THE ENGLISH GIRL SCORES

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1930, Page 20

THE ENGLISH GIRL SCORES

ASSETS THAT NEW YORK VALUES

1 knowledge of England und English characteristics, and perhaps of English markets, whilo it is not unlikely that she knows a fair amount or l prcuch, and lias seen something of France and other European countries. All thir will help her in her c]imb upward. . . . As secretary, hor English voice anil her English atlitudo to her employer will stand her in good'Btcad. An. American employer is not looked upon as quito so much of a god ts an English one, and ho will probably. enjoy it, especially in contrast to the free , and easy attitude of hia office boy, whn has no illusions about those in Ugh places. If a man is looked upon with awe in, America, it is "because of innate aweinspiring qualities, not because of the position Jjo happens to fill. The niche of secretary is for a woman a much more .likely sfiep. Ui advancement than in England. Thcro. is do barrior between the position of stenographer and that of president of the company, and it .is by 'no? means unusual for a woman, typist to become, in n short spaco of time, an important executive. " In the literary and advertising fields, tho English girl will again find her native manner of speaking (provided it is not provincial, or a special dialect) a tremendous' asiaet. English phrases and English slang arc considered amusing, smart, and desirable, *, Mo tho English girl", with her quiet voice and English appearance, bq long as it is noi "horsey," "will not find it hard to got a job. Sho must, however, bo prepared to dress and groom herself as if that job wero one long social ovent; sho must' rid herself of the idea that "anything will do for tho office. 7 . ■ But the great and important fact, the thing which cannot bo too strongly stressed, is this: thore is absolutely .no hostility to the newcomer. On the contrary, there is a welcome, while every possible explanation oi methods and assistance is freoly offqred.

What confronts the English girl who comes to earn a living in Now York? Sho steps off the steamer in a maelstrom of clattering streets and familiar words spoken in an unfamiliar way, with not less than iCIO in her handbag, UlO address of a fiicnd somewhere in thq United States, und no job —fgr those three conditions are imposed by tho'immigration authorities, subsequent to letting her in. Sho must not' come to a pre-arranged position, but must seek for it after sho has arrived (writes Helen Bryant in tho "Daily Telegraph'^). After a 'few days of adjusting herself to new surrounding?, eke goes out to look for work. And ■ here the chances are that sho will have a delightful surprise. l('or sho will find herself the possessor of tno assets of which fcho is probably unconscious— her English idiom and her English "background." This "background" is not altogether a concrete and definable thing: it is inoro or less what. Americans call "culture"—but this, again, is not quito self-explanatory. To them, I "background" means something almost unconsciously assimilated, bred into us, porhaps, by our grey streets and our time-steeped towns. It means a breeding and a knowledge which we have not go much sought as inherited, and though this-is no credit to its possessors, any more than a legacy is a credit, it is, likq a legacy, a very usoful thing to havd. ... The possible occupations which spring most readily to mind are those of salesgirl, secretary, or some position in the literary or advertising field. An English girl'serving behind a counter.in a department store, has as much chance as any of her colleagues and more than many of them, of becoming a buyer; that is, tho head of tho department,, whose job may include yearly trips to Europe to And new merchandise. The English girl will'already have a sound