diff options
Diffstat (limited to '78463-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 78463-h/78463-h.htm | 3130 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78463-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 501251 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78463-h/images/title.jpg | bin | 0 -> 20247 bytes |
3 files changed, 3130 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/78463-h/78463-h.htm b/78463-h/78463-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0ea7c97 --- /dev/null +++ b/78463-h/78463-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3130 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Disadvantages of Being a Woman | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } + +.tdl {text-align: left; padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1em;} +.tdlx {text-align: left; padding-left: .5em;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; + color: #A9A9A9; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + +.fs70 {font-size: 70%} +.fs80 {font-size: 80%} +.fs90 {font-size: 90%} +.fs120 {font-size: 120%} +.fs150 {font-size: 150%} +.fs200 {font-size: 200%} + +.no-indent {text-indent: 0em;} +.bold {font-weight: bold;} +.wsp {word-spacing: 0.3em;} +.lh {line-height: 1.3em;} + +h2 {font-size: 130%; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; word-spacing: .3em;} + +hr.rdouble {width: 100%; border-top: 6px double; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 0%;margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp20 {width: 20%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78463 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 85%"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" data-role="presentation"> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h1 class="wsp"> +The<br> +Disadvantages of Being<br> +a Woman +</h1> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp"> + <span class="fs70">BY</span><br> + <span class="fs120">GRACE ELLISON</span><br> + <span class="fs90">Author of “Abdul Hamid’s Daughter,” “An Englishwoman<br> + in a Turkish Harem,” etc., etc.</span></p> + <br> + <br> + + <figure class="figcenter illowp20" id="title" style="max-width: 22.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/title.jpg" alt=""> + </figure> + <br> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp"> + <span class="fs120">A. M. PHILPOT, Ltd.</span><br> + 69 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C. 1. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center no-indent fs120 wsp"> + THE DISADVANTAGES OF BEING A<br> + WOMAN +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center no-indent fs200 bold wsp"> +The<br> +Disadvantages of Being<br> +a Woman +</p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp"> + <span class="fs70">BY</span><br> + <span class="fs120">GRACE ELLISON</span><br> + <span class="fs90">Author of “Abdul Hamid’s Daughter,” “An Englishwoman<br> + in a Turkish Harem,” etc., etc.</span></p> + <br> + <br> + + <figure class="figcenter illowp20" id="title2" style="max-width: 22.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/title.jpg" alt=""> + </figure> + <br> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp"> + <span class="fs120">A. M. PHILPOT, Ltd.</span><br> + 69 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C. 1. +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center no-indent"> + [<em>Copyright</em>]<br> + <br> + <br> + <span class="fs70">PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY W. JOLLY AND SONS, LTD., ABERDEEN</span> +</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS"> + CONTENTS + </h2> +</div> + +<table class="autotable lh"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +<em>Introduction.</em> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +Woman the Discovery of the Century. +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdr fs80"> +CHAP. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +</td> +<td class="tdr fs80"> +PAGE +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +I. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Feminist Leaders—and their Mistakes<br> (i) Unwise Haste (ii) Legislation for the élite, not for the masses (iii) Hostility to Man, who should be the associate +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_9">9</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +II. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +The Drawback of Health +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_16">16</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +III. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Barred from the Professions +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_24">24</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +IV. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +The French Business Woman +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_33">33</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +V. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Laws for Women illogical and inconsistent +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_39">39</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VI. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Can Women succeed in Politics? +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_48">48</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VII. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Sex in Work +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_56">56</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VIII. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Is Femininity at a discount? +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_63">63</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +IX. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +Pin-money Women +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_71">71</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +X. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +What is wrong with Marriage? +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_77">77</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +XI. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +The Future +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_86">86</a> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="PUBLISHERS_NOTE"> + <em>PUBLISHER’S NOTE</em> + </h2> +</div> + +<p><em>These are not the reflections of a woman who has failed. On +the contrary, her literary record, her extensive travels, the work +she did amongst the women of Turkey, and later her war-work +in France, give her the right to speak with authority and +to command a hearing.</em></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION"> + INTRODUCTION + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Since</span> every age has its own great discovery, +who will deny “Woman” her laurels as the +Discovery of this Century?</p> + +<p>Opinions are still divided as to how and why +Woman as a Force actually made her first +appearance. Some declare that she had been +seeking enfranchisement for over sixty years; +others maintain that the Woman Movement +began with militancy.</p> + +<p>The truth is that no one noticed her first +coming. Apparently without warning, she +burst the fetters of domesticity and sprang +from obscurity into the blazing sun. Wakening +the dullest and the most awkward of the +centuries, she stepped, one might say, bounded, +into Freedom.</p> + +<p>Like radium or electricity, Woman the +Force was always there, and the age that +needed her discovered her. We believe that +Nature intended this Force to balance the +Force of Man. The scales must be even; and +where one of the sexes has been either +atrophied or over-developed, the State falls.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<p>But <em>the scales must be even</em>. We are too +near our subject, and events now happening +are not sufficiently in perspective for it to be +possible to write even a résume of the Woman’s +Movement, but it must be evident to everyone +that there is something fundamentally wrong +with the situation as it stands at present.</p> + +<p>Nothing has happened to weaken our faith +in the possibilities of the great Discovery, but +it cannot be denied that Woman as a Force +has been and is being mishandled by many a +clumsy engineer.</p> + +<p>It is our purpose, in these pages, to examine +their mistakes.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="I"> + I + <br> + <span class="fs80">FEMINIST LEADERS AND THEIR MISTAKES</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p><em>(i) Unwise haste (ii) legislation for the élite, not for the +masses, (iii) hostility to man, who should be the associate.</em></p> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Resistless</span> as the appointed tides, the Revolution +of Woman has swept over us. Who +can be held responsible? To criticise or to +blame the women themselves would be as +senseless as to attempt a judgment upon the +shore washed by the sea. It had to be and +it was. The end had come for Victorianism, +with its soul-crushing hypocrisy. The new +Force had to be set free.</p> + +<p>Most unfortunately the advanced feminists +who took charge of the movement had few of +the god-given gifts of leadership. There is +but a step from revolution, with its healthy +exaggerations, to complete anarchy. They +sowed the seeds, and only the Great War—with +its issues of life and death—has saved +them and us from a terrible harvest.</p> + +<p>(i.) The leaders’ first tactical mistake, no +doubt, was to set up a fighting corps before +the average woman had learned how to march. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>To realise with what unstable rapidity they +forged ahead, we have only to measure the +distance between the women of this generation +and of the last.</p> + +<p>History has always recorded the perils and +suffering of any period that follows a too rapid +emancipation of slaves; and as all Suffrage +Societies alluded to women as slaves, we may +adopt the comparison without offence. Our +speed in settling the women’s question was no +less than a crime. Women ought to have +served a period as novitiates before taking +the full vows of freedom.</p> + +<p>For our mothers the gates were locked. +Their narrow horizon was bounded—on the +one side by the needle and on the other +by children. They had, in return, the safety +and the protection of a home. For the +women of this generation most doors have +been flung wide. But with the full liberty +to work, they have gained also full liberty to +starve; and they are finding themselves too +often forced down paths they have not the +physical strength to tread. Rights demanded +without tact, and the unconsidered outcry for +absolute equality, have largely killed men’s +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>protective instincts, and really amount to a +“declaration of war between those who should +be allies or partners in humankind.”</p> + +<p>Only a few women can go far, or last long, +without a home, a pension, or a private income, +to fall back on. Our mothers were “looked +after” as a matter of course. So many women +to-day are forced to work for themselves, +however unqualified they may be. They have +been given the Parliamentary vote, before even +learning their municipal responsibilities. They +have entered upon business careers without +training or capacity. At the moment, indeed, +one feels as if both the professional and the +business worlds were actually clogged up with +untried women.</p> + +<p>How different the whole situation might +have been if the leaders had been content +to move more slowly; feeling their way as +they went along; organising, experimenting, +and helping—teaching the meaning of responsibility, +what it involves and how to use it?</p> + +<p>Above all, they should never have lost touch +with the anchor of the home, until they were +well able to navigate their own course in the +variable currents of the world outside and secure +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>not only work for an income, but some security +for the future.</p> + +<p><em>Independence, so called, that does not include +economic provision for bad times and old age, +is not independence at all.</em> What problem can +be more terrible or more grave for the great +army of superfluous women, than the absolute +insecurity of their future?</p> + +<p>(ii.) The feminist leaders also made a very +serious mistake when they based their demands +for all women upon the needs of a very +exceptional minority. “Take care of the weak +part of your army,” said Napoleon, “the strong +can look after themselves.” But in this movement +it was the reverse policy which the +leaders preferred to adopt. If a few workers +had proved that despite obstacles, difficulties, +and sex-prejudice, they could yet take their +place in open competition with men, <em>these +giant personalities were exceptions that proved +the rule</em>. Why legislate for exceptions?</p> + +<p>It was maintained, from the first, that all +professions should be open to all women; that +the sexes should be at once placed upon absolute +equality. “What one, the finest of women, can +do, all should strive to do,” was the theory. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>And we had dangerous legislation, suddenly +introduced, which was doomed in advance to +disaster; carrying with it deceptions, disappointments, +the unclassing and unsexing of women. +For one woman who can succeed at the bar +or in surgery there are hundreds who had far +better be sighing for the cradle. They will +never reach the bar, or prove fitted to wield +the knife; and they will lose the cradle into +the bargain.</p> + +<p>All the ages have brought forth exceptional +women. At the time when Mahomet raised +his voice in the desert, and was leading his +dusky-skinned converts out of semi-barbarianism +into the light of civilisation, his own +daughter, the Lady of Paradise, was speaking +and lecturing in many lands, so that her fame +spread over the whole of the East. Yet other +women were not encouraged to follow her +example; and few made the attempt before +the arrival of Zeyneb, the famous professor +of Damascus.</p> + +<p>Yet in our own days, that woman might +undertake man’s work, she was given the vote. +It was held up, and fought for, as the key to +unlock all professional doors—the instrument +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>of the Millennium! It is true, of course, that +the vote can, and perhaps will eventually be +of great utility. But how can we judge? It +is as yet scarcely out of its swaddling clothes; +and, certainly for women, the promised Millennium +is still far to seek.</p> + +<p>(iii.) The final, and most disastrous mistake +of the feminist leaders was their entire <em>disregard +of Nature herself</em>. It is by this means that +the whole movement has been developed on +a false premiss; for any overdrafts on the +bank of Nature must be repaid with crushing +interest.</p> + +<p>“Only the vote can right all wrongs,” said +the leaders, “and as men used violence to +obtain the vote, women must do the same. +Men pillaged, burnt, destroyed; did evil that +good might come. We must follow their +example.” There is no real logic in such a +claim. A woman simply cannot apply man’s +weapons. Men who riot use fair violence +against other men; whereas when women use +violence against men, they gain an unfair +advantage. When two men fight, it is the +stronger who prevails; against women no man +can strike the death-blow that is in his hands, lest +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>he violate the most sacred laws of his manhood.</p> + +<p>The only “force” a woman may fairly use +against men is to know what she wants and sit +tight until she obtains it. It is, we admit, a +slow process, but it is sure and certain—in fact +the only way.</p> + +<p>What has woman, in fact, gained by violence? +Since man considered she had not given him a +square deal because he could not counter her +violence by his own, he used the only weapon +available—<em>complete indifference</em>. Instead of +meeting man as an associate, woman became +his enemy and his commercial competitor. As +we shall later attempt to prove, woman is not +so constituted, either physically or emotionally, +that she can compete with men. Wherefore +the loss is hers.</p> + +<p>The attitude of distrust, or at least indifference, +thus created in man necessarily reacts on +him. It was responsibility towards his womenkind +that gave him a regular outlet for his +chivalry and the moral backbone he would +otherwise have seldom maintained.</p> + +<p>The lack of organisation in woman’s fight +for independence has injured not only herself +but man.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="II"> + II + <br> + <span class="fs80">THE DRAWBACK OF HEALTH</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">One</span> sometimes wonders whether, if more time +had been given in schools to the study of +physiology, women would have been tempted +to enter upon physically exhausting careers.</p> + +<p>When we examine the complicated but +delicately-made workmanship of the female +body, compared with the simple robustness of +the male, we must seriously consider whether +Nature intended women for their present work.</p> + +<p>People have argued and will always argue +that we have women who are stronger than +men. This we do not deny; but the whole +conformation of a woman’s body goes to prove +that she is not fitted for heavy physical work, +whatever her mental capacity may be.</p> + +<p>Thus it is that all the controversy about the +abolition of a Woman’s Police Force, (which +never existed), makes one wonder why a body +of <em>Welfare Workers</em>, as they really are, should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>want to be called <em>Police</em>, when they are unable +to protect themselves, far less to arrest a man. +Think what a blow in a woman’s chest may +mean! Or a kick! Or a chill at the wrong +time!</p> + +<p>But here again, we have the advanced +feminists attempting to spoil a very valuable +“welfare” cause, by forcing women down a +road which they are not fitted by Nature to +tread. More than this, they can only succeed +as “welfare” workers, when the police become +interested in their work and will protect them, +if necessary, whereas now they annoy the +whole force by taking the title and uniform of +a profession they cannot safely adopt.</p> + +<p>This is how a policeman summed them up. +“God forbid that I should ever want to prevent +a woman from earning her living; but it gives +a fellow a kind of degraded feeling to be asked +to take any woman into the immorality of +Hyde Park at night.” So ought every policeman +to feel, and the whole <em>raison d’être</em> of his +profession goes, when he has to share it with +women.</p> + +<p>When the Great War came, woman had the +unique experience of trying her hand at all +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>work, from the land to the railway station and +the omnibus, and from the counting-house to +the Civil Service. She could then judge men’s +work first-hand. There were no men for the +hard fetching and carrying, so that she had to +do it herself. The general opinion has been +that she proved a remarkably good stop-gap; +<em>but only a stop-gap</em>. The most intelligent +women workers have recognised and owned +this.</p> + +<p>During the War, too, there was always the +patriotic ideal to help one along. Could so +many have toiled day and night had they not +ever ringing in their ears the eternal refrain, +“I am helping to win the War, I am doing my +bit.” It is not just to criticise, then, women +who worked with a zeal and self-abnegation for +which some of them will have to pay, physically +and morally, till the end of their lives. At the +same time, when women ask to be judged for +their war-work according to men’s standards, +they are playing the game of the little frog in +the fable who tried to measure himself against +the ox, and they will suffer as he did.</p> + +<p>And who amongst us has forgotten the +physical strain for even the strongest women? +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>During the war, the bus women used up their +strength and their nerves. They were so +over-wrought that a cross word would produce +a torrent of wrath, and one spoke to them as +seldom as possible. Yet the work is no more +strain on a man than eating his breakfast.</p> + +<p>How can any one pretend that such war-work +suited the women? I remember a +woman porter who took charge of a suit case +for me that few men would have found heavy, +but which I myself could not carry. The pale-faced +porteress soon became too exhausted for +such a load. So I gave her a large tip and +kind words in exchange for her insults; and +under the influence of this unexpected kindness, +she burst into tears. Were not most of our +workers in a similar state of nervous prostration? +Then there seemed no option; but +looking at the havoc that was thus wrought +upon women’s health, one wonders whether it +would not have been better to have imported +coolies or blacks.</p> + +<p>And where is the contractor who will pay for +woman’s work at the same figure as man’s? In +the labour market women must always be a +poor speculation from the physical point of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>view, and so, when equal work means equal +pay, the man, for whom there is less physical +risk, secures the job. Woman must undercut +man, which is economic suicide.</p> + +<p>In office life too the routine work proves a +great strain. Women start off so full of zeal. +They overwork, as they love and hate and take +exercise, <em>always to excess</em>. And the flame of +youth quickly burns itself out. German doctors +have always advocated that to assure safety in +middle age every woman, whether she thinks +she requires it or not, ought to have two +complete days’ rest a month. But how many +can afford this? and what would their employers +have to say?</p> + +<p>And who does not know how easily a +woman’s health is wrecked by poor or insufficient +food? Argue and warn as one may, no woman +who has to choose between clothes and food +would choose food. She cannot, clothes being +a business asset. In short, since we are +summing up the disadvantages of women’s work, +it must be admitted that the question of health +is her chief handicap—a handicap which often +puts her altogether out of the race.</p> + +<p>In the days of primitive men and women, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>they divided their work, as it were, by instinct. +He hunted the wild beasts; she cooked them +and looked after the little savages in the tent. +Neither attempted the other’s task, and yet +to-day, with all her physical disqualifications, +woman is often forced to do the work of both.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the whole situation seems to have +been reversed. Very few women are really +qualified to succeed in men’s professions, yet +often they persist in trying until they break +down, whereas it is doubtful if there is one part +of a woman’s work that men cannot do as well, +if not better than women—though they seldom +care to try! That is to say, though men may +not be good, all-round house-keepers, they +are better at special jobs. As a tailor, a +servant, a chef, a masseur, a hairdresser, a +dressmaker and sometimes even in the care of +babies, they are better specialists than a +woman. In the United States, Chinamen are +found to make excellent nurse-maids.</p> + +<p>When I was crossing the Atlantic during one +of the worst storms of the year, a British officer +took charge of his baby in a fashion that won +universal admiration. Every woman on board, +including his wife, was ill; so the father +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>powdered and bathed, combed and fed the +little thing; yet, when questioned, he owned he +had never done anything of the kind before, or +even watched the operation.</p> + +<p>How many outstanding women painters, +musical composers or doctors, can we name? +In the theatre, where she can keep her sex and +give full sway to her emotions, woman reigns +supreme; though even here sometimes, at the +expense of health.</p> + +<p>Entirely without disloyalty, one must +emphatically declare (for the statistics of the +war are on record to prove it) that, for physical +reasons alone, we cannot rely on women to +replace men in professions, in the business +world, nor as land-workers. They can, very +successfully, supplement men and, temporarily, +replace them, but their physical strength quickly +gives way and their reign must of necessity be +short.</p> + +<p>Then why not give our first consideration to +health? Why attempt work for which we are +not physically fit?</p> + +<p>In the administration of prisons, hospitals, +and work-houses, as poor-law guardians and, +above all, in the home, women can render +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>invaluable service. It seems a thousand pities +for them to neglect these spheres for others +where they are too often foredoomed to +failure.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="III"> + III + <br> + <span class="fs80">BARRED FROM THE PROFESSIONS</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Taking</span> professional careers as a speculation, +i.e., carefully counting the outlay and what it +is likely to bring in, can we deny what a +University woman once said: “With training +at one British and at two foreign universities, +and all our degrees, as well as dancing, singing, +music, painting, riding and other accomplishments, +should we not have been, so far as +actual monetary gain is concerned, better off +had we learnt to stick labels on jam-pots?”</p> + +<p>Look what a barrister’s education costs, and +yet “briefless barristers” amongst men are the +rule, not the exception. Hear what young +barristers have to do and put up with until +they can get their chance. Remember that +some have to leave the thorny road without +securing even a chance. For men, the Bar is +a great career fraught with passionate interest, +but bristling with disappointments. The prizes +are few and far between. What then has +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span>taken woman along that most difficult of +difficult ways? Is it a real love of the profession? +Or is it a vain desire to be amongst +the first interesting few? Has she any real +chance of success at the Bar?</p> + +<p>Some people are inclined to think women +ought to be able to plead for their own sex +better than men—but can they? Have they the +sound logic of the man barrister? Is not his fox-craftiness, +cynicism, and self-possession more +necessary than the fund of emotion which is +her trump card? Perhaps the very qualities +she is relying on to win her case will lose it. +It must be a long while before women can +make a name for themselves at the Bar, for +only <em>super</em> women will ever get briefs. “We +trust women doctors with our lives,” it is said. +“Yes, but you trust the woman lawyer with +your purse!”</p> + +<p>From the first, Mlle. Miropolsky, the +brilliant Polish-French barrister, herself a +woman of unusual intelligence, very wisely +placed a rich barrister husband between herself +and the financial side of life. In any case, +both have exceptional personalities, and are +leaders in their profession.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> + +<p>But would anyone in their senses consider +the Bar as a suitable <em>provision</em> for the average +woman?</p> + +<p>In Medicine, though physically hard on +women, and despite the cost of the long years +of training, there is more chance of success. +To begin with, the East can utilize a great many +women doctors, and in the medical mission field +they have proved their unique worth. +Yet in spite of the war, sex-prejudice has not +vanished, and only women of exceptional +personality can keep a practice together. And +despite all that has been said or written to the +contrary, it will be long before this prejudice +disappears. Her sex is against women here as +in so many other fields of endeavour. When +one recognises how much personality and capacity +public opinion demands from a woman +doctor, and how all her little slips are multiplied +a thousandfold, one sees that medicine can only +be a stop-gap, and that the experiment is +indeed costly.</p> + +<p>In the early days, suffragettes quoted +the father who said: “Had my girl been a +boy, I would have risked the money and +put him in practice; but, with my limited +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span>income, that would be too much to ask me +for a girl.”</p> + +<p>As an investment, medicine for women is +very risky. When the career is completed, a +practice has to be bought. How is her health +to stand the strain? Has she enough courage +and personality to keep up her practice? Surely +most fathers would do better if they used the +money to purchase an annuity instead of +spending it on training.</p> + +<p>Another great drawback to the woman +doctor is the refusal of other women to trust +her judgment. As a confessor, where above +all one would have prophesied her success,—and +every doctor is to a certain extent a confessor—she +often fails. Is it lack of heart and +of understanding, or simply of <em>savoir-faire</em>? +The fact remains, however, that a large +number of women, seeking the mental help +that a doctor so often gives, would unburden +themselves more readily to a man.</p> + +<p>When a man and a woman, both doctors, +work together, the partnership is generally a +success, and not only among married couples. +The friendship of mutual interests, <em>where no love +comes in</em>, often raises both to great heights of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>purpose, and achieves much that is conspicuously +worth while. If one, or both, are +married, so much the better.</p> + +<p>The solitary, spinster-practitioner can have +no secretary in her work. In partnership the +strain is diminished for both, and the patients +feel much greater confidence with a man in the +background.</p> + +<p>The two professions for which, at any rate +in the past, no special training was required, +are journalism and the stage. In these professions +competition is fiercest. It is not +always the best written work which pays; it is +not the most talented actress who wins public +applause. There are hundreds, however, who +love the excitement of trying to find even a +tiny corner of their own in these streets of +adventure, and they are ready to go through +fire to secure it.</p> + +<p>The University of Columbia, U.S.A., has +now a Chair for “Journalism,” which shows +the value of training in this profession. Paris +has a Conservatoire where all their artists are +trained, free of charge, after admission by open +competition. The preliminary work thus entailed, +however, does not in the least diminish +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>the keen competition that we must expect in +professions which hold the chance of such big +possibilities. Yet once more, for both, good +health is absolutely indispensable. The harassing +strain of uncertainty plays havoc with +the finest constitution, and the public, out for +amusement and interest, has no time for waning +or fallen stars.</p> + +<p>The fact is that women are only fitted +constitutionally for certain kinds of journalism. +The office night-work is too exhausting, and +the path of the War Correspondent is one no +woman should seek to tread. There are insurmountable +difficulties all the way, and, speaking +from personal experience, I am convinced that +she can only pull through at all by throwing +herself on the chivalry of men. In the French +army, officers were seriously punished for +uselessly exposing men’s lives; yet in order to +furnish the sensational head-line of “A Woman +in the Trenches,” fathers of families had to risk +their lives to protect her, to my certain knowledge, +over and over again. It ought not to +be allowed.</p> + +<p>In the early Victorian era, teaching and +nursing used to be the two professions for +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>women. They were both badly paid, and if +the school teacher had little or no prestige, the +governess had none at all. Nursing was and +is still done in hospitals for a pittance; private +work is better paid, but the women who do it +tell me they dislike the profession.</p> + +<p>Both teaching and nursing are, however, +vocations, and girls who only take them for +want of something better, do not, of course, +give their best. Yet no work requires women +of more solid character. They have at their +mercy, to make or to mar, the young and the +sick, yet candidates for these professions cannot +be chosen. Neither nursing nor teaching, +taken seriously, is a sinecure, and again robust +health is required for both.</p> + +<p>In the arts, <em>i.e.</em>, music, painting and literature, +training is not enough, and since men +have not only to be put on their feet but “seen +through,” women must also be “seen through.” +Genius, generally speaking, will find its public, +but the arts too frequently mean that lessons are +given for bread and butter. From both the +artistic and financial aspect, however, one +wonders whether such poor results are really +worth while. Things have naturally been much +worse since the War.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> + +<p>The hand-to-mouth, Quartier Latin or Chelsea +Studio existence is all very well as a stop-gap, +for a change or even a picnic; but what of the +future? When is the woman paid enough at +this work to save for her old age. It simply +cannot be done. There is Florence Barclay, it +is true, who made more than enough for a life-time +with one book—and there are other exceptions. +But these are rare enough to be called miraculous.</p> + +<p>In the Middle Ages, teaching and nursing +were done by nuns. They gave their lives to +the community; and the community cared for +them—in sickness, unto death. Nowadays, if +women still give their lives to the community, +a lay community, the community (or the State) +must see that they never want.</p> + +<p>Considering the strain of teaching, the +terrible risks of nursing, and the uncertainty of +women being strong enough to pursue their +work after middle age, they ought not to +be left dependent upon any profession that +does not carry with it the security of a pension; +unless, indeed, they are well insured, and, for +greater safety, insured by the State.</p> + +<p>A profession cannot be abandoned and then +picked up again for rainy days. A woman +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span>will come back, as men have, to find herself +out of date, out of the running. She is +not wanted; her place is taken by younger +women.</p> + +<p>In every profession—the Bar, Medicine, +Teaching, Nursing, or Journalism, woman is +hindered by her physique. It is idle to contend +with the statistics which prove how many +women between forty and fifty break down +seriously, and never get fit again. Even in +partnership with men, where all the risks are +obviously diminished, they must be sure of +provision in case of sickness. Most professions +are good ladders but bad crutches. Under +the present conditions of destructive competition, +they too often prove no more than an expensive +hobby.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IV"> + IV + <br> + <span class="fs80">THE FRENCH BUSINESS WOMAN</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">From</span> long residence on the Continent I have +been able to study at first hand that admirable +person the Frenchwoman in business. What +a power is hers! What would France be without +her!</p> + +<p>There is certainly no need nor any intention +to undervalue Frenchmen; but in France one +sees woman in her right place, holding the +balance of power that follows most closely +Nature’s obvious design. There, on the one +side, is man performing the hard physical +labour which he alone is wise to attempt; on +the other, his partner, woman, with her clear +business judgment, advising, supervising, suggesting, +persuading: never allowing herself to +be carried away by sentiment, but always +looking facts in the face. A very tiger over +her own offspring, she would sell her own soul—or +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>anyone else’s—to save her children; and +for that reason must be met with extreme +caution by the foreigner. Her personal judgments +nevertheless are always based on clear-headed +common-sense.</p> + +<p>Wherefore, despite her large army of mateless +women, France will never be faced with +the “women’s question,” as we know it. +Women in France are, to a large extent, independent +of public opinion: they do not fear +facts.</p> + +<p>Any ideal of “single-blessedness” would not +appeal to them. “It is neither practical nor +natural; why therefore should we pretend +otherwise?” We question indeed if English +women are quite sincere in this matter. “It +is better,” they say, “to be alone than with +the wrong man.” “A strange ideal,” answers +Madame, “how do you know that he <em>is</em> wrong +until you have tried?”</p> + +<p>As the French believe, whatever work a +woman may undertake, she must be man’s +associate and partner; neither his subordinate +nor his rival. Wherefore she gives her daughter +a professional, or business training; <em>and</em> above +all, money. A shopkeeper’s daughter generally +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>marries her father’s most promising assistant. +The business becomes a sort of double partnership, +and most of these marriages prove quite +satisfactory. So if a girl’s father is in the +army she generally marries an officer; if a +banker she will choose a man in a bank. It +is a practical family arrangement seldom +leading women out of their own class. The +disastrous sort of “The Earl and the Girl” +affair, so familiar to us, could scarcely ever +take place in France.</p> + +<p>It is true that France has now a large army +of mateless women, but the greater number +are widows. As widows they are either carrying +on the family business, working in government +posts, or living with their parents. Few, +of their own choice, would set up alone for +themselves.</p> + +<p>In their eyes the English woman seems +always struggling with “so much work for +such small results:” driven to occupations for +which she is not properly equipped. They +would never expect or permit their own +daughters to face the material insecurity +which few of our women workers can avoid. +Here they may swim, more often they sink. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>The Frenchwoman says, “swim by all means +if you can, but first make sure that you never +sink.” A profession or a business is not +enough. The girl must have a home <em>or</em> +money. Mothers who cannot provide all +three will at least insist on one.</p> + +<p>Even a short residence on the Continent +will suffice to show us what sacrifices all +Frenchwomen are prepared to make in order +that the “daughter” may never find herself in +the humiliating position of having no money +behind her, whether she marries or not. I +knew, for instance, a doctor who was killed +in the war before his daughter’s dowry +had been saved up. The widow at once let +her furnished house, and took the position +as housekeeper in a school. She is living on +her husband’s pension; the rest is put by for +the girl. This of course is only one example +out of a thousand. The woman thinks no +work beneath her, or too heavy to undertake +for her daughter’s future. Public opinion +accepts her sacrifice as a mere matter of +course. It is her duty.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, however, our snobbish +attitude towards shop-keepers is unknown in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>France. The woman who sees that she can +do better at business than in a profession, goes +into business. As a rule she succeeds in both, +because she will sink her personality and take +up the position in which she is needed most, +whatever her qualifications for better work. +An expert at embroidery, bodice-making, or +hair-dressing will devote her life to keeping +the books of the family business for the good +of the firm. The woman doctor may be +sighing to make her name as a surgeon or +oculist; but for the good of the practice she +will readily give her mind to research work, +or, if her husband is also a doctor, to writing +his lectures. Her whole career may have its +course changed, but she remains content.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the Frenchwoman never forgets, +or ignores, her real object—<em>permanent security</em>. +They are a race of cautious investors, who will +invest almost everything they possess to put a +child on his feet. They will not make him a +clerk, always subject to dismissal; a secretary, +always looking for better posts. They put +capital, however small, into his business to +<em>establish</em> him there.</p> + +<p>It is for this reason that, at the boot-makers, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>dress-makers, milliners, and elsewhere, you so +continually meet the familiar faces. The +assistants, whether married or not, keep their +jobs until they can face the world with a fixed +income. A few English, and more Americans, +make larger fortunes, it is true; but how many +of us would have the patience to “heap up” +franc by franc, the security which is the great +aim of every Frenchwoman.</p> + +<p>Comparisons are odious, but we certainly +have much to learn from the French business +woman.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="V"> + V + <br> + <span class="fs80">THE LAWS FOR WOMEN—ILLOGICAL AND + INCONSISTENT</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">How</span> strange it is that Englishwomen, who +enjoy a liberty of action their sisters on the +continent regard with envy, should yet be +governed by a code of laws as inconsistent as +they are unjust. From this code were taken +the chief planks of the Suffrage platforms.</p> + +<p>Though the feministic appeal was made first +to unhappy, or dissatisfied women, it was easy to +rouse righteous wrath in all by dwelling upon +the cruel laws to which women in this land are +subjected.</p> + +<p>Tell a woman that “by the law you are not +the legal parent of your child,” and who could +not secure a majority by such an appeal?</p> + +<p>When the “master” is good and kind, the +position of wife, mother, or daughter may be +quite satisfactory. When, however, a woman +is thrown into the grip of these cruel laws, then +Heaven have mercy on her!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> + +<p>Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, because +they might otherwise have been more quickly +reformed, Englishwomen have, to protect +them, the Englishman’s own self-made code, +really of more effect than any law:—simply, +“<em>It isn’t done.</em>” Every British gentleman +bows to the great judge, Public Opinion. +Alas, however, every Britisher is not a +gentleman, and again one asks: “What chance +has a woman when left to the mercy of the +laws of the realm?” Even the Moslems, who +are not supposed to credit women with the +possession of a soul at all, have more consistent +and just laws than ours, and, what is of the +greatest importance, children are always given +a legal status.</p> + +<p>It is astonishing that the British gentleman, +the world-renowned sportsman in the very +highest sense, can stand not only for the +wrongs that are done to unmarried mothers, +but worse still, for the wrongs done to the poor +defenceless beings who come into the world +unasked, and yet suffer all their lives for what +has not been in any way their own fault. +Considering the real nature of that very fine +being, the British gentleman, and a finer than +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>he does not exist on this earth, in comparison +with the men of every other land, one wonders +whether, after all, his attention has ever been +properly drawn to this injustice.</p> + +<p>The laws are so out of harmony with all the +“fairplay” for which he stands. First, taking +woman as a wife. There are far too few +obstacles to prevent her marrying in haste, +and far too many, since these hasty marriages +are allowed, to prevent her unmarrying. One +cannot, perhaps, altogether approve of the +Continental arranged marriage, but there is +certainly something to be said for the wisdom +of a system that demands the parent’s or +guardian’s consent up to the age of twenty-five. +At least it puts off the “evil day”; and gives +the families on both sides time to act. Both +family histories, and both family banking +accounts are carefully examined; and, in most +cases, the State ceremony and service in church +combined are calculated to impress upon +young people the solemnity of the partnership +into which they are about to enter, and the +interests of the future generation it will be +theirs to safeguard.</p> + +<p>Compare these carefully arranged marriages +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>with some of our slipshod, ill-considered unions, +based on pure physical attraction which +naturally cannot last!</p> + +<p>If neither the State, nor the parent, will—or +can—do anything to prevent hasty marriage, +why should the laws for Divorce be so consistently +illogical. They are not only illogical, +but disgracefully unfair. In Italy there is no +divorce—neither the Church nor the State +grants it—so the situation is quite clear; both +sexes are treated alike.</p> + +<p>In France, the State, not the Church, grants +divorce for men and women on equal terms; +that, too, is fair.</p> + +<p>In England, however, <em>the divorce laws do +not help the right class of men and women</em>, +and release is not granted to women on equal +terms with men.</p> + +<p>A frivolous-minded couple, who have rushed +into matrimony without a thought, and have +very quickly had quite enough of one another, +can go through the usual “restitution of +conjugal rights” comedy—disgraceful legislation, +unworthy of our traditions.</p> + +<p>It is the wife of a criminal lunatic or a +confirmed drunkard who has our pity. For +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>her, or the woman tied to a thoroughly +immoral man who tries to lead the sons +astray, there should be permanent relief. +Judicial separation is not a sufficient protection +for the children.</p> + +<p>No thinking woman wants easier divorce +or anything to loosen family ties and lead to +legitimatised “free love.” But even devout +Roman Catholics are now prepared to “use +scissors” for the protection of children. +Handicapped by nature, often the victim of +circumstances, the unmarried mother is always +to be pitied. Although she has the advantage +over the married woman in being the +legal parent of her child, yet for her public +opinion is merciless. From the father of the +child, when she can prove who he is, she gets +a mere pittance; and if, driven to distraction +and temporary insanity, she puts an end to +the little life that began with so much sorrow, +she must stand alone in the dock. Without +defending the woman—God forbid, a little +life is too sacred!—one cannot help asking: +“Where is the man?”</p> + +<p>In summing up the disadvantages of being +a woman, here is one of the greatest. Public +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>opinion and the law defy nature, and by +their cowardly unchristian attitude frequently +drive poor erring humanity to the crime of +infanticide.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the German treatment of this +problem is the most Christlike. Human +nature being what it is, such things will +happen; no legislation can stop them. Therefore, +these children must be brought up as +honest citizens, <em>not as children of sin</em>. The +German “Mothers’ Home,” where no difference +is made between the married and unmarried, +is well worth a visit and might be imitated +with advantage.</p> + +<p>“For every sin there is pardon,” we repeat +mechanically; and yet the British Code puts +the awful scarlet letter of illegitimacy on +defenceless children, and not even the marriage +of the parents can wipe it out.</p> + +<p>One of the most unjust of laws in this realm +is that which allows parents to disinherit +their children. On the Continent this cannot +be done. Children are entitled to one-third +of the parents’ possessions. However worthless, +they are the parents’ “creations,” for +whom the responsibility cannot be evaded.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> + +<p>It is true that some parents give away all +they possess in their life-time in order to +deprive the children of their inheritance. +This is illegal, however, and punishable by +the law.</p> + +<p>There is something very mean in the +attitude of parents who cut off their children +with the proverbial shilling. They are often +influenced by mere caprice, a marriage they +dislike, or a change of religion. Yet whatever +a child has done, is this justifiable? And +surely a daughter who acts in defiance of the +wishes of her parents, needs them all the more +when the predicted day of sorrow arrives. To +disinherit a son is bad enough, but to disinherit +an unmarried daughter is criminal.</p> + +<p>The case of the daughter who does not +marry in order to look after her widowed +father and suddenly finds herself penniless +because the new wife will not let him provide +for her, could not happen on the Continent. +Over and over again one has met these poor +victims. Well over thirty-five, and yet just +starting to work. How can parents be so +heartless?</p> + +<p>On the Continent there is, at least an unwritten +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>law which forces a brother to look after +his sister. No one likes to accept charity from +a brother, yet Continental public opinion deals +harshly with the man who deserts his mother +and sisters in their time of need. It is more +lenient to those who neglect their wives; +children and one’s own flesh and blood, however, +seem somehow to have a closer claim.</p> + +<p>A good brother is the dearest possible pal. +And what a difference his mere existence +makes sometimes in the attitude of his sister’s +male employer. Yet, as many Englishwomen +must admit, their brothers are scarcely aware of +their existence. There has been no quarrel, but +they do not even correspond; he has married +and has new interests. The companion of his +childhood is a memory that cannot even be +kept alive by a postcard.</p> + +<p>Brothers know perfectly well, or if they do +not know they ought to be told, that woman’s +value as she grows older decreases in the +labour market. They have become so used to +sisters helping themselves when they are not +married, or badly married, that they lose +interest: influenced, in some cases, maybe, by +a jealous wife. How bitter the heart-ache of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span>many a “Maggie Tulliver” at the indifference +of “brother Tom.”</p> + +<p>None can deny the injustice of these English +laws. It was said that they would never be +changed until women obtained the vote. As +no thinking worker could uphold such crushing, +humiliating, and dangerous laws, they worked +whole-heartedly for the Vote, and obtained +it. Yet the laws have not yet been changed. +It was then maintained that the Vote was +not enough, women must sit in the House of +Commons.</p> + +<p>What have they done in the House of +Commons?</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VI"> + VI + <br> + <span class="fs80">CAN WOMEN SUCCEED IN POLITICS?</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Can</span> women succeed in politics? It is, perhaps, +too early to say. Suddenly some giant +personality may give the lie to all that could be +said against woman as a politician.</p> + +<p>Meantime, who but Lady Astor could have +been the first woman M.P.? Who but a woman +of her social position, wealth, and personality +could have secured the reception accorded her +by the House of Commons? And who but a +woman—trained in America and as a Christian +Scientist—would have had the courage to take +up a work for which she was not educated; +braving the criticism of the whole civilised +world. But she has done it, and in spite of +serious blunders at the beginning, she has done +it remarkably well. When one remembers her +demoralising wealth, that she had no business +training at all, that she has to rely on her quick +wit for speeches, one wonders what she might +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>not have accomplished had she been through +the professional mill.</p> + +<p>But will she really help women at Westminster? +Has she really their cause at heart? +Can she understand them? Certainly she belongs +to that fine school of American idealists +who want to make great reforms. Only, to do +these great things, you must understand them, +and can she understand women’s needs, who +has not herself been in need? She has a +chance to help women, such as no one else +has ever had, or may have again. Will she +take it?</p> + +<p>The cause of the working woman will always +be well championed. Besides, the poor can +beg; professional women cannot. On their +way to independence some women have +found sorrow and humiliation and suffering +at every corner, but to whom will they ever +confess?</p> + +<p>Lady Astor was certainly not very successful +in her attitude towards divorce. Had she studied +the question sufficiently? Possibly not, and +that was the reason. She supposed the thinking +women of England were trying for <em>easier +divorce</em>, not <em>reformed divorce</em>, and who could +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>blame her for wishing to keep out of England +the “easy divorce” laws of the U.S.A.</p> + +<p>As a professional working woman, Mrs. +Wintringham ought to be able to give the +professional woman’s point of view with much +more understanding than Lady Astor. Her +speeches are commendably brief and to the +point, but the public usually prefers personality +and social standing to the highest, technical +qualifications. It is, indeed, another very +great point in Lady Astor’s favour that she has +no axe to grind. The constituents who elected +her because she is Lady Astor, will elect her +again; whereas, with other woman candidates +we have yet to find out whether they will put +their own personal interests before their cause.</p> + +<p>There was a time when one supposed women +would clear up politics as they cleared up a +dirty house. But are they more to be trusted +in politics than men? A woman comes out of +Labour ranks; as she gets on, she becomes +socially ambitious, then she throws her party +aside. Men have done it over and over again; +they call it “evolution,” and women no doubt +will say the same.</p> + +<p>The few women who are likely to sit in +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>the House of Commons can make <em>very little +difference to the constitution</em>, and it might be +wiser for women to use their vote for forcing +men on to their side, and so making sure that +their wishes are carried out with regard to +Bills with which they are particularly concerned. +Women and children’s laws need +reform so badly; is it safe to rely on future +women M.P.’s? It is true that we have not +yet had any bills framed by women for women; +they may be master-pieces of statesmanship. +Let it be said meanwhile that at least they +could not be worse than the existing man-made +laws.</p> + +<p>The danger of trusting women in politics, +comes from their lack of <em>esprit de corps</em>, yet +the very <em>raison d’être</em> of their being in +Parliament is to protect and help other +women; to uphold other women’s interests. +But see how they run their clubs! No men’s +clubs are conducted on such lines. The best +of them cannot choke that Mothers’ Meeting +spirit, which shows itself at the most unfortunate +moments. And the meetings are often conducted +in the most unsportsmanlike manner. +Over and over again a woman in the Chair +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>will close the meeting if the feeling is going +against her party, or her speaker cannot +answer questions.</p> + +<p>Individual women are magnificent; but to +trust them collectively is futile as yet. Either +from ignorance or from something in woman’s +nature, somehow or other she so often seems +to let other women down. We have said +that Lady Astor, if she really cares to understand +the professional woman’s point of view, +could be of the greatest service to the women’s +cause.</p> + +<p>Outside the House of Commons, however, +the women’s cause has suffered a great deal +from the rich and titled women who annex it +as an interesting hobby, draw up impossible +charters for women, hold drawing-room +meetings, agitate and drive their hearers on +much faster than they ever ought to attempt +to go. As one of the victims said: “I wish +she would talk less, and offer us instead a good +meal.”</p> + +<p>There is not this terrible gulf of misunderstanding +between rich men and professional +men. Not even a workman would have his +interests meddled with by people who have +neither the right nor the capacity to interfere. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>They would very soon send Lord X. about +his business, if he addressed them as his +wife once addressed a women’s meeting. +Stretching her pretty Paradise-plumed head +out of her magnificent sable furs, she said: +“Twopence is quite enough to spend on a +meal; one penny for a packet of pea soup +powder, and one penny for margarine. It +makes a most delicious soup. I give it to my +guests.” The pearls she was wearing would +have fed a whole community for a long time +on a much more substantial menu than two +penny-worth of pea soup.</p> + +<p>Another lady of great wealth advised a +typist, earning only one pound a week, and +forced to live on bread and cheese with a cup +of tea, to “cut out the tea; it is indigestible. +One good meal of bread and cheese a day is +<em>excellent</em>; that is my régime.”</p> + +<p>What is the use of answering such cruel +folly by talk of sisterhood and democracy? +Are they not mere idle words? Have we +advanced one step since Marie Antoinette +asked her historic question, “Why are the +poor crying because they have no bread; can +they not eat cake?”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> + +<p>There is no more fascinating, or useful, +study than Foreign Politics. See what a conscientious +student can learn in its train—history, +geography, foreign languages, the literature +and the psychology of different races. Then +comes the longing to visit foreign lands, to see +and judge their civilisation, and to understand +them through their art and music. What +better League of Nations Study-circle can +there be than this?</p> + +<p>And now, when in spite of conferences and +meetings and reunions, the great cry is “less +Europe and more England,” is there any +chance for a serious study of foreign policy? +The papers give us less and less foreign +news; and how then are we to stimulate the +great cosmopolitan spirit which ought to +awaken a new breath of life?</p> + +<p>If only such women as Lady Astor would +revive the political “Salon,” where the great +statesmen of the world could meet and discuss +the affairs of nations, they might surely +accomplish more for humanity than as members +of Parliament?</p> + +<p>Those wise old French <em>salonières</em> who have +passed into the realm of history, could no +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>doubt have secured direct representation. +They had no such desire—and therein showed +their wisdom!</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VII"> + VII + <br> + <span class="fs80">SEX IN WORK</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Some</span> women workers are curiously inconsistent. +They have declared that sex shall not on any +account enter into the business world. They +cut off their hair and dress themselves as +nearly as they dare in men’s attire; yet they +deliberately put a <em>feminine label</em> on their work.</p> + +<p>Why the label? Is it lack of sex confidence, +or is the work so weak that it must trust to +that label and beg for mercy?</p> + +<p>Take the title of “Women Journalists.” +What does this suggest? Either an agency +for supplying articles on dress or cookery, or +a group of women banded together to demand +their professional rights. As neither is meant, +the term is misleading. And why should a +journalist, whether man or woman, want to +belong to any but a Society of Journalists?</p> + +<p>It is the same with the Women Artists. +Why the label? At the Leipzig Palace of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>Women’s Work in 1914, the work of one +artist drew everyone’s attention, and presumably +she was a woman, since the Society had +taken her to its bosom. Her pictures of +Berlin’s underworld were so powerful, that +they gave birth to all kinds of important +prison reforms. But what was she doing in +that anæmic assembly? Kathie Kollwitz was +her name.</p> + +<p>Her idea in allowing her work to be labelled +“woman” was to help other women. Alas, +how often the Christian spirit achieves the +precise opposite of its intention! Kathie +Kollwitz’s work, rather than helping women, +killed by its superiority any chance of appreciation +others might have secured. The terms +artist, writer, author, musician, actor, professor +and doctor should be used for both sexes. Work +must be judged regardless of sex, or it is not +worth judging at all.</p> + +<p>Yet however much we protest against the +label, sex is there all the same. Lifeless work +is sexless work. Sex is like fire, water, and +the other vital things of life, a great power +when properly dominated. At the same time +its legitimate use in art, as in life, is too +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>subtle a weapon to be flourished recklessly +as we stumble over the rocks of progress.</p> + +<p>In the world of workers, sex often makes +difficulties in business relations. It is for men +to judge exactly how a woman handles the +men under her control. Towards other +women she is often the hardest task-mistress, +when not actually unkind and unjust. In +her search after the tiny flaws in a piece of +work, she loses the great spirit of the whole. +Her values are wrong; for this reason it is +dangerous to give average women the final +word.</p> + +<p>It has been said that men put up more +readily with incompetence than women. But +this is not quite the case. They are more +patient and more indulgent, and they take +the trouble to judge from all round. The +most aggravating little imperfections may +well be balanced by some sound practical +efficiency which, in the business eye of an +employer, cancels all other faults. He +knows he cannot expect perfection, and is +content.</p> + +<p>Women are not so much exacting as +unreasonable. With the exacting one can +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>deal; but not with the unreasonable. In business +the terms <em>unreasonable</em> and <em>incompetent</em> +are synonymous. In time, no doubt, women +will learn to take broader views of life and +will acquire sense of proportion. The question +of kindness to their own sex will thus adjust +itself, but in the meantime only a very limited +number of them are <em>big</em> enough to employ +others: which obviously means much unnecessary +suffering for the workers.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, relations between men +and women in business are not always easy. +A woman may be allowed to take positions +of such importance in the office that she will +shake the whole foundations of business; +which is obviously unwise.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, a man will often take +advantage of a woman in business and find +her an easy prey, just as he makes a good +bargain for himself with a less wide-awake +rival, without any offence to his business +conscience; or if, under the influence of a +smile and pearly teeth, he make a bargain +that he regrets when thinking it over, he +will soon find a means for catching up the +pretty incompetent. Sometimes, again, a feeling +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>of pity for a woman fighting life’s battles leads +him to do things for her he would never dream +of doing for a man. Alas! how many business +careers have been wrecked on the rocks of +sympathy.</p> + +<p>The much criticised <em>impresario</em> is not the +only sinner. Wolves in sheep’s clothing are +to be found in every walk of life, and the very +harmless act of accepting a lunch from an +employer may swing the business relations +on to entirely the wrong footing. After that, +it is too late.</p> + +<p>A woman who has business dealings with +men must train herself to be two personalities—official +and private. The more she is accustomed +outside the office to being her own sweet self, +the more must she school herself to leave the +charming female on the doormat, and convert +herself into a shrewd business woman who wants +all her wits about her to conclude a bargain.</p> + +<p>The woman in business who allows a man +to take any but a business footing with her, +must lose, <em>the odds being against her always</em>. +By not putting her foot down at once, she finds +herself quickly out of things altogether, with +no chance of return.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p> + +<p>There are, of course, many trying feminine +types in business. For example, there is +the woman who wants to be treated with +18th century courtesy. When asked why he +objected to women lecturers, a secretary of +a big society replied: “We hate being discourteous, +but we really have not time to meet +women at the station, dine them, and look +after them. A man looks after himself. You +will say a woman ought to do the same. Well, +she does not. You can’t let her. A woman’s +a woman....”</p> + +<p>A very distressing type of worker is the +one who, having signed a contract, wants to +get out of it directly a better offer is in sight. +This happens too frequently. She knows very +well a man would have to pay heavy damages +for doing such a thing. So she plays the +feminine note, and the employer is cornered. +All he can do without scandal is to cut his +loss and get rid of her as quickly as possible. +But his whole attitude towards women becomes +filled with distrust, and the innocent have to +suffer in consequence.</p> + +<p>Once women learn to work more as +the associates of men, these uncomfortable +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>questions of “sex” will necessarily to a large +extent disappear. But at the present moment +they must unfortunately fill a large space in +any attempt to sum up the disadvantages +under which women work.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII"> + VIII + <br> + <span class="fs80">IS FEMININITY AT A DISCOUNT?</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Femininity</span> is a disadvantage to the +professional woman, first of all, because it is +expensive, and secondly because it takes up too +much time.</p> + +<p>If the hours spent trying on dresses, hats +and other items of the wardrobe were presented +in the form of a bill, one may wonder how +many feminine existences would have a life +balance at all.</p> + +<p>Some women make dress their life work, +the planning of their clothes and going out to +show themselves in them, dominating all else in +their minds. While others, the workers, are +sighing for just a little more time, mostly to +keep themselves neat and tidy. Life does +sometimes seem out of proportion.</p> + +<p>The subject of dress in a professional +woman’s life is a vexed problem. How is she +to find time to attend to her wardrobe? A +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>short while ago, I saw a woman at the club +sipping hot water. She owned she was +banting. “I’m getting fat,” she said, “too fat +to be stock-size, and that would be a calamity. +Where can I find time to wear any but ready-made +dresses?”</p> + +<p>Yet unreasonable as it is to wear lace cuffs, +collars and blouses which require constant +washing and ironing, what true woman would +give them up? Laundry bills are too heavy, +so these things have to be done at home, and +the already long day must begin an hour +earlier, probably at six instead of seven. And +how much time is squandered sewing on buttons, +mending, and other things. For a woman +suffers when she feels all her garments are not +in order; those unseen, as well as those seen. +Whilst the man worker goes off to tennis, +cricket or football on Saturday afternoons +without a thought of the clothes to be mended +for him by some female hand, the woman +worker stays at home to do her tidying +up herself.</p> + +<p>Although the final result is often quite as +satisfactory as when the work is done by a +woman, there is something pathetic in the sight +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span>of a male using a needle. He holds his +garments in such awkward, though mathematically +correct, positions, and the table is his +thimble. Nothing more quickly arouses the +maternal side of a woman than the sight of a +man with a needle. “Has he no woman to +look after him?” is the question which comes +instinctively. And, in the same way a chivalrous +man will ask, “Has she no man to take care of +her?” when he sees a woman wearing herself +out in an office.</p> + +<p>People may argue as they like; the old +primitive division—man the hunter, woman the +tent-keeper—is the natural order of things. +Will the world’s mind really grasp any other? +It is true that women workers are to be seen +everywhere in England, but, as one witty +woman said, “their real work has to be done +out of hours.”</p> + +<p>“However severe the orders given my +servants to leave me to work undisturbed,” +said Flora Annie Steele, “just when I am +wondering how I can best kill off my hero, the +cook comes in to tell me she has no lemon.” +Such a thing would never happen to her +husband were he the writer of books.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span></p> + +<p>Another woman, the editress of a big woman’s +paper, tells me she leaves home to this tune—“the +pipe has burst,” “the gas is out of order,” +“the ceiling is leaking,” and then more of these +important items are sometimes communicated +by telephone to the office during her busiest +days. All this side of life, of course, is kept +from a busy man. He has to think only of his +work.</p> + +<p>Knowing, as she does, the time that clothes +take to keep in order, knowing that long hair +means at least an afternoon to wash, and +always constant attention, a feminine woman +defies all reason and somehow makes time for +these things. And so it is with the care of her +house or flat. She could live in lodgings or +have a corner in a hostel, but she cannot bear +the atmosphere that is not of her own creation. +She must therefore have a place of her own. +The whole of her income probably goes on +the upkeep of her home; she cannot afford +a servant, she cannot even really afford a flat +if she looked into the future as a man looks. +But she will have it. From an outsider’s point +of view, one wonders where the pleasure comes +in. She begins the day by getting her own +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span>breakfast, and having worked in an office all +day, she returns to shop and sweep and dust +and sew, or to cook and wash up for friends +when they come to spend the evening. “It’s +silly, I know,” said a bachelor woman, “I’m +always having to draw on my sleep capital, but +I couldn’t stand “apartments,” and I’m not +going to try.” Were women really intended to +live in this way?</p> + +<p>Seeing then the time that femininity absorbs +in a woman’s career, can we not understand +those who cast it aside for ever? They cut off +their useless hair, buy substantial masculine +boots with low, flat heels, and dress themselves +as nearly as they dare in the comfortable, ugly +fashions of men.</p> + +<p>From the artistic point of view the result is +often deplorable. It needs a brave woman to +be seen in such clothing, except at a carnival; +but for the work they have to do perhaps male +attire is more consistent.</p> + +<p>Such clothing, however, convenient as it +may be, tends to unsex the wearer. No longer +feminine, unable to be quite masculine, she +becomes a <em>neutral</em>, and her real friends, male +or female, are few and far between.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> + +<p>I shared a cabin, crossing the Atlantic, with +one of these “neutrals.” Except for a very +short skirt, her garments were all masculine +until the evening when, remembering her +original sex, she extracted some rings from +a grandmother’s pocket somewhere in her +nether garments, and at the same time allowed +her femininity to go the length of wearing +lace stockings, without ceasing, however, to +don her major’s coat. Such a woman would +probably never do any great good nor any +great harm, and, supposing she had sex, it +could easily be transmuted to her work.</p> + +<p>This type, nevertheless, gets a perfectly +square deal from a man employer. “With +such a woman as a business associate or a +secretary, I can treat her like a man,” said +a member of Parliament.</p> + +<p>Probably this type of woman would be +excellent on a jury, even a jury to try a +murderer. But to ask some women to sit on +juries is next to a crime. It is not at all in +their line of thinking. They would be much +happier buying silk stockings and leaving this +grim and complicated subject to men or to +other women of tried experience.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> + +<p>In the question of juries we have another +example of the part being made greater than +the whole. For one woman who can be of +any real use in a police court, a hundred are +no good at such work, at least until they have +learnt to be more just to their own sex, and +more balanced in judgment. No woman +should sit on a jury against her will.</p> + +<p>Face to face with two million superfluous +women, perhaps the “neutral” may offer a +solution, who can tell? They work mechanically, +like the bees, and judging the +work, one forgets the worker.</p> + +<p>But it was neither as a hybrid nor through +any male mentality that Mme. Curie succeeded +in helping her husband to discover +radium. It was the feminine quality of her +mind that was of such great value. And +when he was killed in the most stupid of +street accidents, that female mind became +sterile until the day when she found a +substitute for the great masculine mind at +rest.</p> + +<p>George Eliot, before she met George Lewis, +was no more than a competent journalist. +With the assistance of his mind she wrote +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span><em>Adam Bede</em>. Without him, would her novels +have ever been produced?</p> + +<p>And the hybrid can never be good for the +community. It may be convenient for us to +ask women to give up their femininity, but the +sacrifice is too great. It is marking her with +the same gender as a table.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IX"> + IX + <br> + <span class="fs80">PIN-MONEY WOMEN</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">After</span> health, women’s great obstacle in work, +comes the pin-money woman. There must be +something fundamentally unnatural in a system +that makes women disloyal to one another, yet +it is pin-money women who are the hardest on +those who must work.</p> + +<p>When the proprietor of a girl’s magazine can +obtain a Girton Honours student as editor for +thirty shillings to three pounds a week; or +when another University graduate, with five +years linguistic training in Germany, France +and Italy, will work in a Government office +for three pounds a week, how is the woman +who absolutely depends on her own efforts to +compete with her? Thirty shillings is the +price of a none too luxurious room in London, +without a meal; it is, therefore, very wrong of +qualified women with enough to live on, to +accept three pounds a week. A competent +woman secretary may be satisfied with one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>hundred and fifty pounds a year, because she +has a handsome allowance from her father so +that she need not live with her step-mother. +She has two incomes. Work keeps her from +getting bored and gives her a certain <em>raison +d’être</em>. But it is her low salary that helps to +kill all possibility of women’s work being taken +seriously.</p> + +<p>Apply for the post which Miss X. has given +up for another hobby, and ask for a living +wage. You will be stared at in amazement. +“Miss X. with her exceptional qualifications +did it for so much,” they say, “we must find +another Miss X.”</p> + +<p>How do pin-money women come into existence? +And why do they increase? “It +is useless having more than one or two +daughters at home,” says the father of four +daughters. “Supposing my daughter can earn +only one hundred pounds a year, that will keep +her in clothes and pin-money and save me that +amount in allowance.” But her work cannot +be considered either a career or an independence. +She does not even supply her own +“bread and butter,” whereas most of the salary +of the serious worker goes on that alone.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> + +<p>The head of the house supposes, and continues +to hope, that his daughters will marry, +and his responsibility come to an end. With +this in view, he thinks that a little office experience +will do her no harm. It will teach +her at least the value of money. And so, year +in, year out, the army of pin-money women, +marking time, make it more and more impossible +for those who must work to earn their +living. One sometimes wonders whether these +pin-money women have any idea of the sorrow +and hardship they bring to other women; only +the wearer feels the shoe pinch. The amateur, +who is not forced to work and can give it +up at any time, so easily becomes slipshod. +Hence arises the tendency to class even the +best women’s work as amateur.</p> + +<p>Amongst those who are making the professional +woman’s career more difficult, we can +now also count the Society women.</p> + +<p>The number of Society women who, since +the war, have pushed their way into literature, +art, films and the business world, is bewildering. +It frequently means that the poor girl, who +naturally cannot compete with the beautiful +and much advertised fine lady, has to serve as +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>“ghost” and rewrite the Countess’s articles, +for which she gets a mere pittance. The +Countess is paid for her name: and the +“ghost” must submit, as she knows that +hundreds of other women are ready to take +the work.</p> + +<p>In business there may be nothing against a +combination by which the Countess X supplies +the capital and Miss X does the work. Men +lend their noble names to help along financial +schemes, and women may do the same, if only +a fair share of the profits be allowed to the +worker.</p> + +<p>One must admit that nowadays many Society +women are out to make money, and generally +succeed, thus doing far less mischief than the +pin-money women who are qualified to make +money and yet work for a pittance.</p> + +<p>There were days when the middle-class +professional worker was considered the backbone +of the nation. Are those days past?</p> + +<p>Democracy, with its blundering fingers, has +shuffled the cards so badly that it is difficult to +see where things will right themselves. It is +as useless to sigh for the days when a countess +was a countess, and an actress an actress, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>a worker a worker, as to weep for the fine men +of England who are asleep amongst the +Flanders poppies. No competent worker fears +competition; lack of competition means stagnation. +There is a great difference, however, +between <em>competition</em> and <em>under-cutting</em>, which +is what the pin-money women are systematically +creating. Competition builds the edifice, +under-cutting makes it fall. And no words are +sufficiently harsh for the amateur worker who, +to avoid <em>ennui</em>, does not hesitate to ruin her +poorer sisters, actually lowering men’s wages +in the process, and—indirectly—forcing more +women into the labour market. There is great +importance in the distinction between the +woman who works in collaboration with her +husband, and the woman who works to help +keep the household. The latter is always a +dangerous experiment, and one which often +ends in the wife having to keep the whole +house. When a woman is able to earn +money, the man so easily falls into the habit +of letting her do it, till gradually his efforts +become slacker and slacker and he often leaves +off working altogether. <em>An energetic, wage-earning +wife always demoralises a man.</em></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span></p> + +<p>An able-bodied man who allows his wife to +keep the family is a poor being; yet in these +days of women’s work, it is becoming more +and more frequent, the energetic, clever woman +attracting a weak, lazy type of man. Women +ought to let men understand from the first +that husbands are responsible for the family +expenses. In the day of misfortune, of course, +normal rules do not apply.</p> + +<p>At the same time, the married worker may +be as great an obstacle to the single woman +as the pin-money woman. Under the shelter +of her husband’s roof, she can do work for a +comparatively low figure which must injure her +less fortunate rival.</p> + +<p>Work has been done from mere vanity! In +fact, as one man said about his wife’s work: +“One requires a really large income to be the +husband of a literary woman.”</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="X"> + X + <br> + <span class="fs80">WHAT IS WRONG WITH MARRIAGE?</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">Pages</span> have been, and always will be, written +about love and marriage, or marriage without +love, or even marriage as a profession. All +the roads of romance lead that way, all +sorrows spring from its wrong vibrations, or +because it never came. Whatever may be +written or thought to the contrary, marriage +will always remain the woman’s vocation.</p> + +<p>When one sees a worn-out, middle-aged, +woman taking notes at some tiresome political +meeting and knows that she still has to write +her report before she can struggle home in the +small hours of the morning, one asks: “What +has she gained, morally or financially? Would +she not be far better at the fireside mending +stockings?”</p> + +<p>We have set out, one by one, the disadvantages +under which women labour in the different +professions they have taken up. What, after +all, is safer or better than matrimony?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span></p> + +<p>Not, however, the matrimony of our grandparents, +but matrimony on the basis of <em>moral +partnership</em>.</p> + +<p>In the past century, when the wife was a +kind of head servant and obeyed the master +without questioning his authority, matrimony +ran on easy enough lines. Now, when modern +woman has a distinct personality of her own, +unless both husband and wife have a high sense +of duty and a feeling of partnership in the family +they have created, their home-life cannot be a +success.</p> + +<p>And yet, with all its imperfections, on what +better arrangement can they co-operate?</p> + +<p>We have admitted that exceptional women, +with unusually good health, can succeed in the +professions, but certainly the majority are, both +physically and morally, best fitted for married +life. All the emotional qualities of women, the +worrying over details, the love of order, the +forgive-and-forget process of training children, +are home virtues. The qualifications for +success in business are entirely different.</p> + +<p>And, for our generation, noting the moral +upheaval and depravity following the war, there +was never a time when clear-thinking women +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>of high principles were more needed in home-life. +There was never a period when young +men had more need of the one love that will +never betray them—the mother love.</p> + +<p>We in England have so much that could +never be found in France, but we now need +to learn a few lessons from France with regard +to family life.</p> + +<p>Most unfortunately, the literature of France +seldom depicts French home-life. Frenchmen +read novels that, in frank contrast to their lives, +scoff at marriage and extol adultery. Are +we not, alas, following in the same tragic footsteps? +It is more tragic for us, for we have +not the same critical balance. Sentimental +natures like ours do not reflect, and thus easily +digest the tainted food which the French are +critical enough to analyse. Those who have +lived in France know that the Frenchman +loves his home. It is his one ambition to have +a home and family, and for this ambition he +can depend on encouragement and support +from all.</p> + +<p>The English marriage system may be +idealistic, but is it practical? The French +system, with the bride’s dowry, has often been +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span>criticised and condemned, but there can be no +question that on the whole it is far better for +the bride. It is said that in France a man +marries a woman for her dowry; which is +sometimes true. Here, however, he often +cannot marry for lack of it, which is worse. +Just one or two hundred pounds a year which +the French mother begins to collect when the +daughter is born, and scarcely misses herself, +would hardly tempt mercenary suitors, yet it +makes all the difference to the girl. The +provision of a dowry is rightly considered a +sacred duty. To allow a daughter to marry +without something of her own is looked +upon as a disgrace, and even the poorest +<em>concierge</em> finds the wherewithal for her girl’s +dot.</p> + +<p>But apart from the fact that this small +standby is an encouragement to early marriage, +it raises the wife to the position of a “partner,” +and as a partner she naturally has a right +to know exactly how the household works. +“I haven’t the least idea what my husband’s +position is,” English wives have said. “I +spend my allowance, but perhaps I ought not—who +knows?” Imagine her feelings if her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>husband should suddenly announce that he is +a bankrupt. She has contributed without +knowing to the general useless expenditure. +That could never happen in France where the +woman takes her full share of management.</p> + +<p>The French system differs from ours because +money is given at the time of the daughter’s +marriage instead of at the parent’s death, when +it is often only half as valuable as it would have +been in early life. Either the couples have +married and set up for themselves, struggling +along in a crippled way for want of a little +extra money, or the young man, not daring to +risk life for two on his first earnings, has +married less happily than he would have done +in earlier manhood.</p> + +<p>Above all, a sense of humiliation prevents +many women from marrying. Rather than be +utterly dependent on a man, they prefer to +work for themselves. “You feel so cheap +taking a salary as if you were a housekeeper.” +In a struggling or unhappy marriage, where +too often the man resents every penny he doles +out, the position is heartrending for a woman. +Some, ashamed of not contributing to the +home and unable to make ends meet out of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>their small allowance, supplement it by adopting +a profession. This may help, but as already +suggested, it often leads to all sorts of complications.</p> + +<p>Girls should be encouraged to marry young, +though not too young. It is dangerous for +them to have gone too far on the road of +independence, for success may make them so +“difficult” in their choice that they wait too +long and do not bother to marry at all. +The Turkish proverb: “Friendless still he +remaineth who demands a perfect friend,” +may prove a wise warning in the matter of +choosing a husband.</p> + +<p>In an Empire like ours, where many of our +young men have to emigrate, and cannot afford +to take a wife out with them, there would be +many obvious advantages in some system of +dowries.</p> + +<p>No French mother would let her son go to +the end of the earth without a wife to look after +him. She knows, “it is not good for man to +be alone.” Nor does she relish the idea of +daughters left to “wither on the virgin thorn.” +Perhaps, even, she considers the daughter’s +case more seriously than the son’s. For she +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>has made up her mind that matrimony is not +only the most natural, but the only path for +a woman, and she leaves no stone unturned +to bring about a marriage. Friends help, the +family confessor helps; the conspiracy is an +open secret, and no one thinks any the worse +of her for her scheming.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the best and happiest marriages +are those arranged by brothers. When a girl +marries her loved brother’s best friend, it is the +safest way of making assurance doubly sure.</p> + +<p>Between the too cautious system of the +French and our careless methods, there ought +to be a happy mean. We have been arguing +by extremes. Could we not compromise and +secure the advantages of both methods?</p> + +<p>We have advocated early marriage. We +who love children know what it means for +them to have young parents. Early marriage, +however, is a danger, unless the family ties are +tightened. Would Englishmen and women +ever take their mothers into their confidence, +and act on advice, as the French do? Yet +every great virtue has its own defects, +and very often the Frenchwoman’s great +love for her son will tempt her to cripple his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span>best interests both in marriage and in his +career. She may spoil his career by keeping +him in France where he does not obtain either +experience or promotion. She may force him +to marry “well” when his heart is elsewhere, +though an understanding and unselfish mother +generally chooses a better wife than he would +have found for himself.</p> + +<p>There was a time when every Englishman +scorned the idea of a dowry. Now, though +not actually applauding the system, they do +fall in love more easily with the daughter of +rich parents, and, in these hard times, who can +blame them? A woman naturally resents +being married for money; but we have never +seen any signs of rejoicing in those who have +been left penniless in the hands of the best +husband. That is more humiliating, not less.</p> + +<p>The greatest advantage of the French +system, which provides something for both +husband and wife, is that a young couple <em>can</em> +marry, and their children will have the immense +advantage of young and healthy parents. +How, in these hard times for professional men, +can one of these afford to marry before he is +nearly forty, and this often results in his wife +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>being left a young widow with a family, the +children without the moral and material support +of the father when he is most needed.</p> + +<p>It is only a small sacrifice that these French +parents make in slowly and steadily saving +money for their daughters, and it seems incredible +that for want of similar unselfishness, this +country should eventually abound, as it must, +in destitute women.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="XI"> + XI + <br> + <span class="fs80">THE FUTURE</span> + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="smcap">What</span> is to be the Future of the army of two +million superfluous women?</p> + +<p>We maintain that, with few exceptions, the +vocation of women is matrimony. But where +are all these two million to find husbands? +Certainly not in England.</p> + +<p>From time to time, the papers are full of +the need for women in our colonies:—Rhodesia, +Western Canada, or Australia. But +does such a need really exist? Why cannot +some thoroughly competent and trustworthy +woman be sent out on a mission to these +places—as the <em>Daily Mail</em> quite recently sent +one of its men representatives—to investigate, +and produce a reliable report of all the facilities +for emigration? It is idle and dangerous to +pursue such ideas blindfold: we need exact +figures and precise facts.</p> + +<p>If there is work in the colonies for our +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span>women, why not send them out? If there <em>are</em> +men there wanting wives, the rest will follow +as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>When we read what the first Puritan +colonists of America endured and suffered, and +how the women battled along beside them, we +need feel no fear of what Englishwomen can +do when put to the test. In the fight for home +and children woman stands out supreme. Who +knows what a marvellous tale of love, adventure, +and real heroism, a new exodus might call +forth? But we must know the truth. Are +women really needed in the colonies, or are +they not?</p> + +<p>Every woman has the right to some goal in +life. She was not born to vegetate; and +where the vocation of husband and children +is lacking, a field of sufficient interest to absorb +her whole life must be found. What about +the Church? Or some other form of work in +the service of Humanity?</p> + +<p>Every student of human nature knows that +great insatiable longing of one being for the +special sympathy of another, the two making +one perfect whole. The Roman and Anglican +Churches have expressed this instinct under +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span>the simile of Christ the bridegroom and the +nun or sister, His bride. This Union between +God and man is perhaps the only one that can +replace the wonderful exclusive tie between a +man and a woman. How many women who +buried their “one man” in the battle-fields of +France, have found their consolation in +Heavenly Union and taken refuge from the +world in the service of humanity with the +protection of the veil?</p> + +<p>In Protestant England, however, the convent +does not mean what it means in Latin +countries, yet England assuredly needs women +to labour for the certain benefit of their sex. +She wants another St. Theresa, without her +delusions. But where is she? Certainly not +in the ranks of the women who would drive us +to the Bar and the House of Commons. Nor +amongst those who would send us back to +crochet in our mother’s drawing-rooms.</p> + +<p>Help must come from the religion of <em>practical +service</em>; and who knows whether if women once +gain a broader and saner outlook, they would +not do fine and noble work in the pulpit. They +must be chosen, of course, with the greatest +care, or more harm than good will be done.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p> + +<p>If only there were more of us like Miss +Maud Royden, a broad-minded, deep-thinking, +human woman, who can do only good wherever +she goes.</p> + +<p>We do not want the “shrieking sister” type. +We want women who will preach that human +nature is neither foul nor base, but a noble, +beautiful thing; that men and women are +neither angels nor beasts, but just men and +women in sore need of help.</p> + +<p>The non-conformist Church, too, should +make room for more women in its foreign +missions; and what a fine field there is for the +trained nurse as Florence Nightingale conceived +her. To-day the mere ‘paid’ nurse is +a different being altogether, with few, if any, +of the qualities of the pioneer. Too often she +is neither working in God’s service to relieve +suffering, nor straining her mind and strength +to learn the laws of health. Florence +Nightingale’s religion was her work. But +where are her disciples now?</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, there is a practical side to the +Service of Humanity. It simply cannot be +done without organisation and support. The +“Sisterhood” provides this. Sister Leonie, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>working day and night in the St. Lazare +prison, Paris, could not be tortured by the +material worries of daily life. What a waste +of effort that would have been, disturbing the +work of service as she prays with and comforts +her penitents.</p> + +<p>Everywhere, in fact, and whatever their +work or their mission, <em>provision for the Future +must prove to be Women s real problem</em>. At +present there is no sphere open to her in which +the returns are substantial enough to allow +of saving. Those who feel the Call may be +freed from such anxieties; but where there is +neither a home nor an income to depend on, in +business or professions that do not carry with +them an adequate pension, <em>some kind of insurance +must be devised by the State</em>.</p> + +<p>This is obviously a big question needing +most careful thought. To-day, indeed, we +must feel serious doubt whether women can +place any real dependence even on the home +and the family. Times are hard, and society +is unstable. At any moment revolution or +anarchy may sweep away, through no fault of +our own, whatever provision the most prudent +of us have been able to make.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p> + +<p>There can, therefore, be no doubt that the +Economic Insecurity among women is a grave +problem. It may lead anywhere—to suicide, +immorality, or crime. The matter is too +serious for delay. All single women who have +passed the age of thirty should now be included +in some scheme of <em>National Insurance</em>. The +other disadvantages, however great they be, +are actually dwarfed before the monster terror +of no money in our old age—or in times of +sickness. True, there are old age pensions, +there are charities for distressed gentlewomen, +but no self-respecting professional worker can be +beholden to these. We ought not to allow it.</p> + +<p>Finally, as one who stands whole-heartedly +for progress, may we not once more ask what +is the use of a femininism that preaches hatred +of the other sex, or a desire to exercise the +wearing—for women, tearing—professions of +men?</p> + +<p>Man, with his better-balanced brain and uncomplicated +physique, fills us with awe. See +him at his magnificent work of building +bridges, stemming rivers and piercing +mountains, conquering Nature inch by inch! +Woman can help his work and complete his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span>life, but she may not enter into competition +with him.</p> + +<p>Let her not deceive herself: in spite of +women in Parliament and other signs of +advanced femininism, she has not gone very +far. What she needs now is more humanity, +more commonsense, and some of the Latin +charm. If she works as man’s antagonist, she +will be beaten back steadily.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90"> + <em>Male and Female created He them.</em><br> + <em>And a little child shall lead them.</em> +</p> + +<p>There, in a nutshell, is the truth.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <p class="center no-indent wsp fs150"> + . From A. M. PHILPOT’S LIST . + </p> +</div> +<hr class="rdouble"> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90">BLUE BOOKLET, VOL. I</p> + +<p class="center no-indent">THE</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">FALLACIES <em>of</em> SPIRITUALISM</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By A. LEONARD SUMMERS</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">2s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp fs90">SOME EARLY REVIEWS</p> + +<p class="fs80">“This booklet is an extremely able and interesting criticism of a craze that has become +wide-spread with the most pernicious results. The writer does not limit himself +to an account of the sensational frauds that have been exposed on both sides of the +Atlantic, but he analyses the evidence of Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir A. Conan Doyle, Mr. +Vale Owen, and other distinguished spiritualists, with merciless severity and very +great acumen.”—<em>Freemans Journal.</em></p> + +<p class="fs80">“Lucidly written, and without bitterness, Mr. Summers makes out a good case for +the ‘against’ in this little book.”—<em>Glasgow Citizen.</em></p> + +<p class="fs80">“As a popular indictment, Mr. Summers’ pamphlet is likely to make considerable +impression. It remains for his opponents to offer as succinct and well-documented +an answer.”—<em>The Times Literary Supplement.</em></p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90">BLUE BOOKLET, VOL. II</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">PSYCHIC PHENOMENA IN THE +OLD TESTAMENT</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By SARAH A. TOOLEY</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">2s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p class="fs80 no-indent">Scenes and occurrences in the Old Testament, so familiar as to have lost +their real significance, are here described in a way that will be of +extraordinary interest to the psychic student of to-day.</p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90">BLUE BOOKLET, VOL. III</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">MORAL POISON IN MODERN +FICTION</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By R. BRIMLEY JOHNSON</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">2s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p class="fs80 no-indent">The truth about certain new theories of morality, taught in some +modern novels, assumed in others, and to some extent already put in +practice by young readers, frankly and carefully examined, with an +exposure of their probable evil influence. Extracts from novels by well-known +writers give point and interest to what amounts to an unhesitating +condemnation.</p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent fs120 wsp"><em>NEW BOOK BY TROWARD.</em></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;">THE HIDDEN POWER. By <span class="smcap">T. Troward</span>. With frontispiece +portrait of the author. Uniform with author’s +Complete Works. Crown 8vo, cloth and linen, 8s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p class="fs80">This important volume, which includes practically all Troward’s unpublished +manuscripts and magazine articles, concludes the series of books on Mental +Science by an author who was described by the late Archdeacon Wilberforce as +“one of the greatest thinkers of our times.” It is significant to note that these +books, beautiful in their sustained clearness of thought and style, are now +included in the curriculum of societies, clubs and classes devoted to the study of +Mental Science.</p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent"><em>Complete List of the Series.</em></p> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +1. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">THE</span> EDINBURGH LECTURES ON MENTAL SCIENCE. Crown 8vo, cloth and linen, 6s. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +Mental Science defined as the proper understanding of Livingness, based on the + distinction between Spirit and Matter, i.e., Thought and Form. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +2. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">THE</span> DORÉ LECTURES <span class="allsmcap">ON</span> MENTAL SCIENCE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +An exposition of the relation of the Individual to the Universal Originating Principal + of the Cosmos—the Mind of God. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +3. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">THE</span> CREATIVE PROCESS <span class="allsmcap">IN THE</span> INDIVIDUAL. Crown 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +A study of spiritual evolution which, the author maintains, is but another aspect + of physical evolution. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +“<em>No thinker should be without this book.</em>”—The late Archdeacon +<span class="smcap">Wilberforce</span>. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +4. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">BIBLE</span> MYSTERY AND BIBLE MEANING. Demy 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +Troward here proposes that “we shall re-read the Bible on the supposition that Jesus + and these other speakers <em>really meant what they said</em>, which is a startling + proposition from the standpoint of the traditional interpretation.” An illumination + for those who seek to render the older theology into terms of modern science. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +5. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">BIBLE</span> PROPHECY, 1914-23. Crown 8vo, paper, 1s. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +An arresting pamphlet upon the Great War; providing clues to prophetic utterances + of the Bible concerning the Time of the End. To-day <em>is</em> the End of the Age. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +6. +</td> +<td class="tdlx"> +<span style="padding-left: 1em">THE</span> LAW AND THE WORLD. With a Foreword by <span class="smcap">Paul Derrick</span>. Crown 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d. net. +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlx"> +</td> +<td class="tdlx fs80"> +In this posthumous volume, Troward formulates a final statement of his beliefs after + long investigation and profound study in the field of Mental Science. +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<br> + +<hr class="rdouble"> +<p class="center no-indent bold">A. M. PHILPOT, LTD., 69 Great Russell Street, W.C. 1</p> +<br> + +<p class="no-indent wsp"><em>TWO WORKS OF GENIUS</em></p> + +<p class="center no-indent">VOL. IV of <span class="bold">Les Fleurs de France</span>.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">THE CRYSTAL COFFIN</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By MAURICE ROSTAND</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">6s. net.</p> + +<p class="no-indent">An amazing first novel by the son of the author of <em>Cyrano de Bergerac</em>.</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">“It is written in the form of a diary in which the author narrates his soul-corruption +by a life of luxury and incessant pleasure until, finally, he commits suicide on his +father’s grave in a mood of remorse....</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">There is veri-similitude throughout. We see the leading figures of French life +crossing the stage; often Rostand himself stands revealed in the intimacy of this +diary. While one is inclined to resent an exposure so candid, from which the father +emerges still greater, it is true that the recorder has not spared himself....</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">A bare outline of the tragedy gives no conception of the fascination of this +astounding volume. Throughout one cannot separate fact from fiction, history from +imagination, and everyone asks, ‘How much of this is the real Rostand?’ It is a +book of astounding candour, of merciless introspection, with passages of sheer +lyricism....</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">As a first volume and a <em>roman à-clef</em>, <em>The Crystal Coffin</em> is something new in the +experience of the reviewer. It is undeniable evidence of a case of inherited genius, +and it seems probable that the man who could write this book will create such works +that he will be independent of the fact that he is his father’s son.”—<em>Liverpool Courier.</em></p> +<br> + +<p class="center no-indent">VOL. V. of <span class="bold">Les Fleurs de France</span>.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">THE FOSTER MOTHER</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By ERNEST PÉROCHON</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">6s. net.</p> + +<p class="no-indent">A poignant story of the conflict between Mother Love and the power +of the showy, heartless “Vampire Girl”. It is not often that a work +of genius is “everyone’s book,” but this simply-told story of country +life is also an exquisite piece of writing which gained the much-coveted +Prix Goncourt, 1920.</p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">“A tragedy so poignant and so free from sentimental dilution is a truly fine +achievement.”—<em>Times Literary Supplement.</em></p> + +<p class="no-indent fs80">“The story is worthy of comparison with big things.”—<em>Manchester Guardian.</em></p> +<br> + +<p class="no-indent"><em>ALL ABOUT PARIS RESTAURANTS</em></p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs150 wsp">PARIS À LA CARTE</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs120 wsp">Where the Frenchman Dines and How.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp">By SOMMERVILLE STORY</p> + +<p class="center no-indent fs90 wsp">Author of <em>The Spirit of Paris</em>, etc.</p> + +<p class="center no-indent wsp bold">4s. 6d. net.</p> + +<p class="no-indent">A book of great interest and value to all who visit Paris or are interested +in French cuisine. In a series of sparkling sketches, the author +describes the different restaurants, past and present, night and day, +their specialities, habitués, etc., and there are chapters describing the +preparation and origin of the best-known French dishes, the apéritif +hour, the chief French wines, and everything connected with the +subject.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter transnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak bold fs150" id="Transcribers_Notes"> + Transcriber’s Notes + </h2> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +Pg 14 Changed: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +the instrument of the Millenium +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +To: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +the instrument of the Millennium +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +Pg 14 Changed: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +the promised Millenium is still far to seek +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +To: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +the promised Millennium is still far to seek +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +Pg 26 Changed: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +women doctors, and in the medical mission-field +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +To: +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +women doctors, and in the medical mission field +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +</div> +<br> +<br> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78463 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78463-h/images/cover.jpg b/78463-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4f5037 --- /dev/null +++ b/78463-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78463-h/images/title.jpg b/78463-h/images/title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb685f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/78463-h/images/title.jpg |
