VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS BY MARY A. LASELLE AND KATHERINE E. WILEY Instructors in the Technical High School, Newton, Massachusetts WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MEYER BLOOMFIELD Director of the Vocation Bureau of Boston BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY flilierslbc press Cambri&0e Ifp COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY MARY A. LASELLE AND KATHERINE E. WILEY PREFACE THE object of this book is to give to young girls, and those responsible for the guidance of girls, some definite information as to conditions of work in the more common vocations. The facts were secured, with the cooperation of the Vocation Bureau of Boston, from many sources: the superintendents of large department stores, the director of a school of salesmanship, the man- agers of several manufacturing establishments, the head nurses of city hospitals, the principals of technical, trade, textile, and commercial schools, the manager of a telephone school, the head of a department of household economics, several librarians, state, city, and town school super- intendents, have all furnished information in regard to work in the several vocations; teach- ers, nurses, cooks, milliners, dressmakers, and employees in stores, factories, and telephone exchanges have also given many facts as to con- ditions of work. The book has been written by two teachers who have worked with many young people, and their hope is that it may help girls, who must make their way in the world, to find the work for which they are best fitted by natural ability and by training. 331085 iv PREFACE The authors desire especially to express their thanks for information, criticism, and advice to Professor Henry W. Holmes, Harvard Univer- sity; Professor Carl H. Grabo, Chicago Uni- versity; Professor James Q. Dealey, Brown University; Dr. Frank E. Spaulding, Super- intendent of Schools, Newton, Massachusetts ; Mr. Walter A. Hawkins, Manager, Jordan Marsh Co. ; Mrs. Lucinda W. Prince, Director, School of Salesmanship, Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston; Mr. Frederick J. Allen, Vocation Bureau of Boston; Mr. Irving O. Palmer, Principal, Newton Technical High School ; Mr. Otto Fleischner and Miss Alice M. Jordan, Boston Public Library. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION By Meyer Bloomfield vii I. FOREWORD i II. SALESMANSHIP 5 III. STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING . . 14 IV. THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR .... 26 V. WORK IN A MANUFACTURING ESTAB- LISHMENT 3 VI. COOKING 40 VII. NURSING 44 VIII. SEWING AND MILLINERY 49 IX. THE MODERN TEACHER 54 X. KlNDERGARTENING AND THE MONTES- SORI SYSTEM 61 XI. LIBRARY WORK 66 XII. DOMESTIC SERVICE 73 XIII. THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME ... 79 XIV. VOCATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL . 87 XV. VOCATIONS PLUS AVOCATIONS .... 91 XVI. THE SUCCESSFUL GIRL 97 XVII. STATISTICS ON VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS. 102 XVIII. FAMOUS WOMEN WORKERS 105 XIX. CONCLUSION. . .,..108 vi CONTENTS APPENDIX WHAT GREAT AUTHORS HAVE SAID ABOUT WORK in QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 119 BIBLIOGRAPHY 130 OUTLINE 133 INTRODUCTION THAT two teachers, busy with the profes- sional demands of a large high school, should, on their own initiative, have undertaken the labor of the present volume is significant. Long detached from the influences which have been changing industrial processes, busi- ness management, working conditions, and the demands upon the resources of the individual worker, the public schools have within the past decade found themselves hard-pressed fora truer adjustment to contemporary life. The fact is unquestioned that the traditional schooling of the average boy and girl has not enabled them to fit satisfactorily into modern working-life. The entrance into the common employments by a large number of our school- children has caused serious misgivings concern- ing their futures, both as citizens and as bread- winners. Our schools have been without that necessary contact with their economic environ- ment which would make them fully responsive to the fundamental demand for efficient liveli- hood. The average employer, also, has been ill- prepared to cooperate most effectively with the viii INTRODUCTION public school in meeting this demand, or even to grasp in a large measure the deeper social purposes underlying the vocational movement in education. In the main it has been wholesome, doubtless, for the school to receive criticism from men of affairs ; and a proof of our educational vitality is the response which has been experienced by the vocational education and the vocational guidance movements, both of which give pro- mise of a more socially profitable cooperation be- tween school-life and working-life. Now that the aims of vocational training are better understood, and perhaps more wisely advocated, there is seen the need of individualizing our educational programs in order to meet the basic differen- tiations in child capacity, the varying pur- poses, needs, and probable life-pursuits of the children. That preparation for life to which education of whatever kind presumably dedi- cates itself can satisfy the restlessness of youth, in its reaching out for a share in the activities surrounding it, only by genuinely reflecting the concrete interests of life. The movement for training youth for efficient self-support is materially sustained by a grow- ing effort to safeguard that training for the child's continuous welfare. What if we do pre- pare our children for working-life ? Are -we sure INTRODUCTION ix that we have then served the child, the employer, and society each to its best advantage ? To an- swer this question, as far as possible, educators, through the methods and viewpoint of the voca- tional guidance movement, have been scrutiniz- ing the forces which have challenged them to be more practical. There is deep concern that the child, trained and fitted for life, shall find fulfillment of his best in the work he undertakes. The schools can be more practical only on con- dition that the occupations shall be more ideal. In the interest of both school efficiency and work efficiency, therefore, the vocational guid- ance service has come into being. The authors of this book have rendered ser- vice of a kind which we shall find more common as teachers grow increasingly discontented with mere classroom contact, unillumined by knowl- edge of what the world outside is doing with the children who have passed through their hands. The problem of helping the girl to prepare herself for a successful career, while at the same time enabling her to shape her life for her traditional home functions, is at once a delicate and difficult one. The considerations in a girl's choice of a vocation are necessarily more com- plicated than in the case of the boy. These essentials have not been lost sight of in this book. x INTRODUCTION For the elementary school the book will pro- vide fascinating material for classroom work ; as a reference book, it will supply advisory mate- rial for those who can be persuaded to go on with their training in order to become eligible for employments far more profitable than those open to the untrained fourteen-year-old girl. The high school, because of the vocational motive which the present volume will stimulate and the vocational information which it provides, will be aided to render that service, which has been described as " the primary social function of all education." " Since an individual's greatest capacity for service and for happiness," Profes- sor Hanus reminds us, " depends on the discov- ery and cultivation of his permanent interest and real abilities, the pupil's gradual self-rev- elation is one of the most important functions in secondary education." To the social worker and that increasing number of vocationally alert officials connected with Young Women's Christian Associations, child-welfare agencies, public libraries, and other institutions, this book will be a valuable addition to the all too few instruments now at hand for helping our young people to find both a life and a livelihood in the work of the world. MEYER BLOOMFIELD. THE VOCATION BUREAU BOSTON VOCATIONS EQK G1E1S FOREWORD ONE has only to stand during the early morn- ing hours in the waiting-room of a station in a large city and observe the thousands of young working- worn en who arrive on every incoming train, to be impressed with the fact that much of the work of that great city is in the hands of these competent-looking young girls. In appearance the most of them are alert, energetic, well-dressed, and prepossessing. The exceptions to those described above constitute a very small percentage of the entire number. They are exceptions which only prove the rule. The vocations in which these girls are en- gaged are many and diverse. Probably the greatest number of these women are clerks and saleswomen in department stores; stenogra- phers, typewriters, and bookkeepers make up a large percentage of the total; teachers, dress- makers, milliners, seamstresses, factory girls, nurses, and many others are found in this work- ing-women's army ; an army whose equipment 2 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS is ehar'acterj native^ ability, training, and experi- ence. " Th'Q r Tslze.- of these crowds of working-girls leads one to think of the great competition in the world of work and of the large number of applicants for each desirable position ; and this thought leads to that of the training' of the worker. The look of efficiency, of consciousness of mastery, of self-satisfaction, and even of joyous- ness on the face of many of the girls in the hur- rying throngs makes one think hopefully of the training that the most of these young persons have received for their vocations, a training which enables them to take constant delight in their daily occupation. And then one's thought turns regretfully to the girls who are not found among these effi- cient-looking young women, either because they were " misfits " in their chosen vocation, or were unfit for it because of insufficient training. One thinks, too, of the better adjustment pos- sible between the work and the worker, if the employer as well as the young employee ana- lyzed more carefully the requirements and op- portunities of each position. It is only in very recent times that much thought has been given to the vocational train- ing of girls. Many an energetic and ambitious FOREWORD 3 young woman has failed to achieve success in her work because her choice of a vocation was an unwise one. To choose her lifework wisely a girl should know a good deal about her own nature ; her innate powers, talents, and disposi- / tion ; her strong and weak points. She should also know many facts in regard to the work upon which she wishes to enter, in order that she may decide upon her fitness for that voca- tion and the desirability of tne vocation. Now it is a well-known fact that oftentimes a girl doesjiot understand herself as well as do other persons who are greatly interested in her; and it is another well-known truth that it is quite common for a girl to drift into an occupa- tion of which she knows little. The need of helping young people to get into the right work in life is now so fully recognized that vocational guidance is made an important part of the work of many public schools, and great good is being accomplished in that way. A glove or a shoe that does not fit well pinches and irritates the wearer, and this con- dition may be taken to illustrate in a small de- gree the chafing and irritation of a person who has entered upon a vocation for which she is not fitted : the stenographer who should have been a nurse, or the teacher who should have been a dressmaker. 4 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS It is a singular fact that many girls enter upon their lif ework without having given it more thought than they would bestow upon the pur- chase of a hat or the plans for a summer holiday. To test this matter six young women were recently asked why they entered upon their re- spective vocations. Miss A, a typewriter, replied, " All my chums were in this work." Miss B, a teacher, "It was respectable work and sure pay." Miss C, a dressmaker, "My mother thought it was the best work for me." Miss D, a nurse, " I became a nurse because I love the work." Miss E, a salesgirl, "It seemed to be all that I could find to do, as I had no special training." Miss F, a factory girl, " I needed money right away and could not spend the time to prepare myself for better work." It is hoped by the writers of this little book that it may help to give to each girl reader a good start towards the lifework in which she will be most contented and efficient. II SALESMANSHIP WHILE the work of a salesgirl often appeals to the young girl of no particular talent, the girl who must earn money but who has not shown any especial aptitude for housework, sewing, cooking, care of children, skill in manip- ulating textiles or machinery, store managers are searching more and more for the alert, in- telligent girl who can be trained to become a high-class saleswoman. For this type of girl the store offers a fairly good position. She must be neat, not uncouth in appearance, and should have good health. For such a girl, if she is trustworthy, ambitious, and persevering, the de- partment store offers a position that will lead to better ones. At the present time the better class of de- partment stores have schools of salesmanship in which natural talent and thorough work are noticed and rewarded. Salesmanship is becom- ing a profession in which character, skill, tact, and energy bring as great financial and other rewards as they do in other lines of effort. It is difficult to make general statements in 6 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS regard to the question of the salary of a sales- girl, as department stores differ as to the mini- mum and maximum wage paid their employees; although the larger stores do not differ greatly in this respect. The amounts given here are approximately the average salaries paid by the largest depart- ment stores in an eastern city. As will be ex- plained, some stores, in addition to the fixed salary, offer a commission on sales that exceed a certain amount, and many stores offer a small commission on all sales during the holiday season. In the city mentioned above, one large store has very successfully developed a system of co- operation which gives to the employees the power of making rules under which they work. The result of this system has been great prosperity for the management and exceptionally satisfac- tory conditions of work for the employees. Few stores have developed this method of manage- ment, but the conditions in department stores are becoming more and more favorable for the employees, because of an awakened public con- science and the influence of certain high-class stores. A girl may enter a store in the lowest of the minor positions, a marker. Accuracy and speed are the qualities most in demand here, and the SALESMANSHIP 7 pay is small, four dollars to eight dollars per week. The next step would be to take care of stock. This is a better position, and the girl is now in line for a salesgirl's position. The pay is about the same as that of a marker. The cashiers and bundle girls examine goods to be sent out, remove tags, and examine sales- checks. They must not become confused when a great number of parcels and sales-slips are before them, and they must handle these very rapidly. Next comes the salesgirl's position. She re- presents the store, and should feel her respons- ibility. Her manner of approaching the customer oftentimes robs the store of large sales. Possi- bly a customer enters a store intending to buy some neckwear and a valuable coat and some furs. As the neckwear is usually on the street floor, she naturally stops at that counter. If the salesgirl there is indifferent or rude, the cus- tomer becomes indignant and leaves the store without purchasing the coat and the furs. An intelligent salesgirl must know her stock thoroughly, and she should know human nature. She must be tactful and helpful. Some custom- ers need much help in making a decision, while others resent such assistance. The salesgirl should study her customer and say just enough 8 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS in regard to the goods to arouse a desire for them. If she forces the wrong article upon a buyer, the goods will be returned, and this is an expense to the store. If many goods are re- turned, the fact counts seriously against the standing of the clerk. The salesgirl should be eager to meet the wishes of the customer. If the article desired is not in stock, she should quietly suggest something to take its place. We will suppose a lady wishes to purchase a black silk apron, and there is none in stock. The salesgirl could suggest a mohair apron and show its points of superiority over the silk one. The clerk must get from the customer (i) attention, (2) interest, (3) desire, (4) decision. If the girl is inattentive or indifferent between the third step, desire, and the fourth, decision, the sale will be lost. Then, too, the saleswoman must not show new goods only. The older goods must be brought forward and made desirable. She should not say to the customer, " Shall we send this?" as that means an expenditure to the store. She should say, "Will you take this ? " The salary of a competent saleswoman ranges from six to twenty dollars per week. She should sell one hundred and fifty dollars' worth of goods each week to receive six dollars. Many stores offer a commission on sales in excess of this amount. Then, if a girl sells two hundred SALESMANSHIP 9 and fifty dollars' worth of goods she receives eight dollars. The next step is to be made Head of Stock. This work consists in taking care of the stock of the department and keeping it moving, ar- ranging for bargain sales, etc. The salary for this work is from fifteen to twenty-five dollars. Then comes the Assistant Buyer. This per- son attends to special orders and receives from twenty-five to thirty dollars. The highest position is that of the Buyer. This person must have the nerve and judgment required to take great risks. Each department is run as a separate store, and great responsi- bility rests, therefore, upon the buyer of goods for the department. In these days there are many women buyers, and the salaries are good, ranging from one thousand to ten thousand dollars per year. In New York, a number of women are receiving five thousand dollars a year for doing this work. Among the supposed disadvantages of a girl's life in a store are the long hours, the constant standing, the strain of handling vexatious cus- tomers with constant tact and courtesy, the knowledge that one may be dismissed without warning, and the fear that in the large number of clerks one's work will be overlooked. We might say in regard to these disadvan- io VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS tages that the hours are no longer than those which the teacher or other professional worker gives to her work, and as the law in several states now requires seats for employees, the amount of work done in a standing position is not greater where the law is enforced than that of the ordi- nary domestic worker, and the energetic, am- bitious girl is not likely to be overlooked. If she is, she has only to call upon the manager with her sales-slips in order to convince him that her sales are out of proportion to her salary. The opportunity afforded in a large store for the study of human nature is one that is of great value to any person. The sharp-eyed saleswoman soon learns to distinguish between the real and the false, the genuine and the shoddy. All sorts and conditions of humanity pass before her eyes each day, and she learns something from each specimen. Her most important lesson is the one of values. To be sure, the young girl often makes mistakes and is prone to base a judgment upon surface conditions. The writer notices, for in- stance, that when she wears, upon a shopping expedition, a street suit that is of excellent ma- terial and cut, she is treated with more consid- eration than when attired in a rainy-day suit. It must be said, however, that salesgirls are not the only persons whose estimate of a stranger is based largely upon clothing. SALESMANSHIP n The better-class stores are realizing more and more the importance of more efficient clerks. The personality and the efficiency of the indi- vidual clerk is the greatest factor in the pros- perity of the store. As has been said, the larger stores now send their new employees to a sales- manship-school during a part of the day. In one large city there is such a school, and the larger department stores send their clerks to it for three hours a day four days in the week. The clerks receive six dollars a week while in the school. They are taught how to sell goods by means of actual demonstration sales in the school, and they receive instruction in textiles, fabrics, and design. They are taken to different mills to study the manufacture of fabrics, and to the Art Museum to study design. A summary of the work of a salesgirl would seem to indicate that for a girl of energy, am- bition, good physical health and character, the work promises fair rewards. There are few pro- fessional people almost ne-^woroen who re- ceive so large a salary as do a considerable num- ber of women buyers in the large city stores, though these positions are relatively few. Then, too, many of the employees of the higher grades in the better class of stores are socially on a par with professional people everywhere. A very modest little gentleman has stood for 12 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS many years at a certain counter in a high-class city store. One Sunday the writer noticed this man collecting the offertory in one of the largest churches in the city. It was found that he was a warden of that church, and that he and his family were persons of importance in the social life of the suburb in which they lived. He pos- sessed a large library and was a recognized au- thority upon local history. A salesgirl needs to have an avocation which will broaden and deepen her intellectual life. She should mingle with people of wide interests, and by reading, social intercourse, lectures, and other agencies prevent herself from falling into the rut of mere clerkship. She will be a better clerk as she becomes more of a woman of in- fluence in the community in which she lives. The day of the silly, indifferent, freakishly attired salesgirl seems to be passing, and the era of the intelligent, skillful, energetic, ambitious saleswoman is just opening. The advent of this better time is welcomed by scores of shoppers, and still more eagerly by the owners and man- agers of our large stores. Here, as everywhere, "there is always room at the top." Public-spirited men and women, individually or through organization, are cooperating with the best types of stores to make department- store work represent good conditions, fair treat- SALESMANSHIP 13 ment, adequate pay, and high standards of ser- vice to the customer. There are good stores and poor stores ; stores in which the moral tone of the management and employees is high, and others in which it is not. No girl should remain as an employee in a store in which the physical conditions en- danger her health or the general atmosphere contaminates her soul. There are high-class stores in which the managers are seeking for girls " whose armor is their honest thought," and in such a store the faithful, energetic sales- woman can find satisfactory and lucrative work. Ill STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING THE occupation of a stenographer is in many respects one of the pleasantest of occupations open to girls, and for that reason many girls seek to become stenographers who are not adapted to the work. Let the prospective steno- grapher ask herself in all seriousness whether or not she has the necessary qualifications for a successful stenographer; and if the answer is in the negative, let her resolutely seek some other field of usefulness, for why should she attempt the impossible, why should she try to " fit a square peg into a round hole " ? If her spelling of believe, principal, principle, judg- ment, oblige, and other words in common use often does not accord with that of Webster, let her at least until the reformed spelling has been more generally adopted refuse to spend her time in learning shorthand. If she is weak in English, and through and thorough seem to her to be synonymous, and she is capable of transcribing from her notes, "the epidemic stud- ies of my high-school course," let her confine her attention for a still longer time to the aca- STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 15 demic studies, for the study of shorthand will avail her little. Ability to spell and a work- ing knowledge of the English language, these are the fundamental requisites for a successful stenographer, requisites so obvious that it seems hardly worth while to mention them ; and yet many a girl enters a commercial school and pays the head of the school for a year's tuition who will never make a successful stenographer because she is and always will be a poor speller, or because she has but a meager command of the English language. Beyond these obvious re- quirements it may be said that a stenographer, more than persons in most other occupations, needs to start with a good education. No one should attempt to become a stenographer until she has completed at least a high-school course or its equivalent. There is a commercial course in most high schools now, and shorthand can be taken up there at the same time that the student is obtain- ing a general education. If, however, shorthand is not taught in the high school, or if it seems advisable to postpone the study of stenography until after graduating from the high school, care should be taken in the selection of a com- mercial school. Beware of the school which promises a practical knowledge of the subject in a short time, six weeks or three months. 16 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS The number of profitable occupations which can be learned in six weeks is certainly very limited, and the kind of stenography which can be put to practical use in a business office can- not be learned in that time. Probably a school year of ten months is the average amount of time required when no other subject except shorthand and typewriting is taken. Beware, too, of the school which promises positions to all graduates. Usually this promise is a delu- sion and a snare. The schools which advertise to do this and which carry out their promise place their standard for graduation so high that it is only the girl of exceptional ability who grad- uates, and such a girl would have no diffi- culty in obtaining a position in any case ; for, notwithstanding the cry that the business is overcrowded, the demand for competent steno- graphers exceeds the supply. The graduates of a school are the school's best advertisement. If they find places, and, better still, keep them, it is reasonable to assume that they have been well taught and that the school is a good one. The well-established business schools give a thorough and practical training, and the grad- uate from such a school is sure of employment, for she is able to perform the work for which she is hired. There are numerous systems of shorthand STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 17 in use. The greater number of these are Pit- manic systems, so called because they are mod- ifications of the system invented by Sir Isaac Pitman. There are also a number of light-line systems (so called because none of the charac- ters are shaded). These are of more recent adoption, but have been tested by the busi- ness world and are not found wanting. On the whole, one cannot go far wrong in selecting any system which has stood the test of practi- cal work ; therefore, let the selection of a sys- tem be secondary to the selection of a school for a good school will not be encumbered with a poor system of stenography. One of the advantages of the study of short- hand is the number of possibilities open to the good stenographer on the completion of her course. Of all these possibilities, perhaps work for the Government is the most attractive to the beginner, for that is a field in which she is on the same plane as the experienced worker. To enter the Government employ, both she and her experienced sister must pass the same ex- amination. This examination usually requires : " (i) Copying on the typewriter of (a) a plain copy ; (b) correction of rough draft ; (c) tabula- tion ; and (2) transcription from dictation at the rates of one hundred words per minute, one hundred and twenty words per minute, and one 18 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS hundred and fifty words per minute (optional). In some examinations a test for low speed of eighty words per minute may be given. Tran- scription from dictation will be marked on ac- curacy, speed, technique, spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling." 1 The examination given by the United States Civil Service Com- mission is similar to that given above. The dic- tated matter is given at the rates of eighty, one hundred, one hundred and twenty, and one hun- dred and forty words per minute. At the con- clusion of the dictation, the competitors are required to transcribe the notes of the eighty- word test and of any one of the exercises dic- tated at a higher rate of speed. A position in a business office is the position which most stenographic students expect to attain. These positions are many and varied. There is the position paying but little, say six or eight dollars per week. In such a position usually all the employer requires is to have some one to answer the telephone, to take charge of the office during his absence, and to write a few letters. This is easy and pleasant work for the girl who wishes to earn a little spending-money, but there is little chance for advancement, and the young stenographer who 1 Quotation from a pamphlet issued by a State Civil Service Commission. STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 19 enters this type of office is seldom able to fill a more lucrative position later on, even if an opportunity offers. If it becomes necessary for her to make a change, she finds she has not increased her ability as a stenographer, but, in- deed, has rather lessened it, and is not as well fitted to fill a more difficult position as she was on the day she left school. Sometimes, however, a girl enters an office for six or eight dollars a week with the distinct understanding that the regular pay for the posi- tion she is to fill is ten or twelve dollars, and that she will receive that amount as soon as she becomes sufficiently familiar with her duties to be able to earn it. This is a most excellent ar- rangement, for no one is able to fill a fairly dif- ficult office position successfully during the first few weeks. In such a position as this there is generally plenty of work for the stenographer, not only shorthand and typewriting, but all sorts of routine office work is likely to come her way, and a knowledge of bookkeeping and the ability to write a good business hand will not come amiss. Such positions as these, paying from ten to fifteen dollars per week, call for good stenographers and quick and accurate operators of the typewriter. They are desirable positions, and there is a chance for growth in them, and an increase of skill is apt to be re- 20 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS cognized by an increase of salary, for em- ployers realize that capable stenographers are hard to get. The office positions paying more than fifteen dollars a week often require no more skill as a stenographer than those paying ten or twelve dollars, but the stenographer in such a position must be a woman of exceptional character. She must be willing to assume responsibility and be willing and able to take the initiative if circum- stances require it. Indeed, the stenographer who would make a success of her work should never shun responsibility; rather she should welcome it. We hear a good deal nowadays about the position of private secretary. The position of private secretary to one of the head men in a large corporation is a well-paid one, and it is generally filled by the advancement of some stenographer in the office who has shown marked executive ability, who has proved herself quick and accurate as a stenographer and typist, and above all who can be trusted not to talk about her employer's affairs, for the position of pri- vate secretary is essentially a confidential one. Not only must she be an expert stenographer, but given the subject-matter she must be able to write letters without dictation. She should possess tact, a good memory, and busi- STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 21 ness ability ; for she will need ail of these quali- ties in order to fulfill her chief duty, that of relieving her employer of minor details. Still another field open to the capable short- hand writer is that of public stenographer. This work requires exceptional ability in shorthand, speed on the typewriter, and a wide fund of gen- eral information, for the public stenographer is called upon to take dictation on a great variety of subjects. Her success financially depends both upon her ability and upon the location of her office, which should be where there is a de- mand for the services of a public stenographer, a building in which there are many lawyers' offices is usually a desirable location. Some- times an arrangement is made, whereby a law- yer, who has but occasional need for the services of a stenographer, gives desk-room in his office in exchange for the writing of his letters. The position of public stenographer in a hotel is a profitable one, but it requires a stenographer of unusual ability to fill it. A stenographer in a large summer hotel is able to live during the summer in a beautiful location and earn a sub- stantial salary at the same time. Within a few years the needs of the times have given us the work of the social secretary. She is employed to assist the busy woman of affairs, sometimes a woman of society, some- 22 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS times a woman who is interested largely in pub- lic matters. Her duties are, to keep track of her employer's engagements, to write her let- ters, often without dictation, to gather data for matter on which her employer is to make a report, to see to the issuing of invitations for any social function which her employer gives, in short, to look after details in order that her employer may be free to give her mind to larger matters. The position requires the exer- cise of much tact and judgment, and to hold such a position one must be of pleasing person- ality as well as an expert stenographer. The positions mentioned thus far have been for the girls who can take notes in shorthand with rapidity. But there are many girls who possess exceptional speed on the typewriter who fail as stenographers, and for such girls there are other opportunities open. These have come with the multigraphs, comptometers, adding- machines, billing-machines, and the adding and subtracting typewriter. There is a call from the banks for girls who can operate the adding- machine, and from all lines of business for girls who can operate the billing-machine. This work, while not especially remunerative, yet offers a living wage to the skillful operator. In business offices where the phonograph is in use, there is no need of a stenographer, for STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 23 the dictator dictates his letters into the phono- graph, and the typist transcribes the letters from the phonograph. For the expert typist who is not a steno- grapher, there is the work of transcribing the notes of a court reporter or the notes taken for the press at a large convention. Here the pay is high, but the work must be exceptionally rapid and accurate. One typist told the writer that she earned seven dollars a day during a certain trial. This woman does unusually rapid work on the typewriter and seldom makes an error. On the whole, an impartial survey of the field of stenography must lead one to the conclusion that an efficient stenographer will have no dif- ficulty in securing well-paid work ; but that there are many inefficient stenographers seeking posi- tions, and that for such the pay is small and the future unpromising. The following table is based on information furnished by the girls who have completed the commercial course in a high school, 1 during the last four years and who are now working as stenographers : Highest Lowest Average Salary during first year after graduating #12.50 $6.00 $8.48 Salary at end of first year after graduating. ...... 15.00 7.00 9.94 i The Newton, Massachusetts, High School. 24 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Highest Lowest Average Salary at end of second year after graduating ..... #15.00 #8.00 11.59 Salary at end of third year after graduating ..... 16.00 10.25 12.78 Salary at end of fourth year after graduating ..... 18.00 12.00 If, therefore, the work of a stenographer ap- peals to a girl, then let her see to it that she is a good speller and that she has a command of the English language. If she is weak in spell- ing, let her either call that will of hers into use and resolve to learn to spell, or else let her take up some other occupation than stenography. To become able to spell, study spelling; study it in the old-fashioned way. Get a speller and study twenty words at a time; go through the speller in that way, review, pick out difficult words, pick out catchy words, study spelling. If English is the would-be stenographer's weak point, that, too, should be worked on sys- tematically. The student should read both widely and thoughtfully. Let her make a seri- ous, systematic, and continuous effort to enlarge her vocabulary. As she reads, she should notice words that are new to her, words that are not in her vocabulary, that she never uses, that do not belong to her. She should get their exact meaning, be familiar with their derivation, consult a good book of synonyms, finally, STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 25 make the words her own by using them. George Herbert Palmer says in S elf-Cultivation in English?- " Let any one who wants to see him- self grow, resolve to adopt two new words a week. It will not be long before the endless and enchanting variety of the world will begin to reflect itself in his speech and in his mind as well. A word used three times slips off the tongue with entire naturalness. Then it is ours forever, and with it some phase of life which had been lacking hitherto. For each word pre- sents its own point of view, discloses a special aspect of things, reports some little importance not otherwise conveyed, and so contributes its small emancipation to our tied-up minds and tongues." 1 One of the series of Riverside Educational Monographs^ published by Houghton Mifflin Company. IV THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR To the girl who has no especial talent, and who has not the means or the time to fit her- self for some particular business, the telephone office offers an opportunity for work, for a girl is paid here even while she is learning the work. In the large cities the telephone companies have schools where a girl is taught to become an operator at the switchboard. The pupil spends from a month to six weeks in the school, and while there she is paid four dollars a week. She learns the use of the different parts of the switchboard, all phases of operating, local geo* graphy, such as the location of the hospitals, police stations, engine-houses, fire-alarm stations, and the various telephone exchanges of the city. She is also taught to modulate her voice (for a harsh voice is not tolerated in a telephone oper- ator) and to enunciate distinctly. The instructor takes the place of the public, and gives the pupil typical calls, thereby putting to a thorough test the operator's knowledge of the switchboard and of the proper replies which should be made to the subscriber's calls. In small towns there THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR 27 is no school for operators, and the novice gets her training by substituting for the regular operators. The necessary qualifications for a successful telephone operator are good hearing, good eye- sight, and a height of at least five feet, which insures a good reach at the keyboard. She should be accurate, as well as quick in thought and action. She must speak distinctly. Most offices require that the operators should have completed a grammar-school course, and they prefer at least one or two years of the high- school course. Good health is necessary, for there is severe nerve-strain about the work. About forty-five per cent of the applicants for admission to the telephone school in one large city are rejected, and of those admitted, about twenty-five per cent are afterwards dropped or resign. After a girl has demonstrated to the satis- faction of the instructor that she can become a successful operator, she is transferred to an ex- change, where she is at first put on duty during the hours of the least work, usually at night. Her pay is six dollars a week, and from this it is advanced to ten dollars, the maximum wage for general operators. If she shows marked ability, she is promoted to the position of senior operator at a salary of ten or eleven dollars per 28 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS week. She is then in line for promotion to the post of supervisor, whose duty is, as the name indicates, to supervise the work of the opera- tors. The salary in this position varies from eleven to thirteen dollars per week. One more advance is possible, namely, to the position of chief operator, whose salary is anywhere from twelve to twenty-five dollars. The chief opera- tor is responsible for the service given sub- scribers, and has charge of the entire working force. Besides the work for the telephone companies, there is a call for operators in private exchanges, and the pay here for a skilled operator is good, from fifteen dollars a week up ; although, un- fortunately, there are many unskilled operators in these private exchanges who will accept work at almost any price. The opportunity for ad- vancement in such a position is excellent, quite as good as in the work of a stenographer, for the girl at the switchboard frequently has oc- casion to display marked executive ability and resourcefulness, and these qualities are almost certain to be noted and rewarded by her em- ployer. The girl who is not strong physically should never undertake to become a telephone opera- tor. One has but to visit a telephone exchange during a rush period to realize this. The opera- THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR 29 tor's effort is to answer the calls in the order in which they are given ; but in a rush period several calls come at once. Her board becomes covered with the little lights which indicate several calls yet to be answered. The super- visor is behind her to note any carelessness or inefficiency on her part. Then, indeed, does she need the steady nerve which comes from per- fect health in order to do the best that can be done under those circumstances. Even when the number of calls is normal or below the aver- age, there is still the necessity for constant attention so that calls may receive prompt replies. Some telephone companies are justly famed for their care of their operators. The room in which they work is of necessity light, and is usually well-ventilated. Pleasant rest-rooms are provided where the operators may spend their recesses, or may eat their lunches at noon. These rooms are furnished with a large read- ing-table, couch, and easy-chairs. There is a gas stove for the use of girls who bring their lunches. The girls work eight or nine hours per day, with two rest periods of fifteen minutes each ; and there is a growing conviction that the working hours of the telephone operator must be still further reduced in order to safe- guard her health and proper growth. WORK IN A MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENT OUT of the many hundreds of different kinds of manufacturing establishments, three facto- ries, in which employees work under very favor- able conditions, have been chosen for descrip- tion here. It must be remembered, however, by any girl who thinks of entering a large man- ufacturing establishment, that in many manu- factories the pleasant features described here are not found, and that the work is often a dreary, monotonous grind in which the soul of the worker seems to be dwarfed by the environ- ment in which she is obliged to spend many long hours of each day. It requires a strong physique and a strong character to battle with the adverse conditions which prevail in many manufactories. To work day after day through a long period of years with a great number of persons who are forced to live upon a much lower plane than that demanded by the average self-respecting American citizen is both difficult and unpleas- ant. A girl should inquire very carefully into the conditions prevailing in any factory before taking up permanent work there. WORK IN A FACTORY 31 It should be observed that there are certain manufactories that have attracted a very high grade of young women because of the excellent treatment and conditions provided. As will be shown here, factory work may be made attract- ive to the best type of working-girl, and where so made, the workers will compare favorably with any other group. But while it is not thought necessary to give here a detailed description of the wrong con- ditions that exist in some factories, the fact must be emphasized that they do exist. Some of them are unsanitary buildings ; harsh, brutal foremen; one-piece work ; excessive and cruel " speeding- up," low types of operatives and low wages. It is very difficult to generalize upon this sub- ject, as the conditions vary so greatly, accord- ing to the policy of the management of different factories. For instance, in some shoe manufac- tories the conditions under which the girls work are unhealthful and degrading ; but, on the con- trary, one of the largest and finest manufac- tories in the world, famed for its interest in the welfare of its employees, is a shoe factory. Again, work in a paper-box factory is not rated in the government reports as very satis- factory, and yet in the factory of that kind which will be described here the most favorable con- ditions prevail, 32 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS There are cotton manufactories in different parts of the country that are harmful to the physical, mental, and moral health of the em- ployee, and there are others in which a woman could work without injurious results. A girl should beware of unsanitary surround- ings, deadening work, and low companionship. If she finds these in any factory that she enters as an employee she should promptly seek other employment. Of the great variety of manufacturing es- tablishments which the unskilled girl may enter at a salary ranging from three to seven dollars per week, only three will be described ; and in these, as has been said, the most favor- ble conditions prevail. The first is a plant for making window and other draperies. It is situ- ated in a beautiful suburb of a large city, and has been chosen for description because of the arrangement with a high school by which pupils are allowed to work half-time in the fac- tory. The workrooms are light and well venti- lated, and in winter are comfortably heated. The work is clean and not heavy and appeals to girls of artistic instincts who have not been able to develop their talents to any great extent in the public schools. The hours are from eight to twelve o'clock and from one to six. A girl may enter this manufactory as an errand girl. Her WORK IN A FACTORY 33 work is largely carrying messages from one de- partment to another, laying out supplies, count- ing draperies, and performing other miscellane- ous duties. If she shows herself to be alert and capable, she is soon promoted to a position as a handsewer upon some parts of the draperies, or she may manage a power sewing-machine. If she shows that she has ideas that are of value from an artistic standpoint, she is given a place in the designers' department, and here she can find an outlet for any beautiful fancies in the line of draperies that she may possess. The management believe that the happiness of the employees is a financial asset ; so there is a play given every winter by the young men and women employed in the factory, and there is an annual picnic at the company's expense, and many pleasures are planned for the em- ployees during the year. An arrangement is made with a near-by pub- lic school by which pupils from that school can work in the factory from twelve o'clock until six at a wage of three dollars per week. No boy or girl of known low moral standing is retained in this place as a worker, and the conditions are, as a whole, more favorable to a healthy, sane moral development than are con- ditions in the average department store. To summarize : In this factory the young girl 34 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS finds a healthful physical and moral environ- ment, pleasant work that is not too monotonous, considerate treatment from her employers, and a connection with the public schools that makes it possible for her to continue her education while employed a part of the day as a wage- earner. This last feature is a very important one to consider. The second manufacturing place that will be described is a paper-box factory. This factory is situated in the heart of a great city, but the lofts are light and airy and well heated in win- ter. This plant has been chosen for mention because of the long term of service of the thirty or more employees in it. The foreman has worked for this firm over forty years, and sev- eral of the other helpers have been in this place for terms varying from ten to thirty years. The work is not difficult, and consists largely, for the girls, in the putting together of paste- board boxes which have been cut out by ma- chinery. Their work might seem to be very monotonous, but the boxes vary so in size and shape, many of them being exquisitely dainty, that there is a zest and pleasure in the task of each day. Then, too, it is the boast of the es- tablishment that their boxes are the best that can be made, and the spirit, " I will make this piece of work my best," which seems to govern WORK IN A FACTORY 35 the actions of each employee, and to pervade the entire manufactory, lifts the work far above the level of drudgery, and causes it to be satis- factory and enjoyable. A beginner starts at four dollars per week, but usually receives six or seven dollars before the close of the year. When working by the piece a salary of twelve dollars per week is often secured. As may readily be inferred, there is a strong bond of union between the employer and the employed in this factory. A cordial, friendly atmosphere, and an assured feeling of fair play throughout the entire establishment make men and woman willingly render service here for long terms of years at a rather low average wage. In the small factories just described it is ap- parent that the employers take a genuine in- terest in the welfare of the girls and women working for them. This will be found to be the case, too, in some of the large manufactories. A large watch factory, for example, employing between fifteen hundred and two thousand girls, makes a strong effort to make the conditions of life of their employees pleasant. The company has provided a recreation-room in the factory, with easy-chairs, couches, read- ing-matter, a piano and pianola attachment. 36 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Here the girls congregate after lunch to rest and listen to the music before returning to their afternoon's work. In the factory, too, is a small lunch-room, where an appetizing, well-cooked, hot lunch can be obtained at a low price, the intention being to give the lunch to the girls at cost. A hundred or more girls are accommodated in a very pleasant boarding-house, which is run by the company. The price of room and board here is only three dollars per week. Some of the girls bring their living expenses to an even lower figure than this by waiting on table, for which service they obtain their own board. Thus the average wage of nine dollars per week, when the cost of living is considered, is a fairly good one. There is a Relief Association to which most of the girls belong. The assessment is twenty- five cents a month. In case of sickness, the members receive four dollars a week ; and on the death of a member, fifty dollars is paid to the relatives. The company interests itself also in this and contributes a little to it, so that it usually happens that the balance in the treas- ury is sufficient to render it unnecessary to make any assessment for a few weeks each year. The wages paid to the girls when they first enter upon the work are, of course, low, about WORK IN A FACTORY 3? seventy-five cents a day. But if they prove their adaptability to the work, their pay is soon in- creased until they are put on piece-work, and after that the amount they earn depends largely on themselves, it sometimes reaching as high a sum as two or three dollars a day. To be successful in this work, a girl must have natural mechanical ability, good eyesight, a steady hand, and be quick with her fingers. The hours are long, but there is a great deal of sociability among the girls, and as much freedom is allowed in the workrooms as is con- sistent with good workmanship. On the whole, the life of a girl in this factory is a pleasant one. The work is clean, the rooms are light, the foremen are uniformly courteous to their help, and among the girls themselves good-fel- lowship prevails. Here, also, as well as in the smaller factories, we find operatives who have been employed in the factory for twenty, thirty, or even forty years. The number of things really worth while which some of these girls manage to do on a small wage is surprising. A few years ago there was a young Greek girl working in the factory. She was entirely dependent on what she earned, for she had no relatives in this country, and she never earned more than eight dollars a week. With this meager amount, she not only 38 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS paid her living expenses and dressed suitably and tastefully, but she took music lessons and French lessons, bought books, and took trips to the White Mountains, to the Maine coast, to Niagara Falls, and to Washington ; so that, when she at length returned to her home in Athens, she had seen a considerable portion of this country, and had been able to cultivate her taste in books and music during her stay here. Another young woman went to Europe one summer bringing back a choice collection of pictures and mementos of her trip, as well as materials for dresses, which she worked into effective costumes later on. This same young lady is one of a large number who prove that intellectual life and factory life are not incom- patible. Her bookcases are filled with a fine col- lection of books, such a collection as would be surpassed in few homes even where there is genuine culture. A large number of the girls are not only self- supporting, but they help others. One young Swedish girl, after she had been in the factory for about ten years, became eager to bring her brother to this country. She found work for him in her city and sent for him. He and his family came from far-away Sweden. The sister met them at the dock, gave them their first auto WORK IN A FACTORY 39 ride from the station, and welcomed them to the cozy flat which she had hired and furnished for them with her own money. These cases have been cited to show that, notwithstanding the long hours and the some- what monotonous routine, a well-rounded life can be lived by a girl who works in a factory managed in a humane and intelligent spirit. VI COOKING A GIRL who can cook appetizing and health- ful food contributes largely to the health, hap- piness, and moral tone of the community. Good, nourishing food brings good health; good health usually means happiness and prosperity. Every girl has in her own home an unsolicited field for effort in this direction. The opportunities are at hand to secure abundant practice and the experience that will be necessary before attempt- ing larger enterprises. Father's words, " Those were fine rolls, Mary," or Mother's gentle smile of praise are worth more than the applause awarded the latest theatrical star. Then, too, the ability to prepare dainty broths and other dishes for the sick members of the family is of great importance in contributing to the restoration of the invalid to health. After a thorough course in cooking in a de- partment of household economics such as is now to be found in many high schools, a young girl should be able to turn her knowledge of cook- ing to account in many ways. She may make a specialty of certain muffins, cakes, pies, pud- COOKING 41 dings, etc., which she prepares in her own home and sends out upon special orders. This is often done in small villages, and the work yields a good profit. She may establish a tea-room, start- ing at first in a small way, and branching out as her fame as a server of delicious tea and dainty food is spread abroad. A friend of the writer recently cleared fifteen hundred dollars in a year's experiment in a small tea-room in a college town. This work calls for careful buy- ing* good management, and a considerable amount of hard work ; but the manager of such a room is brought in contact with a very pleas- ant class of people, and feels that her establish- ment contributes distinctly to the pleasure and good cheer of the village, and the financial re- ward is better than that of the average profes- sional woman. A wise choice of location would cause one to rent one or two attractive rooms in the vicinity of a college or a large boarding-school for girls. College girls may be relied upon to patronize liberally a tea-room where sweets and tea are served by a neat, pleasant waitress in an attract- ive room. In order to become a cooking-school teacher a girl should have at least two years in a first- class school of domestic science. Here, as every- where, the maturity, earnestness, and alert mind 42 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS of the girl determine the length of study re- quired to prepare one's self for the work and also her success when the actual work is taken up. A teacher of cooking in a public school or an institution would receive a salary varying from about six hundred to twelve hundred dollars per year, according to experience and preparation. For the higher positions in domestic science, such as supervisor of city or country schools, matrons of institutions, girls' clubs, and other organizations, the candidate must be a graduate of a training-school such as that of the Teachers' College, or Pratt Institute, New York, or Sim- mons College, Boston. This course generally requires two years of work. At present the demand for women to fill these higher positions exceeds the supply, and a well-equipped teacher of domestic science is sure of a good paying position. To be the head of the domestic science department of a public- school system demands great executive ability, expert knowledge, and thorough training in many lines. The writer has asked a woman who occupies such a position to enumerate her du- ties, and this is a list of the most important of them : Prepare the course in sewing, cooking, and design for the grade schools and order the supplies requisite in those schools ; prepare the COOKING 43 course in household economics for the technical high school of the city and order all the sup- plies required for the work in the sewing, millinery, and cooking classes ; supervise the preparation by the cooking classes of the school luncheon for about nine hundred pupils ; teach a class in dressmaking and one in cooking ; attend frequent conferences upon work in do- mestic art and science and write papers upon these subjects. It is no wonder that these po- sitions are not overcrowded. VII NURSING No girl should plan to become a nurse unless she possesses good health and a strong consti- tution. If with these qualifications she unites good sense and judgment, self-control, and a clear mind, and has formed a habit of obedi- ence, she may look forward to success in the work of nursing. Tact, discretion, and firmness are essential qualities. With tact a nurse can eliminate many features of her work that would be very trying and might be disastrous ; without discretion her stay in any household or institution will be short ; firmness is positively required to meet the possible opposition and unreasonableness of the patient. The head nurse of a great city hospital re- cently said that the most important qualification of a nurse was obedience ; meaning, of course, obedience to the physician's directions in caring for the sick. A nurse must be immaculate in her personal appearance. The untidy girl whose skirt is never properly fastened or joined to her waist, NURSING 45 whose finger nails are not always clean, whose teeth show need of care, and whose general ap- pearance even suggests uncleanliness will never be accepted in a training-school for nurses. An invalid has enough to bear without suffering from the untidy appearance of the nurse. In the better class of hospitals young women are not allowed to enter upon the course of training until they are twenty-one, and the can- didate must have had a four years' high-school course or its equivalent. The head nurse above quoted advised that girls spend the interval be- tween graduating and entering the hospital in their own homes, assisting in the general work of the household, acquiring the art of cooking wholesome food, and reading the best literature. When one thinks of the weary hours of con- valescence and of the long hours of the milder forms of invalidism, one realizes how necessary it is that the nurse possess mental resources and that she be a well-read person. A dull, un- imaginative woman with little knowledge of the world or of books would be a poor companion in the sick-room. The course in the training-school is very rigid, but has many pleasant features. The better hospitals provide a nurses' home where the candidate may rest in a comfortable and attractive private room during the hours in 46 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS which she is off duty. The hours of training are so regular, the food so wholesome, and the whole regime of hospital life so systematic that the health of the woman in training is usually excellent. In some hospitals small pay is given during the period of training, while in others the trainer has to pay a considerable sum for her course. A nurse that is recommended by a reputable physician is sure of employment during a large part of the year. The pay is usually twenty-five dollars a week. Her board, of course, is in- cluded, and in light cases she often has much leisure, when she enjoys many of the pleasures of the family life. A very desirable position for a nurse is one in a private school. Here her work is usually light, and she meets many grateful parents in a pleasant way. State and city institutions have their corps of nurses, as do factories and de- partment stores also. Many nurses continue work in the hospital from which they graduated. A so-called convalescent or domestic nurse is one who has not had thorough professional training and is employed only when the con- valescent patient does not demand scientific vigilance, or when her work is to entertain and give light attendance to chronic invalids. These NURSING 47 nurses usually receive from seven to fifteen dollars a week. They secure their training in modified courses offered in various ways. Their standing with physicians is not, of course, as high as that of the professional nurse. The greatest satisfaction in a nurse's life is the thought of good work well done. To have saved a human life by one's skill and effort, or to have helped one to endure a long and tedious illness by sympathetic, untiring labor, might well inspire a nurse to say, " I have known what pleasure is, for I have done good work." For the girl who cannot take up a full course of training but who is fond of children, the work of a nursemaid makes an appeal. The same quali- ties that would make a successful nurse are required in this position, but the work may be begun at an earlier age, as the nursemaid is required to take much less responsibility. A nursemaid should have a pleasing, cheerful manner, and her language should be excellent, as little children unconsciously imitate the lan- guage they hear in the nursery. She should cultivate the art of story-telling, as this is a most attractive feature in the life of a child. The nursemaid should also have some knowledge of the laws of health and of the proper manner of preparing the children's meals. Courses in training for nursemaids* positions 48 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS are offered in several infants' hospitals. The wages are three dollars per week at first with an increase after several months of training. In many homes the nursemaid's position is a very pleasant one. She is brought into close contact with the family, and if she is a refined, ladylike girl she is given many privileges. The children usually regard her with affection, and in a good home she leads a sheltered, happy life. Of course, a girl's success in such a position depends upon the kind of home she enters and the kind of girl she is. Her wages would be about four dollars a week, and her term of service would depend upon many conditions that readily suggest them- selves. A nursemaid sometimes stays in a family after the children are grown, becoming a mother's helper and assisting in the ways in which a housekeeper or trusted friend of the family would assist the mother. VIII SEWING AND MILLINERY FOR the girl who is a deft sewer, the one who can do skillful work in mending, stitching, and hand-sewing of all kinds, there is a large field with many paths to permanent and satis- factory occupations. The painstaking day seamstress is always sure of remunerative work. Her pay is about two dollars a day, and she is given her luncheon and dinner at the house where she happens to be working. She is not expected to design beautiful gowns or to do elaborate work that requires artistic skill, but she must be able to sew neatly, to run a machine, and she should have a certain amount of good taste. There are several ways of preparing one's self to become a dressmaker. One may take a four years' course in the sewing department of a technical or trade school, or one may enter a dressmaker's establishment as an apprentice. If a girl begins in this way she receives very little salary, and she may have to work several months without pay ; but if she is a bright-eyed girl, quick to grasp new ideas, the opportunities 50 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS afforded her while working with a first-class dressmaking establishment are of great value to her. For the artistic girl who has a keen eye for beauty of fabrics and harmony of lines, there are fine opportunities to become a designer of costumes. This is the most satisfactory phase of dressmaking, as all of the sewing, the drudg- ery can be done by others who do not possess the gifts that make the high-class designer. In a certain school a young girl who had never shown any particular ability in her academic work appeared one morning in a gingham dress so beautifully cut and made that it attracted her teacher's attention. She found that the girl had planned the dress and made it without help from anyone. This girl is now taking a special course in dressmaking in a technical high school and will become a designer of women's dresses. There is so great a need at the present time in the technical and trade schools for teachers of sewing that a girl who has had a high-school course in that subject can usually secure a position as assistant to the head of the sewing department. Here she secures most valuable experience in imparting her knowledge to others, and although the salary is small, the position is a stepping-stone to a higher one later on. In many schools a normal training is demanded SEWING AND MILLINERY 51 of the sewing-teacher. Much depends, in this as in every vocation, upon the maturity and dignity of the individual girl. Many of the large department stores have schools of dressmaking where apprentices are trained without pay ; and connected with many Young Women's Christian Associations and Industrial Unions are schools of dressmaking and millinery, where courses may be taken at nominal prices. A milliner must be not only artistic, but also a good financial manager. Her season is so short that she must buy intelligently and sell at a great profit in order to make a success of her business. This work is now taught in most technical schools, and apprentices are also trained in the regular milliners' establish- ments. The first work that is undertaken by the young girl apprentice is the making of bands for the inside of the crown of the hat. Then she learns how to make and sew in linings. Now comes a much more interesting step, which is the making of frames of buckram or of wire and covering them with all kinds of material used in hatmaking : straw of all kinds, lace, silk, vel- vet, and chiffon. This requires a considerable amount of artistic ability and skillful work, as it is oftentimes very difficult to cover the frames 52 VOCATIONS FOR GIRL3 in the manner desired. Very skillful fingering is necessary at this step, as clumsy work would spoil the material used in covering the frame. The work of trimming the hat demands much cunning in the fingers in order that they may fashion the dainty bows, rosettes, and flowers, and also a keen eye for beauty of line in order that the manner of trimming may harmonize with the general contour of the hat. A designer of hats should be an artist in regard to color combinations, materials, and shapes. Her work is, of course, the most im- portant of all, as ideas must always precede effort of any kind. Nothing can be carried out until some one has furnished the ideas that are to be represented. As in all work, the thinker, the originator, the person who plans, who fur- nishes the ideas, receives the highest salary, so in this occupation the designer receives twenty- five to forty dollars per week in large establish- ments ; the trimmer receives from fifteen dollars a week to higher sums ; and the maker of the hat (untrimmed) usually receives from eight to twelve dollars per week. The disadvantages in the millinery business are the short seasons, in which the work is very strenuous, and the long hours during this short season. While learning the business and until one is well established in it, one should have SEWING AND MILLINERY 53 some other means of earning a livelihood during the slack season. On the other hand, the opportunities of ad- vancement are excellent for a girl of artistic tastes, who is a skillful needlewoman and a tactful business manager. There is always a demand for beautiful and becoming hats, and the milliner who can design these, and has the tact and the skill and patience required to sell the right hat to the right person, is sure of a good income. IX THE MODERN TEACHER IT might seem as if the vocation of teaching should not be discussed in a work which pur- ports to point out available vocations to young girls having rather limited educational oppor- tunities ; but, since it is true that many mature, energetic girls go into the work of teaching from the high school, and sometimes from high schools affording very limited courses, it has been thought best to tell something of the work of the modern teacher. The successful teacher of to-day differs in many respects from the typical teacher of pre- ceding generations. She must possess the same general characteristics that have always marked the great teachers sincerity, energy, deter- mination, patience, tact, kindness, courtesy, in- sight, ability, and enthusiasm ; but she must also have a much broader and clearer view of the activities of life and of work in the vocational and the social field than did the old-time teacher, whose attention was focused upon her subject only. The modern teacher must first of all know THE MODERN TEACHER 55 her pupils, not as a group, but each individual. She must learn all that she can in regard to each pupil's natural heritage, his tastes, native talents, propensities, and his home life. She must study each pupil much more intensely than she studies her textbook, until by a correlation of the knowledge that she has acquired in regard to each individual she can advise him wisely with respect to his future study, habits, and vocation. The teacher of to-day must see that her pu- pils receive a good all-around education, but that for each individual the emphasis is laid upon the subjects for which he shows the greatest natural ability. The modern teacher must be progressive ; she must understand the causes that have led to the changing conditions in education, and she must study all the movements that are being made to adapt the methods and the matter of instruction to these changed conditions of mod- ern life. If she teaches a rural school, her instruction should be such as to cause the country boys and girls to see the beauty, the dignity, and the economic possibilities of country life ; and if she instructs young people who must enter upon some vocation at an early age, she should try to adapt her teaching to the conditions of each case. 56 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS In a word, the teacher of to-day needs a sym- pathetic imagination more than she needs any other qualification. The financial rewards for women teachers are not great, but the satisfaction of really helping boys and girls to get into the right place in life is always within the power of the right sort of teacher, and with that she is content. Her salary will feed and clothe her, and with econ- omy she may be able to experience the great pleasure of helping others. The remuneration of the teacher varies from eight to twelve dol- lars per week in the small rural schools, to one thousand or fifteen hundred dollars per year in a large city school. She has, however, if worthy, the respect of her pupils and their parents and that of the entire community in which she lives, and the title, "teacher," causes her to be treated with courtesy and consideration when she goes among strangers. A great teacher is always a student ; a student of nature at all times, and also a student of lit- erature, history, biography, current events, and of her special subjects. She must not only study the subjects she is to teach, but she must study the working of the mind of the learner, so that the seed of her teaching may bring forth fruit. The most successful teachers are the ones who THE MODERN TEACHER 57 can convince their pupils that these boys and girls possess many and great powers which they can develop by exercise. The great teacher suggests success, while the poor teacher suggests failure. Every teacher who works upon human souls should always remember the words of Emerson, "Nothing great was ever achieved without en- thusiasm." That the teacher must always be a student cannot be too strongly stated. For the teacher in the city the agencies for improvement are many and diverse: Extension and summer- school courses furnished by many universi- ties, afternoon and evening lecture courses, free tickets to art galleries and museums, educa- tional clubs, all are hers, from which to choose the work that she especially needs or desires. In fact, there is such a multiplicity of advant- ages to be secured at the price of some exertion that oftentimes there is great temptation to at- tempt more lines of work than can be thoroughly performed in the time at one's disposal. In the rural districts also are excellent sum- mer schools, in which skilled instructors from colleges and the normal schools give real help in solving the problems which confront the teacher of the country school. The curriculum, in addi- tion to the regular academic subjects, includes such topics as "The Rural School as a Social 58 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Center," " How Should Teaching in the Coun- try School Differ from that in the City School?" "The Economic and Social Possibilities of the Country," " Practical Agriculture and the Coun- try School," and the aim of much of the teach- ing is to cause the students who are to become teachers of rural schools to realize the respon- sibility and dignity of work in that special class of schools. Then, too, the teacher in the coun- try school may continue her education by tak- ing one or more of the various correspondence courses now offered by some of the great uni- versities and schools of correspondence. No region is so remote that these courses cannot reach them, and thousands of ambitious, ener- getic students, who could not possibly be in residence at a college, are kept mentally alert and filled with enthusiasm by the work that they do in this way. The method by which the teacher secures her instruction, whether in summer classes, correspondence schools, lectures, private read- ing and study, is not of so much importance as is the fact that she studies in some manner, and that she ever keeps an open mind and an ob- servant eye for the investigation of modern tendencies, while she also studies the literature and history of the past. New functions and new educational special- THE MODERN TEACHER 59 izations have come into the teaching profession because of modern social and economic reor- ganization, and the modern teacher must see very clearly the vital connection between the school and the entire community. The education of to-day must be social. It must fit the boys and girls to work harmoni- ously in groups for the good of the whole The teacher should be a forceful personality in the life of the community. In all movements for social betterment, in all positions in which a broad knowledge of current events is de- manded, she should be able and willing to work for the good of the whole social body. If the teacher is able and willing to perform her part in the work of social betterment, we may quite naturally expect that her pupils will be able to advance the charitable, moral, and social life of their town or city because of their training in school. In many cities the school is becoming a social center around which revolves a very large group of activities and pleasures. In some cities and even in small towns, the school building is oc- cupied several evenings each week by debating clubs, musical societies, special classes, and large groups of adults and of young people, who utilize the school plant in ways that help to refine and develop their social instincts. 60 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Speaking of the relation of the school to so- ciety, Professor John Dewey says, "When the school introduces and trains each child of so- ciety into membership within such a little com- munity, saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effec- tive self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guarantee of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious." We see, then, that the modern teacher should be a woman of warm heart, keen intellect, and very broad sympathies. The wrong sort of teacher can do great harm ; the right kind is one of the greatest helps to any generation. Such work should not be taken up lightly. X KINDERGARTENING AND THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM ALTHOUGH the philosophy of the kindergar- ten should be carefully studied by a superior type of girl in a regular training-school for kin- dergartners, it is possible, if one is of the type of girl mentioned, to secure the training by giving one's services as an assistant to a first- class kindergartner in a public or private school. The assistant would probably receive no sal- ary, or, at best, a very small one, for a year or two, but, if she is under the tuition of a thor- oughly skilled kindergartner and at no expense for her training, she may consider herself very fortunate, as the cost of tuition in a school for kindergartners is usually quite high. A candidate for a kindergartner' s position should have some knowledge of both instru- mental and vocal music, a thorough comprehen- sion of Froebel's philosophy of teaching, an even, pleasant disposition, and a great love for little children. Her salary, when she has become a full- fledged kindergartner, will not be large in most 62 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS cities, but the work, to one who loves children, is delightful, and brings out the very best in one's nature. The development in character of many kin- dergarten student-teachers has often been surprising to their instructors and to their friends. If a young woman opens a private kinder- garten, and there is an opportunity for this kind of school in almost every neighborhood, she should be a good business woman as well as a skillful kindergartner. With a very little capi- tal she can secure an independent and honor- able livelihood, if, as has been said, she is an attractive, skillful kindergartner, and a tactful, energetic business woman. A good many girls find it difficult to decide whether general teaching or kindergartening would be the better work for them. Such a girl should study herself very carefully. If she feels a strong love for little children, their games, stories, and songs, and if she has a vivid im- agination, a happy disposition, a strong nervous organization, and is musical, she would prob- ably be an excellent kindergartner ; but she would also doubtless make an excellent teacher in any kind of school, provided that her educa- tion and training were sufficiently good. The extremely practical, unimaginative, un^ THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM 63 musical girl had better not attempt kindergar- ten work. There is a vein of idealism, of poetry, of spiritual values underlying the work, that such a girl could not comprehend, and if these underlying principles are not appreciated by the kindergartner, the heart of the work is not touched. To illustrate the change of character that often follows the study of the kindergarten system will be given the story of Marguerite. Marguerite was a dreamer, an idler, and the despair of her practical, hard-working mother and father. To bedeck her lovely little person with dainty clothes, to drum upon the piano, and to read alluring novels were her chief occu- pations. For the sake of being with her bosom friend of the moment, she accompanied this friend to a first-class training-school for kinder- gartners. Here, under the training of the splen- did women with whom she found herself, many fine and lovely qualities, which had lain dor- mant in her nature, developed. Upon her return to her home her amazed and delighted parents saw her perform tasks that she had formerly ignored ; and all her work was characterized by thoughtfulness and unselfishness. When asked what had caused her to change from a butterfly into a thoughtful, helpful young woman, she said, " It was my work with the little children, and my study of Froebel's philosophy which 64 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS taught me that life was too wonderful a thing to fritter away." At the present time there is great interest manifested in educational circles in the work of Dr. Maria Montessori, who has developed a philosophy of education, which, in its applica- tion to the work of groups of children in Italy, has been eminently successful. In this scheme of education the teacher is largely an observer of the self-directed activities of children, re- straining their efforts only when those are mis- directed. There is a very deep philosophy un- derlying this plan of education, which demands long and careful study on the part of intelligent teachers ; but as the results obtained when the system is understood are quite wonderful, there will soon be a great demand in this country for instructors who have qualified themselves to teach by this method. Professor Henry W. Holmes, of Harvard Uni- versity, makes the following comparison be- tween kindergartening and the Montessori System : " Compared with the kindergarten, the Montessori System presents these main points of interest : it carries out far more radi- cally the principle of unrestricted liberty ; its materials are intended for the direct and formal training of the senses; it includes apparatus designed to aid in the purely physical develop- THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM 65 ment of the children ; its social training is car- ried out mainly by means of present and actual school activities ; and it affords direct prepara- tion for the school." Such a scheme of education will surely make a powerful appeal to many bright girls who are desirous of becoming teachers. XI LIBRARY WORK FOR the girl who really loves books, work in a public library makes a powerful appeal. She may hear that the salary is never large, and that, in fact, it is very small until one has had a rather long term of service in the minor po- sitions ; but the lure of the books is sufficiently strong to overbalance this powerful argument, and for the girl who can give several years of work to training at very small pay, the result is a permanent, honorable, and fairly lucrative position, a position in which she can be of immeasurable help to the community, and one that is thoroughly satisfactory and in many re- spects delightful. The librarian is surrounded on every side by those magic volumes of which one of their lovers has said, " When I consider what some books have done for the world, and what they are doing, how they keep up our hope, awaken new courage and faith, soothe pain, give an ideal life to those whose hours are cold and hard, bind together distant ages and foreign lands, create new worlds of beauty, bring down Truth from Heaven ; I give eternal LIBRARY WORK 67 blessings for this gift and thank God for books." The ideal librarian is one who loves both books and humanity. The bookworm the per- son who loves books only is not the right person to fill a library position. The librarian must be one who has an intense appreciation of the best books, and such a sympathetic in- sight into the needs of the people who take books from the library as will enable her often- times to bring the right book to the right per- son. We repeat : a librarian should love books, but she should also love people and love to be of service to them. The perfunctory librarian who hands out books as if they were bricks, or the one who is annoyed at being disturbed in her own reading, is entirely out of place in a public library. The librarian should realize, as she looks about the shelves of the library, that "without the love of books, the richest man is poor; but endowed with this treasure, the poorest man is rich. He has wealth which no power can dimin- ish, riches which are always increasing, posses- sions which the more he scatters, the more they accumulate, friends who never desert him, and pleasures which never cloy." And she must also feel a real love of humanity : of little children, of young people, of the old and the feeble ; and 68 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS she must feel that it is a part of her work will- ingly to help the ignorant and the stupid as well as the educated and the mentally alert. She should have a very kind heart and a well- informed head. There are several ways of getting into library work. One is to take a regular course of train- ing at a college which offers such a course or at a library school ; and the other is to work at a very small salary for several years in a regu- lar library as an assistant in the different de- partments and branches. Experienced libra- rians say that it is far better to take the regular training given in the librarian's course in the college if it is possible to do so, and some of the large libraries now demand that their as- sistants shall have such training. The course is a very strong one and the pupil receives train- ing in all forms of library work. For a girl of small means the method of giv- ing her time in exchange for training and ex- perience presents itself favorably. Beginning with the most ordinary routine duties of the librarian, the examination of much-used books, the pasting of leaves and of labels, the giving- out of books, the filing of periodicals, the girl gradually works up to cataloguing and the work of the special libraries. To secure a position in some large city libra- LIBRARY WORK 69 ries, it is necessary to pass an examination in literature, geography, current events, biography, and at least one foreign language. For a young girl of somewhat limited educa- tional advantages but with a great love of books and a sincere desire to do library work, the best way to approach the work would be to request the librarian of a small library to let her act as assistant for a time, and demonstrate her ability in this way. As has been said, the salary for several years will be so small that it cannot be depended upon for support, and this fact must be reckoned with in deciding upon the work. If one is sure of a good home and necessary comforts while in training, the work will be satisfactory from the first, and gives an opportunity for service to one's fellows that is afforded in few occupa- tions. Many libraries now have a Children's Hour in which the young girl who is a gifted story- teller is able to give great pleasure to the little ones clustered about her, who listen with eager ears to the delightful tales she unfolds. To catalogue the choice pictures and prints, to paste labels upon delightful new books, to find a helpful volume for some young girl who does not know what makes one book good and another worthless, to help some grammar-school 70 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS boy run down a reference, to place a beautifully illustrated edition of Robin Hood or of Pete? Pan, or Eugene Field's or Stevenson's poems in the hands of some poor little waif to whom the library with its contents form a paradise, these are some of the pleasant features of working in a library. When the head of a department in one of the largest libraries in the country was requested to criticize the above description of work in a library, he replied in two words, " Too roseate," and when urged to amplify this condensed state- ment he proceeded to give three reasons why library work was not satisfactory employment for the average young girl. "First. It is very difficult for the partially educated girl to secure a position in any library. There are few positions, and college women are always preferred for these. " Second. The salary, even after many years of service, is small, excepting in rare cases in which the girl has shown extraordinary ability. " Third. A librarian must always be perfectly pleasant, and, as the patrons of the library are often very trying, the strain on one's nerves is great." The librarian in charge of the children's li- braries was next appealed to. She said, " The young girl must not go into library work ex- LIBRARY WORK 71 pecting that it will allow her time for reading along the lines of her own interests. She must realize that the routine of library work includes real drudgery at times." This expert testimony is, of course, absolutely reliable, and it would doubtless be wise to fol- low the advice given ; and yet, as one looks up and down the reading-rooms of some large li- brary or peeps into the children's room and sees the happy, absorbed faces of the little readers, one can but think that, despite all the unsatis- factory conditions for the employee, it must be a pleasure to be connected with an institution that gives so much happiness and help to the tired, worried adult, the eager student, and the bright-eyed child. We know of no work that would familiarize one with the different grades of society, and present opportunities for certain kinds of ser- vice to them more than would work in a large library. In the newspaper rooms are often found a considerable number of persons whose appearance would indicate financial, mental, and moral bankruptcy. To these persons the library is a haven, a refuge. It gives them a shelter, light, heat, and forgetfulness. No girl employees are placed as attendants here. In the reading-rooms, one sees the profes- sional man looking up some knotty point, the 72 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS college student fortifying himself for an essay or an examination, while the children in their spacious, attractive rooms show by their ab- sorption in their books that they have been wafted to the region where children love to be. And still higher and more secluded are the special libraries where the student, the musi- cian, the architect, the lover of old books, study and work, hour by hour, drawing freely upon the greatest treasures of the library for help in their task, and working in silence broken only by the occasional footfalls of some chance party of visitors. Yes, here in the library is the world in mini- ature : the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the successful, the failures, the learned, the ignorant ; and to all it is, according to their needs, a refuge, a solace for troubled minds, a storehouse of knowledge, a perpetual source of inspiration and delight. Wealth in dollars and cents may never be acquired by the girl who works in a library, but a wealth of knowledge of human nature is sure to be hers, and her experience in rendering kind, tactful, courteous help to all who need it will be invaluable to any girl. XII DOMESTIC SERVICE WE fancy that a slightly disgusted look comes over the face of the average young girl who is deciding upon a vocation as she reads the words at the head of this chapter, and, unfortunately, there are good and sound reasons for this feeling, reasons which will be taken up here in consid- erable detail. First. The girl feels herself to be placed nearly at the bottom of the social order, while employed as a domestic. Second. She has comparatively little time that is absolutely her own. Third. She must usually live at her employ- er's home, where she almost invariably is given the poorest room in the house. Fourth. She receives little genuine, sympa- thetic consideration from the other members of the household. There is in all the intercourse of the members of her employer's family with her a certain mental attitude which gives her constantly a feeling of inferiority, and this is destructive to self-respect. We do not think that anyone will dispute 74 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS that these conditions must be met in very many households, and that the effect has been to turn many self-respecting girls of domestic tastes, who would have made excellent housekeepers, housemaids, and cooks, into other lines less re- munerative and affording fewer comforts for the physical well-being of the worker. Admitting all of these unfavorable conditions as reasons why young girls turn away even from the consideration of domestic service as a voca- tion, we are sure that there is a kind of service that can be rendered by the young woman who can live at home and who is skillful in perform- ing household duties, that will not lower her self- respect and will pay her a satisfactory living wage. At the present time, so great is the demand for a better and more trustworthy class of per- sons willing to render service in the household, that many housewives would willingly pay six or eight dollars per week to secure each day the competent help of a girl who had received training in the household economics department of a good public school. The girl would have to be a planner as well as a skillful worker and would be obliged to work intensely during her time on duty. Her hours might be from seven A.M. to eight P.M., with an interval of rest from two until five each week-day, while on Sunday she would work only three hours in the middle DOMESTIC SERVICE 75 of the day. If employed in a family in which only one servant was kept, she could prepare all of the meals and clear up after them, and have regular days for sweeping, cleaning, and keeping the house in order. The laundry work of a family should not be added to this work, but should be done by other hands. The girl helper's work should be as clearly defined as is the work of women in any other occupation, and as the call for skilled help is so great, a young woman can leave any household in which unsatisfactory conditions prevail with the cer- tainty that faithful, skillful work in the line of domestic service will be appreciated in the very best homes. The best homes are not always those of greatest wealth or even of greatest culture, but they are the homes in which broad- minded, kind-hearted people of high principles create an atmosphere which makes life pleasant and profitable for all who serve them. There are, also, for girls who live in their own families, many opportunities to work in good homes during a few hours of the day at special tasks for which these girls are well prepared. A girl can cook all of the cake and pastry for a household, or she may take the task of laun- dering the fine shirt waists, or of keeping the silver and linen in order. She may also engage the mending of several families, having her 76 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS regular day and hour for performing this duty for each. In all this work, the girl should be as conscientious and as self-respecting as any pro- fessional worker who gives his best service to his patron. As a result of the excellent teaching of house- hold economics in the schools at the present \ time, domestic service is bound to be raised to its rightful place as one of the greatest and best opportunities to render professional service to mankind. The next generation of housewives will be good housekeepers because of their own training in household economics, and it follows that when the mistress of the household thor- oughly understands the details of housekeeping, she can train her servants in correct methods of performing domestic labor. In a certain magnificent home in which six- teen servants, headed by a housekeeper and assistant housekeeper, are employed, the mis- tress of the household fortunately understands every detail of work in the great establishment ; and her servants all realize that when she visits a department she has superior knowledge of their special work. The result is that the ma- chinery of the household moves without fric- tion ; and there is a total absence of the waste, worry, and irritability that wreck the happiness of so many homes. DOMESTIC SERVICE 77 As a contrast we see in these days many families abandoning the individual home, in which the incompetent mistress cannot train even one incompetent maid, to live in apartment houses where they receive the advantage of re- spectable meals served in a public dining-room, but where the home life can never be as delight- ful as in the private home. The demand for competent domestic service rendered by a superior type of girl is very great. The better class of employment agencies are filled during business hours with housewives who are eagerly looking for that kind of girl, to whom they would gladly pay good wages. As an illustration of this will be given the story of Elizabeth, as it was told to the writer by Elizabeth's mother. Her family had always lived quite up to the handsome income of the father, and when he was suddenly smitten by an incurable ailment, which destroyed his abil- ity as a wage-earner, the family were forced to look into each other's faces and say, "What can we do ? " The mother was needed to care for the invalid, the brother was too young to be a wage-earner, and there was, then, only Elizabeth to become the support of the family. Now Elizabeth, like hundreds of other girls, could play the piano creditably, and had been fairly well educated in the usual academic sub- 78 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS jects. She was not, however, qualified to teach any subject, or to enter a business office ; as she found after long weary weeks of sitting in teachers' agencies and of making application for work in the offices of business men. It be- came necessary for the family to dismiss their maid, and to Elizabeth fell the task of keeping the house in order. One day a chance remark of a visitor caused a great light to flash upon the discouraged girl. After looking about the neatly arranged rooms this person said, " Eliza- beth, I would give a good deal if my house were as tidy and well ordered as yours. You must have the talent of the born housekeeper." The next day Elizabeth sought a distracted friend, who, she knew, was anxious to secure a competent mother's helper, and engaged to come to her daily at a wage of eight dollars a week. Her work was largely that of the ordi- nary domestic, and she did much of the cook- ing for the household. After a short time, in which she proved her ability to bring comfort and order to a demoralized household, she was made the real housekeeper of the establish- ment. Her salary was increased to fifteen dol- lars per week, and she now says of herself, "Instead of being the absolute failure that I feared at one time I was to be, I feel that in work for which I have some natural talent I may become something of a success." XIII THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME EVERY woman and girl in this twentieth cen- tury should congratulate herself on the numer- ous means open to her for self-support and, if need be, for helping to fill the family exchequer, means which are not only remunerative from a money point of view, but which are pleasant, respectable, and capable of widening the out- look of the worker. The inventor of the type- writer ought to be an honorary member of every woman's club in the land, for to how many women has he furnished the means of independence ! Hosts of girls find employment in these days in the telephone offices. Our manufactories not only employ girls and women in large numbers, but they spend money, time, and thought in making the places in which these girls work both comfortable and attrac- tive. Contrast all this with the possibilities open to the woman without means of fifty years ago, and it must be conceded that the world is a better place for her now than in that day. But, granted that congenial, remunerative 8o VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS work is open to every woman and girl who is obliged to go out into the world as a worker, fortunate indeed is the girl who is not called upon to do this, but who finds her work in her own home. It seems strange that any girl should prefer office work and the business life to work in her own home ; but the fact remains that many girls look upon themselves as mar- tyrs if circumstances compel them to stay at home. Of course, woman's desire for economic independence is one factor in her going out to work. Probably the love of change and the ex- citement of meeting strangers also make their appeal, and the home life seems humdrum and commonplace in comparison. A young woman sees her friends starting out each morning, alert and energetic, ready to fulfill the definite duties of the day, and she sees them return at night with the day's duties behind them, care-free, and apparently freshened rather than wearied by their contact with the outside world. For her- self, the day has presented a multitude of little tasks, perhaps not all completed until well into the evening ; much of the work has been un- interesting ; she has met few people beside the members of the family ; and, taken all in all, her manner of life seems to her circumscribed and narrow. Yet, as a matter of fact, the girl at home has THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME 81 a much better opportunity for growth than has her sister in a business office, for her time is more at her own disposal, and she can, there- fore, arrange to do much reading and to take advantage of the lectures, musicales, and other intellectual treats which are given in her city. In these days of woman's clubs, it is the fault of the home girl herself if she fails to grow in- tellectually. If the work of the house seems monotonous, it is because of the lack of interest taken in it. Of life it has been said that " what one wants is to be interested, and if one is not, life is pretty much the same in a surface car or an automo- bile." Without interest, housework or any other work is drudgery. The effort to be successful in the performance of work will make it inter- esting ; and just as great an effort to attain suc- cess in her work should be made by the house- keeper as is made by the girl who wishes to retain her position in an office. Her pride must be in the dependence of the whole family upon her ministrations. She may be very sure of one thing : no girl in an office is half as necessary there as is the successful girl in the home. Another point which should arouse her in- terest is that of being economical in the house- hold expenditures. This will require thought on her part, but the saving effected by a little 82 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS calculation will be so obvious that she will not begrudge the effort. The daughter who stays at home because she is needed there, instead of going out to earn her living, is entitled to a certain definite amount of money as her wage unless adverse condi- tions forbid. If the circumstances of the family are such that this amount must be small, let her accept that fact without complaint, but let her insist upon receiving some pay, even though it be small. She should remember that if her pay is small, her living expenses also are small, and that in many ways she has an opportunity to save money and less temptation to spend it than has the girl who goes to an office every day. Then, too, there are opportunities open by which a girl who is at home can earn some spending-money in her spare time. If she is skillful with her needle, she can sell her em- broidery at prices which, although not high enough to pay her for the time spent on it if she depended upon that for a livelihood, yet will be acceptable as furnishing a little extra money for her own use. Or, if she excels in the culinary art, she can obtain a small income by cooking for the neighbors occasionally. But whatever the pecuniary reward, far and above all other work, the work of the home- THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME 83 keeper must be a labor of love. To see that her mother's cares are lightened ; to know that her father starts to his daily labor fortified with a wholesome, appetizing breakfast which she has prepared; to know that each member of the household is the better fitted for the day's tasks because of her work : these are the rewards of the homekeeper which are not to be reckoned in money. The characteristic which the homekeeper must have if she would be successful in her calling is unselfishness. It is her business in life to do for others ; and if she finds no pleasure in this, her lot must always be an unsatisfactory one. Let her cultivate that spirit which finds its highest happiness in the happiness of others ; for she in her sphere has the power to minister to others' happiness to a greater degree than is found in any other calling. Fortunate is the daughter whose vocation it is to share in her mother's work, and to aid her in the making of a home, with all that the word implies of comfort, cheer, and love. The words, "the girl who stays at home," bring easily to one's mind a picture of the coun- try girl of colonial times, the far-away grand- mother of the girl of to-day. It is well to con- trast her home life with that of the modern girl. Her home was practically her world ; her field 84 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS of endeavor was the one filled by her father and mother, brothers and sisters, with perhaps an honored grandfather and grandmother in the chimney corner. But what varied interests were hers, and how skillfully she performed the many tasks that were accomplished in the old-time home ! From the early hours when she clothed herself in the serviceable garments that she had probably spun, woven, dyed, and made with her own hands, through all the busy hours of the day, she has been at work upon tasks that were va- ried and interesting. The hearty meals, that ne- cessitated the making of snowy biscuit and bread and toothsome pies and cakes, must be prepared ; the cream must be skimmed from the many small pans of milk; the butter must be churned in a crock or wooden churn with a dasher ; and the cheese must be made. Some days there were geese, whose troublesome heads had been cov- ered with a stocking, to be picked, to make the billowy feather beds ; and there were hens and calves to be given attention, and oftentimes a tiny new lamb to be induced to live. There were rugs to be braided and counterpanes to be woven ; and on certain days the great dye kettle was brought into use, when perhaps the worsted dresses for the winter were colored a rich crim- son or blue or magenta. Then there were all the mysteries of soapmaking to be learned, from THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME 85 the setting-up of the leach to the last stirring in the enormous iron kettle ; and there were the tallow candles to be dipped that gave a meager light to the home. Then, too, there were dain- tier tasks : the filling of the rose jars, which per- fumed every chamber, and the drying and pre- serving of the mints and sage and summer savory. The flower garden, with its tall holly- hocks, brilliant peonies, and lovely damask and moss roses, had to receive attention from the women of the household, as did also the vege- table garden ; for the men were too busy with harder tasks to spend time upon such things. This active ancestress of our modern girl did not read much, for two reasons : she had little spare time, and she had few books. She was not, however, unlettered, and her knowledge of many real processes and varied activities made her a capable and forceful person, even though her sphere of activity was largely within the walls of her own home. Our modern girl may not have, in her own household, the wide range of interesting tasks that were performed by her great-great-grand- mother ; but she has abundant opportunity to make herself a capable, efficient housekeeper; and by her reading, practice of music, attend- ance upon lectures, membership in clubs and in other social organizations, she can become a 86 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS living force in a much larger world than the one in which her colonial grandmother lived. Many a girl who has left a pleasant home, in which her services would have been of value to her own people, to enter upon tasks for which she was unfitted, has returned gladly to her own place in her father's house with the thought, " Home-keeping hearts are happiest, To stay at home is best." XIV VOCATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL Too often does the girl on the farm or in the small country village look with longing towards the advantages and the positions offered in the city, while she feels a sense of despair at her prospects in the country. As a matter of fact the country girl has a tremendous advantage over the city girl, because the latter has to make her way through a vast crowd of com- petitors while the country girl has practically a clear track to her goal. The girl in the city must not only make her way through a vast num- ber of applicants for every position, but she also has the handicap of big board bills, and an almost endless number of small expenses of which the country girl knows nothing. Then, too, because the girl in the city is surrounded by persons who dress in costly clothing, she is constantly tempted to increase her expenditures until they are out of all proportion to her income. As has been stated, the number of rural vo- cations from which the country girl can choose is a large one. The first that naturally suggests itself is gardening. 88 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS If a girl lives on a farm and can have the use of a few acres of land, she can earn a comfort- able living if she has brains, energy, and is a good manager. We will suppose that her home is at not too great a distance from a summer hotel or camp or a large village. She can then have a vegetable garden, raising early vege- tables and strawberries, or other berries, with a sure market near at hand. A Cape Cod girl nets as much each season from sweet peas, roses, dahlias, and other flow- ers, which she sells to summer boarders, as many a school-teacher earns in the entire year. A Wellesley graduate, living in a small country town, sells enough choice fruit to her patrons in a nearby village to support herself and her father. Chicken-raising is always profitable, if one studies it as one would study any other busi- ness ; and if one has the use of a hillside for the henhouses, with green things and running water near at hand, the work is not unpleasant. Upon application, reports are sent free by the Department of Agriculture, giving the very latest information in regard to the raising of poultry, fruit, vegetables, and flowers, and much valuable instruction in regard to all kinds of work that could be successfully carried on in the country. An application through the Con- VOCATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL 89 gressman from one's district will usually receive prompt attention. A certain girl who lives on a farm on the borders of a lake so beautiful that it attracts many campers, nets a tidy sum each year by making bread, pies, and doughnuts for these hungry people. Her pies are so good that the campers take them gladly at twenty-five cents each ; her doughnuts are seized at twenty cents a dozen, while her bread is snatched up at ten cents a loaf. Of course these prices mean that her cooking is of the very best. This girl's sister starts out with a reliable old horse and buggy each pleasant afternoon and takes the campers to various "beauty spots" within driving distance, earning in this way quite a handsome sum in the course of the summer. In a good many country homes girls are earning considerable spending-money by mak- ing braided rugs, such as were made by their grandmothers many years ago. Sometimes these are sold through Women's Exchanges and sometimes directly to the purchaser. Two girls who lived in a rather picturesque but dilapidated old house at the foot of a steep hill, which automobilists had to climb slowly, put out a sign, "Tea and Grandmother's Cook- ies." To their surprise they cleared ten dollars 90 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS the first week, and their season's work was very satisfactory. In a small country village a certain girl is sending her sister through college on her pro- fits from the doughnuts and pies with which she supplies her neighbors each Wednesday and Saturday. The country post-office must have a clerk, as must also the general store and the bank, if the place boasts such an institution. There must be a librarian in most villages, and although this work brings little pay, it is a great oppor- tunity for the girl who likes books. The salary for all these positions is small, but the expenses in a country village are also small. Many a girl, who is always a little hungry and never quite warm in her side room on a city street, thinks regretfully of the big, sunny room, the ample meals, and the small expenses that were hers in some country village. Let no country girl despair of entering upon a successful, remunerative, and honorable voca- tion because of her environment. Rather let her be thankful that her lot is placed where a wide expanse of sky and land, plenty of pure air, and the surety of quiet, restful nights, enable her to keep in the best condition to do work that will be pleasant and profitable for herself and helpful to the community. XV VOCATIONS PLUS AVOCATIONS A GIRL'S real character is revealed very clearly by the manner in which she spends her spare time. After a working day in the factory, tele- phone office, or store, there are still a few hours left besides those required for eating and sleep- ing. The wise use of this time will bring much true pleasure into the life of the worker. For the girl living at home, there may be many household duties to perform. Such a girl should welcome the opportunity of being a necessary and integral part of a real home in which she can contribute to the comfort and pleasure of her own family. But many girls are boarding and have no such home duties to fulfill. For them, also, many delightful avoca- tions are open. The writer once spent a summer in a factory town in the Middle West, where she was brought into intimate association with a group of young girls who were spinners in one of the factories. One of these girls took a piano lesson each week, practicing diligently an hour a day and thus making considerable progress in music, of 92 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS which she was very fond. Another girl who worked in the same mill took a French lesson each week, and always came to her lessons well prepared. A third girl belonged to a camera club and enjoyed long tramps into the country on Saturday afternoons. From these walks she returned with many beautiful views for a photo- graph book she was preparing called, " Beauty Spots Near Our Home." Nearly every one of this group of factory girls had some vital inter- est in life outside of her work in the factory. They were all companionable, well-bred girls, whom it was a pleasure to know. A busy young woman in a small country town in New England, who earns a good living by raising poultry, is making a collection of the newspaper poetry of the times. She has 'several large scrapbooks filled with these clippings, which she has arranged according to subjects. Another country girl has prepared a really valu- able bibliography of literature treating of birds. She gets this material from book review's, poems, and library and publishers' catalogues. As a general rule that avocation should be followed which is the farthest removed from the vocation. That is, if the vocation makes great demands upon the brain and nerves, the avo- cation should be technical. Some out-of-door work where the hands are employed would be ' VOCATIONS PLUS AVOCATIONS 93 best. On the contrary, if the work is largely mechanical, as in a factory, some reading, study of art or music, or other cultural work should be taken up. In all cases the avocation should be what one loves to do, with no thought of financial gain involved. The avocation enables one to grow into a fuller life and to take from its wonderful possi- bilities some of the things that give one deep and lasting happiness. It is well to emphasize the fact that the avo-V cation should be the work that one loves best. This being true, it follows that power and skill will develop in the pursuit of the avocation because of the enthusiasm with which the work is done. This enthusiasm often leads one to show that power of initiative and originality that mark the leader in all lines of effort, and thus the avocation in time may become an honor- able and pleasurable vocation. For the many girls who love books and study, but who are obliged to give up all thoughts of a college course, an avocation that requires the study of some particular subject appeals very strongly. No girl who has good health, a good mind, and some spare time need despair because she cannot graduate from a college. In these days of university extension courses, evening and correspondence schools, she can take up 94 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS almost any subject under competent instructors; or, if this method is not feasible, she can study by herself from books so clearly written that their meaning is easily reached by the average student. By studying what one loves, a love of study is developed ; and thus the student re- ceives a twofold pleasure. A coal merchant in a small country town began the study of French when he was nearly sixty years of age. After studying this subject about an hour a day for three or four years, during which time he had only a few lessons in pronunciation with a teacher, he was able to read the language easily and to speak it fairly well. This acquisition gives him more genuine pleasure than almost any- thing else in his life. A farmer in a remote rural district, who always loved scientific study but who had never received any instruction in the sciences, is so well informed, as a result of his reading all the latest scientific works, which he secures from the nearest large library, that his knowledge is respected, not only by the com- munity in which he lives, but also by the great students to whom he appeals occasionally for light upon some disputed point. Nearly every- one has heard of Elihu Burritt, " the learned blacksmith," whose wide reading made him an authority upon many subjects. An elderly banker of the writer's acquaintance, who still VOCATIONS PLUS AVOCATIONS 95 is actively engaged in managing the affairs of a large city bank, studies astronomy each even- ing. His reading-table contains all the latest works upon that fascinating subject, and with telescope in hand he mounts to the roof on nearly every pleasant evening to scan the heav- ens. The story of Lucy Larcom writing her poems after her day's work in a Lowell mill has often been told, and Louisa M. Alcott wrote her first stories as an avocation, not a voca- tion. Mr. Gladstone chopped down trees to relieve his mind from the cares of state. Colo- nel Roosevelt loves to write books and to hunt large game. We repeat for the sake of emphasis : That avocation should be sought which will develop one most completely and happily. One's voca- tion may be an employment which one thor- oughly enjoys, or it may be work into which one is forced by adverse conditions ; but the avocation should always contribute distinctly to the happiness and well-being of the individual. It should round out life. For the professional woman such avocations as gardening, poultry raising, nature study, or any employment that keeps one in the open air or involves some manual labor should be followed ; while for the girl who works with her hands there is always delightful, intellectual 96 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS pleasure to be had. A wise man has said, "To our vocation let us add an avocation, if we would be safe." And another has said, "We have certain work to do for our bread, and that is to be done strenuously ; other work to do for our delight, and that is to be done heartily; neither is to be done by halves but with a will; and what is not worth the effort is not to be done at all." XVI THE SUCCESSFUL GIRL THE foundation stones, truthfulness, honesty, industry, kindness, self-reliance, courage, and trustworthiness, must be placed very securely by the girl who is to enter the ranks of the world's workers and march forward with un- faltering tread in the midst of that great army. Sincerity of purpose, habits of industry, punc- tuality in performing work, alertness in seiz- ing opportunities, zeal in performing the task assigned, and a willingness to do more than the required task, these are the qualifications of the successful worker in every vocation. When the foundations of character have been carefully laid, it follows that efficiency, the power to do, the ability to get results, is what each one has to strive for ; this, after all is said, is what makes the difference between the girl who succeeds in her vocation and the one who fails. Sometimes it seems as if efficiency were a gift from the gods, like a taste for music, or the ability to write poetry, and that if one had it not by nature, it were useless to strive for it. Certain it is that persons differ greatly in their 98 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS possession of this quality. Given two girls of apparently equal ability and of the same training, and let each have a piece of practical work to do. The one will bring her work to a successful conclusion ; the other may try much harder, but the struggle will be in vain. For the very stars in their courses seem to fight against the inefficient girl. If she sews, her thread knots ; if she is a stenographer, her machine gets out of order ; if she is a cook, the fire refuses to burn ; and the more important the piece of work in hand, the more surely will dis- aster be her portion. Not so the efficient girl. At a critical moment she is in her element. In the time of emergency she rises to the occasion. No disasters await her. No untoward mishaps befall her. Calmly, without haste or undue effort, she successfully completes whatever task is given her to do. Is it possible for one to cultivate this quality of efficiency? At least it is possible to see what characteristics lead to its possession. Of course careful preparation for the work is the first re- quisite. Time must be spent to learn a trade before one can do good work in it. A girl should learn all that can be taught about an occupa- tion before attempting to earn her living by it. Good, careful training will do much toward in- suring efficiency. THE SUCCESSFUL GIRL 99 Next, there is orderliness. No time is lost in hunting for a mislaid pencil or thimble or dish. And, however great the need for speed, it will be found that the thimble or pencil or dish will be returned to its proper place when no longer in use. For the orderly person has an innate in- stinct for putting things in their proper places. Even the stores of information of such a person will be in their proper places. In time of need the stenographer will remember an address ; the cook will remember a recipe; the nurse will re- member some hint of her training-days. But the day's work must not only be done in an orderly and systematic manner, but it must be done on time, without haste and confusion. Dis- patch is as necessary a qualification of effici- ency as orderliness, dispatch, but not hurry. " Hurry is the sign of a weak mind ; dispatch, of a strong one." One more quality goes to make up efficiency, that of accuracy, precision. When a thing is done, no matter how unimportant, it is done painstakingly. The number of mistakes is re- duced to a minimum. It is not necessary to supervise the efficient girl, and this accounts for her being paid more than her inefficient sis- ter ; for the salary of the supervisor is always paid by the supervised. Efficiency is the essential characteristic of the ioo VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS successful girl, but there are other qualities which are needed to make her completely suc- cessful in her chosen line of work. Personal appearance, for instance, goes a great way ; and, while it is not within the power of every girl to be beautiful, any girl can be neat. It takes time and effort to be neat as to hair, nails, shoes, and collar, but it is time and effort well expended. The dress, too, should be appropri- ate for the work. The stenographer should re- member that the office is not the place for half- worn-out finery. Still another desirable qualification for the successful girl is tact, that lubricant which makes the wheels run more smoothly in all walks of life. It is the tactful salesgirl who considers whether or not her customer would like to be helped in the choice of her goods and acts ac- cordingly. It is the tactful seamstress who does not dwell over-much on the physical imperfec- tions of her customer, but who speaks rather of some beauty of form that is hers. It is the tactful nurse who does not remind her patient of the long days of pain still in wait for her, but who reminds her, instead, of the advance toward health which she has already made. But perhaps, next to efficiency, the quality which more than any other differentiates the successful from the unsuccessful girl is the will- THE SUCCESSFUL GIRL 101 ingness or unwillingness tjc/as'surne respc/rvsibil- ity. The girl who can, take responsibility draws the large salary. Maijy ,a -girl , QOes tji routine work of the day well, but fails when something out of the ordinary occurs, because she lacks initiative ; she fears to take responsibility. It is gratifying to note here that employers too, are beginning to assume their share of re- sponsibility in making the wage-earning girl efficient. A girl's effort to become efficient must be aided by efficiency-promoting condi- tions. In all occupations the individual health requirements are sensible dress and footwear, nourishing food, enough sleep, and plenty of fresh air. To these must be added employment under right conditions. This united effort of employer and employee will make for the con- ditions so essential to success ; and if the char- acter of the girl worker is built up on the foundation stones of success mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, then she must be- come, in the true sense of the phrase, " a suc- cessful girl." /:.:/:] ; XVII STATISTICS ON VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS IT is interesting to note that of the 333 oc- cupations for men and women listed in the volume of Earning Wage of Wage- Earners for 1909, issued by the Department of Commerce and Labor, there was a total number of 4,833,- 630 women over sixteen years of age listed under about sixty different groups of occupations. It is a hopeful indication to find, upon studying these tables, that, between the years 1890 and 1909, the percentage of women entering the ex- ecutive, the managerial, the professional, and all positions demanding initiative and respons- ibility, steadily and greatly increased. At the present time (1912) there are 299 oc- cupations in which women are employed. The number of women wage-earners over sixteen years of age in the United States in 1909, classified according to occupations, was : All occupations 4,833,630 Agricultural pursuits 77>55 Agricultural laborers 456,405 Farmers, planters, and overseers 307,700 Other agricultural pursuits 5>944 Professional service 429,497 Actresses, professional showwomen, etc. . . . 6,66 1 Artists and teachers of art 10,907 STATISTICS 103 Literary and scientific persons 5*984 Musicians and teachers of music 52,010 Officials (Government) ......... 8,119 Physicians and surgeons 7*387 Teachers and professors in schools and colleges 327,206 Other professional service 11,223 Domestic and personal service I >953>467 Barbers and hairdressers 5,440 Boarding- and lodging-house keepers .... 59>455 Hotel-keepers 8,533 Housekeepers and stewardesses 146,929 Janitors and sextons 8,0 10 Laborers (not specified) 106,916 Laundresses 328,935 Nurses and midwives 108,691 Servants and waitresses 1,165,561 Other domestic and personal service .... 14,997 Trade and transportation 481,159 Agents 10,468 Bookkeepers and accountants 72,896 Clerks and copyists 81,000 Merchants and dealers (retail) 33*825 Packers and shippers 17,052 Saleswomen 142,265 Stenographers and typewriters 85,086 Telegraph and telephone operators .... 21,980 Others in trade and transportation 16,587 Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits .... 1,199,452 Bookbinders J 4,3O3 Boot, and shoemakers, and repairers .... 36,490 Boxmakers (paper) 14,498 Confectioners 7,805 Glovemakers 7,170 Gold- and silver-workers 5,767 Paper- and pulp-mill operatives 8,709 Printers, lithographers, presswomen .... 1 5,353 Rubber -factory operatives 6,945 Textile-mill operatives 231,458 Carpet-factory operatives 8,332 Cotton-mill operatives 97,i8i Hosiery and knitting-mill operatives . . . 28,293 Silk-mill operatives 26,432 Woolen-mill operatives 27,169 Other textile-mill operatives 44,051 Textile workers 675,255 104 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Dressmakers 338,144 Hat- and cap-makers 749 Milliners 82,936 Seamstresses 138,728 Shirt-, collar-, and cuff-makers 27,781 Tailoresses 61,573 Other textile workers 19*045 Tobacco and cigar operatives 37>!24 Other manufacturing and mechanical pursuits . 138,574 The above table presents many interesting points. It is rather surprising to the average reader to learn that there are over seven hun- dred thousand women in the United States en- gaged in the different departments of agricul- ture, and that over four thousand of these are farmers, planters, and overseers. On the con- trary, to read that there are over three hundred thousand teachers and professors in colleges surprises no one. It seems fitting that nearly two million women are engaged in domestic and personal service, while about one fourth of that number are listed under " Trade and Transpor- tation." Over one million are employed in man- ufacturing and in mechanical pursuits, and nearly half that number are engaged in " Pro- fessional Service." The conclusion reached from a study of these figures would be that the greater number of women are still engaged in what we have been accustomed to call " woman's work," but that there are few occupations in which women are not found in large numbers. XVIII FAMOUS WOMEN WORKERS IT is interesting and helpful to one who is obliged to make her way in the world by means of daily work, faithfully and skillfully performed, to find ample proof in the pages of biography that all the women whom the world delights to honor have been great workers ; sometimes of necessity, and sometimes because of the love of working for the good of others, or to develop some special talent, which, thus used has given delight to great numbers of persons. It is only by the most indefatigable work that the greatest musicians, artists, authors, and scientists have been able to present their splen- did ideas and achievements to the world. Madame Marchesi, a wonderfully successful teacher of singing, and the instructor of the great operatic stars, Melba, Eames, Calve", Gerster, and many others, was a tremendous worker and would not retain as a pupil anyone who, through careless work or through indolence, failed to do her best. This teacher says of Madame Melba, " She was one of my most in- dustrious scholars." 106 VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS Calve* writes her teacher as follows : " I must tell you that I am making great progress, not only as a singer, but also as an actress, for I have worked hard at my part." Among great artists, we find Rosa Bonheur, working day after day from morning until night at her favorite but difficult task of animal paint- ing. We read that she worked steadily for eigh- teen months upon her masterpiece, the Horse Fair. The great scientist, Madame Curie, toiled in her laboratory for many years before her dis- coveries in regard to the properties of radium rewarded her efforts. Julia Ward Howe, whose memory all America loves to honor, worked as a lecturer, writer, and director of many philanthropic associations, un- til her death at a very advanced age. In literature, Louisa M. Alcott worked brain and hand almost ceaselessly for many years while writing h er delightful books. Lucy Larcom wrote many of her best poems while she was an op- erative in a Lowell mill. Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin was an enthusiastic kindergartner before she gave her entire time to the writing of her charming stories. Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross Society, was said never to be idle. Florence Nightingale, though of a wealthy family, gave unlimited time and toil to her work FAMOUS WOMEN WORKERS 107 in behalf of the soldiers and in founding better hospitals. Jane Addams has spent many years of her life in the attempt to promote social well- being. Many women of wealth, who might if they desired spend their life in idleness, fill all their days with worthy work for others. And thus all girl workers may feel them- selves members of a very noble army when they go forth to their daily work. It is a good thing for them to remember that, " If you have great talents, industry will improve them ; if not won- derful abilities, industry will supply the defi- ciency." Carlyle impresses upon us the dignity of all work, when he says, " All true work is sacred ; in all true work, were it but true hand-labor, there is something of divineness." In a recent address at the commencement exercises of a college for women, Mr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, said: "The power within for which you are responsible is the power to work. The idea suggests dignity, privilege, obligation. It implies a benefit to so- ciety, and calls for the development of self, the application of one's own individual power to some useful activity." XIX CONCLUSION IN these pages the writers have endeavored to point out some of the more common occupa- tions that give opportunity for service and a com- fortable living wage for the girl who cannot take a long and costly course of training. There are many other vocations that will ap- peal to different individuals. Some of these are : Work in certain departments of textile factories, salaries varying according to skill of operators ; proof reading, salary about twelve dollars per week, but broadening work in which there is much opportunity for self-improvement; gov- ernment clerkships, purely clerical work, paying from about seven hundred to nine hundred dol- lars a year. These clerkships may be secured by taking a civil service examination. The can- didate must be a good penman and speller and an accurate copyist. Many girls find employment by doing prac- tical forms of art work such as designing tex- tiles, wall papers, fashion plates, book-covers, and posters. A girl with a decided artistic talent can prepare for this work in the courses in CONCLUSION 109 design in a first-class high school. The salary varies greatly, but high-grade work in design is always remunerative. For the self-respecting, energetic girl of fair natural ability, there are many vocations in which a satisfactory living wage can be secured under pleasant conditions. The school and the home should cooperate in determining the nat- ural bent of each pupil, and she should be given a good general training with the emphasis laid along the lines of her most decided talent or promise. It is necessary, also, that the occupation and the particular place of employment of each girl should be studied very carefully, both by the girl herself and also by those who are respons- ible for giving her vocational information. APPENDIX WHAT GREAT AUTHORS HAVE SAID ABOUT WORK (For memorizing or for discussion) THERE is a perpetual nobleness in work. There is always hope in a man that works : in idleness alone is there perpetual despair. Blessed is he who ^ has found his work ; let him ask no other blessed- ness. All true work is sacred ; in all true work, were it but hand-labor, there is something of divineness. Sweat of the brow ; and up from that to sweat of the brain, sweat of the heart ; this is the noblest thing yet discovered under God's sky. CARLYLE. I know what pleasure is for I have done good work. STEVENSON. Not doing more than the average is what keeps the average down. Anon. Whenever the arts and labors of life are fulfilled in the spirit of striving against misrule, and doing whatever we have to do, honorably and perfectly, they invariably bring happiness, as much as seems possible. RUSKIN. Ascending from lowest to highest, through every scale of human industry, that industry, worthily followed, gives peace. RUSKIN. 112 APPENDIX Nothing great was ever achieved without enthu- siasm. EMERSON. Unless a man has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous. MATTHEWS. There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune j Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures. SHAKESPEARE. The latest Gospel in this world is, " Know thy work and do it." CARLYLE. To improve the golden moment of opportunity and catch the good that is within our reach is the great art of life. JOHNSON. / Work for some good, be it ever so lowly ! Labor ! all labor is noble and holy. FRANCES OSGOOD. If when for life's prizes You 're running, you trip, Get up, start again, Keep a stiff upper lip ! PHOEBE GARY. Opportunity has hair in front, behind, she is bald ; if you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her ; but if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again. From the Latin. APPENDIX 113 Do the work that 's nearest, Though it 's dull at whiles, Helping, when we meet them, Lame dogs over stiles. See in every hedgerow Marks of angels' feet, Epics in each pebble Underneath our feet. KINGSLEY. Do something ! Do it soon ! With all thy might ; An angel's wing would droop if long at rest. WILCOX. For him who always does his best, His best will better grow ; But he who shirks or slights his task, He lets the better go. Anon. He who is to win the noblest successes in the world of affairs must continually educate himself for larger grasp of principles and broader grasp of conditions. MABIE. The servant with this clause Makes drudgery divine : Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws Makes that and th' action fine. GEORGE HERBERT. Up to the point of efficiency, when one is learn- ing a trade or a profession, there is comparatively little joyousness in his labor ; but with the conscious- H4 APPENDIX ness of mastery, of thorough knowledge and aptness, comes a feeling of strength, of self-satisfaction, of superiority, which takes away all sense of drudgery and makes the pursuit of one's occupation a source of constant delight. MATTHEWS. Whatever I have tried to do in my life, I have tried with all my heart to do well. What I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to com- pletely. Never to put my hand to anything on which I would not throw my whole self, and never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was, I find now to have been my golden rules. CHARLES DICKENS. Round swings the hammer of industry, and quickly the sharp chisel rings, And the heart of the toiler has throbbings that stir not the bosom of kings ; He the true ruler and conqueror, he the true king of his race, Who nerveth his arm for life's combat, and looks the strong world in the face. DENIS FLORENCE MCCARTHY. What men want is not talent, it is purpose ; not the power to achieve, but the will to labor. BULWER LYTTON. No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him ; there is always work, And tools to work withal, for those who will ; And blessed are the horny hands of toil. LOWELL. APPENDIX US If little labor, little are our gains, Man's fortunes are according to his pains. HERRICK. Work gives balance and regularity to all the movements of the soul It drives all diseased fancies out of the mind. The condition, however, is that it shall be really work, not the show of it ; that we shall put ourselves wholly into it for the time ; that we shall not work mechanically nor reluctantly, but with our thoughts present, our heart in it, as well as our hands. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work j for I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts. Haggai, n, 4. Be strong by choosing wisely what to do \ be strong by doing well what you have chosen. S. OSGOOD. Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. Proverbs , vi, 6. The dignity and permanence of work depend upon the power and might of the worker. MABIE. When one comes up to the mark set for himself, it is safe to conclude that the standard was too low. Anon. Miss not the occasion ; by the forelock take That subtle power, the never-halting time. WORDSWORTH. Il6 APPENDIX The modern majesty consists in work. What a man can do is his greatest ornament. CARLYLE. Be sure no earnest work Of any honest creature, howbeit weak, Imperfect, ill adapted, fails so much, It is not gathered, as a grain of sand For carrying out God's end. E. B. BROWNING. All good work is essentially done without hesi- tation, without difficulty, without boasting. Anon. Laboring towards distant aims sets the mind in a higher key, and puts us at our best. PARKHURST. Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. LONGFELLOW. Deem not thy toil obscure ; It shall have lustre, being rarely done ; Not ours to choose, but ours to use aright The gifts of God, or ten or only one. Anon. Labor, wide as the earth, for its summit is heaven. CARLYLE. To labor rightly and earnestly is to walk in the golden track that leads to God. J. G. HOLLAND. The duty of labor is written on a man's body ; in the stout muscle of the arm, and the delicate machinery of the hand. PARKER. APPENDIX 117 Genius can never despise labor. ABEL STEVENS. Labor is the law of happiness. ABEL STEVENS. Hitch your wagon to a star. EMERSON. No work that God sets a man to do no work to which God has especially adapted a man's powers can be properly called either menial or mean. J. G. HOLLAND. We are not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our hearts. We have cer- tain work to do for our bread, and that is to be done strenuously; other work to do for our de- light, and that is to be done heartily. Neither is to be done by halves, but with a will ; and what is not worth the effort is not to be done at all. Anon. The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. DISRAELI. Vigilance in watching opportunity, tact and dar- ing in seizing opportunity; force and persistence in crowding opportunity to its utmost of possible achievement ; these are the virtues which must command success. Anon. The best way to live well is to work well. Good work is the daily test and safeguard of personal health. MORTIMER GRANVILLE. ii8 APPENDIX The power of the laborer must be equal to the power required by his task, or his labor will con- quer nothing. Set an ass to carry an elephant's burden and his back will be broken. The man of few brains cannot do the work of the man of many brains. J. G. HOLLAND. A man in earnest finds means, or, if he cannot find, creates them. CHANNING. Dost thou love life, then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. FRANKLIN. Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. JOHNSON. In all human action those faculties will be strong which are used. EMERSON. +~ One to-day is worth two to-morrows. Anon. The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator. GIBBON. Work is the inevitable condition of human life, the true source of human welfare. TOLSTOY. Honest toil is holy service ; faithful work is praise and prayer. HENRY VAN DYKE. QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT CHAPTER I WHAT is said of the number of working-girls who enter a great city each morning ? What is their general appearance ? Name some of the vocations in which these girls are employed. What is the equipment of this working-women's army? To what does the thought of competition lead ? Why does one think hopefully of the training of working-girls ? Why do some girls fail of success in their vocation? What two kinds of knowledge are required by the girl who would succeed in her work ? Why is vocational guidance now given in the schools ? What happens when the choice of a vocation is made without careful thought ? What are the tests of one's fitness for one's work ? CHAPTER II To what type of girl does the work of a salesgirl often appeal ? What type do store managers seek ? Describe the appearance of a successful sales- girl ? What two characteristics must she possess ? 120 APPENDIX What is said of schools of salesmanship ? Of salesmanship as a profession ? What is the lowest position that a girl takes upon entering a store ? What qualities are most demanded here ? What pay is received ? What is the next upward step in the work of sales- manship ? What special qualities are demanded of the cashiers and bundle girls ? Why should a salesgirl be attentive and courteous to customers ? What are the qualifications of a successful sales- girl ? Describe ways in which she may help the cus- tomer. What is said of the value of suggestion? What must the clerk get from the customer ? What is the result of inattention on the part of the clerk ? Should only new goods be shown? Why not? Why should the salesgirl say, "Will you take this parcel?" On what basis is a salesgirl's salary ? What is the work and salary of the person who is called Head of Stock ? Assistant Buyer ? Buyer ? What are some of the disadvantages of a sales- girl's life ? Compare these disadvantages with those found in other work. What opportunities has the salesgirl ? What mis- take does she sometimes make ? What is the greatest factor in the prosperity of any store ? APPENDIX 121 What is said of Schools of Salesmanship ? Compare the rewards of a successful salesgirl with those of women in other work. What is said of the social position of a salesgirl ? Why should a salesgirl have an avocation ? What classes of people welcome the new era in salesmanship ? What is a good motto in any work ? Contrast condition of work in different stores. CHAPTER III What are the essential qualifications of a suc- cessful stenographer ? What care should be taken in selecting a school ? What is said of a six weeks' course ? What is the test of a good school ? To what should the selection of a system be secondary ? What is said of work for the Government ? Of civil service examinations ? What are the duties of a stenographer with a low salary ? What are the duties of the stenographer who earns from ten to fifteen dollars per week ? Describe the stenographer who can fill the high- est office position. What are the qualifications of the private secre- tary? What is said of the work of a public steno- grapher ? Of a hotel stenographer ? 122 APPENDIX What are the duties and special qualifications of the social secretary ? What is said of the work of the typist who is not a stenographer ? Of the expert typist ? Upon what subjects should a stenographer spe- cialize ? CHAPTER IV Where are there telephone schools? What is taught there ? How does the girl in a small town get her training ? Qualifications of the operator ? What percentage of the applicants are rejected ? What are the wages of the general operator? Supervisor ? Chief operator ? What is said of work in private exchanges ? Why is good health a necessity to the telephone operator ? Name some of the advantages of the operator ? How long are the working hours of the operators in your city ? CHAPTER V What are some of the unpleasant features of fac- tory life ? What study should be made before entering upon work in a manufacturing establishment? Describe the manufactory where window drap- eries are made. What do the management believe in regard to the health of the employees ? What ar- rangement is made with a near-by school ? APPENDIX 123 What is said of the term of service of employees in paper-box factory described ? What of the wages ? Why do employees remain in this establishment many years ? What provisions does a certain great factory make for the comfort of its employees ? What is said of the cost of living at one of the factory board- ing-houses ? Describe the work of the Relief Asso- ciation. What wages do the girls in the factory receive ? What qualifications are necessary ? Name some of the advantages of the work. Tell some- thing of the achievements of the young Greek girl, and of what was done by other superior girls among the operatives. Why is it difficult to make general statements in regard to factory conditions ? In what kind of fac- tory is it unsafe to work ? CHAPTER VI What is the best field for effort in cooking ? What is said of cooking for the sick ? Cooking to fill special orders ? Tell of the success of the young woman who established a tea-room in a college town. What training should a cooking-school teacher have ? What is said of training for higher positions ? How does the demand for cooking-school teach- ers compare with the supply ? Name some of the duties of a supervisor of do- mestic science. 124 APPENDIX CHAPTER VII What are the qualifications of a good nurse ? What did the head nurse of a great city hospital say was the chief qualification of a successful nurse ? Why should a nurse be extremely careful as to her personal appearance ? At what age may training begin ? Why should a nurse be a well-read woman ? Describe the work of the training-school. What is said of a nurse's surety of employment ? Salary? Expenses? Describe the work of a nurse in a private school or institution. What is the greatest reward of a nurse ? What is the work of a nursemaid ? What are the special qualifications of a nurse- maid ? Where can a nursemaid's course be taken ? What is the nursemaid's position in the house- hold ? Wages ? What is the work of a mother's helper ? CHAPTER VIII What is said of the girl who is a deft sewer ? What is the work and remuneration of the seam- stress ? How may one prepare to become a dressmaker ? What is the most satisfactory part of dressmaking ? APPENDIX 125 What is said of the work of a sewing-teacher ? Of schools of dressmaking in department stores ? Why must a milliner be a good financial man- ager? Describe the steps in the work of a milliner's apprentice. What disadvantages has the work ? Advantages ? CHAPTER IX How does the successful teacher of to-day differ from the typical teacher of preceding generations ? What are her special characteristics ? Why is intense study of the individual pupil necessary ? What do we mean by " misfits " ? Where must the emphasis be placed in teaching the individual pupil ? Why does the rural school demand special treat- ment ? What qualification is demanded in the successful teacher ? What is said of a teacher's financial and other rewards ? What should the teacher always study ? Who are the greatest teachers ? What are Emerson's words ? What efforts at self-improvement should the teacher make ? What advantages has she ? What is said of the school as a social center ? 126 APPENDIX CHAPTER X How may kindergarten training be secured, and what are the advantages of this method ? What are a kindergartner's qualifications ? Her rewards ? Development in character ? What qualification does a private kindergarten need to possess ? ' What type of girl had better not become a kinder- gartner ? What is said of the Montessori System? What comparison is made by Professor Holmes ? CHAPTER XI What is said of the lure of the library ? The sal- ary ? The method of securing employment ? What are the first duties of the learner ? What are the pleasures of working in a library ? What expert testimony is given as to the disad- vantages ? How is the library like a miniature world ? CHAPTER XII What four reasons are given why girls dislike to enter a household as a domestic ? By what method of work could a self-respecting girl enter a family to perform household work ? What special tasks could she perform ? What is said of the future of domestic service ? Illustrate this fact. APPENDIX 127 CHAPTER XIII Speak of the causes for congratulation of the women of this generation. Why do many girls who remain at home through the day feel dissatisfied with their work ? What opportunities has the girl in the home to develop intellectually ? What incentive will cause a girl to take interest in the work of the home ? What is said of economy in the home ? Should the girl in the home receive wages? Under what conditions? What are her other re- wards ? What is the chief characteristic of the successful homekeeper ? Describe the home life of the Colonial girl. CHAPTER XIV What advantage has the country girl over the girl in the city ? Describe the conditions under which gardening would be successful. Describe the work of a Cape Cod girl. Of a Wellesley graduate. What is said of chicken raising? Cooking for campers ? Acting as a guide ? Work in the arts and crafts ? Success of a tea-room ? Positions in country villages ? Why should a girl be thankful that her work is in the country ? 128 APPENDIX CHAPTER XV How is a girl's real character best revealed ? What is said of the opportunities of the girl who lives at home ? What were the avocations of a group of factory girls ? Of two country girls ? What is an ideal avocation for anyone ? In what way may the avocation lead to the vocation ? Speak of the advantages of study as an avocation. What is said of the coal merchant's avocation? The banker's ? Several noted persons' ? CHAPTER XVI What qualities lead to success in any vocation ? What is meant by the term " efficiency " ? What is the difference between the girl who fails and the one who succeeds ? Describe the conduct of the efficient girl in an emergency. What are the steps that lead to efficiency? What is the personal appearance of the success- ful girl ? What is tact, and how does it help in any voca- tion? What is said of the willingness to assume respon- sibility ? What of the employer's sense of responsi- bility ? What cooperation of employer and employee is needed ? APPENDIX 129 CHAPTER XVII How many women farmers are there in the United States ? How many women in the professions ? How many milliners ? In what vocations not formerly filled by them are women coming to the front ? In what general class of occupations are they still found in greatest numbers ? CHAPTER XVIII What did Madame Marchesi say of her famous pupils ? What does this prove ? Name other noted women who were great workers. What encouragement does this testimony give the girl worker ? CHAPTER XIX What is said of the salary and other advantages of a proof reader ? How are government clerkships secured ? What are the necessary qualifications of the government clerk ? What field is there for work in design ? Salary in design work ? What should the school and home together deter- mine? Where should the emphasis in the individual's training be laid ? BIBLIOGRAPHY AT the present time (1912) there is almost no literature bearing directly upon the subject of voca- tions for the girl who must leave school at an early age. Some valuable works upon vocations in gen- eral are : 1. The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living, by Anna S. Richardson : B. W. Dodge, New York. 2. Women and the Trades, by Elizabeth Beard- sley Butler: Charities Publication, New York. 3. Vocational Guidance of Youth, by Meyer Bloomfield : Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Other books bearing upon subjects discussed in the chapters of this book are : Handbook of Home Economics, by Etta Proc- tor Flagg : Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Educational Needlecraft, by Margaret Swanson and Ann Macbeth : Longmans, Green & Co., New York. New Demands in Education, by James Phinney Munroe : Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. BIBLIOGRAPHY 131 Montessori Method, by Maria Montessori, translated from the Italian by Anne E. George : F. A. Stokes Company, New York. Farm Boys and Girls, by William A. McKeever : The Macmillan Company, New York. Some helpful books upon home-making are : Domestic Service, by Lucy M. Salmon. Home Nursing, Harrison. The Woman Who Spends, by Bertha J. Richardson. Domestic Science, by Ida Hood Clark. Art of Right Living, by Ellen H. Richards. The Complete Home, by Clara E. Laughlin. The Home Progress Magazine: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Making Home Profitable, Kate V. Saint Maur. Any telephone school will furnish pamphlets as to conditions in telephone work. The United States Department of Commerce and Labor, the Bureau of Education, and the Census Department will all furnish reports giving informa- tion in regard to vocations. A series of pamphlets compiled by the Girls Trade Education League of Boston gives informa- tion as to conditions of work for girls in that city. Some of the subjects discussed are : Telephone Operating j Bookbinding ; Stenography and Typewriting ; Nursery Maid ; 132 BIBLIOGRAPHY Dressmaking ; Millinery ; Straw-Hat-making ; Manicuring and Hairdressing ; Salesmanship ; Clothing-Machine-operating ; Paper-Box-making. The reports of the meetings of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, New York, contain valuable information in regard to conditions of work and the training of the worker. OUTLINE I. FOREWORD PAGE 1. Great Number of Working-Girls ..... I 2. Many Vocations represented I 3. Competition suggested 2 4. Appearance of Efficiency indicates Thorough Training 2 5. Great Numbers of Failures in Vocations . . 2 6. Vocational Training for Girls 2 7. Misfits 2 8. Vocation not given Sufficient Thought ... 4 II. SALESMANSHIP 1. Kind of Salesgirl Store Managers wish to secure $ 2. Schools of Salesmanship 5 3. Work of Marker ........... 6 4. Stock Girl : . . . . . 7 5. Cashier and Bundle Girl y 6. Work of Salesgirl 7 7. Head of Stock 9 8. Assistant Buyer 9 9. Buyer 9 10. Salaries of Buyers 9 1 1. Disadvantages of Work compared with Advant- ages 9 12. Opportunity for Study of Human Nature . . 10 13. Schools for increasing the Efficiency of Clerks n 134 OUTLINE 14. Social Position of a Clerk II 15. Higher Qualifications of Clerks 12 1 6. Cooperation of Public- Spirited Persons with Best Types of Stores 12 III. STENOGRAPHY AND TYPEWRITING 1. Essential Qualifications for a Stenographer. . 14 2. Spelling 14 3. English 14 4. Selection of a School 15 5. Shorthand Systems 16 6. Great Number of Openings fora Stenographer 17 7. Civil Service Examination 18 8. Stenographer in a Business Office 18 9. The Position with a Low Salary 19 10. Positions paying from Ten to Fifteen Dollars a Week 19 11. The Highest Class of Office Positions ... 20 12. Responsibility 20 13. Private Secretary 20 14. Public Stenographer 21 15. Hotel Stenographer 21 16. The Social Secretary 21 17. Work for the Typist who is not a Stenographer 22 1 8. Average Salaries paid High School Graduates 23 19. Essential Qualifications of a Successful Sten- ographer 24 IV. THE TELEPHONE OPERATOR 1. Appeal to the Girl with no Special Talent . . 26 2. Schools for learning Work 26 3. Qualifications of Telephone Girl 27 4- Wages 27 OUTLINE 135 5. Work in Private Exchanges 28 6. Opportunity for Advancement 28 7. Good Health a Necessity 28 8. Working-Hours 29 V. WORK IN A MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENT 1. Favorable Types chosen for Description ... 30 2. Undesirable Features of Factory Life ... 30 3. Impossible to generalize Factory Conditions . 31 4. Typical conditions described 32 (a) Manufactory of Window Draperies . . 32 (b) Paper-Box Factory 34 (c) Watch Factory 35 5. Possibilities in Factory Life 39 VI. COOKING 1. The Field a Wide One 40 2. Cooking for the Sick 40 3. Cooking for a Salary 41 4. Cooking to fill Special Orders 41 5. A Tea-Room 41 6. Cooking-School Teacher 41 7. Salary 42 8. Training for Higher Positions 42 9. Arduous Duties of a Supervisor of Domestic Science 4 2 VII. NURSING 1. The Kind of Girl who will make a Good Nurse 44 2. Personal Appearance of a Nurse 44 3. Age at which Training may begin 45 4. A Nurse should be a Well-Read Woman . . 45 136 OUTLINE 5. Course in the Training-School 45 6. Remuneration while learning Hospitals differ 46 7. Certainty of Employment and Other Advan- tages 46 8. Nurses' Positions in Schools and Institutions 46 9. A Convalescent or Domestic Nurse .... 46 10. The Work of a Nursemaid 47 11. Wages 48 12. Mother's Helper 48 VIII. SEWING AND MILLINERY 1. The Seamstress 49 2. The Dressmaker 49 3. Designer of Costumes 50 4. A Sewing-Teacher 50 5. Work of a Milliner 51 6. Wages received in Different Branches of Mil- linery 52 7. Disadvantages of the Millinery Business . . 52 8. Opportunities for Advancement 53 IX. THE MODERN TEACHER 1. The Teacher of To-Day 54 2. Her Special Characteristics 54 3. The Modern Teacher must understand Chang- ing Conditions 55 4. Sympathetic Imagination needed 56 5. Real Reward of Teacher 56 6. Who are the Greatest Teachers ? 57 7. Teacher as a Student 57 8. Advantages of Rural Teacher 57 9. New Functions of School 59 OUTLINE 137 10. Teacher a Social Power 59 11. School a Social Center 59 X. KINDERGARTENING AND THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM 1. How Kindergarten Training may be secured 61 2. Qualifications required of Kindergartner . . . 61 3. Reward of Work 62 4. Kind of Girl not fitted for a Kindergartner . . 62 5. Montessori System of Teaching 64 XL LIBRARY WORK 1. The Lure of Library Work 66 2. The Ideal Librarian 67 3. How to get into Library Work 68 4. Examination Necessary to secure a Position . 68 5. Assistant in a Small Library 69 6. Joys of working in a Library 69 7. Librarians give Advice 70 8. Library, World in Miniature 71 XII. DOMESTIC SERVICE 1. Unwillingness of Girls to enter Domestic Service 73 2. Possibility of Domestic Service without Un- desirable Conditions 74 3. Wages 74 4. Hours 74 5. Duties should be well defined 75 6. The Future of Domestic Service 76 7. Great Demand for Competent Service ... 77 138 OUTLINE XIII. THE GIRL WHO STAYS AT HOME 1 . Fortunate Conditions of Women of To-day . 79 2. The Opportunity for Intellectual Development in the Home 80 3. Interest in the Work Necessary 81 4. Opportunities to earn Spending-Money ... 82 5. Chief Characteristic of the Successful Home- keeper 83 6. The Colonial Girl at Home 83 7. Modern Girl has Wider Range of Interests . . 85 XIV. VOCATIONS FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL 1. Gardening 87 2. A Cape Cod Girl's Work 88 3. A Wellesley Graduate's Method of earning a Living 88 4. Chicken-Raising 88 5. Cooking for Campers 89 6. Work as Guide 89 7. Arts and Crafts 89 8. Tea-Rooms 89 9. Possibilities in the Country Village .... 90 10. The Country Girls' Reasons for Gratitude . . 90 XV. VOCATIONS PLUS AVOCATIONS 1. Real Character revealed by Use of Spare Time 91 2. Avocation of Girl at Home 91 3. Avocations of Girls in a Factory Town ... 91 4. Avocations of Two Country Girls 92 5. What the Avocation should be 92 6. Avocation Help to Fuller Life 93 OUTLINE 139 XVI. THE SUCCESSFUL GIRL 1. Foundation Stones of Success 97 2. Efficiency 97 3. Other Essentials of Success 99 4. Employers share Responsibility 101 5. Physical Conditions of Women Workers . . 101 6. Character and Right Physical Conditions bring Success 101 XVII. STATISTICS ON VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS 1. Information supplied by Department of Com- merce and Labor IO2 2. Contrasts in Table 104 XVIII. FAMOUS WOMEN WORKERS 1. All Women honored by the World have been Great Workers 105 2. Illustrative Instances 105 3. All Girl Workers belong to a Noble Army . .107 XIX. CONCLUSION 1. Other Vocations open to Women 108 2. Place of Employment must be studied . . .109 NOV 251941 * 22 ms SEP 1 2 , 93 < j JUN u m? OCT 191 I 26Ma>'53ED Cr ^01935 * P 29 1936 JUL 6 1936 FEB 1 1939 FE B 16 1940 fMri2l9S3ti 4 ^n'56PV|/ CEC8 1955 LW 1 Dec'5?CT ^C'D LD Of C f > LD 21 - Y.B 65090 331085 ^UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY