FACING' THE MUSIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 102, 23 January 1908, Page 3

FACING' THE MUSIC.

Some; time • ago' I- saw in a contemporary (3ays Mrs. Neish in "M.A.P.") that several w'oll-knownvSpciety wonieiv.had been asked to write; an aps\ver.gto this question: "How wonld you earn your living if you were suddenly called upoiUto keep yourself Among tho! answers, wajr this suggestive reply from Mrs. Leopold da Rothschild : "1.. have come to the conclusion that I should probably 6t'arye, as I kjow no way in which I could earn my.,living." ... I say "suggestive reply" in quoting this frankly honfjt statement, because iti. suggests at olico to my mind both pity for and mteresfe;in women who arc left alone in the world.- - .'•• . -

Boiiio of us are.naturally'clever, many of us are mediocre, and most of us are, alas! resourceless altogether. It is one of the sad ironies of,, Fate-that those gentle, delicatelynurtured women who are usually left portionless to ; face the-world :are'usually the most incompetent. This knowledge—and I who, worked among the sad class known as "Reduced Gentlewomen," know .it to be an -actual truths-should make us vcTy kind and lielpful to all such women. ' Hfijfo you ever . thought, dear woman reader, how you would feel if; suddenly, tomom>w .or .to-day, you Were told you must own .liying? , ' •' Evon supposing you 1 to-be full of talents omUwisdom, yoy would not only have to find! a market for your talent, but often the wlj.frpwithal to. exorcise it too. I wish wo Englishwomen Would emulate the French mother who begins,putting, by a littlo here aii(l, a littlo there, for her daughter's dot when sho is even as yet in her cradle; wo should then have..something-ready, if not for ajinarriage portion, at least to help a stranded' daughter to live on whilo she was looking for something'to do. Oh I . that "looking for .something to do"—how hard it is I—and how'difficult even j for those'who am blessed with, talent; how almost impossible for those without.

Do not think a " springy walk" nccessi-tates-;b'ouncilig -like rubber ball. An esag£erited or forced' lightness of stefi .is. almost as r .bad as an elephantine tread, and is Ilinpfi rnnrti cl/'icllloUS-lookilU;.