a strain. 

The most successful girl will not change about readily from one place toanother. If a girl is certain that she can improve her work and herposition, and if she has come to a careful decision, feeling sure that herpresent conditions are not what they might be, then she will be wise tochange her place of employment. But the young girl who changes every fewweeks or months is in danger of spoiling not only her prospects as a paidworker, but her whole life. While this danger is found in otheremployments, it is perhaps greatest in the case of the factory worker. 

"Some of the finest people I know, " said a well-known factory owner notlong ago, "are at work in our factories. " This may be said as truly allover the country. It applies equally to men and women workers. Generous, unselfish, efficient women and girls, as are many of these workers, area source of strength to their families and the country. They are usingtheir lives wisely and well, whether they continue as paid workers orleave the factory to take charge of the care of a home. 

[Footnote 2: To write down even the names of the industries which arecarried on in factories with the help of girls and women would occupymuch space. A few of the more important places of industry in whichgirls are employed are whitewear factories and other factories whichhave to do with the making of clothes, factories where food is preparedfor household use, twine factories, paper-box establishments, cigar andtobacco factories, bookbinding establishments, brush-making factories, manufactories of leather, carpets and rugs, boots and shoes and buttons, cotton and woolen-mills, and knitting mills. These are only a few of thefactory employments, but the list shows how necessary the work of girlsand women is to the nation's industry. ]

CHAPTER III

THE SALESWOMAN

The employment department of a big store is the testing place through whichmany girls who mean to be saleswomen must pass before they reach the storeitself. Naturally the girl should be careful to do herself justice when shegoes to the employment department. The head of the department will becertain to note her appearance carefully. The girl should make sure thatshe is cleanly and neatly dressed; she should speak quietly and politely;and she should show that sincere willingness to be cheerful, obliging, andagreeable which she will find one of the best aids in her life both at workand at home. To enter a store no particular training is required. The girlleaving school when she is fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen, who is able toread and write correctly and who has a thorough knowledge of the commonrules of arithmetic can hope to obtain a position in a store. 

Having once obtained a position in a large store, the girl will findherself part of an establishment where perhaps hundreds or thousands ofpeople are employed. It is probable that her position will be an easy onesuited to her age, without much responsibility, and with small pay, but, if she shows interest and willingness to learn, she will be in line forpromotion. There are many positions which carry with them greatresponsibility, and correspondingly large wages. A girl's chance tooccupy some day such a position depends largely on herself. She shouldtry to understand as much as possible about the store and its methods andrules, and she should make her work part of the successful work of theestablishment. 

In a large store the younger girls are employed as messenger girls, parcelgirls, markers, or, after some time in a store, a younger girl may help inthe care of the stock. The payment received in these positions is small. Indeed, the problem of the youngest girls in the store is not an easy one. The girl herself should try to realize that this big store in which she isemployed must be to her what the high school or college is to other girlswho stayed at school when she went to work. Here, in the store, she shouldcontinue her education, which is to take the practical form of a businesstraining. 

Unfortunately, some of the girls thus employed are indifferent to theirwork. These are the inattentive, listless girls who look about them idly, instead of attending to the needs of possible customers, or who spend morethan half the time talking to their friends visiting the store or to theirfellow-workers. One large establishment reports that only one third oftheir staff become skilled in salesmanship. Another famous firm ofemployers says that twenty-five per cent. Of their girls do not improve, another twenty-five per cent. Are only fairly satisfactory, while fiftyper cent. Are satisfactory. The girl who enters the employment of a storeshould determine to become a skilled saleswoman. 

Fortunately, the work of the saleswoman is steadily rising in its standingas a good occupation. It is becoming skilled employment. Already there area number of schools which teach salesmanship, and many of the largerdepartmental stores have courses of instruction for their salespeople. The managers of these stores say that this training pays both the store andits staff of employees. After training the employees make better wages andthe store earns a higher percentage. Any girl who wants to be a saleswomanshould, if possible, take a course in salesmanship either at a businesscollege, a trade school, or at a Young Women's Christian Association, orshe should try to find a position in a store where there is a school foremployees. 

Our young saleswoman will study her store, she will take lessons insalesmanship, she will be interested in her work and eager to learn. Such agirl will find that the place of her employment is a world in miniature, where she can study life and human nature and where she may become a usefuland well-equipped member of society. No girl who is a good saleswoman canfail to learn how to deal with many different kinds of people and to havemany opportunities of making friends among her fellow-workers. 

It is not difficult for the average girl to become an efficient saleswoman. To recapitulate--she should be neat and pleasing in appearance, quick tolearn, willing to obey, with good manners and bright intelligence, and sheshould be interested in her work. She should have a "head for figures, " aknowledge of correct English, and ability to work quickly and courteouslyat the same time. She should, of course, have a thorough knowledge of thecommodity she is selling. The more accurate her knowledge of materials, the better saleswoman she will make. She should also take a personalinterest in the wants of her customers. Her object is to sell articleswhich will give satisfaction. 

The average earnings of saleswomen at times seem disappointingly small. It should be remembered, however, that the indifferent or careless girllowers the average. The successful saleswoman, after some years of work, may earn from fifteen to twenty dollars a week. A great many girls earnless. The beginner may get five or six dollars a week or, if she is in anestablishment which pays no employee less than a certain amount, she mayget seven or eight dollars. The girl who earns less than eight dollars aweek after a year or two years is not a successful saleswoman and is notlikely to be kept on in any well-managed store. The saleswoman who isdissatisfied with her wage may ask at any time to have reference made toher actual sales, of which an account is kept. Wages are based on sales. Sometimes a commission is paid on sales over a certain amount. In any case, the girl feels that there is a direct connection between her successfulsalesmanship and her wages. Character, skill, tact, and energy are allrequired for successful salesmanship. The saleswoman who really givesherself to the work of serving and satisfying her customers finds heremployment an exacting one. 

A saleswoman may be promoted to have charge of stock; she may becomeassistant buyer or head of a department; and in somewhat rare cases shemay become a buyer. These are all responsible positions requiring unusualbusiness ability and character. The salaries are high. If a saleswoman hasexcellent business ability, she may, after years of experience, become animportant influence in the management of the store. Some departments offergreater opportunities than others. The more expensive the article to besold, the more is required from the saleswoman. A very young girl willnot be found selling coats and cloaks or expensive suits and dresses. "The customer who is spending a large amount of money wants to haveconfidence in the judgment of the saleswoman, " is the saying of an expertin store management. 

The large department store, while it affords training and opportunityto the girl who intends to become a competent saleswoman, employs manygirls and women in occupations other than salesmanship. In the store thereis a large clerical staff, including stenographers, who may receivepromotion to the position of private secretaries and bookkeepers. Telephone and telegraph operators are among the employees. The storeshoppers act in connection with mail orders and orders received bytelephone. The advertising department employs writers, artists, proof-readers, and card and sign writers. Milliners are employed in themillinery department and fitters and dressmakers in the alterationdepartments. Manicurists and hair-dressers carry on their specialoccupations, and waitresses are employed in the store lunchroom orrestaurant. Trained nurses have positions in the store hospital and visitemployees in their homes. Machine and handworkers carry out special ordersin making curtains, cushions, lampshades, etc. A store school employsteachers of salesmanship and store system. 

Many girls are employed as saleswomen in smaller stores which need only afew employees. The system of the great store is not so necessary in a smallestablishment, yet the individual saleswoman in the small store holds aresponsible position. Sometimes a girl with business ability becomes intime assistant manager, or even part owner, of such a store. Ideas andinitiative will tell wherever they are found, and the girl who is reallyinterested in salesmanship will succeed in a large store or in a small one. 

The hours are fairly long, sometimes longer than the average in women'soccupations, but they are no longer than the hours required in manyprofessional and other employments in which women are engaged. 

The well-advised saleswoman will have interests outside of her work. Sheshould study some interesting branch of knowledge and cultivate a hobby. She will find both pleasure and benefit in belonging to a club or otherassociation. One of the most interesting developments in the largebusiness establishment where numbers of men and women are employed isthe organization for comradeship and improvement. Thrift is encouraged;opportunities are provided for exercise; sometimes those on the staff ofsuch an establishment are offered housing of an attractive kind atmoderate prices. The girls of the establishment may be provided with aclub house. 

Altogether, the character of this employment is complex and interesting. It is an attractive occupation, in which the girl is brought intorelationship with people with whom she can help to develop a sociable, co-operative life, tending to improve her own character and usefulnessand that of others. 

CHAPTER IV

THE GIRL AT WORK IN AN OFFICE

The girl who hopes to succeed in office work should be able to spellcorrectly and should have a good general English education. It is true thatsome girls have taught themselves to spell correctly after they haveentered business offices; and ambitious, sensible girls, who find thatletters dictated to them contain words the meaning of which they do notknow, study until their vocabularies are greatly enlarged and improved. But, while they are learning, the employer is not receiving the serviceto which he is entitled. 

The only practical way for the average girl to enter a business office isby studying stenography. But to have a really satisfactory school training, the girl who means to be a stenographer should be ready to pass theentrance examination into a college or university. Three or four years'attendance at a high or secondary school is a necessary preparation forfirst-class office work. The girl who is a college graduate is not toowell equipped to be a stenographer. Even if a girl is compelled, by thenecessity of earning her living, to begin office work early, still she can, by determination, courage, and hard work, equip herself with a goodbusiness education. But it is only the exceptional girl who can do this. The girl who wishes to engage in office work should have three years, ifpossible, in a good secondary school, before she enters a business college. 

The business college should be chosen carefully, and the girl in trainingshould attend the classes for nine months or a year. This is the least timerequired for satisfactory training. Unfortunately, too many students takeonly six months, or even three, at a business school. The result is thatthey begin work only partly equipped with training for the office. Manyemployers complain that stenographers are incompetent and careless. One reason for this is that they have not had sufficient training; theirstenography, typewriting, and other instruction have been only halfmastered. Office work would be a better employment for girls if thesehalf-trained and incompetent workers were not lowering wages, irritatingemployers, and limiting the work and responsibility with which girlswould be entrusted if the average stenographer knew her work thoroughly. 

The girl who leaves a business college to enter an office should not feelthat there is nothing more to learn. No one can be a thoroughly competentstenographer until she has been a year at work in an office. The schoolteaches her how to handle her working tools. But the real problems ofoffice work are solved only in the office. There are endless details tobe mastered. Every office has its own rules and customs and its ownmethods. It is necessary to learn how to meet people and deal with them. The girl must study the people with whom she works. She must learn howher employer likes to have his work done. The best workers keep onlearning year by year. 

Many of the qualities which go to make the ideal home-maker belong to theideal worker in an office. The business girl will need self-control andtact. Her manners should be quiet and agreeable. An office is a place forwork; and part of the usefulness of a business girl is in helping to makeit a good place in which to work. She should therefore understand order andmethod. She should be tranquil and well poised. She should get her workdone quickly without seeming to be in a hurry. Such a girl is a treasurein an office. 

The business girl should be dressed suitably for her occupation. One of thefirst lessons for her to learn is that no employer is likely to believethat she can do good work if her general appearance is careless or untidy. Her dress should be quiet and pleasing, and it should not distract herattention from her work. A workmanlike dress can be very attractive. Business girls as a rule show taste and judgment in choosing their clothesand in keeping every detail of their appearance neat, suitable, andpleasing. Thrift in the matter of dressing and a suitable appearanceare necessary factors in the success of a business girl's work. 

The business girl must be trustworthy. She cannot be a success if heremployer is in doubt as to whether she may talk about office businessoutside. Her memory should be good. It is a great help to have someoneat hand who can remember a business conversation, where to find documents, addresses, and other memoranda. The girl will find that it isunsatisfactory to spend much time in social conversation. If she wishesto earn and keep the good opinion of her fellow-workers and her employer, she will attend to work, with only an occasional remark on anything notconnected with office affairs. 

The salaries earned by business girls vary greatly. There are girls atwork in offices who are paid as little as five, six, or seven dollars aweek. But these girls are very young, they are badly trained, unable to dogood work of any kind, and they should hardly be called stenographers. Theycan address envelopes, do a little typewriting, answer the telephone, andso on. The well-equipped office girl should realize that she must keep upthe standard of her employment, as one which needs thorough training andcompetent, well paid workers, so the work of the girl in business mayremain a highly-respected and desirable occupation. 

The supply of first-class office workers is never sufficient to meet thedemand. A common wage for younger competent stenographers who have hadsome experience is twelve dollars. Experienced stenographers may getfifteen, eighteen, twenty, or twenty-five dollars, according to thepositions they occupy, the character of the work, and the responsibilityinvolved. Girls with managing ability may be promoted to hold importantpositions. They may become assistant managers of offices or confidentialclerks or secretaries. Women in these positions receive salaries of fromtwo to three thousand dollars a year. In an exceptional case a woman whois a manager may receive four or five thousand. But such positions andsuch women workers are rare indeed. Eighteen dollars a week is regardedas a good salary for a capable stenographer of some years' experience. The average stenographer receives as a rule two weeks' holidays withwages. This is an important consideration for it helps to secure herhealth and general well-being. 

It is often said that a small office offers the best opportunity for aclever girl to win promotion. She is given work of all kinds to do and canmake herself indispensable to her employer. On the other hand, the workmay be easier in a large office since it is organized on well-establishedlines. Salaries, generally speaking, are higher in large offices, butthere are fewer opportunities for promotion. 

An unusually competent office girl with some capital may become a publicstenographer. But, in order to succeed, she must have business ability andshould understand clearly what she can afford and what she cannot affordin office equipment, rent, and so on. The work of a public stenographer isvery exacting. Many stenographers are employed in the service of theGovernment. In general, an examination is required for a position in thecivil service. The work and hours are regular and not exacting, and thepay is good. Many girls, however, find work in a business office moreinteresting, and opportunities for promotion are also better. 

Some girls who have not the ability to become expert stenographers, maybe exceptionally good typists. Such girls may find employment in typingletters from phonographs or dictaphones. Work with multigraphs, adding-machines, or comptometers is required in larger offices. Specialpositions may be obtained by girls who are of a mechanical turn or whohave considerable manual dexterity. The girl who devotes herself tobookkeeping, if she has special ability, may occupy an important businessposition. 

In whatever capacity she may be employed, the earnest and competentoffice-worker will find herself highly valued and well paid for her shareof responsibility in the world of financial and commercial development. 

CHAPTER V

LEARNING AFTER THE POSITION IS FOUND

The first few days, sometimes even the first few weeks, are often a littledifficult for the girl who has found a position and goes to work for thefirst time. But she can take with her a few simple resolutions which willmake most of her difficulties disappear and which may even change them intohelps rather than hindrances. She can remember that all the responsiblepeople she knows have had these same difficulties and have overcome them. This thought will encourage her to believe that what others have done shecan do also. There is much that she may gain from this new position. It islike an open door whereby she may enter a new world. 

The girl who is in her first position will find that she must adjustherself to conditions very different from those of home and school life. At home all her personal concerns have been of supreme importance, andshe has been the object of unceasing love and care. At school her bestinterests have still been consulted, and she has been taught how both towork and play. She now begins to give back value for the care which hasbeen taken of her at home and the teaching which she has received atschool. After she is able to work for herself, it is really no one else'sduty to support her. She cannot expect that busy people in the office orworkroom will stop to listen to her. If she is feeling dull or discouraged, or if something has gone wrong in her private affairs, these things havenothing to do with her fellow-workers. They also have their privateaffairs. Therefore she must learn to be cheerful, not to talk about her owntroubles, and to be, in brief, a grown-up, sensible, considerate person. 

Two illustrations may help the girl to understand this difference betweenlife in paid employment and school days or life at home. A girl once wasoffered a position in a large establishment by the man who was the headof the business. She had certain training and gifts which made him believethat she could do good work in his business. After her appointment shefound that she was under the direction of the manager's chief of staff, who, as she soon discovered, had wanted someone else. She began to thinkout the position in which she found herself. "It is quite plain, " she saidto herself, "that the chief is a more important person than I am. He is notgoing to lose his position because he does not like me. It would not bejust or right or good business if he did. The truth is that if I do notget on with him and convince him that I can do good work I am going to bea failure. It is part of my business to get on with the chief of staff. "She had made the important discovery that it is wise to put oneself in thebackground and to work harmoniously with one's associates. After a year'shard work she had the satisfaction of being told by her chief, that, notwithstanding his early dissatisfaction with her appointment, she hadwon his approval, for she had convinced him of her efficiency. 

The other illustration can be given in a few words, but it teaches a truthabout paid employment which many girls need to learn. One day a womancalled to see an important public man on a matter of business. When shecame he was dictating a letter. He saw his caller as soon as he hadfinished. Before the conversation had well begun, his secretary came tothe door and asked him to what address he wished the letter sent. When thesecretary had gone out again, the man looked at his visitor and saidlaughing, yet with an expression of annoyance, "I cannot teach my secretarythat it is her work to look up addresses. She is here to save me trouble. I am not here to save her trouble. But I cannot get her to understandthat. " The girl in question was behaving in her work as if she had been aspoiled child at home. It is to be hoped that she would have been ashamedto ask her mother, for instance, to tell her an address which she couldlook up for herself. Yet this girl was being paid to find addresses aspart of her work. 

The girl who is beginning paid employment will have to learn largely fromothers how her work ought to be done, but she must learn to depend on herown observation. Questions must be asked occasionally, but it is unwise toask too many. Ask information only from those who are willing to answer. Everyone in the world of work is busy as a rule, and comparatively fewpeople will stop their work to explain to someone else how a task ought tobe done. There are two classes of workers--those who require directionalways, and those who are able and willing to take responsibility. The girlat first begins under direction but, as soon as she is familiar with whatshe has to do and understands a good deal of the purpose of her work, sheshould try, if possible, to develop responsibility. It is a good plan tostudy how other people do their work. There is sure to be someone amongone's fellow-employees who is a specially good worker. Study the methodsand character of this worker and learn from your observation how to do yourown work. The girl in a new position should resolutely avoid associationwith lazy, indifferent, and idle fellow-employees. One of the first lessonsfor her to learn, and sometimes one of the hardest, is that her time is nother own. It belongs to her employer, who is paying for her work. Thereforeher own social engagements have no claim on her working hours. 

It is apparent that certain qualifications and characteristics ensuresuccess in paid work--good temper, self-control, common sense, kindness, and a sense of what is fair are of inestimable value to the girl worker. Moreover, she must be in earnest in her determination to find work and keepit. She should have some secondary employment at which she can work if herregular employment is slack. And through all the changes and difficultiesof her working life, a girl should know how to keep well, for health is agreat asset. 

She should add to these essentials a feeling of responsibility and a desireto understand the problems of management in the business in which she isemployed. In addition, let her have that sense of honour which will keepher from a betrayal of confidential information. The loyal worker is alwaysvalued and respected. 

CHAPTER VI

WHAT EVERY GIRL NEEDS TO KNOW

The world the girl has to live in is the everyday world we know. Somepeople say that the world is commonplace, and so it is if we look at itfrom one point of view. But the truth is that the commonplace and thewonderful are so closely joined together that it is impossible to separatethem. The girl needs commonplace gifts to live in the world, or she willnot prosper. She needs also to be able to see and understand the wonderfulside of life. To appreciate both the commonplace and the wonderful shouldbe part of her endeavour. A great deal depends on her training. What shallwe choose for her? She may work at home or in paid employment, but sheneeds certain training, because she is a girl, just as a soldier needstraining, because he is a soldier. 

First, the girl ought to know how to keep well. Good health is a preciouspossession, and we may have a great deal to do with whether we are strongand healthy or weak and half-ill most of the time. If the girl is to be ahome-maker, she needs good health. What a sad place a home is if thehome-maker is a constant sufferer! If the girl is in a shop, a factory, anoffice, a telephone exchange, a school, or a hospital, unless she is areasonably healthy girl her success in her work is greatly lessened, ifindeed it is possible for her to succeed at all. If she is an actress oran artist, she undergoes a constant strain on her nervous energy. Artistsand actresses need good health, possibly more so even than the averagewoman in paid employment. So, no matter what the girl is to do, she shouldbe healthy. 

But she requires certain definite kinds of knowledge, so that she may knowhow to keep well. The first is knowing what to eat. There is scarcelyanything that interferes more with the health and success of the girlworker than ignorance of what is nutritious food. A woman who is very fondof girls who work and who knows hundreds of them, said once that she wouldlike to give every girl she knew this knowledge about food. There is no wayof acquiring it except by learning. Our ideal girl will learn food valuesand how food should be prepared. Every girl in the world, no matter who sheis, is better off for this knowledge. It is part of the foundation of goodhealth. The girl in business requires a special warning to be sure that herluncheon gives her sufficient nourishment for her work. 

In order to be healthy, girls must know, also, how to dress. This shouldinclude some knowledge of the making of clothing, how to cut out, and howto sew, and also some skill in mending and re-modelling. Looking into thefuture for the well-being of our ideal girl, we see that her appearance aswell as her health depends not a little on her skill as a wise buyer andmaker of clothing. Her early income as a worker is not likely to be large. It may be very small. It will need all her skill to make the best use ofthis income. 

In order to acquire skill in the management of food and clothing and soensure her health, a girl must understand the management of money. Some dayshe will have the spending of an income. Either she will earn the income inpaid employment, or it will be part of her work as a home-maker to managethe spending of the house money. Now, money cannot be spent wisely exceptby planning. The girl should learn how to divide her income, to allot somuch for food, so much for clothing, so much for shelter, so much forimprovement, recreation, and holidays, so much for the dentist and thedoctor, so much to be saved, so much for religious obligations andbenevolence, and for safety a margin over, because there are alwaysunforeseen calls on one's income. This planning for the proper division ofher income may sound at first a little bewildering. But after all, what isit but learning what we can afford to spend? We begin by buying a littlecarefully, and as we go on we acquire knowledge and skill. Few things whichthe twentieth century girl can learn will stand her in better stead ineveryday life, or help her more constantly, than knowing how to spend herincome wisely, honestly, and helpfully. 

We have spoken at some length about food and clothing as they affecthealth. Quite as important to health are rest and recreation. A girl needsnot only plenty of refreshing sleep, but play also and what most peoplecall "good times. " It is a mistake to suppose that we can be healthywithout play. Often when we are out of sorts, sad, depressed, and gloomy, and our friends are sorry for us and think something dreadful must havehappened to make us so unhappy, all that we need in reality is sleep, fresh air, exercise, and play. It is not being a heroine to be sad. Most real heroines are happy people. There is nothing heroic in makingother people depressed by our gloomy faces. The ideal girl is healthyand happy, she sleeps eight hours or more at night, and plays areasonable part of her time. To play all the time is very dull, even moredull than to work all the time. But each day, if possible, one should havesome happy play time. 

Then, too, the ideal girl will try to see that she helps others to be ashealthy and happy as she is herself. Part of the value of knowing how tokeep well is that it teaches us how to keep other people well. We shouldknow how others should be fed and clothed and cared for. The girl of thetwentieth century needs some knowledge of nursing. It is not necessaryfor her to be a trained nurse, but she should have some of the knowledgeand skill of the trained nurse. 

Among the things that every girl needs to know is something of theimportance of friendship. The best gifts in the world are love, kindness, faithfulness, sincerity, and purity. It is through our relations withother human beings and our love for them that we begin to understand thelove of God. 

CHAPTER VII

THE HOUSE WORKER--DOMESTIC SCIENCE

A young woman who is now the author of two successful novels earned themoney she needed to attend a teachers' training school by working as adomestic servant. It was the quickest and most convenient way for her toearn a certain sum of money. Her decision and independence of characterkept her from hesitating for a moment to make use of this employment. Oneyoung woman who is a capable real estate agent takes a position as anexperienced general servant when her usual business is slack. A woman atthe head of a large business, which she originated and developed herself, earned her living as a domestic until she was twenty-five years old. Thereis no reason why any of us should be kept from doing good domestic work ifit is the most suitable and convenient employment for us. 

The disadvantages of domestic work, as it is generally arranged at present, are that the house worker is required to live away from home; her ownspecial sleeping and living accommodation is sometimes not of the best; shehas comparatively little time that is absolutely her own; she feels thatshe is placed at a social disadvantage as compared with other girls who areher friends and who are earning a living in other paid work, and she may belonely, as a consequence of being often the only paid worker in thehousehold. These are facts to be considered. But it is possible that are-arrangement of household work, undertaken by modern employers and clevermodern girls, who have a gift for household management, as well ascharacter and initiative, may provide a solution for these disadvantages. 

The advantages of domestic work include good wages, and more comfortableliving conditions than the average paid worker can secure for herself. Thehouse worker has also variety in work, freedom to move about at her work, and freedom from the rigid rules necessary in big business establishments. She is afforded an opportunity to become a highly skilled worker, and shecan find a permanent position if she is competent and wishes to remain inone place. Above all, the house worker is getting the best training forhome-making. 

The wages of the house worker include board, lodging, and washing, andoften some part at least of her working clothes. She has two weeks'holidays with wages. She may save in a year a quarter or a third asmuch money as the entire earnings of her girl friends. At twelve dollarsa week, working forty-two weeks in the year, the girl in a factory can earnfive hundred and four dollars, out of which she has of course to pay allher expenses. The house worker who is earning twenty-five, thirty orthirty-five dollars a month can easily save two hundred dollars in a year, and a number of them do so. Girls in other paid employments, who pay boardand lodging, washing, and carfare out of ten or twelve dollars a week, are practically unable to save anything. 

A competent house worker is beyond the fear of unemployment, while thepossibility of unemployment or of being laid off for a number of weeks isan anxiety to many other paid women workers. When she marries and has ahome of her own to take care of, the house worker is at a great advantage. She can take up the work of a home easily, and her management is a successfrom the beginning. 

The accomplishment most frequently required from the domestic worker isability to cook. The girl who has a natural gift in this direction shouldtake pains to develop it. She may have to begin to earn her living when sheis quite young. In this case she should apply for a position as second maidin a household where a cook is kept, and she should be careful to learnfrom the cook all that she needs to know in order to become a professionalexpert in cooking. Or she should look for a position as house worker withan employer who is herself a good housekeeper and who is willing to trainher. 

The improvement of housework conditions is largely in the hands ofhousehold employees. If a young woman is an excellent cook and a competenthousehold manager, she can make practically her own conditions with womenemployers. If she prefers to live at home or in a room of her own outsidethe house where she is employed, she can explain to her employer the hoursthat she is willing to be on duty and how the work of the house can bearranged so that she can accomplish the greater part of it during thesehours. She will be certain to find some intelligent woman employer whowill agree to her conditions. Only the first-class worker, who can planand carry out her plans successfully, will be able to do this; and everywoman employer may not see the benefit of such an arrangement. There area number of households where the woman in charge will be glad to acceptservice during half the day, but here also the house worker must be firstclass. The trained domestic worker of high qualifications, able to do herwork to perfection, and to consider intelligently how the work of thehousehold can be organized, will add greatly to the standing of thisemployment. 

The house worker should have a fairly good general education. The betterher general education, the more successful she is likely to be. She shouldbe intelligent, obliging, and adaptable. She should have a strong sense ofhonour, for she is largely on her own responsibility, and the welfare ofthe home is often trusted in her hands. The ideal household employee shouldhave some of the qualities of the artist. The work of a fine cook isartistic, and the perfect care of a house requires both the eye and thehand of an artist. No woman can be a success as a paid house worker who isnot kind. She often has some part of the care of children, and it is wrongto have an ill-tempered or unkind person in charge of, or in company with, children. Besides this, the care of a house, the cooking of food, cleanliness, and the work of adapting oneself to the wants of others cannotbe carried out well and cheerfully unless the worker responsible for thiswork is kind. 

Wages are unusually good in domestic work as compared with otheremployments for women. Some girls, however, are underpaid. A girl mayreceive, for instance, twelve dollars a month. No girl with initiative orknowledge of housework needs to remain in such a position. Wages vary fromtwenty, twenty-two, to twenty-five, thirty, and thirty-five dollars, according to the locality, the nature of the work, and the skill of theworker. A first-class cook commands high wages. So also does a first-classmanaging housekeeper. A general servant of ability and character, whoundertakes most of the work of a household, with the exception of thewashing, will receive twenty, twenty-five or thirty dollars. In some partsof the country her wages may be higher. If trained workers, who havespecial gifts for household management and who feel that they can do betterin this employment than any other, would undertake the re-organizing ofhouse work, this occupation should take its rightful place as one of thebest occupations for the average woman. 

From a consideration of domestic service we naturally pass on to thoseoccupations of girls which grow out of a knowledge of "domestic science. "The study of domestic science is making itself felt in the homes of thecountry and is opening up many avenues of employment for girls. Themanagement of clubs, hotels, restaurants, tea-rooms, cafeterias, andlunch-rooms in connection with colleges, departmental stores, and banks, affords employment for those who have the gifts and training necessary. Special cooking for invalids, the supplying of specialties, such asmarmalade, pickles, preserved fruit, canned fruit and vegetables, saltednuts, cakes of various kinds and other dainties is work which is beingcarried on successfully by numbers of women and girls. The girl, inconsidering employment, should remember that she will be at an advantagein any specialized women's employment and that the world is offering heropportunities for good work which a few years ago had not been dreamed of. The occupation of house work, household management, cooking, all the artsof the home, will well repay the enthusiasm and energy of every girl whohas a gift in this direction. What the girl with ability for this workneeds to bring to her problem is, not only enthusiasm and energy, butoriginality and initiative. "I have a real gift, " she should say toherself; "how can I make the best use of it?"

Universities have established departments of domestic science, and thereare also domestic science training schools. Numbers of graduates findpositions as instructors. Many other positions are open to the domesticscience graduate. Practical experience is required in most of theseopenings. After graduating it is advisable to find a position as anassistant. In this way the young woman in this occupation will becomefitted to hold the most responsible and remunerative posts. There arepossibilities in household work and domestic science which have not yetbeen realized. 

CHAPTER VIII

 THE TEACHER

Two girls were playing a game of tennis together. One of the girls was askilful player, but the other knew little of the game. In a few minutesthe skilful player came to the side of the net where the other stood. "See, " she said, "this is the way to hold your racket. This is the way tostrike the ball. " The unskilled player grasped the idea, and immediatelymuch pleasure was added to the game for them both. 

A singer was giving a lesson to one of her pupils. She explained to hercarefully how to stand, how to breathe, and how to let her voice floweasily and naturally from her throat. The pupil's voice became to herthereafter something more than it had ever been before. 

Two men in a business office were discussing whether or not they shouldundertake a new enterprise. One of the men, seeing that the other man hadnot yet perceived the principle underlying the business situation, drew asheet of paper in front of them on the desk and made on it a series ofcalculations. "I understand now, " the other man said, "I see the risk andhow you have made provision for meeting it. "

The skilful tennis-player, the trained singer, the able business man weresharing their knowledge with others, showing them how to make the best useof their powers. That is to say, they were teaching others. Every personis to some extent a born teacher, but some men and women make teachingtheir life work. 

Many girls teach for a few years before entering some other occupation. Perhaps they earn money in this way to take a course at a college oruniversity, and afterwards they may either return to teaching or entersome other profession. There are other girls who are what we call "bornteachers. " They love more than anything else, guiding, training, andhelping children. It is no trouble to them, but rather a delight, toshow and direct, gently, repeatedly, untiringly, along the path ofknowledge. Girls who are born teachers should receive every encouragementto devote themselves to teaching until they have homes to look after andchildren of their own to teach. Many good teachers teach only for a fewyears and do excellent work. But it is to the "born teachers" that wemust look for the happiness of the school and its highest development. 

The girl who means to be a teacher should look forward to spending a numberof years in school. She will enjoy this, for the teacher must be a studentand must love studying. It may be that her family cannot afford to keep herat school. Then she can do what so many other girls have done. She can goto work to earn money for her own support, and while doing this she cansave part of her earnings so that later she may return to school. Theschool vacation in summer offers opportunities for paid work, and everygirl of energy and determination can find work to do. 

The girl who is to be a teacher should never be satisfied with a minimumof learning. If this is her attitude toward school, then she should neverbe a teacher; because no girl or woman can be a good teacher who does notlove to learn. The office of a teacher is a sacred trust, since she isresponsible for the future well-being and happiness of little children. So if the girl does not love to learn, she should find some work otherthan teaching. 

Provincial Governments in Canada have charge of education, and eachProvince has its own regulations, carefully framed, to provide goodteachers for the children of the Province. The girl who is to be a teachermust pass a series of examinations, the first two of which are for teachingin lower grades and higher grades of the public schools. The graduate of auniversity has a standing which enables her to teach classes in highschools and collegiate institutes. 

The girl may continue her studies while she is teaching in a public school, and she may either take her next examination without attending furtherclasses, or, when she has saved enough money, she may return to school fora few sessions before trying her examination. The girl who has energy andability and who loves study is often able to obtain an excellent educationfor the teaching profession in this way. It is necessary, however, to warngirls who find study very difficult, that it is doubtful if they shouldthink of trying to pass this series of examinations. If they love teachingand have a true gift for it, they will probably be able to take the firstexaminations, which are comparatively easy. The higher examinations may bebeyond their reach. This fact should not depress them. Their work is withthe little children, and there is no better work in the world. 

The most important qualities for a teacher are a sympathetic understandingof human nature, a keen sense of justice, and a sense of humour. These aregreat qualities, but the girl who means to teach should notice that theymay be both acquired and developed. Any one who gives all her energies andgifts to teaching will find that the work is a strain. The teacher shouldnot allow her work to become set in a fixed routine. She should guardagainst becoming autocratic and unprogressive. She should never cease tobe herself a student. Each day should add a little to the sum of herknowledge. She may begin the study of new subjects, and thus keep acertain freshness in her mental attitude. More important, however, thanthe knowledge gained from books, is her interest in the life of thecommunity in which she is living. 

The salary of the teacher varies according to the community in which shelives and the grade of teaching in which she is occupied. It may be takenas a general rule that teachers do not become wealthy. They are not highlypaid, considering the time spent in preparing to teach and the quality oftheir work. Their salaries, however, almost invariably ensure them a fairaverage of comfort in food, clothing, and shelter, an opportunity to save, to continue their studies, to travel a little, and to enjoy their holidays, which are longer than the holidays of the average worker. A teacher'sholidays are necessary for mental and nervous recuperation and shouldinclude some study and improvement in aims and methods of work. The rewardsof the profession are not in money and leisure merely. Teachers have therespect and affection of the community to a degree enjoyed by few otherworkers. 

If a girl begins to teach in the schools of a city, she will enter athoroughly systematized and complex organization. In the city the teacher'ssalary is increased automatically year by year if her work is satisfactory. In towns and villages salaries are lower, but living expenses are loweralso. In partly settled districts and districts where there is as yetlittle appreciation of the value of good teaching, salaries are low. Maximum salaries for women who have taught for a number of years in thepublic schools and have unusual ability as teachers may be as high as ninehundred or one thousand dollars. These women teachers, with their ability, would probably make more money in other occupations, but their work wouldhardly be of the same service to the community, nor would they have thesame feeling of satisfaction in doing it. The salaries of women in highschools and collegiate institutes vary from seven or eight hundred dollarsto eighteen hundred, two thousand, or twenty-four hundred. Women who arelecturers and professors in colleges and universities are paid amountssimilar to the higher salaries in collegiate institutes. 

The average salaries of women teachers in the public schools of Ontariofor 1917 were as follows: Cities, $795; towns, $628; incorporatedvillages, $573; rural schools, $580. 

Besides the ordinary teaching of the class-room, girls may be attracted tothe teaching of special subjects. The girl who studies for kindergartenwork needs to have an active imagination, a sympathetic understanding ofchild nature, a happy disposition, and both vocal and instrumental musicaltraining. There are also domestic science teachers, teachers of specialclasses for handicapped children, teachers of manual training, sewing, millinery, music, physical training, arts and handicrafts, and commercialsubjects. The girl of special opportunities and gifts may become a teacherof languages. Other girls may teach privately in households. Others, ifthey have capital and some business ability, may establish small privateschools of their own in neighbourhoods where such schools are required. Recreation centres and playgrounds, settlements, the training of foreignchildren, call for unusual or special gifts and energies from girls andwomen who teach. There are also executive and administrative positions inlarge schools and school systems which may be obtained by women teachersof experience. 

There are still discoveries and advances to be made before perfect trainingand education can be secured for our children. Girls who teach may hope toaid in making these discoveries. Patient work, constructive imagination, and enthusiasm are required in the great enterprise of advancing education. As an inspiration, the lives of great teachers invite young teachers ofthis century to follow their examples of devotion and leadership. It is notmany years since a woman teacher in Montreal saved as many of her childrenas she could and stayed to shepherd the other little ones who perished withher in the burning school. The name of Sara Maxwell is an inspiration toevery Canadian child who hears her story. She gave her life to protect andcomfort her pupils and became one of that great number of teachers who haveproved that theirs is a high calling. 

CHAPTER IX

THE WORK OF A NURSE

There are many wise sayings about the trained nurse, two among which maybe given here. One of these was spoken by a woman who is herself adistinguished trained nurse, and the other by a woman in a public positionwho has met many people and is a good judge of character. The nurse said, "Trained nursing will make a woman very good or it will harden her. " Theother woman said, "I have never known a nurse who was not glad to be anurse and who was not thankful for a nurse's training. " These two sayingsshow that the work of a trained nurse is no ordinary occupation. The girlwho becomes a nurse-in-training is preparing to enter an employment whichwill have a great effect upon her character. 

A girl must be twenty, in some hospitals twenty-five, years of age beforeshe is accepted by a training school of good standing. If she prefers toenter a school connected with a children's hospital, she may be acceptedwhen she is twenty. The work of a nurse calls for physical strength andendurance, and it has been found that girls under twenty or even undertwenty-five are not strong enough to stand the strain of hospital work. A very strong healthy girl under twenty may say, "Oh, but I am strongenough to stand the strain. " She is mistaken. It is not only physicalstrength which is required, but physical endurance, and these extra yearsare needed to develop this endurance. If a girl who hopes to be a nurseleaves school when she is seventeen or eighteen, the best work she canundertake in order to prepare for nursing is work in her own home. Another way in which she may spend part of her time profitably is in thereading of good books, so that she may store her mind with thoughts andinformation which will be helpful to her in dealing with her patients. No woman who is a nurse can be too well read, or too well informed in art, music, biography, history, and the public affairs of the day. If a girl, who feels that nursing is her real work, prefers to earn her living betweenthe time when she leaves school and the day that she is accepted as aprobationer, she may enter some other calling, and meanwhile may add to heruseful knowledge both of people and of work. She should also save somemoney, for while the training of a nurse is not expensive, still asprobationer and, later, as nurse-in-training, she will need money fornecessary expenses. 

The intending nurse should make a few financial calculations beforeshe begins her course of training. The hospital will give her exactdirections as to the clothes she will need for her work while she is aprobationer. She will require some spending money, and she should beprovided with a good stock of clothes, especially underwear, shoes, andstockings. When she is accepted as a nurse-in-training, she may be givenby the hospital a monthly allowance which is supposed to provide her withclothes and the books required for her studies. This sum varies indifferent hospitals. Generally speaking, it is fifteen or twenty dollarsa month. In any case, the sum will be hardly sufficient to cover all herexpenses, although it is wonderful on how little money nurses-in-traininghave been able to manage. Some hospitals do not give theirnurses-in-training any money and require that the nurse should paya sum for her instruction. It is usual for these hospitals to providenurses-in-training with uniforms, caps, and aprons. 

Most training schools require from applicants an educational standard offour years in a high school or matriculation status. Young women who arecollege graduates may take the training of a nurse after they leave theuniversity. The business girl or the girl in any other occupation whomeans to be a nurse and who has left school before reaching the necessarystandard can prepare for her training by attending evening classes orstudying by herself or with a friend. 

The intending nurse should choose with great care the hospital in whichshe means to train. The standing of the hospital will have a markedinfluence onher career as a nurse. Some hospitals are justly famous forthe excellent training which they give. The usual length of time requiredis three years. A number of hospitals, however, have courses of two years. 

The time of probation lasts three, four, or six months. During this timethe probationer will be tested for endurance, neatness, earnestness, andability. No probationer who is untidy or who is wanting in personalcleanliness is accepted in a training school. The professional appearanceof the nurse is essential to her success. Few women are more attractivein appearance than a nurse in uniform. 

Nurses-in-training live in a nurses' home which is one of the hospitalbuildings. In these buildings the nurse will spend by far the greater partof her time for two or three years. The hospital is a world in itself, andthe nurse will have few interests outside its walls. Most nurses regardtheir years of training as a time of growth and wonderful experience, andthe average nurse is very happy during this time, although a great deal ofthe work is not pleasant and almost all of it is hard. The nurse learnsthat work of any kind may come within her province. She will have to doanything which helps toward the recovery of her patients or contributesto their comfort. Some of her experiences will teach her resolution andbravery. Speaking of such experiences a nurse once said: "As long as youcan do anything to help, you can manage. It is the being able to helpthat matters. " The life of the nurse-in-training is regular, and thehospital regime is such that as a rule nurses-in-training are healthy. 

The nurse should have good health and a good constitution. In some cases, however, a girl may be in poor health because she has no definiteoccupation or object in life. Training as a nurse has often helped toestablish good health. The girl who applies at a hospital training schoolrequires a doctor's certificate, and the doctor will be able to tell herwhether she is strong enough to undertake the work of a nurse. She shouldbe a girl of strong character, steady nerves, clear mind, and goodjudgment. She must acquire the habit of obedience if she does not alreadypossess it. A nurse, like a soldier, is under authority and has to carryout directions exactly as if they were commands. In her work she will needtact, discretion, and firmness, and with her firmness she must be alwaysand unfailingly kind. Her voice and manner should be as pleasing aspossible. No unkind or rough woman should ever have anything to do withthe work of nursing. 

Short courses in nursing are given in some cities by the Young Women'sChristian Association. The St. John Ambulance also has given instructionin nursing for a number of years. Since the beginning of the War, variouscourses have been arranged for Red Cross nurses. The honourable work ofwhat are known as V. A. D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurses proves howvaluable any good instruction in nursing is, not only for the individual, but also for the community. It is not too much to say that the wholeservice of nursing in the world would not have been adequate if it had notbeen for the training and work of volunteer nurses. The War has provedbeyond all question the extraordinary value of the trained nurse. 

After graduating from the training school, the nurse may undertake privatenursing or she may follow her profession in institutional work. Privatenursing is exacting, and the nurse must be strong and capable. Her hoursare longer and much more irregular than when she was in training, and oftenshe will be on her own responsibility. She will feel, however, that she isdoing work of great value, and she will win the regard of many of herpatients and their families. The good standing of the training school isan assistance to the nurse when she looks for cases. If she is favourablyknown to doctors, she is likely to have as much work as she can manage. Hospitals often engage their graduates to return for private cases. A usualcharge for a graduate nurse is from twenty-one to thirty-five dollars aweek according to the nature of the case. A nurse in private work cannotwork uninterruptedly throughout the year. Her name is on a nurses'registry, which is generally conducted by an association of nurses or by aprivate individual. Returns from these registries show that the averagenurse is employed about ten months in the year. Many graduate nurses earnfrom eight to nine hundred dollars a year in private nursing, while someearn a thousand or twelve hundred, but this is exceptional. 

Nurses who are not graduates are sent out by some registries. Their chargesvary according to the case. These women are sometimes called convalescentnurses and, in cases where a graduate nurse is not required, they fill areal need in the community. 

As a general rule, a trained nurse does not continue in private nursinglonger than ten or twelve years. Frequently, at the end of that time, herhealth necessitates a change of occupation. Others continue their worksuccessfully for many years. 

Many trained nurses prefer institutional rather than private nursing. Headnurses in hospitals receive from thirty to sixty dollars a month. There arealso nurses who superintend private hospitals. A few nurses of executiveability, business knowledge, and experience in nursing, becomesuperintendents of hospitals, but not of the largest hospitals. A numberare heads of training schools. Such leading nurses receive salariesvarying from one thousand to two thousand dollars a year, with livingexpenses in addition. The work of a woman superintendent who is a trainednurse includes the financial management, responsibility for the nurses, training of the nurses, the care of patients, and the oversight of thehospital. Few individuals are equal to such work and responsibility. Othertrained nurses become matrons and housekeepers in private hospitals, sanitaria, and colleges. Some are district nurses. Public health nursesassist in supervising the health of a city and give instruction incleanliness, sanitary science, and the care and feeding of infants. Private schools, colleges, factories, and departmental stores employ theservices of trained nurses. 

A few children's hospitals give short courses in training for children'snurses--an employment for which many girls are specially fitted. Thiscourse must not be confused with the regular instruction of the trainednurse, as it is not on a level with the profession of trained nursing. A children's nurse with hospital training will receive twenty ortwenty-five dollars a month; in some instances such a nurse is paidhigher wages. 

CHAPTER X

DRESSMAKERS AND SEAMSTRESSES

The head of a dressmaking department in a large store in a city, whenasked how she prepared herself for her position, told this story. "I nevertook any lessons; but I had always made my own dresses and my sisters'. I remember walking down the street of the little town where I lived, oneday after my father died, and as I passed the door of the best dressmakingshop in the town, it occurred to me that the man in charge of the storehad often said that he would gladly pay me good wages if I would work forhim. I made up my mind while passing his shop that day that I would notwork for him, but that I would open a dressmaking establishment of my own. I did so, and it succeeded from the first. After a few years I thought Ishould like to move to the city. I applied for the position here and wasappointed. "

A second instance shows how a girl may have ability which she has not atfirst understood how to use. In this case the girl was anxious to enteranother occupation. She wished to be a painter and had studied for someyears both in Canada and abroad. Needing to earn some money, she foundthat she could sell dress designs to a manufacturing establishment, butthere was not a large demand for such work in the city where she lived. Accordingly, she and another girl, also an artist, took a studio in a citywhich was a centre of fashions, and together they worked on dress designsfor exclusive shops. They both had some money saved, and one of the girlshad a small, regular income. The first girl proved to have a very raresense of colour and design. It is now her work to make colour combinationsand provide the ideas for original designs, while the second girl, who isa good draughtsman, executes the coloured drawings. These girls are nowrecognized as two of the best costume designers in the city where they areworking. 

It is apparent, then, that the girl with good eyesight, clever hands, anda fine sense of colour and form, is likely to be a success as a dressmaker. But how is she best to prepare herself for her chosen occupation? Sheshould practise sewing, either by hand or machine. She should cultivatesteady application to such work, and she should not object to spending agood part of her time indoors. She should have a certain amount of tasteand some ingenuity in carrying out her own ideas or the ideas of others. Manual skill, originality, and artistic ability are required by thesuccessful dressmaker. The girl who means to make dresses for others, should, herself, dress quietly and in good taste. 

If the girl is able to continue at school and has a natural gift fordressmaking, the best way for her to learn her trade is to spend someyears at a technical school. Here she will be taught sewing in all itsphases--fitting, finishing, designing, the choice and use of materials, and the business details of dressmaking. The dressmaker cannot learn hertrade once for all and go on repeating operations which do not requireoriginality. Styles change, and season by season she will have to adaptand carry out alterations in fashion which will tax all her ability. If she cannot give more than two years to learning her trade in school, she is still at a great advantage when she enters a dressmakingestablishment. She will understand all the different processes and willbe able to work in the various sections, thus gaining far more rapidlyin experience than if she had had everything to learn from the beginning. Actual trade experience will teach her a great deal. If, however, she isobliged to leave school at fourteen, she should at least have had theadvantage of the instruction in sewing which is given in the publicschools. It is probable that she may be obliged, when she enters adressmaking establishment, to act as a messenger girl. She should makesure, however, that she is not used for running messages only. It would bebetter for her to accept less pay, with the understanding that she is tobe taught the details of dressmaking, than to earn more money and have noopportunity to learn. The more she tries to understand and imitate the workof experienced dressmakers, the better will be her training. The custom ofhaving apprentices has fallen rather into disuse, and the girl will findthe learning of her trade left largely to her own initiative. As soon asshe begins to have some skill in the operations of the workroom, she shouldattend evening classes in sewing, fitting, finishing, and designing. Sheshould wait, however, until she is sixteen or seventeen before she attendsthese classes. While she is learning from other dressmakers, she will havesufficient work for a few years. 

The first work she will be given to do will be finishing the undersideof dresses, felling and binding, sewing on buttons, pulling out bastingthreads, and working button-holes. After this, the younger workers beginto specialize in skirt-making, waist-draping and waist-finishing. The designing and cutting are the work of a head dressmaker. There arealso sleeve makers and their helpers, embroiderers, and collar makers. One of the younger workers is called the shopper and is sent to wholesaleand retail establishments to buy furnishings, trimmings, and materials ofvarious kinds. 

The working hours in large establishments are eight, eight and a half, andnine hours. Smaller businesses have hours from eight to six o'clock. Dressmaking is somewhat seasonal, and the dressmaker must reckon, to someextent, on slack time. Generally speaking, there are two dull months insummer and one in winter. 

A messenger girl may begin at from five to eight dollars a week. A dressmaker who does machine work and who does not specialize in otherwork, may earn ten dollars a week. Other wages range, according to theworker's ability and the work she can do, from twelve to fifteen, and fromsixteen to eighteen dollars. Head dressmakers who cut out and design, receive salaries of thirty dollars a week in large establishments, less insmaller establishments. In somewhat rare cases a head dressmaker is paidmore than thirty dollars a week. 

The experienced dressmaker, who is at the same time a good business woman, may conduct an establishment of her own which will bring her in anythingfrom one thousand to six thousand a year and over. But she must be able tomanage matters of capital and credit, understand buying, and succeed inwinning the favour of her clients. Custom dressmaking is being increasinglylimited to high-class and exclusive work. The small and highly specializeddressmaking factory is affecting the custom trade. Girls, therefore, whoare thinking of dressmaking as an occupation, should examine opportunitiesin the exclusive factory, since this branch of the industry is becomingincreasingly important. 

Another department of dressmaking to which no reference has yet been madein this chapter is the work of the seamstress who sews by the day in thehomes of her employers. If she is really a competent dressmaker, heremployment is assured. But it is a mistake for a girl or young womanwithout training or experience, or without a dressmaker's gifts, toundertake dressmaking by the day. A dressmaker--to define the term--is onewho understands cutting, fitting, and making dresses sufficiently well toundertake the occupation as a trade. A girl should be at least eighteen ortwenty before she becomes a day seamstress. In this work she is on her ownresponsibility and is handling goods of some value, so that she needsjudgment as well as knowledge. The rates of payment are from a dollar andseventy-five cents to two dollars and a half a day, meals included. Sometimes the home dressmaker may be paid even three dollars or more a day, but in this case she must be quick, and her work must be exceptionally welldone. The ordinary seamstress should be a neat sewer and should know howto fit, but she is not expected to design or to make elaborate costumes. 

CHAPTER XI

THE MILLINER

Millinery, like dressmaking, is partly a factory trade. But it is also, like dressmaking, carried on in shops and in departmental stores. Theaverage girl is interested in hat-making, and is able to turn out a hatwhich she can wear with satisfaction. But a first-class milliner is reallyan artist. Her hands must be skilful and quick, her touch light and sure. She must have a sense of colour and form, and originality and creativeability. A girl who combines these gifts with business ability is likelyto make a success of an establishment of her own. 

Training for this occupation may be obtained in several ways. The girl whocan afford to remain at school may take a course in millinery at a tradeor technical school. She may then obtain a position in a millineryestablishment as a maker of hats, and will receive a beginner's salaryaccording to the quality of her work. She should have no difficulty inadvancing rapidly in her occupation if she has the necessary gifts. 

The girl who leaves school at fourteen may find a place as messenger girlin a millinery shop or a millinery department. Some milliners make aspecial point of training their own helpers, and any girl who enters anestablishment of this kind will receive valuable instruction. There is adanger, however, that the girl in some shops will find her work confinedto running messages. In this case she will not become a trained millinerand her prospects of advancement are poor. She should, therefore, see thatshe is being taught her trade. It is usual for an apprentice to work fortwo seasons without pay, and if she is being well taught she should besatisfied. In places where living expenses are high, as in large cities, girls are often allowed a small sum per week while they are learning. 

The young milliner's first work is learning how to make bands for hats andto make and sew in linings. Making frames for hats follows--the frames areof wire and buckram. The girl has next to learn how to cover frames withmaterials of different kinds--silk, velvet, lace, chiffon, etc. --and sheas a result learns to know intimately and to handle skilfully delicateand costly fabrics. From being an apprentice she becomes an assistantmaker and then a maker of hats. She may then be promoted to the work ofa trimmer. The work of the trimmer is considered one of the most difficultstages in the creation of a hat. The girl who aspires to this work musthave an eye for beauty of line and she should know how to harmonize thetrimming to the shape of the hat. In smaller establishments the trimmer isalso the designer. The girl who has original ideas is always the mostimportant in an establishment. For this reason the designer commands thehighest salary. 

Assistant milliners may earn wages varying from seven and eight to fifteenand eighteen dollars a week. In an exclusive business a first assistant mayget as much as twenty-five dollars a week, but she will need to be a goodsaleswoman and a successful manager in the workroom. The milliner in chargeof a department or one who is managing an exclusive millinery shop ofrecognized standing, receives a high salary. As a rule the woman who buysabroad and does so with judgment and skill is in receipt of the largestincome that is given to a milliner. These cases are all exceptional. Amoderate millinery establishment owned and managed by a woman is likely toproduce an income of one thousand, fifteen hundred, or two thousand dollarsa year. 

Experience shows that ability to sell hats counts for almost as much asability to create. Tact, skill, patience, must be combined with the genuinegift required to find the hat which will be most becoming to a customer, orto know how to alter a hat so that it may suit the taste of the purchaser. Once it is proved to a customer that the milliner has this gift, her customis assured. 

A point of the first importance to the girl who means to be a milliner isthe fact that millinery is a seasonal trade. The spring and fall trade maygive her employment for seven or eight months only in the year. In thebetter millinery establishments the girls are laid off without wages sixweeks or two months. In large departmental stores other positions are foundfor the girls and they may be without employment for only a few weeks. Butthe girl must understand that if she is earning ten dollars a week forthirty weeks in the year as a young milliner her income is only threehundred dollars. For this reason it is wise for the young milliner to havea second occupation. She may spend her summer months working in an hotelas a waitress or caring for children or picking fruit. In the winter slackseason she may find a position as a saleswoman. If she can afford to remainat home, she may spend the time in replenishing her own wardrobe, andsewing for members of her family. She may also get some orders for makinghats from friends and relatives. She should use the slack season to attendclasses in design and salesmanship, skill in which will increase herefficiency and her earning power. 

CHAPTER XII

MAKING ONE'S OWN CLOTHES. HOME MILLINERY

In the chapter on "What Every Girl Needs to Know" we found how importantit is that girls should have a good deal of general knowledge of thecutting and fitting of clothes, design, what constitutes right line andbeauty, the characteristics and uses of materials, and what is calledstyle, which is really often only good design and good workmanship. Girlsshould welcome every opportunity to learn skill and judgment in spendingtheir allowances or their wages. The girl who buys wisely is able to makethe same amount of money give her twice the return in value which afoolish girl who buys carelessly receives from her ill-consideredinvestments. 

It is a wise plan, therefore, for every girl to learn a good deal aboutdressmaking and to be able to cut out and sew many of her own garments. She should also study buying. The best teacher she can have in learninghow to buy is generally her own mother. But sometimes her friends will beable to give her help in this way. Girls who work in factories whereclothing is made, and girls in shops and stores, learn from their workwhen blouses, coats and skirts are skilfully cut and well made. But thisis part of the general knowledge that every girl should have. One girlcan easily help to teach another who in return will be able to assist herfriend in other ways. Not to be equipped with this skill in dressmakingand in buying makes the girl largely dependent on others as far as herclothing and appearance are concerned, and in this way she may be placedat a disadvantage both in her work and in her life at home. 

For the same reason every girl should learn something about the making ofhats and of the materials used in millinery. To be able to make her ownwearing apparel is one of the principles of economy for the girl. She maybe able with this knowledge to provide herself with a becoming hat for asmall amount of money. She will know, too, whether the amount asked for ahat is reasonable, and will often be able to resist an extravagancebecause she will be able to tell that she is being asked to pay aconsiderable sum of money for an article which is intrinsically not worththe expenditure. The girl who can make her own dresses, blouses and otherwearing apparel and who is an adept in home millinery possesses knowledgewhich has a direct money value. She is much better off financially thanany girl who cannot sew and who is not able to trim her own hats. 

The wage-earning girl has often a very small income in the first years ofher experience in paid employment. She can afford to spend only very smallsums for her coats, blouses, skirts and hats. Often she tries to make hernecessary clothing in the evening after her paid work is over. It is verydifficult for her to do this if she has had no training in dressmaking orin millinery. But if she has learnt how to cut out and to sew and how totrim her own hats, work which otherwise would have been extremely difficultbecomes interesting and successful. It is well to remember also that girlswith very little money, if they must buy their clothes because they do notknow how to make them, are compelled to buy only the cheapest things whichwear but a short time. 

For the worker who is well established in her employment and has a goodincome, home dressmaking and millinery become questions of health, timeand energy. This worker should make the best use of her strength. It isoften wiser for her to pay someone to do this work for her since she canafford to do so, though she sometimes may regret the days when she foundtime to enjoy making a blouse or trimming a hat. She has, however, thesatisfaction of knowing that without this special knowledge of dressmakingand millinery she would not be able to buy wisely the wearing apparelwhich she requires. 

CHAPTER XIII

TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH GIRLS

The telephone girl who enters her employment in a city gains the firstknowledge of her trade in a school which is maintained by the company. She fills out an application, stating how old she is, how long she has beenat school, and whether she is living at home or boarding. She should besixteen or seventeen years old, and it is better if she has had one or twoyears in a high school. Her work will require accuracy, and she must bequick in thought and action. There should be no defect in her speech, andshe should be at least five feet in height since she requires a good reachon the telephone board. Girls who go into this work should have strongnervous systems. The necessity for rapid and constant action, the strain onthought and nerve, and the call for resourcefulness and coolness, all ofwhich are connected with the work of a telephone operator, are a constantdrain on nervous energy. 

The girl remains at the training school two weeks or longer and duringthis time she is paid by the company exactly as if she were at work. Payment varies in different parts of the country. But the girl at schoolgenerally receives a beginner's wages. 

In small towns and country districts, the beginner learns to be atelephone operator by substituting for the regular operator. There is lesspressure in telephone work outside of cities, and there is more room forinitiative than in a large city exchange. 

Telephone exchanges in cities are large airy rooms, well lighted, well keptand ventilated. These rooms are pleasant places in which to work, and thetelephone company provides lunch and rest rooms for its staff. A matrontakes general charge of the girls, and a dietitian looks after the foodprovided and advises the girl employees with regard to their health. In the rest room are comfortable chairs and a lounge. The managementprovides tea, sugar and milk and the dishes in the lunch room. The girlsmay buy cold meat, bread and butter, biscuits and other food for a smallcharge. The hours are eight in the daytime and seven for night operators;this length of working day is regarded as the utmost which can be requiredfrom girls in telephone work. There are two rest periods in the day, besides time for lunch. 

In the school the young operator is trained to answer requests for numbers, to make and break connections, and to keep account of calls. She is taughtto enunciate clearly and to speak courteously and agreeably. She learns toknow the board and its numbering. The board is divided into sections andeach section comprises a complete multiple. Each multiple consists of eightpanels, the panels being divided into "banks. " Each bank contains a hundred"jacks, " every one of which represents a customer. When a connection ismade, the telephone operator connects one jack with another by means of acord and two plugs. By the time the girl is an experienced operator, shehas become accustomed to the little flashing lights constantly appearingin front of her, which mean that a connection is asked for. 

The operator in a city begins with ten or eleven dollars a week. In twoor three years if she is a satisfactory operator she should be earningfifteen. A supervisor receives from sixteen to eighteen or twenty. The duties of the supervisor are to walk up and down behind the girls atthe board so that she may be certain they are giving satisfactory service, to check delays, and to help in difficulties. For instance, if a call comesthrough from a fire or accident, the operator will often give it in chargeof the supervisor immediately so that there may be no delay. The chiefoperator who is responsible for the whole service and who has themanagement of the working force is paid from twenty-four to thirtydollars a week, according to the size of the exchange and the amountof work involved. 

Skilled operators are often employed in private exchanges and when theyare competent they earn from twelve to fifteen dollars a week or more. The most important switchboards are in hotels, apartment houses, publicand governmental offices, stores and private offices. The work is oftenexacting and in many cases requires executive ability and resourcefulness. The operator is expected to answer calls, make connections, answerquestions and keep account of the number of calls made. Sometimes importantbusiness depends on the good-will, executive energy, judgment and quickthought of the girl at the switchboard. A young woman of strong vitalityand good mind--where she has responsibility and can use initiative--findsthis work fascinating. Such a worker sometimes wins important promotionbecause she is able to show that she can manage both people and criticalsituations and has business and financial judgment. 

 * * * * *

Telegraphy also offers employment for girls, but not to the same extentas the telephone exchange. The automatic machine has made a considerablechange in this occupation. The Morse operator is now employed to a muchsmaller extent than formerly. There are still a number of men and womenwho are Morse operators, but they are being replaced to a certain extentby girls who operate automatic machines. The machines are extremelyingenious and do away with the necessity for the operator to understandor use a code. 

Telegraph companies in some cases maintain a school for the instruction ofMorse operators, and girls who enter telegraphy receive a weekly wage whileat the school, as is the case with girls in the telephone school. In somecases instruction is given during work in the operating room. Schools areat central points only. If the girl who wants to learn telegraphy livesin a small town or in the country, she must be taught by the telegraphoperator. A number of girl operators are to be found in country offices. The writer remembers specially two of these girls. One was in a telegraphand cable office down by the sea. She had been a telephone operator andhad learned telegraphy from the telegrapher in the same office. The othergirl was in an inland railway office, and had learned from her brother, who had held the position before her. Both these girls were earning goodsalaries. 

The hours in a telegraph office in the city are from eight to six, with aluncheon hour. The room in which the girl is at work is crowded withmachines and people. There is a good deal of noise and a great pressure ofbusiness, much of which is important. The girl needs to be thoroughlyinterested in her work and to have steady nerves in order to do well intelegraph operating. It will take her several years to become a competentMorse operator. An automatic machine is operated by a typist. The companiesapply a simple psychological test by means of which they can judge whetherthe applicant has the power of concentration necessary for accuracy andsuccess in this employment. 

Many girl operators have charge of agencies in different parts of townsand cities. These girls have agreeable work under no great pressure in aquiet place, although with a certain amount of responsibility. 

The wages paid girls who operate automatic machines vary according to theage, ability and efficiency of the workers, and the locality where thework is done. Typists may begin at seventy-five dollars a month, withincreases up to eighty-five. Girls in training as Morse operators arecalled check girls and may receive thirty, thirty-five or forty-fivedollars a month with an increase in the second year to fifty dollars. Women who are Morse operators belong to the same union as the men andreceive the same wages. In larger places they begin at eighty-fivedollars a month and receive increases up to one hundred and twenty-threedollars and twenty-five cents. 

Both telephone and telegraph operators are in a sense public servants, andmay win the respect and gratitude of their clients. They sometimes sufferfrom a lack of appreciation of their really arduous work; but as a rulethe public recognizes good service. These workers often show loyalty undertrying and exacting circumstances. On many occasions girls have riskeddeath from fire and flood by staying at their posts to warn others ofdanger. During the Great War there have been instances of telephone andtelegraph operators performing services as faithful and as brave as manyof the deeds on the battlefield. 

CHAPTER XIV

HAIRDRESSER AND MANICURIST. WAITRESS

Hairdressing and shampooing, manicuring and chiropody, are almostexclusively the work of girls and women. There has been a decidedimprovement in these employments, and any girl who takes a seriousinterest in making herself a thoroughly trained worker in one of theselines of work, provided she has the gifts which are needed, is likely tofind her occupation becoming more and more necessary and esteemed. 

To be entirely successful in work of this kind a girl should have engagingpersonal qualities. Just as a doctor or nurse with abundant personalvitality gives health and encouragement to patients by being in the sameroom with them, so the girl who gives massage after a shampoo quiets andsoothes the client with whom she is working and who has come in for a restas well as to have her hair shampooed. A girl with this power to soothe isa helpful person. She will never lose a customer who can remain with herif the customer has once experienced the difference between an ordinarytreatment and the superior work of the girl who is gifted by nature witha personality which both soothes and invigorates. 

While a girl may begin her training as young as sixteen, it is better ifshe is nineteen or older. Some experienced women say that no girl shouldbegin work of this description younger than twenty. She should apply fora position as a helper in a shampooing and manicuring establishment orwith a chiropodist. Sometimes the pupil is expected to pay a fee oftwenty-five dollars or more for three months' instruction. But in manygood establishments it is held that the work of a beginner is very soonworth something. It is not necessary, therefore, for the girl to pay a feein order to become trained. She may find a place where she will be paid afair wage for a beginner within a short time after she has been accepted. But if the beginner pays no fee for her instruction, the head of theestablishment will expect rightly that the assistant will remain in heremploy two or three years at least so that she may repay the time and carewhich have been given to her training. In a year and a half a goodassistant should be earning from ten to twelve dollars a week, and in twoor three years her weekly wages are likely to be fourteen or sixteendollars. If she takes some responsibility in managing the work andworkrooms, she may earn as much as seventeen or eighteen dollars a week. In some establishments tips are allowed. The girl should understand, however, that as a rule wages are lower where tips are permitted. It isbetter for her to be employed in the best kind of establishment where thehighest wages are paid. In such an establishment tips are unusual. 

The helper is likely to begin by taking care of the rooms and toiletarticles, washing brushes, combs, etc. , and carrying out miscellaneousorders. The attractiveness of the rooms depends on the perfection ofthese details. 

After some years spent in a good establishment the young woman mayundertake appointment work. She should choose carefully the district inwhich she means to work, so as not to interfere with any other shampooingor manicuring business. She should not take away customers who belong tothe business where she was trained. She will need to have some moneysaved in order to provide herself with the necessary articles which shehas to carry with her, as well as tonics and lotions. Her expenses willalso include a telephone, carfare, printed cards, and so on. She shouldestimate her expenditures carefully to determine how much she is makingover all expenses by the week, the month, and finally by the year. The summer months are likely to be slack, and this should be taken intoaccount. She should arrange her appointments so that she may make the bestuse of her time and energy, and she must keep appointments punctually. A successful business of this kind may realize a weekly return of fromtwelve to eighteen dollars. Such a worker by the time she has saved somecapital to invest may be able to start an establishment of her own, but she should do so only after a careful calculation of the expenditurerequired. 

 * * * * *

The modern tea-room has changed to some extent the occupation of thewaitress. The modern lunch room in the same way makes a feature of theclass of girls who attend on customers. They are expected to be especiallyquiet, deft and well mannered, and they should be dressed with that entiresuitability to their occupation which is a mark of the well-bred girl. These girls have often been brought up with no special occupation inview--possibly they had not expected to earn a living by paid employment. But the opportunity comes to find work in a tea or lunch room, which isowned or managed by a woman friend, and they gladly enter on their newoccupation, pleased as every normal girl should be to be busy and to earnan income. It is possible for the girl who has duties at home to spend partof her day as a waitress in a lunch and tea room. The same gifts andknowledge which make her a success in her work at home cause her to beprized as a waitress. She understands how a table should be set. Quicklyand deftly she lays the table after each customer has been served. Hertouch and movements are noiseless and pleasing to watch. She is interestedin what each customer wants. She is thoughtful and has a good memory, isgood tempered and not impatient. She has an instinct for placing andarranging food so that the man or woman at the table feels that he or sheis being waited on by an intelligent, well-mannered person. In spite of thehigh standard of the service required, the pay is rather small. It may noteven cover all the girl's expenses. She has the advantage, however, oflimited hours and leisure to carry on her duties at home. 

The work of the regular waitress is in an hotel, restaurant, women's club, or in the dining rooms connected with apartment houses and private hotels. Women who work in such places should be neat and smart in appearance andshould wear dresses of a uniform standard, generally black with whiteaprons, cuffs and collars. A good home training is of great assistance tothem in their work. They should have common sense and good judgment, andbe polite to customers and fellow workers. Perseverance, intelligence andphysical strength are required by waitresses. A girl who is naturallyerect, with a good carriage and graceful walk, is at an advantage in thisoccupation. She needs to be kindly and thoughtful and to take pleasure inserving her customers. She has to understand and remember her customers'checks, and the amount of the checks she hands in ought to equal theaverage cash sales of other waitresses. Many customers make a point ofcoming to the same waitress every day, and she should remember where theyprefer to sit and how they like to be served. 

One advantage in this work is that the worker is given two, sometimesthree meals, in addition to her payment in actual money. In a number ofestablishments the tipping system prevails, which provides a girl with anadded source of income. The average Canadian girl, however, dislikes beingtipped, and there are many objections to the tipping system. 

CHAPTER XV

FARM WORK FOR WOMEN

Among those who choose work on the land as a special employment are girlsand women in the country who have the opportunity to give either part oftheir time or all of it to farm work, and others from the city who preferan outdoor life. The problems of the city girl or woman who wishes toengage in farm work are how to acquire skill and experience in herbusiness, capital for land and equipment, labour, transportation and amarket. The girl on the farm can solve these problems with an advantageof fifty, seventy-five, or one hundred per cent. As compared with the girlwho migrates from town or city to carry on independent productive work inthe country. 

Most girls and women in the country are familiar with farm life, and knowbeforehand what they require for success in any kind of farm work. Eggs, poultry, cream, butter, vegetables and fruit are sent to market by womenwho are also home makers. There is, also, a growing movement among a fewable country women to make their productive work so extensive as toconstitute one-half or one-third of the whole work of the farm. Thus insome instances a third of the farm land may be devoted to a poultry farm;and its management is in reality an extensive business, undertaken withall the thought, planning and attention which are given to a large farmproject. Productive work of this character is successfully carried on bya few women. 

A restricted number of women who have lived previously on farms and arethoroughly familiar with farming conditions have undertaken farm managementsuccessfully. Such women are exceptional and there is no present indicationthat this employment will be taken up to any large extent by women. Thefarm manager must be strong enough to do her own work when she is unableto procure assistance, and she may at times have to live alone. 

The girl who lives on a farm and who has the endowment needed has anexceptional opportunity to engage in productive work on her own initiative. She should secure a plot of land on the farm for her own use. When theother labour on the farm is being done, it takes little extra time andexertion to do what cultivating is necessary on the girl's plot of land. In this way she can arrange with little trouble and at little expense forany manual labour which is beyond her own strength. A girl or a woman whogoes into the country from the city to engage in independent productivework finds the problem of labour one of her greatest difficulties. In thisas in other respects the girl whose father or brother is a farmer is at anadvantage. 

A young woman thus situated has her land secured as her share of familygood will, or at a small rental after her business has begun to pay. Anarrangement, as has been pointed out, can easily be made for the manuallabour required. She has an opportunity to learn her work thoroughly, andto experiment, before she actually goes into business. She can arrange fornecessary fertilizers at an advantageous rate. Finally, the means oftransportation to market, and the market itself which has been found forthe products of her father's farm, often can be used for the products whichthe girl has chosen to raise on her plot. 

If she is particularly attracted to flower-growing, the girl on the farmmay devote herself to growing violets for market. She must study violetscarefully. She should be an authority on the subject. She should learn tounderstand their appearance, habits and diseases. She should know just whatto do for her plants, how to feed and tend them, how to get the bestresults, how to make a violet blossom the best blossom of its kind that canbe offered for sale. Besides this, she must know how to pick violets, howto grade them, how to pack them, and when and where and how to send them tomarket. It would appear practically certain that if the farm produce issent to market, the girl may send her violets, properly handled and packed, at the same time, and she will be likely to find a ready demand for herflowers, if she offers fine violets for sale. 

A woman who is a bee-keeper writes as follows of how a woman may acquireskill in this country employment. "A good beginning for the woman who isto keep bees is to read Maeterlinck's 'Life of the Bee. ' If after readingsuch a book the girl or woman who thinks she would like to be a bee farmeris still further interested in bees, then she may decide to go into beeculture. 

She should offer herself as apprentice to an up-to-date bee-keeper as soonas the spring work begins and stay with him to the end of the season. The following spring, if still inclined for the work, she should buy fromher employer two, four or six prosperous colonies of bees. If she prefersto do so, she may take a short course in bee-keeping at the OntarioAgricultural College, Guelph. 

Characteristics which the bee-keeper needs are a cool head and steadynerves. She should also have determination to succeed and someindifference to pain. 

Some difficulties which may be encountered are bad choice of location, winter losses and poor seasons. There is heavy lifting to be done, butgenerally a lad in the neighbourhood can be hired to come for part ofthe day to help. By ingenuity a good deal of the lifting can be avoided. 

The advantages of bee-keeping are a healthful, outdoor occupation whichtakes one's mind off real or imaginary worries, with a certainty of smallprofit in spite of set-backs and large profits in favourable seasons. Bee-keeping is a good occupation for the woman who is suited to it, butnot every woman can be a successful bee-farmer. 

When the bee-keeper's work calls for larger space she may rent outyardsfrom farmers in the locality. Her market is likely to be found near whereshe lives. Those who know that she keeps bees will bring her orders. Bakers use a considerable amount of honey. If the bee-keeper lives near agood road for motorists, she may put up a sign saying 'Honey for sale, 'and the demand probably will be larger than she can supply. "

A woman who moved from the city to the country is now favourably known asa grower of flowering plants for marketing. She began as a student of wildflowers and became a wild flower specialist. The first money she made fromflowers was earned as the result of her wish to give to a missionarysociety. She bought seeds from a reliable dealer, parcelled them out inselected varieties, and sold the packages. She also planted the seeds inher own garden and studied the plants carefully. The occupation grew untilit took up most of her time. A larger garden was obtained and expertknowledge was acquired gradually in the growing of perennials. The demandfor her plants grew steadily. When she made a change from a city garden toa country place, greater expenditure was necessary, and the cost of labourbecame a serious item. But the beauty of outdoor life and love for herspecial work have counter-balanced all difficulties. Her business is nowwell-established and successful. 

The principal difficulty, according to one authority, for girls and womenin the business of farm production, is that they have to find out thatthey must learn to understand facts with which they think they are alreadyfamiliar. A girl on a farm, for instance, makes up her mind to undertakepoultry farming as a business. She may be of the opinion that she knowsall about poultry, from the kind of buildings which ought to be used tothe nature of any disease likely to attack poultry. This believing thatshe knows all about poultry, or vegetables, or fruit, when in reality agood part of the knowledge she has is imperfect, will be a great obstacleto the girl in such work. The girl of good judgment will set to work tostudy her subject with enthusiasm and perseverance. As a rule people whounderstand a subject best are slow to believe that they know all there isto know on that subject. 

The girl or woman who hopes to leave town or city life to engage in workin the country should have a certain amount of capital, not less, it hasbeen said, than five thousand dollars; but the amount of capital requireddepends on the locality. A greater amount than five thousand dollars mayeasily be necessary. She will also need a small income, since she may notbe able to support herself wholly by this work for a number of years, ifindeed she does so ultimately. She should be strong physically and shouldenjoy manual labour. She should be fond of an outdoor life and of whateverkind of work is involved in her enterprise. She should like animals andgrowing things, and be able to live without constant social stimulus. 

The Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph has trained a number of youngwomen in different branches of agricultural production. Short courses maybe taken during the year, and the special classes during the summer monthsare most useful and popular. 

The special need for production which developed during the War inducedmany girls and young women, including a number of women students fromuniversities, to volunteer for farm work. During the summer months somehundreds of young women engaged in fruit picking and worked in canningfactories under government supervision, and were lodged in club housesmanaged by the Young Women's Christian Association. Others undertookvarious forms of work connected with agriculture, meeting with success intheir employment and with public approval. In the summer of 1918 a specialcourse of instruction for young women in farm work was arranged at theOntario Agricultural College, and later regular courses were establishedthroughout the year. Women now may qualify for the degree of Bachelor ofScience in Agriculture at the Ontario Agricultural College and at MacdonaldCollege, Quebec. Wider opportunities for women in agricultural employmentare thus being recognized. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE LIBRARIAN

Library work, although unusually attractive, does not employ a great manyworkers. The work is pleasing, it is valuable to the community, and theassociates with whom the librarian works are trained and intelligent. 

Almost any girl who loves books and reading may be attracted to librarywork. She should test herself first to see if she has other necessaryqualities before she makes up her mind to train as a librarian. A girlwho really dislikes detail and who fails in detail work is hardly likelyto succeed in this occupation. The usefulness of a library depends on aconstant routine of work faithfully performed by its staff. An assistantdoes not spend her time in reading new books, although the best type oflibrary worker must always find time for reading. The librarian isworking for the interests of others. Her mind should be sensitive andalert to the needs of the public. She must love books, but it is equallytrue that she should be a lover of humanity. If she feels only impatienceand irritation when she is asked to leave some routine work to find aspecial volume for a boy or girl, man or woman worker, or some old personwho has come into the library to read, then she should not be in librarywork. 

The standard of education required for a librarian is constantly beingraised. The entrance examination to a university is often required as theminimum in academic training. A librarian cannot be too well or too widelyeducated, and it is generally agreed that sound scholarship is required ina library. This point should receive careful attention from the girl who isthinking of library work. A position as an untrained assistant is noteasily found. More and more, it is becoming a profession for men and womenwho are college graduates and who in addition have taken professional andtechnical training in a school for librarians. 

Training in library work may be obtained in different ways. The girl mayenter a library as an assistant where she will be taught the methods of thelibrary in which she is working. As has been said, she should be interestedin books and people. She should be neat, accurate and quick in her work, widely read and well informed. The payment which she will receive may notat first be sufficient for her support, so that she will need either tohave saved some money earned in another employment, or to be able to liveat home, remaining partly dependent on her own people until she hasacquired skill as a librarian. 

After she has worked in the library as an assistant, she should attendclasses in a school for librarians. The library training school, conductedunder the authority of the Department of Education for Ontario, has acourse of several months, with lectures, instruction, and practice work. Library boards frequently grant leave of absence to librarians andassistants so that they may attend this school. Application for admissionshould be sent to the Inspector of Public Libraries, Department ofEducation, Parliament Buildings, Toronto. 

Library schools in the United States give courses of one and two years inall the branches of librarianship. These schools require for entranceeither that the applicant has a standing equal to the second year in auniversity, with a knowledge of French and German, or a university degree. Any young woman who is a college graduate and has a certificate from oneof these library schools is likely to find good employment in a library. 

The technical training which a library assistant must acquire, either in alibrary or at a library school, includes the classification of booksaccording to subject, the cataloguing of books, some knowledge of bindingand repairing, the arrangement of books on shelves, the use of openshelves, how to serve the public, filing and use of periodicals, how to usereference books of all kinds, preparation of reading courses for clubs, how to make the library useful to boys and girls at school, and practicein the children's library. 

In a small library, while the work is not greatly divided, one librarian, possibly with an assistant, must carry on all the work of the library. 

In large libraries, the work is divided into a number of departments, each of which is in charge of a responsible head, who may have severalassistants. Over all the work of the library is the head librarian. 

The administrative side of library work calls for executive and businessability. The best experience for a young worker whose gifts are in thisdirection is to be obtained in a small library. She may, if she hastraining, become director of such a library and she will gradually winpromotion to a larger library, unless she finds that the work where sheis suits her capacity better. 

The cataloguer labels the books as they come in and prepares cards whichwill represent the books in the catalogue. A book may be asked for underseveral different classifications, and the skill of the cataloguer isrequired to decide how many cards are needed and under what headings thebooks should be listed. 

The reference librarian has work of an altogether different character. Sheis constantly in touch with the public. All kinds of questions are broughtto her. The reference department sometimes maintains a telephone service;that is, clients may telephone inquiries to the library and the informationneeded will be looked up and telephoned to them within a reasonable time. The reference librarian requires a complete knowledge of books ofreference, encyclopaedias, bibliographies, and dictionaries of all kinds, and she must be skilful in their use. 

The circulation librarian has charge of the collection of books to beloaned to the public. She must be familiar with the collection and shouldunderstand the tastes of those who use the library. Book exhibitions andannouncements are under her care, and she generally has charge of a numberof assistants. 

One of the most pleasant and yet one of the most exacting positions in alibrary is that of librarian in the children's room. The children'slibrarian must be fond of children and should be able to control andinfluence them for good. She should have the wish to instruct and sheneeds a rich endowment of imagination, since this is necessary in orderto understand children and to sympathize with them. 

Other openings for librarians are in scientific schools, medical schools, and in some law firms and business houses where the keeping and filingof documents are of special importance. Librarians in such positions areon their own responsibility and sometimes do important reference andbibliographical work. Civic and engineering libraries, municipal libraries, libraries on music, architecture and art, the cataloguing of prints andpictures, special work in bibliography and indexing, offer in a few citiesopportunities to trained and gifted librarians. 

Salaries of from six to eight hundred are not uncommon for libraryassistants who have training or experience. In a number of positions thelibrary may be open during limited hours, or on certain days only. But whenall a librarian's time is required an effort is made to pay a salary whichwill ensure for the librarian a reasonable standard of comfort. The betterpaid positions have salaries of eight or nine hundred up to twelve, thirteen or fourteen hundred for women librarians in charge of branchlibraries, heads of important departments, and chief librarians. 

A woman's work in a library offers opportunities for service andself-improvement. The profession is fairly well paid. It requirescareful training and constant study. Enthusiasm, ability and initiativemay make the librarian one of the most useful and influential citizensin the community. 

CHAPTER XVII

WORK FOR THE GIRL AT HOME

We have been referring so far to girls who are earning a living in paidemployment, working usefully and happily in almost all the occupationswhich make up the gigantic output of national activity. Many thousandsof girls at home are doing household work which is just as necessaryto national well-being. 

Chapter Eighteen on The Home Employments, which follows this chapter onWork for the Girl at Home, is intended to state more fully the importanceof the occupation of home making. The present chapter is planned to suggestlines of remunerative work for girls who are helping in home making, butwho require spending money and a healthy, active interest in life andpeople outside the home. 

Every girl who is helping to make a home may be certain that she is one ofthe world's necessary workers. The home people are dependent on her moredirectly and to a far greater extent than the work of the office or factoryis dependent on the girl who is a paid employee. The girl at home may notseem to have anything definite to show for all her daily tasks. As one homemaker said of her own work: "Just a lot of dishes washed and a lot of mealscooked and eaten. " But the working efficiency of all the members of thehousehold is dependent on this work, and not only their working efficiency, but their happiness as well. The output of a factory can be expressed in somany thousands of dollars and cents. But the work of a home is expressed ina spiritual and mental, as well as in a physical, total. 

The girl who is doing necessary work for the home should be paid anallowance, unless the family income is so limited that it is impossible toarrange for one. It should be understood in every case that the work of thegirl has a money value, as well as a value which cannot be recompensedexcept by affection. When the family income does not permit of an adequateallowance, happily the girl is often able not only to support herself withwork which allows her to continue her home occupation, but to make acontribution to the upkeep of the home. The girl at home who is making anincome from other work should save part of what she makes for investment, for some special training, or for recreation and travelling. 

The home girl should remember that her expenses are small. She does notpay for board and lodging as is generally the case with the girl in paidemployment. There are a hundred small incidental expenses met by the girlwho goes out to work which are not necessary for the girl at home. She hasno set hours to keep and she has time to sew, to make clothes and trim hatswithout over-tiring herself as the wage-earning girl often does if she isher own dressmaker and milliner. The working clothes of the girl at homemay be very simple. She does not need to go out every morning to her work, and for this reason can dress more economically than her wage-earningsister, and still be neat and fresh. 

Let us suppose that the girl at home needs to earn an income, either smallor fairly large. The first step she should take is to think carefully overher own possibilities, and the possibilities of the neighbourhood in whichshe lives. What can she do that is worth payment, and where can she findsomeone who is willing to buy what she has to sell?

She may have a gift for sewing and dressmaking. If she is really capableand can do satisfactory work, she may easily build up a small businessamong her friends and their friends in the making of smart blouses. The girl should always remember that poor work is never worth while. Her blouses should be better than anything her clients can buy at a store. They should have distinction and style of their own, and a fineness andindividuality which the stores cannot rival. If her gift is undeniable buther workmanship is poor, she should take lessons at a school of dressmakingand make herself a first-class worker. She may possibly undertake dresses, although blouses generally are more useful and more possible for the girlat home. In the same way, the girl with a gift may specialize on hats, buther hats must be professional in workmanship and individual in style. 

Perhaps the girl at home is a born cook. Home-made bread is always indemand. But it must be the best that can be produced. A specialty inhome-made cakes of certain kinds may be made profitable. Candy-making isoften carried on successfully as a home industry. But the home girl whodoes work of any kind for profit must have business sense. She mustitemize her expenses accurately. Cakes or bread which have not turned outwell should never be offered for sale. To do so is not fair to the worker, for one of her most valuable assets should be the fact that her work isalways satisfactory. 

The work of the home has changed greatly in the last fifty years. Oncerugs, carpets, blankets, yarn, soap and candles were made at home. If thegirl can find a market for home-made rugs she might make rug weaving aprofitable employment. The same is true of soap. In these days of thriftand economy, days when work must be better done than ever, a girl mightinduce the women of a neighbourhood to let her become a local soapmaker. But she would have to be certain of herself and of the work. A co-operativecanning kitchen would be a great benefit to the women of any community, andtwo or three home girls who could count on a certain amount of time forthis work could manage the kitchen. This work would be specially suitablefor girls in a small town or country district. They could arrange for amarket in a neighbouring town or city. The arrangement could be madethrough a local Women's Institute or Home Makers' Club. "Canning circles"have been managed successfully in some parts of the country. If the girlwants a small business of her own in preserving fruits and canningvegetables, she may develop a market in her own neighbourhood. If her homeis in the country she may arrange to supply a store or a number ofhousekeepers in a neighbouring town, or she may help to form a circle andwork with other girls. 

Selling flowers, choice fruit and poultry may be made money-makingoccupations by either country or city girls. First, the girl should knowher specialty. She should not merely know something about it, but sheshould make herself an absolute mistress of it. Her flowers should be finein quality and colour. They should be properly handled and properly packed. To begin with, of course, they should be properly grown. Nothing is left toaccident in a successful business, and the home girl should see that she isnot in any way behind professional dealers in her line. If she is sellinghand-picked fruit, the people who buy from her should know that they willreceive only the best. Those who buy are willing to pay a higher price forany specialty which is the best of its kind. 

Girls whose interests are of a different character may find other payingemployments. To find the employment depends largely on the study of one'scapacity and one's neighbourhood. Is there any opening for a lendinglibrary? Then the girl who is fond of books and reading and who understandsthe average taste in reading, provided she can find a little capital, maystart a lending library. It is possible that there may be a library in theneighbourhood which would be glad to engage her services a few hours in theday. There are villages and country districts where a girl living at homecould make a success of a small library. 

The girl with a turn for keeping accounts might become a visitingbookkeeper. Doctors and dentists often have their accounts kept by someonewho is not altogether in their employ. A good business connection of thiskind might be worked up in a neighbourhood. Or a girl might answer thedentist's or doctor's doorbell and telephone during certain hours in theday. She could give attendance in his office at the same time. A girl isoften able to find employment for some hours a day in a store in theneighbourhood of her home. A village store which is also the post officemay engage her as an assistant for part of the day. 

Mothers in a suburban neighbourhood are often glad to have some girl athome look after their children one or two afternoons in the week. Toundertake work of this character successfully the girl should be fond ofchildren and able to manage them. If she can tell stories well, she mightform a circle of children to attend a children's hour. A visiting mother'shelp would be a boon in many neighbourhoods. 

The possibilities of paying employment for girls at home who haveinitiative and some spare time are almost limitless. The girl's ingenuityis the only measure of what she may do in the way of paying work. The fieldof success of two such girls of the writer's acquaintance is the lovely, old-fashioned home garden. One girl has made a specialty of poultry. Herstock is of the best. She sells eggs, both for household use and as"settings. " The other girl grows roses in the garden and from her ownsuccess as a rose grower she has become a seller of rose bushes. They areboth happy in their employments, and they continue to be home makers aswell as business women. The income is not the only benefit which the girlat home receives from such work as this. Her work brings her into contactwith other people, broadens her interests, increases her usefulness, and, moreover, is often a recreation. The home-maker needs outside interests. The girl at home is never dull, or unhappy because she is dull, when shehas an avocation in addition to her work and life in the home. 

To unite her home-making and her other employment successfully, the girlshould learn how to organize her time. A girl, for instance, might lookafter poultry while she waits for the kettle to boil. The same time mightbe taken for work in the garden. Heat that is used to cook dinner willhelp to can or preserve. The day's work should be planned carefully iftime is to be put to the best use. 

CHAPTER XVIII

THE HOME EMPLOYMENTS

The more thoroughly women and girls understand paid work outside of thehome, the more clearly they recognize that work in the home is of highstanding, intellectually, artistically and spiritually. The most able womenin outside work are constantly looking back to the home, hoping that theymay be able to introduce into home life and management much that they havelearned in other pursuits. 

One of these women whose name is associated with a famous business success, in writing of her own work recently said: "I believe that work which ismost commonly thought drudgery can be made attractive and beautiful if itis approached in the right spirit, and I feel more than that--that untilall women are awake to this, and really enjoy their work--whether it isrunning a home and bringing up their children, or being out in the worldin business--they will never be as efficient as men are in their field. "

We should be careful then to know how a girl should equip herself for thehome employments. If she will look back to chapter five, "What Every GirlNeeds to Know, " she will find that in order to develop into a young womanable to meet the problems, work, responsibilities and joys of life, sheshould know how to keep herself and other people well. To keep herselfwell, she should understand the values of food and how to prepare food;she should know how to dress, which includes knowing how to make and mendclothes; and she should know how to rest. In order to keep other peoplewell, she must know what food should be given to babies, to people at work, both men and women, and to old people. She should also be able to judgewhether they are properly clothed and cared for. If possible, every girlshould have some knowledge of nursing. She may not be a trained nurse, but she should have some of the knowledge and skill of the trained nurse. 

One of the finest of the home employments is this great work of caring forpeople and keeping them well. One of the functions of a home is to preservethe health of its inmates. 

Fortunately, any girl who wants to learn the art and science of home makingmay learn at home or in school, or she may go to special classes where allthese domestic subjects are taught. There is hardly any study which is moredelightful, because one has the pleasure of working with one's hands aswell as studying. A girl who is a good cook, and knows how to cut outclothes and sew them, has a good part of the knowledge of the home-maker. 

What else does the girl need to know before she can feel that she isproperly trained to have charge of a home? The girl should be preparedto find that home-making requires a varied and very interesting training. The best home-maker needs a thorough knowledge of household accounting. The business girl understands that the factory, the store and the officecan not be managed successfully unless the manager understands all aboutthe bookkeeping of his business, for the books of the business shouldshow the exact condition of the enterprise. The home is not a businessand yet it requires some knowledge of business. 

Much of her own happiness and usefulness and the happiness and usefulnessof others will depend on her knowledge and ability to handle an income. She should read the best books and magazines on household management. If the girl has no books of her own she should ask for advice and helpat the public library. 

The home maker has many interests and an endless variety of duties. She needs to study--and if need be to take some action to try tocontrol--the sources of food supply for her household. She must decidewhat manufacturing work should be done in the house. Are bread and caketo be baked at home? What preserving and canning are to be undertaken?How much clothing is to be made in the house, either with or without help?In every case the decision has to be made according to individualrequirements. It may pay one home maker to bake her own bread; in the caseof another, her time and strength may be needed in other ways. The problemsof mending, and of taking proper care of household furnishings, are part ofthe duty of the home maker. She should also be an expert buyer, and shouldbe able to judge of the quality and price of fabrics and of theirsuitability. If she employs a houseworker, she must be able to plan thework of her helper. It is important that the home maker should be fair toeveryone whom she employs. Wages, hours, food and shelter, treatment andstanding, should all be of the best character that she can give. The verynature of a home is based on right human relations. Nothing that isunjust or unkind should be tolerated in the management of the home orits relationships. The home is not managed for profit, but for humanwell-being. This fact alone places the work of the home maker among thefirst and best employments. 

By far the most important function of the home is the care and training ofchildren. No girl or woman can have too great a talent, or too careful atraining, or too fine a personality, to devote all she has to the care oflittle children. It is a very wrong thing for anyone to undertakeignorantly, or to fail to be interested in, the best care of the healthand feeding of infants and their early training. All girls who have hadanything to do with the care of babies know how very delightful babies are, and how worth while it is to take care of them and to win their affection. 

The twentieth century girl has to deal with two aspects of home-making, one of which is an old aspect revived, while the other is a principle newin its application to the work of the home. We have been taught by thestern necessity of the Great War the importance of the food supply of theworld and the household. Every woman who is a home maker should have, ifpossible, a small garden in which to grow vegetables. Even if she lives inan apartment, she may arrange to have a garden allotment in co-operationwith others. Gardening is one of the oldest of the home maker'semployments. 

The principle which is new in its application to the work of the homeis co-operation. So far home makers have carried on their affairsindependently, each woman very largely by herself. Suppose a group of tenwomen, practical, experienced home makers, with sufficient business senseto recognize fair business dealing, were to decide to arrange for some oftheir home making work in partnership. A great deal of the householdbuying of coal, bread, flour, canned goods (when buying canned goods isadvisable), sugar, and other groceries, meat, poultry, butter, eggs, etc. , might be carried on to great advantage in partnership. Canning, preservingand baking might be undertaken by one or two of the members of the group, or a professional worker might be engaged to do this work for the tenmembers. The actual expenses should be shared fairly and a considerablesaving would be effected when the output was distributed amongst themembers. In the same way, the co-operative group might arrange forhousehold help. One skilled houseworker might assist with the work ofthree or four households. Washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, mending, dressmaking, sewing, shopping, and the care of the telephone, could becarried on either partly or wholly by members of the group in return forother service, or by paid helpers who in every case should be reliableexperts. 

The principle on which successful co-operative work is based is the formingof a small group of well-known and trusted individuals to carry on workeither in production, or buying and selling, or in both, with the sharingof expenses and the elimination of commission and secondary profits. Co-operation is admirably adapted to the work of home-making. The girls ofthe twentieth century, with courage, cleverness and enterprise, may bringa new blessing to the work of the home through the use of co-operation. 

While the home-maker recognizes that her first interest is the workand the life of the home, she must also be interested in the affairsof the day. The home is the heart and kernel of the affairs of the world. It is a mistake to try to get rid of the work of the home; the right way isto enjoy it; just as a doctor, an actor, a writer, a manufacturer or amerchant enjoys his or her work. The affairs both of the home and the worldbelong to the woman home-maker. We should take pattern by English andFrench women, for the English woman is keenly interested in politicalaffairs and is able to discuss them with understanding, and the Frenchwoman is admired by all because she is her husband's business partner andcan continue the business in his absence. A partner with responsibility isbetter and happier than a worker without responsibility, and of infinitelymore value to the community than an idler without an intelligent interestin life. 

No true home can exist without the recognition and love of spiritualinterests. Home life is intended to promote the growth of kindness andmercy. The woman of the home must also help in providing recreation for herfamily and herself. Thus home becomes the best and happiest placein theworld and is worth all we can give in time, energy and love to make it so. 

CHAPTER XIX

JOURNALISM. WRITING. ADVERTISING. ART. HANDICRAFTS. DESIGNING. PHOTOGRAPHY. ARCHITECTURE. LANDSCAPE GARDENING. HOUSE DECORATING AND FURNISHING. MUSIC. ACTING. DANCING. 

Many girls who have definite gifts are specially interested in theoccupations described in this chapter. As a rule, the girl with a decidedtalent has no difficulty in choosing the employment which she wishes tofollow. But she sometimes is in doubt as to whether her ability issufficiently great to justify her in choosing an art rather than ahandicraft, or an art rather than a profession, or whether her gift shouldnot be used in a directly practical business pursuit. One of the purposesof "The Canadian Girl at Work" is to teach the work of whatever kind maybe interesting, and that the standing of the worker depends on the skilland perfection with which the work is done. Good art is found in many forms, but never except as the result of work, devotion and a gift. If the girl, in any artistic employment, helps to make the ordinary surroundings ofeveryday life more beautiful and more suitable she is using her gifts toadvantage. 

The girl who wants to write may find a suitable and enjoyable field injournalism. Some instruction in journalism is given in colleges, moreoften in connection with college papers than in any other way. But theusual method by which a girl is taught journalism is by working on thestaff of a newspaper. Such positions are not easily found. Applicationmay be made at newspaper offices for a regular position when one becomesvacant. While she is waiting to obtain regular work, the girl may writespecial articles and submit them for publication. We may take for grantedthat she enjoys writing, but she should be able to choose subjects onwhich to write. One of the first questions that an applicant for newspaperwork is likely to ask is: "What shall I write about?" This question thewriter must learn to answer for herself. She should know what isinteresting and worth writing about. The journalist, besides enjoyingwriting and having some gift of expression, should be keenly interested inpeople, and should have enthusiasm for her work. The hours are long andthe rate of payment not particularly high, but the true journalist isalways in love with her work. Positions for women on newspapers are variedin character. Some women are general reporters and take assignments fromthe city editor. Others are in charge of a woman's page and may have oneassistant or more than one, working under their direction. Some are specialwriters, covering a certain amount of general work and having a specialtyin addition, such as music and drama, book reviewing, a page for children, fashions, market reports for women, and so on. An assistant on a woman'spage may begin at ten dollars a week, and as her work increases in valueshe may receive twelve, fifteen or eighteen dollars a week. The womanjournalist in charge of a woman's page is paid as a rule from twenty tothirty-five or forty dollars a week. Few women journalists are paid largersums. 

A number of other positions are held by women in connection with weeklynewspapers, magazines and publishing offices. Salaries vary all the wayfrom ten or twelve to thirty or forty dollars a week. The average salaryfor the woman journalist who has proved her ability is in the neighbourhoodof twenty-five dollars a week. Many newspapers and some printing officesemploy girls as copy holders. These girls begin at a weekly wage of seven, eight or nine dollars, and when they become expert, receive higher wages. The best paid positions for women proof readers are held by those who haveproved their ability to compete with men expert in the trade. Women proofreaders belong to the men's union and their wages are the same as thosereceived by men. 

An employment which is becoming more important for women journalists andwriters is the writing of advertisements. Much advertising is addressedalmost exclusively to women and women have proved that they can do workof this description to great advantage. Salaries are high as compared withsalaries in other women's employments. The work is difficult and requiresa distinct gift, besides a knowledge of how to write and of what is beingwritten about. The woman who is doing advertising writing needs accurateknowledge of a number of special fields, such as fashions, the history ofcostume, period furniture, and so on. 

Work for the girl who is gifted with an unusually fine sense of colourand form is developing rapidly. To be a painter, a woman should have anoutstanding gift, and it is generally necessary for her to have anindependent, or at least a supplementary, income. Many young womenpainters add to their income by teaching, and girls who live at home areable to continue the study of painting for their own pleasure and in partfor an additional income. The training of a painter is long and costly, and while the gifted girl has happiness in her work, the occupation of anartist is exacting, although it may not seem so to the public. Girls withartistic gifts may find employment in illustrating, designing, bookbinding, handwrought jewelry, woodcarving, embroidery, and in weaving from originaldesigns. The girl who is attracted to photography may obtain instructionin a photographer's studio, but the artistic photographer will have todepend largely on herself in developing the possibilities of her work. A number of women have achieved success in artistic photography. 

To work successfully in any of these occupations, the artist must betrained and should have special gifts. Training is obtained partly inschools, partly in studios at home and abroad, and from working withother artists. Some of these artistic occupations pay well; in otherspayment is variable and more or less uncertain. 

The woman architect needs a special gift and should be trained asthoroughly as possible in draughtsmanship. Her next step should be toobtain a place as draughtswoman or general assistant in an architect'soffice. Promotion afterwards will depend largely on individual ability. 

Architecture and houseplanning are fields of work not yet occupied to anylarge extent by women. Girls with gifts for work of this character shouldbe encouraged to enter these occupations, provided they have perseverance. It is always difficult to enter a new field, but a few women are alreadysuccessful architects, and the advantages which should be possessed bywomen in designing houses are obvious. When a woman plans a house sheconsiders it from the standpoint of a home and takes into considerationthe nature of the people who are to live in the house and also the kindof work they will do both in the home and in the outside world. 

Landscape gardening has, as yet, been developed little in Canada. Thereare, however, a few establishments carrying on such work and in one ormore a woman is a partner. 

House decorating and house furnishing have also been entered on asprofessional occupations by women. House furnishing in particular offersa promising field for girls with the necessary training and endowment. Many girls have ability for this work, and as the employment is beingdeveloped commercially, the opportunities for girls in house furnishingshould increase with some rapidity. 

Payment in all these fields of artistic work depends not only on theability and skill of the worker, but in particular on the degree in whichthe products of her art are planned to meet the needs and desires of alarge public. The individual worker who expects her work to find its ownpublic is far less likely to have a steady income than the worker who isemployed by some large firm. If the artist or the worker in handicraftsfeels that she must work alone, or if she works better by herself, thenshe should have either an independent income or an alternative occupation;otherwise she will need a well-developed business sense in order to handlethe products of her skill to the best advantage financially. 

In music, the gifted girl may be a teacher, or may appear in public as aplayer or singer, or she may combine teaching with public appearances. Teaching music has been systematized to a marked extent. Many youngmusicians who teach are engaged on the staff of the conservatory oracademy where they obtained their instruction. Musicians who appear inpublic generally possess, along with musical ability, a more or lessimpressive personality. A number of teachers who have made a decidedsuccess are in receipt of good incomes. A performer or singer needs tohave unusual ability to earn a large income. Women musicians notinfrequently make fine accompanists and may devote themselves to thisbranch of their art. In general, what has been said of the remunerationin other arts applies to music. But the systematizing of the teaching ofmusic by institutions has a tendency to steady the income of the musicteacher. Training of the best kind is long and costly, but any other kindis unsatisfactory. 

In order to attain standing as a professional actress a young girl shouldhave special physical training, voice culture and a broad literaryeducation. She should know something of singing and dancing, and she shouldlearn how to walk well and how to speak correctly and impressively. Part ofthis training may be obtained at schools of dramatic expression which areoften connected with conservatories of music. The people of the stage workharder than the average trained or untrained worker. Their hours are longerand they endure more discomforts. There are few spectacular successes, andstill fewer genuine reputations for genius in dramatic interpretation. Seasonal unemployment is prevalent in this occupation. Salaries seem to belarge, but very few are large in reality. If we reckon the number of weeksthroughout the year during which payment is received, it appears that fewactresses earn a good income. A young woman of decided gifts may become anindividual entertainer. 

Dancing has recently come more into favour as an occupation, regardedboth as giving physical training for health and as an art. The teachingof art dancing is undertaken by some conservatories of music and also byindividual teachers. 

All work of an artistic character requires an endowment of imagination, sympathy, insight, and artistic ability. The artistic worker gives a greatdeal, and does not enjoy or suffer temperately. It is impossible to dogood work unless the whole being is thrown into the effort. Unless theartist possesses financial, as well as artistic, ability, the pecuniaryreward is likely to be uncertain. But the individual with decided giftsrightly is dissatisfied in any other occupation. 

CHAPTER XX

BANKING. LAW. MEDICINE. DENTISTRY. PHARMACY. CHEMICAL INDUSTRY. CIVIL SERVICE. SOCIAL WORK

Among girls at work and at school are those whose mental capacity isdeveloped strongly. They enjoy thinking out problems. They analyzesituations, because they want to understand why some particular facthappens to be true. These girls may be executive and practical, but theyare always thinkers. If possible, they should remain at school in order tocontinue their studies. But although a girl who is intellectual may haveto go into paid employment early, there is no reason why she should noteventually find her way into work for which she is better fitted. 

Employment for the intellectual girl is varied, just as the intellectualgirl herself, according to her individual capacity, is fitted for a numberof different occupations. Banks have long employed girls as stenographersand a number of young women have held junior clerkships. But now the workof a ledger-keeper or teller is sometimes given to a woman, and there isa prospect for the intelligent girl with capacity for financial affairs tofind a position in a bank, suited to her gifts. There are a few women inaccountants' offices. The number of women who act as insurance agents isincreasing, and it is considered that they have special advantages ininsuring other women. A small movement, therefore, has already begun tointroduce women into the higher branches of business and finance. In orderto be successful in financial work, a girl will need to prepare herself ascarefully as possible. She should understand something of business law andshould be familiar with the machinery of banking and credit. The study ofeconomics and popular government are part of her preparation. Women whohave taken a university degree in economics are already influencing thefields of work which may be entered by the girl with a good intellectualendowment. 

Women lawyers are doing good work in many of the larger cities, especiallyin the United States. The training required is long and somewhat expensive. There is no reason why a woman lawyer who has training and the legalinstinct should not be a useful and successful worker. After graduating, she may find herself confined to office work altogether. If she has greatercapacities, she may have difficulty in making opportunities for using them. Occasionally she may find employment in government service in connectionwith laws regarding children and factory work. Work in social service hasattracted the attention of some young women to the study of law. In dealingwith family difficulties through a "settlement, " the social worker becomesimpressed with the importance of understanding what legal redress may beobtained for some just grievance, and applies herself to legal study. Workamong immigrants and foreigners unable to speak English is also encouragingthe study of law by young women who are social helpers. This field ofemployment for women is not likely to be large, but it is growing. 

The woman physician is an important social force in modern life. Somemedical colleges require for admission a university degree, so that thecourse of training may cover seven or eight years. As a rule only girlswho are strongly attracted to medical work and who are specially giftedfor it, undertake the study of medicine. In addition to university workand medical school training, the young woman doctor if possible shouldspend some time on the staff of a hospital and should take postgraduatestudy either before beginning private practice or shortly after. For thefirst few years she may hardly be able to meet her living expenses. Shemay, however, obtain a position as a school physician or with an insurancecompany. The woman physician needs strength, health, a fine nervous system, idealism, self-control, unselfishness, and knowledge of human nature. Every fine quality which she possesses will be of service in her work. Her ideals cannot be too high, but they must be balanced with common sense. She needs also to be gifted with intellectual force. Her patients shouldhave confidence in her skill and also in her character. 

Dentistry offers to women a good although restricted field of employment, and so also does pharmacy. The woman dentist needs scientific accuracy, mechanical skill and good nerves. Her training is shorter than thatrequired by a physician and will cost less. Her first employment may be inschools. Work with children offers the woman dentist special inducements;she may find employment doing children's work for another dentist. When she opens an office of her own, she will need a thousand, fifteenhundred or two thousand dollars in order to make a successful beginning. The woman pharmacist requires to attend a college for two years and to havehad experience in a drug store before she can obtain a certificate. Accuracy, skill and carefulness should make her a successful druggist. If she has business ability, she should be able in time to managea business of her own. 

Young women who have graduated in science from universities are findingopenings for chemical work in a number of industries. One girl who hasspecialized in botany recently discovered "a growth" which was injuringthe quality of paper turned out by the mills of a paper company; shewas able to tell the manufacturer how he could solve his difficulty. The chemical expert is constantly increasing in industrial importance. Teaching and laboratory work, therefore, are not the only employmentsopen to the girl with an aptitude for scientific work. 

A number of able women find employment in the Civil Service. They arerequired to pass a Civil Service examination. College graduates holdpositions in the higher grades, while many women clerks are employed asstenographers and in minor positions. The statistical office, forestry, trade and commerce and the labour department, all need expert assistants. While few of the higher offices are held by women, still women withspecial knowledge and ability are being employed in increasing numbers bythe government. 

The income earned by professional women is likely to be comparatively smallat first. These occupations are all full time employments and require theundivided attention of the worker. After some years of steady application, the professional woman is fairly certain to receive a reasonable, even agood, income. Two, three, and four thousand dollars may be regarded asincomes which may be obtained with reasonable certainty by women who aresuccessful in their professions. 

The intellectual girl should choose her work wisely. She is a good studentand while she is in training it may seem to her that she will have nospecial difficulties of any kind to face. 

When she comes to follow her occupation in everyday life, she will findthat personal initiative, judgment, and executive energy in affairs are asvaluable as the ability to master a problem in her study or in thelaboratory. If her studies have left her isolated from human nature, shewill find this want of understanding and sympathy a heavy handicap inwhatever occupation she may enter. Scholarship cannot be made fruitfulin everyday life unless it is used in the service of humanity. 

One of the modern employments for young women of education which isincreasing rapidly in its scope is to be found in social work. A broadgeneral training and a special interest in humanitarian work are requiredby those who enter this occupation. The missionary and the deaconess maybe regarded as forerunners in some sense to the modern social worker. Many Canadian women of the finest aspiration have become missionaries indistant lands; women physicians have accomplished work of great value asmedical missionaries. The deaconess of to-day may be a graduate of suchtraining schools for social workers as the Departments of Social Serviceand Social Science in the University of Toronto and McGill University. The special training of the social worker includes lectures in economicsand sociology and the history of philanthropy, discussion of socialproblems in classes, and "field work" under the guidance of experiencedworkers. Positions for those who take training in social service are foundin "settlements, " and in connection with "Big Sister" associations, andCharity Organization Societies. Welfare departments in stores andfactories indicate the growing importance in modern industry of work whichhas to do with social factors in employment. The trained social worker mayfind a position as secretary, statistician, visitor, investigator, lecturer, dietitian, nurse, or as a clerk or executive officer, in childwelfare, civic improvement, or family relief work. Young women who mean toundertake such work should have, not only training, but common sense andidealism. Salaries are sometimes low, and much valuable work is contributedto social betterment enterprises by young women who live at home and areable to give their time and work free or for small remuneration. There are, however, a number of well-paid positions in connection with social servicework. 

CHAPTER XXI

GOING INTO BUSINESS FOR ONE'S SELF

Responsibility is something in which we all should share. If girls willobserve people, they will see that human beings grow and become better ableto work and help others through the exercise of responsibility. The girl orwoman at work who feels her responsibility and is able to act on her owninitiative is more valuable than the worker who always has to be told whatto do. By gradually learning how to take responsibility, the girl becomesfitted to go into business for herself. 

In the first place, few girls actually enter paid employment or businesslife with the intention of becoming independent proprietors. It is onlyafter some years' experience of work that the idea occurs to them. A trained nurse may have been in private practice three or four yearsbefore she begins to think that she would like to own and manage a privatehospital. For the properly qualified and equipped woman, this is a goodbusiness enterprise. A number of nurses are conducting excellent privatehospitals. The work is exacting, the hours are long and the responsibilityis heavy. But any girl who thinks of going into business for herself shouldknow at once that all these conditions are true of every independentbusiness that is worth while. 

The business woman requires a precise technical and financial knowledge ofthe business which she means to enter, and she needs as well originality, a fund of ideas, courage, initiative, imagination, that feeling of capacityfor responsibility and enterprise which is like love of adventure, judgment, nerve and character. She should not be too excitable and yet sheought to be keen. She should not be easily disturbed and she ought to be asteady worker. Above all, she requires to be able to deal with people, bothcustomers and employees. 

Instances of women who have been successful in business enterprises may bequoted which do not seem to conform to the requirements specified. But ifthey are examined, these instances will show that the women in questionhave fulfilled the conditions of success almost exactly as described. A woman has succeeded, for instance, in managing her own country inn. She was in a totally different employment before she started thissuccessful enterprise. But she had already bought, built on, and sold witha margin of profit, three or four other properties. She had learned how tobuy land to advantage in the neighbourhood of a city. She bought herpresent property, choosing a few acres which were already in fruit or inuse for growing vegetables. There was an attractive, large, old-fashionedfarm house on the premises, the property was near a railway station andsituated on a road constantly used by motorists. Other enterprises of thesame kind were studied by her. The food provided was made a specialty. Every expense which could be lessened in connection with the property wasconsidered. A flock of poultry was kept. The fruit was either sold or putdown for winter use in the inn. 

In almost every instance the successful woman of business enters on hernew enterprise in a small way. A girl begins by making and deliveringlunches to the staff of a large office building. Later she adds otherbuildings to her list. She sells cakes, sandwiches and preserves from herown home. Having saved some capital, she embarks on a down-town tea room. Every detail of her business is planned as it expands and the managementis entirely in her own hands. The successful management of a largebusiness would have been impossible for an inexperienced girl, but itcomes easily to the young business woman. 

In the same way a nurse began a business preparing supplies for doctors. Soon she added invalid cookery to her other work. Her venture developedinto a business partly catering, partly a dining club, and in part a depotfor surgical dressings and home made cooking for invalids. Another womanhas inherited a large catering business from her father. It was aconsiderable business when she became manager, but she had gone to workwith her father as soon as she left school. Still another woman hasestablished a system of hairdressing businesses. She began with one roomin one city. Her business has been extended to over forty cities. No chancegood fortune can account for successes such as these described. Managingability, foresight and character are responsible for a great part of theachievement. The woman in each case made the discovery that the bestcommodity of its kind offered to the public in the right way must bringsuccess, if the business enterprise itself is well managed. 

Examples of the wise judgment of women in business are found in every largecommunity. A girl who makes good marmalade for home consumption began tomake and sell this product in a small way. She is now part owner of a largebusiness. A woman who went into a factory as an office helper proved tohave a gift for designing dresses. After spending a number of years in theemploy of the firm with which she began work, she has gone into partnershipwith a woman dressmaker in a small specialized factory. A large wholesalefish business is owned and managed by a woman, whose knowledge of thebusiness, including sources of supply and distribution, is entirelyadequate. 

Women who own and manage business enterprises when they succeed often do sobecause of their womanly qualities. There is no conflict between capablethorough work and womanliness. The normal woman has always a capable andhelpful side to her character. She generally retains in affairs hergentleness, considerateness, and patience in dealing with all sorts ofpeople. No quality is more important in business than a natural ability tounderstand and sympathize. A woman's ideas may be original and herknowledge of business details exact, but it is her power to work withothers and to make the best of them which is the highest part of herbusiness ability. Many of the businesses owned and managed successfullyby women are connected with food, clothing, health, physical, mental andmoral training, and personal well-being. The woman's advantage in businesshas to do most frequently with perfection in detail, personal supervision, knowledge of the highest home standards, and with making her commodity alittle the best on the market. The best women in business excel in makingconditions for their employees ideal. They plan to give their workersopportunities for education and training, and sometimes help them to startin business for themselves. 

CHAPTER XXII

NEW WORK FOR WOMEN

One of the best known doctors in the country has chosen a special trainednurse to act as his anesthetist, that is, she accompanies him and assistsin giving his patient the anesthetic when he is about to perform anoperation. This girl when she entered the training school of a hospitalhad no idea that she would specialize in this way as an assistant to afamous surgeon. Her work is but one of the many examples of the usefulnessof the trained woman worker. Varied opportunities in employment may bediscovered by girls who are in earnest in finding the best work they can do. 

A number of the new employments for women are connected with food, clothingand home making. The woman who fits herself to be a food expert may make agood income as a writer or lecturer, provided she has the necessary giftsas well as knowledge and skill. A food expert is sometimes employed inlarge departmental stores. Such a specialist is often found in charge ofthe dining-room of college residences. Dietitians are a necessary part ofthe staff of a hospital. The woman who qualifies as an expert on food isentering an occupation which is being recognized as of the first importance. 

A visiting household expert who is competent to advise in the arrangementof household work and who is skilled in household accounting is a newworker in the oldest occupation for women. A food demonstrator is sometimessent out by the government to teach canning, preserving and drying, and toexplain new household processes. Women experts in poultry keeping andvegetable growing are also in government service. Women specialists havemade a study of public marketing. Many women have made a success of thebusiness of catering, of tea and lunch rooms, and of food specialties suchas mushroom growing, raising squabs, preserving, pickling, and spicingfruits. In hotels, there are women managers, chaperones, hostesses andmatrons. The old-fashioned boarding house is still a useful institution, and the girl who will undertake to keep house for a group of professionalwomen on a co-operative plan is a modern worker likely to find remunerativeemployment. Any woman who has the capital to establish a well-arranged, well-organized home where expensive, high-class board may be obtained, ina city, or in the neighbourhood of a university, is certain to attract asmany clients as she can accommodate. 

Clothing and house furnishing offer fields of new work for women. The expert shopper in these departments is already in demand. An adviserin dress for women has made her appearance as a paid worker. Many womencould save time, trouble and money if they could go to an expert forconsultation about their clothes. A girl who is a specially good shoppershould be able to build up a business among her friends. 

Some women have made a success of high class laundry work. Girls who willundertake fine washing and mending of delicate fabrics are in demand. There is a greater need for the expert who will take classes in healthexercises for women. Teachers trained in the Swedish gymnasium system arelikely to find employment. Others are required for children who needspecial care. Courses of training are already planned for teachers ofthis description, and the occupation is likely to develop considerably. Social work is constantly requiring helpers in new departments. Investigators, secretaries, statisticians, lecturers, health workers ofvarious kinds, are employed by social organizations. Welfare workers havemade their appearance in factories. Employment departments of factoriesand shops are offering work to the woman who is an expert in employment. Others are in the service of civic and government employment bureaus. The vocational adviser is to be found in colleges and is employed byorganizations of a benevolent character. 

Rent collecting as an occupation for women was begun in Great Britain byMiss Octavia Hill. A woman in this country with capital invested in anoffice building, who has had business experience, manages her own buildingand collects the rents. Other women are employed as managers and agentsfor apartment houses. The real estate business has been entered by womenwho sell real estate, and accompany prospective tenants to houses andapartments. Other somewhat unusual employments for women are publicitywriting in various commercial and public campaigns, and lecturing onvarious phases of modern life. Women are also commercial travellers, conductors of entertainments, pageant managers, window decorators, brokersand financial advisers, theatrical managers and producers of plays. They find employment as civil engineers and in research work of variouskinds. Women have succeeded as conductors of foreign tours, and aslecturers on current events for women's clubs. 

Some of these occupations may appear out of the way, and even romantic, to the girl who is choosing her work, or who is already at work in somepaid employment. But in every case, the pioneer worker needs specialtraining and experience. New work requires more originality, perseverance, and if possible better preparation than may be necessary in standardemployments. 

In conclusion, a word may be said to the girl or woman who has been at workfor some years. She should take stock at intervals of the work she is doing, and of her prospects and possibilities. Let her devote some clear thinkingas to whether her work could not be re-arranged to the advantage of heremployer and herself. Purely routine work is scarcely ever as well done asit might be. She should ask herself, "Can I improve my work? Is there anynew line in which I can develop? What special knowledge and skill have I?Am I using all the capacity I have? Does my work need to be changed orre-organized?" The girl or woman at work should not be satisfied with asuperficial answer to these questions. It is generally possible to improveone's own work, by thinking about it carefully and by trying. 

CHAPTER XXIII

MONEY AND WAGES

The weekly wage on which some girls live comfortably will give others onlythe bare necessaries of life, and sometimes not even that. 

The girl's real wages are what she is able to get for the sum of moneyshe is paid in exchange for her work. Before she can judge whether herwage is good or poor, she must know how much her board and lodging willcost, the cost of clothes, and the total amount of her other expenses. She should know what additional advantages there are in the place whereshe is working. If there are disadvantages, she should consider them alsobefore she can tell whether the wage offered is a good or a poor wage. Local prices, and the difference in the cost of living between one placeand another, must be learned by the girl at work before she can estimatethe value of her wages. 

During the time when she is becoming skilled in her occupation it isdifficult for the girl at work to support herself entirely. If she isliving at home, her family will help her. But she should always rememberthe girl who is not living at home, and should feel that it is her dutynot to lower this girl's wages below a living standard. Every girl at workshould make an effort to know what a living wage is in the place--town, city or country--where she is employed. Wages for skilled workers shouldbe of a good standard, that is, the wage paid should be sufficient to makethe worker efficient and comfortable. Even the beginner should have aliving wage. 

Prices of food, clothing and board, and the other expenses which onehas to meet, are different in town, city and country. When the girlwage-earner changes from the place in which she lives, she should findout beforehand as accurately as possible how much she will need to liveon in the place to which she may be thinking of going. 

If we do not think accurately and carefully about what we earn and whatwe spend, we shall likely always remain undeveloped in judgment andcharacter, and shall not be able to take the responsibility which shouldcome to every mature person. 

A girl worker in one employment may necessarily have a different scale ofexpenses from a girl at work in another occupation. For instance, it coststhe average stenographer more to keep up her standard of efficiency than itdoes the average girl in a factory. The stenographer also has to spend moretime and money in preparing for her occupation. A girl in a factory who isearning twelve dollars a week is better off financially, therefore, thanthe stenographer earning twelve a week. A woman physician may have a yearlyincome of two or three thousand dollars. A teacher who has an income offifteen hundred dollars a year may be better off financially. The physicianhas to pay the rent and upkeep of her office; she must have someone toanswer her telephone and to take messages; she may need a conveyance sothat she can get about to her patients. Her training and the equipment sheuses in her work are more varied and expensive as a rule than those whichare required by a teacher. 

We should remember that while what we earn is important, there are otherconsiderations as important. The joy of the worker in her work is the firstconsideration. The born teacher, like the born doctor, is happier in herown employment. An income is a necessary possession, but it does not givethat happiness which work alone can give. Very few of us work for moneyaltogether, while many of us work to earn a living, which is a differentthing. To be self-supporting through work which we enjoy is one of thegreatest blessings of our existence. 

It is impossible to state an amount which will represent accurately aliving wage for girls who are beginning work in all the towns, cities orcountry districts of Canada. At present a living wage in a city may benine, ten, eleven or twelve dollars a week; in places outside cities itmay vary as greatly. Girls at work should look for an employer whorecognizes reasonable standards and pays such wages as far as possible. The more loyal girls are to such employers the better working conditionswill be for everyone. 

Skilled and highly trained workers require, and receive, wages far abovethe sums mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 

The girl should estimate the value of her yearly income. This is important. She may be a milliner and have steady employment for only thirty orthirty-five weeks in the year. If she is paid a weekly wage of twelvedollars, her yearly income will amount to three hundred and sixty or fourhundred and twenty dollars. She must find some other occupation for therest of her time or her total income will amount to three hundred andsixty dollars, or four hundred and twenty dollars and no more. 

The trained nurse who is paid twenty-five or thirty dollars a week when sheis on a case, will make a mistake if she forgets that she will not be ableto work without intermission throughout the year. She may be engaged in heremployment only forty weeks in the year. Nurses may earn no more than eightor nine hundred dollars in twelve months. Even the most capable factoryworker does not earn her highest wage every week in the year. She shouldbe careful to reckon her income by the year, not by the week. 

The girl at work exchanges her yearly income for food, shelter, clothingand a number of other requirements, such as doctor's and dentist's fees, carfare, and washing, holidays, recreation, savings, etc. If she earnstwelve dollars every week in the year her income will be six hundred andtwenty-four dollars. Out of this she may pay five dollars each week forboard, or two hundred and sixty dollars a year. If she spends between onehundred and twenty-five dollars and one hundred and fifty dollars for herclothes in the year, she will have about two hundred dollars for otherneeds. 

What she uses her money for gives to the girl the real meaning of her wages. Her income means food, clothing, and a house to live in. Besides that herincome means many small expenses, a little holiday and recreation, a littlekindness to someone, church collection, a gift to someone who is in need, some small pleasure for the girl herself. It should also mean a savingsaccount. Something will be said about saving in the next chapter. But hereit may be said that if we spend everything we have from day to day, we areleft with little choice in spending. Choice in spending is a test of thegirl's character. We may choose to spend our spare money for candy. But ifwe do we shall probably not be able to buy a volume of poetry which weshould love to keep and treasure. We may need a warm coat, but the moneywe might have had for it we spent for a second expensive blouse when wehad one pretty blouse already. It was money we had saved which helped usto go to a course of lessons in gymnastics, and that course may have cureda tendency to headache. 

The average girl hopes that her wages will increase, and this is right. An employer once said of the amount that he was willing to pay his mostuseful employees: "I feel that if a girl is not able to make a goodbargain with me for her work, she will not be able to make a good bargainfor me with others. " The best and surest way for the girl to increase herwages is to think out some plan for increasing the value of her work, andthen if necessary to say to her employer that she has been able to makeher work more valuable. 

A word of warning about wages may not come amiss here. If our wages aretoo low, the best way to go about raising them is to act ourselves, notto expect others to act for us. The best results are likely to be obtainedby giving your employer some increased advantage, and by seeing at thesame time that he gives you an equal advantage in your income. But neverfeel ill-used, because that lessens your happiness and your power to helpyourself. Remember it is your own difficulty and you are the person tofind the way out. 

CHAPTER XXIV

SPENDING. SAVING. INVESTING

There is only one way by means of which we may know accurately how we arespending our wages. To know this we must keep accounts. Perhaps the girlhas an impression that accounting is dull and troublesome. But thisimpression, if she has it, is a mistaken one. 

This chapter on Spending, Saving and Investing is not written to keep thegirl from having what she wants. It is written to help her to make themost of her wages, so that she will get the most use and pleasure from herspending. A pretty blouse does not make up for the prettier colour thatought to be in the girl's cheeks; it rather makes one notice more readilythat the girl herself is not looking her best. To be well dressed and wellcared for, to make the best of herself, a girl should learn to keepaccounts and to plan her expenditures carefully. She has often seen a manporing over his business books, because he knows that by doing so withgood judgment he can improve his methods. Similarly, the time a girlgives to the study of her accounts will also be to her advantage. 

One business woman who has made a study of her expenditure has thefollowing list of headings for her private account book: Board andlodging; clothes; laundry; dentist and doctor; car tickets and stamps;contribution to family life; books, magazines and papers; church andbenevolence; gifts and entertainment of friends; holidays and travel;recreation, candy, music, and the theatre; study; clubs and societies;miscellaneous; taxes; saving and investment. The girl at work can usefullymake a study of these headings since they, or others of the same character, are used by women in business who desire to lead normal, generous andhelpful lives. The business woman just mentioned says that the money shehas for her income would give her no satisfaction if she had not people ofher own to love and if she were not helping to take care of them. Fromthis statement any girl will understand the meaning of the heading"contribution to family life" in this business woman's accounts. 

The girl at work, however, can begin her accounts in a much simpler formthan the foregoing. The list of headings given above have been evolvedto fit the life of a woman who has been at work for a number of years. A girl's first accounts may be as follows: Board and lodging; clothing;recreation and holidays; dentist and doctor; church and charity; savings;miscellaneous. 

Mrs. Ellen Richards, whose work in teaching people how to live wiselyis making her name more famous every year, gives in one of her books adivision of a family income which every girl should study and try tounderstand: Food; clothes; rent or housing; light, heat and wages(operating expenses for the house); miscellaneous, including books, education, church, charity, savings, life insurance, doctor, dentist, travel and pleasure. Various divisions by percentages have been made ofthe family income. The one chosen by Mrs. Richards is based on an incomeof $1, 000 a year. The percentages are 30 per cent. For food; 20 per cent. For rent; 15 per cent. For clothing; 10 per cent. For operating expenses;and 25 per cent. For miscellaneous. 

It will be seen that there is a great deal for a girl to learn about thespending of money. She will readily understand that it is impossible forher to use her wages or income to the best advantage unless she knows whatshe is spending it for, and in what proportions. Every girl should makea division of income fitted to her own needs. 

It is not always possible to follow the percentages which Mrs. Richardsrecommends, but it is possible and wise for every girl to know what areregarded as proper divisions for a family income, and to plan her ownexpenditures with such percentages as a guide. 

Sometimes girls are called "fortunate" or "lucky" because their affairsseem to turn out well. In reality, these girls have planned carefully andhave carried out their plans faithfully. A well managed life is not anaccident, or a piece of luck; it is the result of careful planning, andpersistent application. 

The girl who saves has a freedom of action unknown to the girl who hasnever had a bank account. We all find a compelling necessity to spendmoney for food, shelter, clothing, carfare and other incidentals. But whenthese wants are satisfied, the wise girl puts by a certain part of herincome. Then she can begin to exercise a power of choice. She may takesome training which will help her to get a better position, she may learna new occupation, or she may study music or designing. Possibly she needsa rest and change; if she has money saved, she may rest for a few weeks. If she has spent all her money, she must continue at work. Then, too, sheshould guard herself by the possession of a bank account against sickness, and being out of work. Even a small sum saved every week enables a girl tofeel strong and self-reliant. The habit of saving calls for self-control, far-sightedness and imagination. 

Girls invest their savings in various ways. A girl may help her people tobuy a house, sometimes with a garden attached. This is a good investment inmost circumstances. The girl should take an interest in the garden and helpto grow vegetables and flowers. Possibly the garden lot may be large enoughfor poultry as well as vegetables. Or the girl's family may live outsidethe city, in which case a good part of the food for the household may beproduced in the garden. It was one of the glories of Belgium before the warthat many of her wage-earners lived in the country and grew a good part oftheir own food. They kept hens and pigs; and there was almost nounemployment or destitution in Belgium. 

The girl who saves generally begins with a bank account and should learn tounderstand banking. The Canadian Government has an advantageous system ofannuities which offers young investors an excellent return for them money. Girls and boys alike should study these annuities. Life insurance is ahelpful form of investment for those who have dependents. The girl at workshould not put her savings into speculative investments. Business men ofthe best standing say it is pathetic to see the waste of girls' savings inunwise investments. One of the best investments a girl can make is tocontinue her education. 

CHAPTER XXV

HEALTH

Health has more to do with our successful employment than most of us haveyet realized. To prove that this is true a woman who is an employmentexpert told the following story:

"The other night I was sitting in my office waiting for a girl who couldnot come to see me in the daytime. The manager of a business house whowas interested in the girl had asked me if I would advise her how to changeher work from one employment which she liked fairly well to another inwhich she was greatly interested. I had formed no particular idea of whatthe girl would be like. My day had been full and I had had no time toconsider her case, knowing only that she wanted to change her work, andthat she was a girl who was already earning her living. 

"She came in, looked at me with a straight, steady glance and offered meher hand with a simplicity which took no note of the fact that an olderperson is supposed usually to make the first advance. The fact that weshook hands gave me an opportunity to notice that her hand was neithernervous nor tremulous. The quality of her handclasp can be summed up insaying that it was reassuring and agreeable. I wonder if most people knowhow all these points are noticed by employment experts and employers. The way in which the girl looked at me and the way in which she shookhands told me that she was physically and mentally in good condition. 

"She was about five feet ten, and unusually well built and well developed. She was dressed in noticeably good taste. She was a rather large woman, orrather girl, for she was only a child in years. She was not what anyonewould call 'a beauty, ' but she was so splendidly well and carried herselfso finely that she made an excellent impression. I do not know when I havebeen so much attracted by anyone. Almost any employer would have given hera position if he had had one vacant which she could fill. I wish all girlscould realize what an advantage it is to be well physically and mentallyand to look as well as this girl did. 

"When I came to question her I found that her story was unusual from thepoint of view of employment. I thought from her appearance that she mightbe eighteen or nineteen. But to my astonishment she told me that she wasfifteen and that she had been earning her living for nearly a year. She was a stenographer and had had three years' training in a high schoolof commerce. Her father had died and she was helping to support her mother. Several factors were against her satisfactory employment. She was underage and she had not completed her school course when she went to work. From these two facts it would have been natural to suppose that she wouldobtain a poor position, both in the character of the work required and inpayment. She was earning fifteen dollars a week, a rate of payment threeor four dollars a week higher than the average wage paid beginners in thecity where she was employed. It was her splendid health, her look ofsubstantial character and her good manner which had won this girlemployment when another girl of fifteen, less healthy and less developed, might have failed to find any satisfactory position at all. "

A time is likely to come in the world's history when the laws of rightliving are so well understood that poor health will be regarded asblameworthy. In a number of cases we must regard it as blameworthy now. To be in the company of a radiantly healthy person is a cheerful blessing. Let us make up our minds to be this kind of blessing to our friends. 

Happily we can do a great deal to make ourselves healthy. We need to eatwisely, to dress properly and to rest well. Every girl should learn toregulate these things wisely for herself. Other people can only help tomake us healthy, but the real work of being healthy we must do forourselves, and this means daily attention and daily care. A famous doctorsaid once that the average baby is meant to live; all the baby asks is tobe given a good chance. In the same way the average human being is meantto be healthy. Health depends--the statement is so important that it willbear repeating--on care in eating and resting and on proper clothing. Health depends also on cleanliness, inside the body and out; this meanscleanliness in every respect. A daily bath and proper attention to one'sbody are essential to health. 

The girl should learn as soon as possible that her health as well as herappearance will depend on her taking daily exercise. She may suppose thatexercise is a dull tiresome thing which she is told by other people totake, but which in itself has no interest for her. Here, as in otherthings, the girl must learn to be her own captain, her own commandingofficer. She should give herself orders to take daily exercise. If any ofus needs a lesson in keeping well and beautiful, we can get that lessonfrom our little friends the birds. Every creature, wild and tame, wingedand four-footed, takes the most scrupulous care of its physical condition. They clean, stretch, brush, polish, until every feather or hair, untilevery muscle and sinew is in fit condition. 

We should think of our bodies as fine instruments which are given into ourkeeping. The human body is the finest and most wonderful instrument inthe world, and it is sad and amazing how often we fail to take the mostordinary care of it. There are different systems of exercise, and the girlshould find one that will bring all her muscles properly into play. Five or ten minutes' exercise a day is all that is required. There aremany muscles which are not used in walking or ordinary play, and if thesemuscles are not exercised regularly then that fine instrument your bodywill get out of good condition and will not show correct and beautifullines. A girl should train herself to stand properly. A simple test bywhich she can tell if she is holding herself rightly is to walk a fewsteps on tiptoe. In order to do this she must hold herself correctly. To have a good body, well shaped and in right proportion, it is necessaryto hold one's self correctly all the time. Habits such as these are notacquired all at once. It is only by persistence day by day that the girlwill learn to walk and to stand properly and will find that her body isbecoming lithe, strong and healthy, an instrument which it is a joy touse and which will make her appearance as attractive as it ought to be. 

When anything goes wrong which we do not understand, it is generallynecessary to consult a physician. Special care should be taken to seea good doctor or dentist, if anything is wrong with eyes or teeth. 

Other aids to health and happiness are sunshine and fresh air, drinkingplenty of good water, useful work, good temper, and good times. To behealthy and happy we must also give affection and kind help to other people. 

Like everyone else, the girl at work needs holidays. Two weeks in the yearis a usual allowance; but three weeks are better than two. After the girlhas become a responsible and important worker, she will find two holidaysin the year a good investment for health, a short holiday and a longer oneof three or four weeks. 

To be angry, bad tempered and to think unkindly are all harmful to one'shealth and destroy a great part of one's happiness. No one can be asuccessful worker of a high type who is habitually jealous or bad-tempered. Good thoughts are an aid to both health and happiness. In the same way oneneeds what are called "good times. " Many girls love walks in the countrywith a number of companions. Learning to know birds and flowers by sight, and keeping a record of those found, and when and where they were found, is an enjoyable pursuit of endless interest. Learn to keep and cherish allthe festivals of the year--Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and otherholidays. Charades and plays, games and dancing, picnics and excursions, may be made enjoyable and delightful and should help to keep girls healthyas well as happy if they are planned with good sense and restricted tosuitable times and places. 

CHAPTER XXVI

A GIRL'S READING

Anyone who has developed a love for reading possesses resources forself-improvement and enjoyment which are almost limitless. This love forreading a girl may acquire when she is young, or she may develop it atany time. It is worth while taking some trouble to learn to read well. 

Reading for the girl at work should include newspapers and magazines aswell as books. She should learn how to read newspapers, because as a greatjournalist said once, "A newspaper is a sign post telling the travellerwhich road he ought to take. " In this sense we are all travellers andevery worker needs to read his sign post which is a newspaper. To eachgirl some parts of a newspaper are more important than others; muchdepends on her occupation and on her relations to life. The business manreads the newspaper to find out what is happening that will affect hisbusiness. The girl at work should read what we call foreign news, that is, news about countries other than our own, and she should read also aboutimportant happenings in our own country. We ought to read the newspapercarefully so that we may be in touch with the rest of the world. We shouldread important local news, that is, news of our own neighbourhood. We cannot understand our neighbourhood unless we know what is going on init. A new library may have been opened, a new church or picture gallery. Some worth while person may be speaking whom we may go to hear. There maybe trouble in the community which we can help to put right. The person whois really living in touch with progress must give some time to dailynewspapers. 

But there is a good deal in a newspaper which one does not need to read. A newspaper is a report of daily happenings, sometimes even of rumours. These should be published, so that the truth may be arrived at, but thegirl at work should find the parts of the newspaper which are her specialconcern and should not give much time to the rest of the paper. She shouldlearn to distinguish facts from rumours and opinions. The girl who islearning discrimination in buying will find some of the advertisementsuseful reading. 

Magazines are more like books than newspapers. Sometimes they are notso useful as newspapers. But they are often entertaining, and goodentertainment is a fine thing. There are magazines which make a specialfeature of publishing articles on what is new in art, science, music, politics, etc. A number of good magazines are devoted especially to theinterests ofwomen. The girl should not attempt to buy many magazines. A great many of them are alike. She should find one that meets her needs, and sometimes she should vary her choice. 

It is important that she should see some of the best publications whichhave to do with her own line of work. If the girl is working at home sheshould read about home questions. Admirable new publications are beingissued on all kinds of household matters. If a girl is a saleswoman orstenographer, she should see what is being written on these subjects. It is a mistake for any worker not to make herself familiar with whatother workers in her own occupation are doing. 

Besides reading for our work, we have minds and souls to keep andcultivate. Reading of the right kind is a great help in encouragingthe growth of mind and soul. Books, when they are good of their kind, and when read in the right way, teach us; give us rest, change andvariety; entertain and amuse us; and are a refuge and consolation. 

We can learn a great deal from a good book of fiction. One writer has saidthat she obtained the greater part of her education from reading novels. Stories explain to us the endless varieties of human nature. We learn toknow people from reading good novels, and after a while we are able tocriticize the characters in the stories from the people we know ourselves. Then we can tell whether the novel is true to nature, or whether it isonly a poor mistaken interpretation of life. Many novels have to do withfamous places as well as famous people. It would be a great loss if we hadto give up all the good novels in the world. The best novels help us tounderstand how wonderfully important life is. 

Other realms of knowledge and delight are found in biography and history. Scarcely too much can be said in praise of good biography. The girl shouldask at home or in a library for an interesting life of some famous person. Perhaps she is specially attracted to a hero or heroine of history, tosome famous writer, artist or musician. In any case, she may ask thelibrarian to advise her which biography to read first. While readingfamous histories, such as Greene's Short History of England, she shouldnot fail to read the history connected with her own neighbourhood. Worldhistory and the history of countries other than our own are also important. 

Besides fiction, biography and history, the girl is likely to find herselflonging to read some of the great poetry of the world. Here again she mayask the advice of the librarian. We can hardly know the full beauty ofGod's world until we have read some of the writings of the great poets. The girl who is really fond of reading will enjoy essays and the lettersof famous people. Girls who love art and music will find good books on suchsubjects. Almost anything one can imagine has been written about in a book. 

While she should read well and wisely, the girl should not turn into abookworm. Unless our reading fits us for better thought and better action, we should examine into what we are reading and change it for somethingbetter. Reading should never be a hindrance to work, but a help. Nor shouldwe put reading in the place of people. It is a poor plan for any girl toprefer books habitually to intercourse with her friends. 

A number of fine books deal with social and economic questions. Thesesubjects appear also in many novels. The girl who wants to see conditionsimproved for the sick, the poor, and the unfortunate may again ask advicefrom the librarian. The biography of a woman like Miss Nightingale, or sucha book as Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies, " will interest girls of this class. 

A few rules will help us in our reading. Whatever book we read should be agood book of its class. Suppose we want to read a light and entertainingbook for amusement and relaxation, then it should be good entertainment, well written, well planned, delightfully easy and gay in style. Do not readbooks which make you wish that you had not read them. Shun books which makeone feel that life is not worth living. We can always judge the characterof a book by the importance it gives to life. A book that has a greatvision of life is a great book. In the same way we should not read booksthat make us think poorly of people. The finer the book the more clearlyit shows how worth while every individual is. Any book that separates us, or turns us away, from the highest, happiest things is not worth the timewhich we might spend in reading it. There is something wrong with a bookwhich leaves us indolent and listless. Books that we should choose, therefore, are those which make us feel that life is worth living, thatpeople are worth while, and which keep us in love with the highest thingsin life. 

CHAPTER XXVII

NECESSARY WORK

There is a question which everyone should ask herself about her work:"Is the work that I am doing adding anything to the wealth and well-beingof the world? Is it necessary work--that is, is any one single persondependent to any extent for his or her existence on what I do?"

Necessary work has to do with providing the necessaries of life. These arefood, clothing, shelter, light, heat and every other service or commoditywhich helps to keep us alive and adds to our efficiency as human beings. 

Anyone, therefore, who is producing food or preparing it is a necessaryworker. So are the great armies of workers who are engaged in producingmaterials out of which all kinds of necessary clothing are made, andother workers who make necessary clothing from wool, cotton, linen, etc. 

Such workers occupy an honourable place because our lives actually dependon them. Their daily work adds to the wealth of the world and makes itpossible to improve the standard of living for everyone. We could spendmuch time naming the occupations of necessary workers, such as fishermen, sailors, railway men, farmers, miners, and many others. Sailors andrailway men are not directly engaged in creating new wealth as the farmeris, but food would not do us much good if there were no one to bring itto market, so all transportation workers are necessary workers. 

Mothers of children add infinitely to the wealth and well-being of theworld. Every girl or woman whose work it is to prepare food and make ahome is a necessary worker of honourable rank. The paid house worker is anecessary worker and has this honourable rank. 

Whether or not we are engaged in necessary work makes a great differenceto the steadiness of our employment. If we are doing necessary work, weare much more certain of steady employment than we can be if our work isconnected with providing luxuries or other commodities which are notessential to the maintenance of life. 

About twice in every ten years, the world, or part of the world, experiences what is known as a financial depression. Perhaps crops havefailed in many countries, or unwise people have been speculating madly, or a great amount of money has been invested in utilities which will notbecome productive for a number of years. Whatever the reason is, the worldpasses through a time of business depression. Every worker, young and old, should remember that these times of depression will recur. In good timeswhen we are earning good wages we must prepare for these bad times whenwages may be lower, or we may be out of work altogether and have no wagesfor some months. If we are not primary producers, such as the people inthe classes named above, then it is wise for us to learn how to do somenecessary work so that when a business depression comes, if we lose ourusual employment, we may turn to this other vocation which we have learned. 

Some girls earn wages by curling feathers. Now feathers are a luxury. No one needs to wear a feather in her hat in order to keep alive. But weknow that we must eat, be clothed and have shelter in order to live. In times of great business depression people stop spending money, as faras possible. They cease buying feathers and other luxuries. In this way, girls who earn their living by doing work connected with luxuries arelikely to lose their employment during times of financial depression. Butif the girl who has earned her living curling feathers is a good cook, she is reasonably sure of employment even in bad times. Workers such asartists of all kinds, musicians, writers, actors, painters, sculptors, handicraft workers, architects and so on are likely to experiencedifficulties during times of financial depression. Many workers in theseclasses agree that it is advisable for them to have other work of adifferent character which they may use as occasion requires. 

The girl who is a musician may add to her profession a knowledge ofpoultry farming or rose growing. Roses may be called a luxury, it is true, but the world will never consent to live without roses. Or the girl whois an artist may make and sell blouses. The girl who is a writer may findproductive work of the same character as the musician, or she may turn tofruit farming or become a paid housekeeper. Every worker should make aneffort to understand the connection between the character of her work andthe likelihood of her obtaining steady employment. 

CHAPTER XXVIII

WHAT ONE GIRL CAN DO FOR ANOTHER

"No work will have as much happiness as it ought to have, or will be aswell done as it should be, until fellow-workers exchange experiences andadvice with one another. "

Every girl can learn something about her work from others in the sameoccupation. To learn from a friendly fellow-worker is pleasant and easycompared with the difficulty that we find in learning from people who arenot specially interested in showing us how to work. Some of the happiestgroups of workers are those who have organized to promote friendship andgood feeling amongst girls and women who are in the same occupation. 

This is what the girls of one such group say of the benefit of belongingto a friendly social organization of which the members are fellow-workers:"It improves our work, because we know how the others do theirs and wewant to do as well as they do. We talk over problems in our work, andhearing the various ideas and solutions that others have thought out helpsus in solving our problems. We do not meet to discuss our work primarily;as a rule our gatherings are for enjoyment and recreation. But work everynow and then comes into general conversation and in this way we learn. It is a help to have for a friend one of the best workers in youroccupation. You try your best to keep up with her. If any of the girlsneeds a new position, or is in difficulty about her work, she may talk itover with one of the older workers. In the same way we advise one anotherabout wages. We can find out what is the average wage and the best wagepaid in the occupation and what are the average hours of employment. Many girls in the club have found new positions and have been able to askfor and get higher wages through the advice and help of other club members. "

Every girl knows what a help it is to work with others when sewing, mending, dressmaking and trimming hats. The girl in paid employment findsthis work more trying than the girl who remains at home, because the girlat home generally has spare hours during the day when she may do work ofthis character. A mending circle meeting once a week could plan someentertainment to accompany work. One of the circle might read aloud, orall the members might take turns in telling a story and adding in someway to the evening's entertainment. Girls in such a circle could all helpin blouse making or in millinery. One or more of the members might havea special gift in cutting and fitting. Others might be more skilful insewing. One or more of the girls might have a special gift in buying. The possibilities of co-operative work of this kind for girls in thetwentieth century are very great indeed. 

There was a time in the history of the world when work of this kind was alldone in private homes. Women and girls worked together at home, spinning, weaving, sewing and dressmaking. A great part of such work is now done infactories. But girls know that they still have mending, sewing, dressmakingand millinery to do. People are seldom well advised if they do work of thiskind in isolation. The work is often not so well done and the worker islonely and apt to be discouraged. It is part of the duty of the twentiethcentury girl to restore happiness and companionship in all this women'swork, a great part of which is still done by hand. The happy circle of girlworkers is often the best solution to the problem of how this work ofmaking, trimming and mending should be done. 

One such group of girls, in this case, a group of stenographers, who, as ithappens, have all come from farm homes, have made a success of co-operativehousekeeping. There are eight girls in the group. The city in which theywork is by a lake and during the summer months these girls rent a cottageon the lake shore outside the city. They have the cottage for four months. Two girls undertake the housekeeping for a month at a time, which meansthat each girl has one month of housekeeping responsibility and threemonths when she helps only with tidying and cleaning. Their individualexpenses for rent and housekeeping amount to $4. 50 per week. This is anexcellent example of the good to be obtained from co-operative effort. 

Other girls find companionship, recreation and improvement in readingcircles, study clubs, and clubs for walking, snowshoeing, skating andother outdoor enjoyment. Clubs formed to promote play and exercise areamong the best of these organizations. Some circles are for dancing;others are dramatic clubs. Practically every group of this kind undertakessome benevolent work, and should do so in order to share happiness andgood times with others. Such clubs entertain the inmates of hospitals, children's and old people's homes, give Christmas trees to children, sendgifts to the needy, or work for benevolent organizations. 

The club for outdoor play is one of the most important of grouporganizations. It has a wonderful effect on the health of its members. Tennis, basket ball, cricket, hockey and croquet are played by groups ofgirls who often challenge boys' clubs and are able to enter such contestswith skill and ability. The gardening club is one of the many ways in whicha club of girls can raise money to help in benevolent and other objects. 

To form a group of this kind successfully the girl members require to havekindly impulses and enthusiasm, a willingness to work and play together, and the wish to be useful and to do something worth doing. Other requisitesare a few simple rules, loyally lived up to, and one or two girls who haveorganizing ability. Leaders should train others to lead also, and each girlshould take her turn in leading and in following. 

The ideal group is not made up of girls exclusively, but should take itspattern as much as possible from family life. The girls of the group playtogether and work together. But the fathers and mothers of some of thegirls will be glad to be honorary members and should share at times bothin work and in play. A boys' club may be a friendly rival in games and mayco-operate in benevolent work and entertainment. 

CHAPTER XXIX

CIVIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Learning to be a good neighbour is an active enjoyment which lasts us allour lives. Our civic duties and responsibilities may be summed up by sayingthat they are the duties and opportunities of a good neighbour. We shouldstudy our civic duties and responsibilities carefully so that we may knowhow to vote rightly and wisely when we are given an opportunity to vote onpublic questions. 

The privilege of voting as a citizen is of the highest importance. Butit is not by any means the only duty or opportunity of a good neighbour. Women have exercised the right to vote only of recent years, and still ina number of countries women do not yet vote. They can and do give servicein many other ways. Every man and woman who has the franchise shouldrecord an honest and intelligent vote. But those who vote should giveother service as well. Those who are too young to vote have otheropportunities to work for the community and for the nation. 

The right to vote in Canadian elections for the Dominion House of Commonswas given to a limited number of women for the first time in 1917. By anAct of Parliament which became law in 1918 all women in Canada have theright to vote in Dominion elections under the same conditions as men. Women of twenty-one and over have the right to vote in the Provincialelections of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. 

What is the meaning of learning to be a good neighbour?

Let us take the cases of three Canadian girls. One lives in a countryneighbourhood, one belongs to a village, and the third is a city girl. Each of them lives in a house on a road or street. Other houses in whichneighbours live are not far away. The city girl's next door neighbour isclose by; there is more space in the village; and where the country girllives everyone owns a farm so that there is abundance of room between oneneighbour and another. 

The community in which she lives gives each of these girls certain goodthings. It gives her the school where she is educated. The roads that leadto different places where she needs to go are provided by the community. 

When a great many people live close together, the community has to provideother necessary things. The girl in the country neighbourhood, unlike thecity girl, needs no special playground because she has many beautiful, safe places where she can play; also her father can provide his house withpure water with comparative ease, whereas in a city or town, the council, which is the government of the local community, provides water andplaygrounds. The city girl is used to having these things provided for herby the community, and the girl in the country often does not stop to thinkof the space, light, air and water which are hers so freely and abundantly. 

What we call the community is all the people who live in one district, which has boundaries to mark it off from other communities. Certainutilities, such as roads, schools, courts, water, lighting, parks, playgrounds, and many other things, are kept up by taxes, which are paidby the people of the community. 

Sometimes taxes are objected to as burdens. But it is honourable to paytaxes for the upkeep of a good community. Money raised by taxes should bespent wisely, honestly, and not extravagantly. It is the people's money, and proper value should be received for what the community spends. Weshould all see as far as possible that the money from taxes is spentproperly. 

Every girl, boy, man and woman, is a citizen of some community and nation, and has a duty to see that the community and nation are well managed andwell governed. 

There is a beautiful word, common, which is sometimes misused in one ofits meanings. One of the meanings of the word "common" is "belonging toall. " Common property means property belonging to a certain number ofpeople. A "common" is a piece of public property. A common duty is a dutywhich belongs to all. There is no common or public property in yourneighbourhood, and there is no common duty in your neighbourhood, whichis not yours. 

To be a good neighbour has both a public and a private meaning. You are agood neighbour to the people who live near you if you help to take care ofthem when they are sick, do everything you can to keep them healthy whenthey are well, and are kind when they are in trouble. A good neighbouris a quiet, peaceful, law-abiding citizen, pleasant and useful in theneighbourhood. What you do as a good neighbour for the people who livenext door, you do as far as you are able for the community in which youlive. The best rule ever given to the world for being a good neighbouris contained in the story of the Good Samaritan. The more we study thatstory, the better we will understand our duties to our neighbours andthe community. 

Women and girls should be specially interested in such questions aseducation and the training of children, in public health and safety andpublic justice, in markets and everything having to do with the foodsupply, and in the proper treatment of immigrants. The nation cannot doits best unless girls and women help by being good neighbours and citizensin all these and other matters. 

Perhaps the most valuable possession that any girl has is her character. The honest, kind, likeable girl, who keeps her word and is a good friend, is valued by everyone who knows her. The character of a nation is notunlike the character of the individual. We love our country. We would giveher the best service. The best we can do for her is to make her nationalcharacter honest, kind, strong, helpful and lovable. Every individual in anation has a civic duty and responsibility to make that nation a goodneighbour. 

A Canadian woman of seventy years said once to a younger woman who was aprofessional worker, "My dear, tell me about the hospital where you areworking. I have heard that conditions are not all they should be. I wantto know, because if I know I may be able to help in making what is wrongright. " She was a quiet, gentle woman, charming in manner, and somewhatshy and reserved. She never talked about disagreeable things. On thisoccasion she believed it was her duty to make sure whether there was awrong, and if there was to try to put it right. No one ever heard anythingsaid about this matter in public, but after some time the management ofone public institution was greatly improved. Age, experience and wisdomcan help in these wonderful ways. Girls may learn from such women. 

We learn best to be good citizens in our own homes. Study public affairsand community questions with your father and mother, brothers and sisters. 

Those who read Queen Victoria's Letters, which have been published, noticethat in her girlhood she was a simple, gentle, innocent girl, not speciallyclever, but eager to learn, resolved that everything in the government ofher country should be explained to her so that she might understand it. It was her duty to know the details of that great government, and she wasdetermined, no matter what it cost her in work and study, to know andunderstand her duty. In her later letters she appears as an old, very wisewoman, one of the first statesmen of her age. Queen Victoria had greatresponsibilities. Ours are smaller. But no girl, whether she works at homeor in paid employment, can reach her highest development in the twentiethcentury without living up to her civic and national responsibilities. 

CHAPTER XXX

THE BEST KIND OF WORK

Summing up what we have been able to learn, and what the world has learned, about employment, it is generally agreed that hard work is best. By hardwork is meant work which requires from us the putting forth of all ourenergies and which calls for all our gifts. Work is very beneficial. As aman has said, "It takes the nonsense out of people, " not the fun out oflife, but the nonsense out of people, foolish, wrong, mistaken ideas whichmake people disagreeable to work with or play with or live with. It is notuntil our work, and methods of doing work, make use of all our ability andcapacity that we know how fine work can be. You remember the story in theBible which tells how Jacob wrestled with an unseen adversary until thebreaking of the day. Then when Jacob was asked what he would have, heanswered, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me. " So work when wedo our best with it blesses us. 

Musicians speak of "technic" in playing and artists of "technic" inpainting. Technic is skill, but it is more than skill. It is skill andindividuality joined together. There is technic of a certain kind which weall may acquire in our work. Perhaps a story will explain best what thistechnic is. A beautiful girl who had all the gifts of a great actress butwas untrained once made an extraordinary success in one of Shakespeare'splays. Later she failed utterly. She had not had that patient unceasingpractice which makes every performance a high level of acting. When shefelt inspired, she could act; but when she was dull or tired or out ofsorts, her inspiration failed her, and she had no technic or skill inacting to fall back upon. 

The good cook practically never fails in what she makes. She may not feellike cooking her best every day, but she knows how, and all her good workin the past stands by her skilful hands and makes her cooking a successevery day. In the same way, the practised writer can rely on a certaintechnic or skill in writing even when he is dull and jaded and yet thereis work which must be done. 

In your work, no matter what it is, do your best every day as far as youare able, and by and by this skill in work will stand beside you like afriend and will help your hands and mind. 

Have you ever noticed how a mother who has brought up five or six childrenof her own, takes a baby up in her hands? Such skill in handling an infantis one of the most beautiful things in the world. The mother can do itwell, because she has done it often, with all her heart. 

We often hear of success and failure in work. Good work is made up of bothfailure and success. One failure may spur us on to do better work than wehave ever done before. A failure may teach us a great deal if we will learnfrom it. Do not be cast down because of failure. Find out what its lessonis. Do not be too much uplifted over a success. It may turn out a hindranceif we grow conceited over it. Both success and failure are temporary phasesof good work. 

We should learn not to try too hard, or be over anxious about work. Once an old gentleman who had taken up golf late in life said that hiscaddy had taught him a great lesson. "You are too anxious. " the littleboy said. "Just do as well as you can and don't be so anxious. You wouldplay a better game that way. "

We do not always believe when we are learning that work will be enjoyable. We have to learn _how to work_ before we can get the full enjoyment fromour occupation. You had to learn how to skate and how to dance before youenjoyed skating and dancing. Trying to skate and trying to dance and beingawkward, and not knowing how, does not give one the full enjoyment ofskating and dancing. But when we do know how and have become skilful, howdelightful these recreations are! When we know how to work, work also isfull of enjoyment. 

It is well to remember that work is a permanent part of our lives. Do notthink of it, therefore, as a harsh or unfriendly part of life, but realizethe meaning of employment as one of our greatest possessions. It is a meansby which we can enter into the full enjoyment of our own faculties andwhich helps us to understand the importance of life. The comradeship ofwork is very real and lasting. The girl who goes forward, therefore, intoher life's work with a determination to do her best, while she will oftenmeet hard problems, is certain to find usefulness and happiness in heremployment. 

LIST OF OCCUPATIONS

Accompanying, see music. 

Accounting. 

Acting. 

Advertising. 

Anaesthetist. 

Architecture. 

Auditing. 

Banking. 

Basketry. 

Bee-keeping. 

Blouse making. 

Bookbinding. 

Bookkeeping. 

Business managing and owning. 

Butter making. 

Buying, see store employment. 

Candy making. 

Canning. 

Care of children. 

Catering. 

Cheese making. 

Chemical industry. 

Children's clothes making. 

Children's nurse. 

China decorating. 

Chiropody. 

Civil service. 

Commercial traveller. 

Companion. 

Composition, see music. 

Comptometer operating. 

Concert singing and playing. 

Confidential clerk. 

Cooking. 

Costume designing. 

Dancing. 

Deaconess. 

Dentistry. 

Designing fabrics, wall papers, etc. 

Dictaphone operating. 

Dietetics. 

Domestic science: Cook, special cooking, dietitian, manager of clubs, hotels, restaurants, tea rooms and cafeterias, lecturer, teacher, writer. 

Domestic service, see house employment. 

Draughting. 

Drawing. 

Dressmaking: Designing, sewing, buying, machine operating, managing and owning. 

Embroidery. 

Employment expert. 

Enameling. 

Entertainer. 

Etching. 

Expert in flour testing. 

Factory employment: Machine operators, designers, forewomen, stenographers, bookkeepers, nurses, dietitians, welfare workers, travellers, managers and owners. 

Farm work for women: Farm managing, bee-keeping, plant growing, flower growing, poultry and eggs, butter, milk and cheese, vegetables, fruit growing. 

Farm managing. 

Florist. 

Flower growing. 

Food demonstrating. 

Fruit growing. 

Governess. 

Hairdressing. 

Handicrafts: Basketry, book binding, china decorating, embroidery, enameling, jewelry making, leather work, metal work, pottery, stencilling, weaving, wood carving. 

Home making. 

Hostess, in hotels, clubs, etc. 

House decorating. 

House furnishing. 

House employment: Cook, laundress, housemaid, children's nurse, seamstress, ladies' maid, companion, mother's help, housekeeper, household manager and organizer. 

Illustrating. 

Instructor in wireless telegraphy. 

Insurance. 

Investigating, see social work. 

Jewelry making. 

Journalism. 

Landscape architecture. 

Landscape gardening. 

Laundry. 

Law. 

Leather work. 

Lecturing. 

Library work. 

Machine operating. 

Manicuring. 

Map making. 

Massage. 

Medicine. 

Metal work. 

Milk farming. 

Millinery: Making, designing, selling, managing, owning. 

Missionary work. 

Mother's help. 

Motor driving. 

Munitions. 

Music: Accompanying, composition, concert playing and singing, teaching. 

Nursing: Institutional, private, military, public health, schools, superintendents of hospitals and training schools, managing and owning private hospitals. 

Office employment: Stenographer, typist, bookkeeper, confidential clerk, secretary, billing clerk, cheque clerk, fyling clerk, dictaphone operator, comptometer operator, librarian, manager. 

Painting. 

Pharmacy. 

Photography. 

Police woman. 

Postal clerk. 

Pottery. 

Poultry farming. 

Proof reading. 

Real estate: Agents, rent collectors. 

Salesmanship. 

Sculpture. 

Seamstress. 

Secretarial work. 

Sewing by the day, see seamstress. 

Shampooing. 

Shopping expert. 

Social work: Secretaries, statisticians, visitors, lecturers, dietitians, doctors, nurses, field workers, investigators, parole officers, officers of institutions, superintendents. 

Statistical work. 

Stencilling. 

Stenography. 

Store employment: Messenger girls, parcel girls, markers, assistants, stenographers, shoppers, house furnishers, assistant managers, managers, assistant buyers, buyers, advertisers, nurses, dietitians, welfare workers, employment experts, owners. 

Teaching: Public schools, high schools, colleges, private schools, music, dramatic, domestic science, kindergarten, arts and handicrafts, lecturing, teaching handicapped children, manual training, sewing, millinery, dressmaking, physical training, gardening, commercial subjects, governess, tutor, secretary, supervising. 

Telegraphy: Morse operating, automatic machines. 

Telephone employment: Operating, supervising, private switchboard operating. 

Vegetable growing. 

Vocational advising. 

Weaving. 

Welfare work. 

Window decorating. 

Wood carving. 

Work for the girl at home: Blouse making, children's clothes, candy making, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, bread making, cake and jam making, pickles, marmalade, catering, shopping, embroidery, laundry work, mending, making underclothes, canning, raising fruit and flowers, poultry and eggs, vegetable growing, managing a lending library, teaching, mother's help, house work for neighbours, doctors' and dentists' secretary, visiting bookkeeper, visiting housekeeper. 

Writing. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Art of Right Living, The, by Ellen H. Richards: Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston (1904). 

Business of Being a Woman, The, by Ida M. Tarbell: Macmillan, New York, 1916. 

Careers: Women's Employment Publishing Company, London, 1916. 

Classified List of Vocations for Trained Women, by E. P. Hirth: The Intercollegiate Bureau of Occupations, New York, 1917. 

Commercial Work and Training for Girls, by Jeannette Eaton and Bertha M. Stevens: Macmillan, New York, 1915. 

Cost of Cleanness, The, by Ellen H. Richards: Wiley & Sons, New York (1908). 

Cost of Food, The, by Ellen H. Richards: Wiley & Sons, New York (1901). 

Cost of Living, The, by Ellen H. Richards: Wiley & Sons, New York (1899, 1905). 

Cost of Shelter, The, by Ellen H. Richards: Wiley & Sons, New York (1905). 

Democracy and Education, by John Dewey: Macmillan, New York (1916). 

Domestic Needs of Farm Women. Report No. 104: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1915. 

Domestic Service, by C. V. Butler: G. Bell & Sons, London, 1916. 

Economic Needs of Farm Women. Report No. 106: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1915. 

Economic Position of Women. Vol. I, No. 1. Proceedings of Academy of Political Science: Columbia University, New York, 1910. 

Educational Needs of Farm Women. Report No. 105: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1915. 

Fatigue and Efficiency, by Josephine Goldmark: Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1912. 

Food and Household Management, by Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley: Macmillan, New York, 1915. 

Home and the Family, The, by Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley: Macmillan, New York, 1917. 

Household Administration, edited by Alice Ravenhill and Catherine J. Schiff: Grant Richards, London, 1910. 

Increasing Home Efficiency, by Martha Bensley Bruere and Robert W. Bruere: Macmillan, New York, 1913. 

Industrial Democracy, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb: Longmans, Green, London, 1897. 

Intercollegiate Bureau of Occupations, New York. Reports. 1911-1913, 1914-1915. 

Life and Labour of the People of London, Vol. 4. Women's Work, by Charles Booth: Macmillan, London, 1902. 

Life of Ellen H. Richards, by Caroline L. Hunt: Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston, 1916. 

Living Wage of Women Workers, The, by L. M. Bosworth: Longmans, Green, New York, 1911. 

Long Day, The: The Century Company, New York, 1905. 

Making Both Ends Meet, by S. A. Clark and Edith Wyatt: Macmillan, New York, 1911. 

Minimum Cost of Living, The, by Winifrid Stuart Gibbs: Macmillan, New York, 1917. 

Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, Part 2. The Unemployed. 

New Era in Canada, The, edited by J. O. Miller: J. M. Dent & Son, London and Toronto, 1917. 

Profitable Vocations for Girls, by E. W. Weaver: A. S. Barnes Company, New York, 1913. 

Report of The Ontario Commission on Unemployment, 1916. 

Road to Trained Service in the Household, The, by Henrietta Roelofs: National Board Young Women's Christian Associations, New York, 1915. 

Saleswomen in Mercantile Stores, by E. B. Butler: Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1909. 

Shelter and Clothing, by Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley: Macmillan, New York, 1915. 

Social and Labour Needs of Farm Women, Report No. 103, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1915. 

Survey of Occupations Open to the Girl of Fourteen to Sixteen, by H. H. Dodge: Girls' Trade Education League, Boston, 1912. 

Trade Union Woman, The, by Alice Henry: D. Appleton, New York, 1915. 

Vocational Mathematics for Girls, by Wm. H. Dooley: D. C. Heath, Boston, 1917. 

Vocations for Boston Girls. Bulletins. Telephone operating. Bookbinding. Stenography and typewriting. Nursery maid. Dressmaking. Millinery. Straw hat making. Manicuring and hairdressing. Nursing. Salesmanship. Clothing machine operating. Paper box making. Confectionery manufacture. Knit Goods manufacture: Girls' Trade Education League, Boston, 1911, 1912. 

Vocations for Girls, by Mary A. Laselle and Katherine E. Wiley: Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston, 1913. 

Vocations for the Trained Woman, Vol. 1, Pts. 1 and 2. Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston: Longmans, Green, New York, 1910, 1914. 

Wage-Earning Women, by Annie Marion Maclean: Macmillan, New York, 1910. 

Ways of Woman, The, by Ida M. Tarbell: Macmillan, New York, 1915. 

Welfare Work, by Dorothea Proud: G. Bell & Sons, London, 1916. 

Woman and Labour, by Olive Schreiner: T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1911. 

Woman--Bless Her, The, by Marjory MacMurchy: S. B. Gundy, Toronto, 1916. 

Women and the Trades, by E. B. Butler: Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1909. 

Women and Work, by Helen M. Bennett: D. Appleton & Company, New York, 1917. 

Women in Modern Industry, by B. L. Hutchins: G. Bell & Sons, London, 1915. 

Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. Reports, 1913, 1914. 

Work-a-day Girl, The, by Clara E. Laughlin: Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1913. 

Youth, School and Vocation, by Meyer Bloomfield: Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston, 1915. 

INDEX

 PAGE

Accompanying 92

Accounting 94

Acting 93

Advertising 90

Anaesthetist 102

Architecture 91

Art 90

Babies 84

Bank account 114

Banking 94

Bee-keeping 67

Best kind of work 138

Biography 123

Blouse making 78

Boarding house management 104

Bookbinding 90

Bookkeeping 19, 80

Book reviewing 89

Books 123

Broker 105

Business college 15

Buying a house and garden 114

Canadian Government Annuities 115

Candy making 78

Capital 65, 69

Care of children 84

Cataloguer 73

Catering business 101, 104

Changing about 8

Chemical industry 96

Children's librarian 74

Children's nurse 44

Circulation librarian 74

Citizen 135

City girl as neighbour 134

City, town and country wages and expenses 108

Civic duties and responsibilities 133

Civil service 19, 97

Cleanliness 118

Commercial traveller 105

Comptometer operating 19

Concert singing and playing 92

Conductor of foreign tours 105

Consulting a dentist 119

Consulting a physician 119

Cook 30

Co-operation as applied to work of home 85

Co-operative housekeeping by girls 131

Co-operative principles 86

Country girl as a neighbour 134

Country walks 120

Custom dressmaking 48

Dancing 93

Deaconess 98

Dentistry 96

Departments of Domestic Science 32

Designing 90

Designing costumes 45

Dictaphone operator 19

Dietitian 98

Difference between home and work 20

Difference between school and home 20

Division of family income 113

Domestic Science 28

Dress 17

Dressmaker 45

Dressmaking, qualifications for employment, 46 training, 46 wages 48

Dressmaking as a business 48

Dressmaking as a factory trade 48

Embroidery 90

Employment department 9, 105

Employment expert 105

Entertaining 105, 119

Estimate of yearly income 109

Examinations 35

Exercise 118

Factory employment, qualifications for, 6 training, 4 wages 6

Fair wage 109

Farm work for women 65

Farm managers 65

Festivals 120

"Field" work 98

Financial adviser 105

Flower growing 66

Food 25

Food demonstrator 102

Franchise 133

Fresh air 119

Friendships 27

Fruit growing 79

Getting on with fellow workers 21

Girl who really wants work 23

Girl's accounts, The 113

Girl's reading, The 121

Girls' Clubs 131

Girls with intellectual gifts 94

Going into business for one's self 99

Good Samaritan, The 135

Good thoughts 120

Good times 26, 119

Government employment bureau 2

Hairdresser 61

Hairdressing and manicuring, qualifications for employment, 61 training, 61 wages 62

Hairdressing and manicuring as a business 62

Handicrafts 90

Hard work 138

Headings for girl's account book 113

Headings for private account book of business woman 112

Health 116

Health as an aid to good employment 116

Health and beauty 117

Health exercise expert 104

Helpers in finding work 2

High character of teaching as a profession 36, 38

History 123

Holidays 119

Home employments 82

Home gardens 85

Home girl's advantages 77

Home girl's allowance 77

Home maker 84

Home maker a necessary worker 127

Hotel manager, hostess, chaperone 104

House decorating 91

House employment, qualifications for, 30 training, 29 wages 29

House furnishing 91

House worker 28

Household accounting 83

Household expert 102

How to choose place of employment 5

Humanizing work (preface) iv

Illustrating 90

Improving one's work 106

Incomes of professional women 97

Increasing one's wages 111

Institutional nursing 44

Insurance 94

Interests outside work 13

Investigators 105

Investing 114

Investing in an education 115

Jewelry, handwrought 90

Journalism 88

Journalist 88

Keeping other people well 82

Kindergarten 37

Knowing how to keep well 24, 82

Knowledge of nursing required by average girl 26, 83

Landscape gardening 91

Laundry work 104

Law 95

Law and social work 95

Learning after the position is found 20

Learning from others 22

Learning how to be a good neighbour 133

Learning how to work 140

Lecturer 37

Librarian 71

Library work, qualifications for employment, 71 training, 72 salaries 74

Life insurance 115

Limited hours for house worker 30

Living expenses 107

Living wage 107

Luxuries 127

Magazines 122

Making one's own clothes 53

Management of clubs, hotels, tea-rooms, etc. 32

Managing a tea-room business 100

Managing money 25, 83

Manicuring 62

Manicurist 61

Marketing 104

Maxwell, Sara 38

Medicine 95

Mending 25

Milliner 50

Millinery, qualifications for employment, 50 training, 50 wages 51

Millinery a seasonal trade 52

Millinery business 51

Money and wages 107

Mothers 139

Music 92

Music teaching 92

National character 136

Nature of a home based on right human relations 84

Necessaries of life 126

Necessary work 126

New employments in food, clothing, and home-making 102

New work 102

Newspapers 121

Nursing, qualifications for employment, 42 training, 39 salaries 43

Nurses' registries 43

Nurses' training schools 41

Office building management 105

Office employment, qualifications for, 16 training, 15 wages 17

Organization for comradeship 129

Other occupations for milliners 52

Outdoor clubs 131

Pageant mistress 105

Painting 90

Pharmacy 96

Photography 90

Piece work 7

Plan for spending 112

Poetry 123

Poultry farming 69

Preserving and canning 79

Private hospital 99

Private nursing 43

Privilege of voting 133

Probationer 41

Producer of plays 105

Proof reading 90

Proper division of family income 113

Provincial and national franchise for women in Canada 133

Public health nurses 44

Public marketing expert 104

Public stenographer 18

Publicity writer 105

Qualifications for the successful home maker 83

Qualifications that help to ensure steady employment 23

Qualities of the successful business woman 99

Questions the girl should ask herself 2

Reading circles 131

Reading on one's work 122

Real estate agents 105

Real wages 107

Recreation 26, 131

Red Cross nurses 42

Reference librarian 73

Remunerative work for the girl at home 76

Rent collecting 105

Reporting 89

Research work 96

Responsibility 99

Rest 26, 118

Richards, Mrs. 113

Righting a wrong 136

Routine work 71

Rules for reading 124

Safeguarding employment 127

St. John Ambulance 42

Saleswoman 9

Saving 112

School nurses 44

School of salesmanship 10

Seamstress 48

Second employment 128

Self-support 20, 109

Sewing by the day 48

Shopping expert 104

Skilled work 4

Social and economic questions 124

Social engagements have no claim on working hours 23

Social work 105

Special care of children 104

Special cooking 32

Spending 112

Standards of living in different employments 108

Statistician 105

Stenographer 15

Store employment, qualifications for, 9 training, 10 wages 11

Success and failure in work 139

Sunshine 119

Superintendents of training schools and hospitals 44

Taking stock of one's position 106

Taxes 134

Teachers of special subjects 37

Teaching, characteristics of girl who should become a teacher, 35 training, 34 salaries 36

Technic 138

Telegraphy, qualifications for employment, 59 training, 59 wages 60

Telephone employment, qualifications for, 56 training, 56 wages 57

Telephone girl 56

Telephone school 56

To read well 121

Town girl as a neighbour 134

Trained nurse 39

Training for home making 83

Typist 19

Understanding each other's work 129

V. A. Ds. 42

Vocational adviser 105

Voting by women 133

Wages 107

Wages, explanation of figures quoted 3

Wages for skilled workers 107

Waitress, qualifications for employment, 64 training, 63 wages 64

Weaving 90

Welfare work 98

What every girl needs to know 24

What is harmful to health and happiness 120

What one girl can do for another 129

What the home maker needs to know 84

What wages should give 107

Woman's page 89

Wood carving 90

Work necessary to health and happiness 3

Young Women's Christian Associations 2, 11, 42, 70