FRILLS AND THE FRANCHISE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 135, 2 March 1908, Page 3

FRILLS AND THE FRANCHISE.

If there is, one tiling more ,irritating;..than another to 9110 who interests, himself, : jn women's : questions (writes Kathleen >Br6driek ■in'- : a rather bitter, .[article,. in, the ' ";Da jly Mail'.') it is the "sight■ of a, pretty arid befrilled woman' who, while Coasting ,her 1 feet over the fire, declares vehemently .'that she does not caro.a,toss for women's .rights. ' It is women' like this who aroVfeping thousands of women in positions whicb'would >make ' others';mire'' /fortunate 'shiver'' with horror/ j.'. It is'; the ' failure ; t'o ._stand, shoulder to shoulder.that ,'tp a certain 'extents is responsible for women's position' to-day—responsi-ble 'for the", sad '/position of those 5,000,000 women who'are 'workorsjrom dire necessity. Tho ; sufferers themselves eairdo 'little: ■' They are not influential. Their 'time is' taken",up] by. obtaining a daily pittance;' They, are'too weary to do more. ". ' It, is to their rich sisters that thej- should be able to turn, those who have time and.

influence. But most 'of:.them are sitting comfortably heforo their .fires, seeing little reason for being up arid'do'ing. - _ ' ■ That ignorance is usually the prime reason for what on the. surfaco'appears to be heartlcssness is evident'to most people;--' - .. -A . certains inertness is also responsible for a great deal. There arc. few, let us hope, who would .say with the rich limn who had road Gissing's • " Odd ''Women " with '.disgust: "For m'e cold and poverty and hunger do not Sexist; I'choose to forget that they, are in the world." True, it is not a pleasant subject'. This is not just idle grumbling. A friend of mine'has been telling mo her story. Sho is no longer young, and has just lost/ her post through 110 fault of her own. They tell her she is l old and her methods of teaching old-fashioned. *. Tho managers of tho shops say tho same. It is young and sprightly-.-people they want, and her faded face does not please'them. ' . ' Not long ago I was staying at a boardinghouse for women in ".one-of the Yorkshire .watering-places. It was' worked' partly on philanthropic lines, and those who aro there were'all workers. >

I was struck, by the cheerful atmospbero in .which I found: myself. Work had been a boon ; ;to' "them";'' I 'thought,' and- I' fancied thev must be what is called " comfortably off.'!. It was not until I had passed a day or:. two iithere that I found such was far from being the ease. . . One woman—she. was a lady and about forty-five— interested me; "and as we tajlsea sho ;told me her. story. It was,most pitiful, . and : as j I; listened I was-struck by the. fact of woman's bravery: '

!-,,Thiswoman had been a governess over since, she was seventeen-in "good families, she tolfl-me. She was clever and'cultured, and; had, been a hard worker,-> but the strain had told. Her health had broken down. The doctor had sent her to' the place for treatment and rest. There was a little 1 money in the. bank. She had put it thero in her prosperous days when', she was teaching Lord So-and-So's children, and it would Just last a .month. ".Please God," she .finished up,; "by that time I may, bo ; ' Another 1 woman, as educated as the last-, had not' been , seen,-by : .lior friends for- some weeks • during the summer.' .' At last she turned up, saying she was looking out for work. She had spent- the ;previous months as scullery-maid in a Brighton hydro. She .did not grumble about it.-' She was pleased to think she had been .fed "and- sheltered. She; could thank God 'mere shelter. '• " But,",, saysv.the ; State, " when... women cannot work let' them ;come on us."; : ' "It. squares its-shoulders and looks benevolent. It is the sorry way it attempts to patch ,'ap ' bad' legislation. . Givo' woman a living wage, and her latter..' iyears'; will ''not bo crushed by the reception of charity. ' A- woman, healthy in mind' and body, does not mind...work ih; itself,i but "by hopeless toil she is .enfeebled and disheartened. ' ' -Is- not this- a question, for all- Women, noli and poor, to take up and, if need be; to givo their lives to remedy? - The sufferer •is,' as »''rii]e; an uncomplaining ;one, but she is : a terrible reality.' •' !"'• ;■ ■

•I' Can there, be "one woman, '.then, .who can say the Woman's;, Question shall not bo her own? , j ~