AVOCATIONS OPEN TO WOMEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 43, 24 October 1891, Page 518

AVOCATIONS OPEN TO WOMEN.

BY

HESTER M. POOLE.

NDEK the inexorable wheel of life which is forever turning, those who are rich to day rl niay he poor to morrow. Still worse than the wl fzUO/W ' oss P ro P ert y> man y are helpless; untrained in any practical occupation, dependent upon - ''•- 3 brothers, uncles or friends, the gentle, refined victim of reverses endures an agony of dependence worse than death.

Under the probability of future contingencies, the wise mother will see to it that her daughter learns to do one thing well. The very discipline which is necessary for that will enable her to fit herself for another avocation, should it be necessary. It will also produce those feelings of self-re-spect and of power which are quite as excellent as a ‘ still, small voice in woman.’

It is only the silly and inexperienced who think ladyhood and work to be incompatible. During the youth of his beautiful daughters the King of Denmark was comparatively poor. So these scions of an ancient race learned to do up their laces and trim their hats, besides accomplishing other tasks not so easy as those. Yet the regal beauty and grace of the Princess of Wales and the Empress of Russia were no whit lessened thereby. ‘ What can the poor girl do? She has never learned how to do one thing thoroughly ’ is the remark often made after reverses have come upon the father.

One generation ago and the door of woman’s opportunity, only slightly ajar, gave tempting glimpses of what might be. To-day it is two-thirds open, and through it pour a motley crowd, the well-equipped, the half-fitted and the ignorant, all intent upon success. Among unusual pursuits followed may be reckoned that of the study of astronomy, by Maria Mitchell, LL.D. Among her pupils two or three have won fair distinction, though none have discovered a comet. In the field of medicine, women have shown more pluck, energy and real heroism than can well be estimated. When Dr. Jacobi—then Mary Putnam—sailed from New York to prosecute in Paris the study denied to her in the United States, she encountered ridicule and opposition. To-day 8,000 women are ministering to the relief of their own sex and to children, and the rankest prejudice is being disarmed.

Quite lately several women have been graduated from dental colleges, and are doing a fair practice. In finance, women have had little opportunity to become expert; in fact, many at the present time, would find it as hard to draw up a note as to pay one when it became due. But there are those who have a proclivity in the direction of finance. In America there is a successful bank president, and several cashiers and tellers. The cashiers of large retail shops, usually young women, are reported by their employers to be alert, honest and wonderfully expert in detecting counterfeit money. They are also good bookkeepers. In the manufacture of fine jewellerv and in gem setting, women ought to be successful if quick eyesand alight touch count for anything, yet we seldom hear of women jewellers. As florists and caterers, women have been and are now successful. In deftness, taste, originality of conception and sense of colour, woman ought to take the lead. In fruit culture she has already proved her capacity for success. Miss Austin,in Fresno county, California, with her three partners, all women who were weary of teaching, won for themselves a beautiful home and established an extensive business by the raising and curing of raisins and prunes. In this industry they were foremost among successful growers of fruit. In the year 1886 no less than 6,000 boxes of raisins were picked, dried and packed and forty-five tons of apricots, fresh and dried, sent to market from their farm, which contained but little more than one hundred acres.

A few years ago a woman left penniless by the protracted illness and death of her husband, found herself compelled to support two little children, then hardly more than babies. At first she took the agency of a skirt and stocking supporter, and succeeded measureably well. But she was bright and energetic, and desired to do better. Setting her wits to work, the widow invented a new clasp, then an attachment to the supporter, followed by a shoulder-brace, upon all of which she secured patents. These she put into the hands of a manufacturer of small ‘ notions,’ receiving therefrom a royalty upon each one sold. This gave her means for leisure, and she continued to invent other appliances adapted to the toilet. To day she owns twenty-one patents, seven of them her own inventions, and is the owner of t he largest manufactory of woman’s notions in the country, if not in the world. She is still a beautiful woman, at the head of a handsome establishment, and unites, in a remarkable degree, the capacity to make money honourably and to spend it wisely. A young woman of good family, who had been left almost destitute by the sudden death of father and brother, rallied after the first blow, and looked about to see what was be-

fore her. There was a cottage home, with the dear mother left as homekeeper, and property sufficient to give the two £2O a year. The mother was a semi-invalid, and separation was impossible. Whatever was done must be done at home. Then she remembered her local reputation as a cakemaker. At once circulars were printed and sent to friends, in which orders were solicited for sponge and layer-cakes of all kinds. Special mention was made of the * fillings,’ such as almond, banana, chocolate, cocoanut, date, fig, lemon, orange, peach, and raisin. Gradually orders for cake flowed in, partly out of friendship, and partly out of curiosity to see what a certain kind of cake might* be like. And it must be confessed the shrewd girl Knew that to announce a new kind of cake — especially a new kind of * filling ’ —is to attack a weak point of the average housekeeper, to say nothing of the housekeeper’s husband and children. And so at the end of three months Miss Blank engaged the service of an expert cook to assist, and as her prices were good, she and her mother are now living in honourable, though busy, independence. Another young woman, once fond of ordering and supervising the menu of an elaborate dinner, is now a professional * table-dresser.’ Her duty is to superintend the details of a stately breakfast, luncheon or dinner. If desired, she makes out the bill of fare, for which she does the marketing. Everything goes on under her direction, from the garnishing of the dishes to the serving of the coffee. She arranges the flowers, attends to the lighting and into each function interpolates some dainty original conceit. Perceiving that another service was needed she has joined to her first profession that of decorating the drawing-room and the dressing-rooms for company. With her help the house-mistress is able to be occupied with her friends until it is time to dress, and yet have no solicitude concerning the preparations. Of course it costs something, but there are wealthy people who think nothing of that. These examples of ways in which woman can gain pecuniary independence are unusual; they are intended to be. Drudgery is common ; so is mediocrity. It remains for the bright, the thoughtful, the plucky and the persistent to rise above the level, do better work and receive its compensations.