It is a great pity that girls are brought up to think that the only way in which they can dispose of themselves that will give satisfaction to their friends is to get married, and if from various causes they fail to achieve this end they will be looked upon more or less as social failures. Although I am perfectly willing to admit that a happy marriage is the best fate that can befall a woman, surely an unhappy one is one of the worst; and how many of these would be prevented if women only had something else to do and think about, some other means of advancing themselves in life!
I wish parents could be induced to treat their daughters more in the way they treat their sons—that is to say, when they leave school have them thoroughly trained for some profession; it would be much better for them, and many of the difficulties of the "woman question" would disappear, as the untrained women of middle age who have suddenly to depend upon their own exertions are those for whom it is almost impossible to provide any suitable occupation, especially if they object or are unfit to become hospital nurses, and have not sufficient capacity for arithmetic to learn book-keeping. I must refer any of my readers who want personal advice as to their qualifications for different occupations to the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, 22, Berners Street, Oxford Street, W. Miss King, the Secretary, or Miss Lewin, the Under Secretary, are both able and willing to give advice and reliable information; no fee of any kind is charged. This excellent society has been in existence twenty years; during the whole time a free register has been kept, by means of which many hundreds of women have obtained situations or temporary employment. Visits from applicants average about ten daily, and the office has been a centre for the collecting and diffusion of information on all subjects bearing on the employment of women; while many whose names are never entered on the register are put in the way of procuring training or employment, and are warned against persons who, by alluring promises of easy ladylike employment, tempt the unwary to spend their slender means in lessons that are worthless.
With an income which, from all sources, including subscriptions and donations for special purposes, has only averaged £319 7s. 6d. per annum, it has trained yearly on an average, thirty young women, obtained regular employment for sixty-three, and occasional employment for one hundred and forty-two.
I must take this opportunity of acknowledging the great kindness I have met with during my search for information while compiling the book. With one exception, I have everywhere been treated with the greatest courtesy; all my questions have been most fully answered, and every facility given me for obtaining all the particulars I could possibly desire.
I find that, after common sense and business habits, the qualification most likely to be useful to a woman is a good knowledge of drawing; so I advise any one who has any taste in that direction to sedulously cultivate it.
I am much interested in a scheme for starting a School of Tapestry, where ladies could be apprenticed, and after they had acquired the art, work regularly, as they do at the Royal School of Art Needlework. There is nothing in the nature of the work to prevent women doing it, although it is an occupation that has long been monopolised by men. The necessary apprenticeship would be at least two years.
A scheme has lately been set on foot for organising classes for teaching girls who are anxious to obtain engagements in superior houses of business, the regular routine of office work, book-keeping, &c. Inquiries may be addressed to Miss Franks, 23, Mortimer Street.
I wish I could convince women of a truth they seem singularly slow in comprehending—that is, that if they are to compete with men on anything like equal terms, they must, at the very least, give the same time to learn their business that men find necessary. There is always a demand for really skilled labour, and this skill is worth almost any present sacrifice to obtain; besides its pecuniary advantages, the knowledge that one can do something really well (not in an amateur fashion) confers a most gratifying sense of power and independence. I do not agree with those people who think it a hardship for women to have to work for their living; on the contrary, I believe if an average of happiness could be ascertained, it would be found the toilers had a far larger share than the idlers, and when trouble and disappointment come, as come they will, they must remember that—
"Their fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain must fall,