Possibilities of the Cass.

Evening Star, Issue 15554, 25 July 1914, Page 1

Possibilities of the Cass.

For this puTpoge it matters little whether we take the professional woman who lies really at the root of the question, or the domestic servant, who manifestly most and can earn her living.. Now, sup-pose a supremely serviceable and attractive " lady assistant *medic?l officer," or—if you will—an excessively able and beautifpl charwoman. The' council has every reason to prize and be proud of both, and. naturally desires to retain their services. But. n c naturally, these paragons are beset wiVi offers of marriage, both at home ar.'l abroad. However disguised, few womer are not women. One fine day they su - cumb, and must be replaced. "Less gii'teo and engaging women may also find ad mirers. And the next fine day the successors are off too, and so on. Only om one condition, thcrefw. *--.".: i the cour.c-: achieve its true Ulc-.) o; '•■.-••iti. aiiiy. must take infinite par>s to - I ' l '.!' '■' plainest, the oldest, the 1 :■-•:<■ - men possible. What a po.'.Lii.ii, v.h; i paradox ! And things may bs v.o-;v.> '"' ■ By a stroke of fate tie doctor <=.'.->• j i, charwoman may soon become widow. They are no longer "married." The <<.u...cil will iump at a renewal of serv>\ But. Alas'! they return only to depart in :■ month. It is* quite impossible that thr> should be without a home! It is well nigh a <•;:.*« of the cat-and-mouse expedient In and out for ever—these models of lady helpfulness. And then (if that be lawful), suppose them eventually divorced. What next one wonders, ye County Fathers ' —A M.-.tter of Temperament.— This may be fooling, but at least it h;*.some rough sense behind it. And in tlv case of the charwoman every wifewi., agree that you would never get a sing 1 . 5 woman at all in this vocation. The char woman is born married, woise luck fcr that hard-working and rouch-flun'i,- ! mother. Ask her, and what will she think of tlio unmarriageable physician feminine': She will suspect her capacity and mistrust her experience. There was once ;in orrm; bus conductor furious with the young lad> sent by the County Council to instruct (after other instructions) his wife expectant. " What do they know about it!" he exclaimed indignantly. "She soon sent hex away with a flea in her blooming ear." Expressive, if not elegant, but a- protest against over-interference. Surely it is th« bare truth that a married woman is ;> woman as she ought to be. If married women take tip professions, that is the"' affair. not the. council's, and belongs to th? set of difiiculties that are involved' in fll feminine comipetitions. If tfhey were to take uo red-hot coals that would bo t-heit affair also. But when their work is t-: their employers' (and may we hope the rate payers'?) satisfaction, what has the wed ding ring to do with it? Why dismixi them because they may havo husbands amchildren who are quite glad of the is aid 1 And why should spinsters, as spinsters, be favored ? Spinsters will flirt, and flirting may well impair their insistent usefulness. A lady assistant medical inspector might be terribly _ volatile. So might a lady assistant sanitary performer. It i£ all a matter of temperament, and an active wife is steadier than a skittish spinster. Besides, who thinks of the derivation of that word? A "spinster" or spinstres? was a girl who had been sentenced to spin in a house of correction. Antiquity had a just opinion of marriage and the hearth. A " wife " meant a woman, and a spinster a punished woman. There ! The origins ol things are often intuitive.—London 'Times.*