How Women Have Invaded Professions Hitherto Held by Man.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue XIV, 2 April 1904, Page 62

How Women Have Invaded Professions Hitherto Held by Man.

Ilie recent rejection by the Bencher* <»t Gray’s Inn of the suite of Miss Bertha Cave has called attention to t hr undoubted success of lady lawyers abroad, particularly in France and the Inited States. Indeed. in the latter country they have ceased to excite comment. At the same time, a family of lady lawyers is uni<|ue. Such a family is to be found in the town of Milwaukee. Wisconsin. U.S.A. It consists <d Mrs Kate Pier and her three daughter*, all of whom have been admitted to the Bar. though the youngest has only just attained her jorityIn Milwaukee these lady lawyers are well known, and have on more than one occasion distinguished themselves by the able manner in which they have piloted their cases through the courts. Busine*s men who have placed matters in their hand* have never had occasion to regret the venture, lor they have quickly discovered that the fair law yers have had their clients’ interest at heart, and lheii advice on legal matters has been practical and to the Mi*s Pier evidently had a legal mind, of law until 1894. after the death of her husband. Colonel ('. K. Pier, vvio was a practising lawyer at Fond du Lir. where tin* family still ‘.have a home. Mrs Pier's eldest daughter, whose name is also Kate, was then graduating from the high school of thtow n. Msis Pier evidently bad a legal mind, for during her last sehool years she began reading law, and became absorb ed by il. Mr* Pier had never given the profe**ion any thought, but on the death of her husband the manageiiemf <>l the e*taie devolved upon her. ami immcil’uitelx she realised what a help a knowledge' Ot the law would be. In spired by the example of her eldest daughter- who was then studying i'l • •arue*t. Mr* Pier determined to takt the course, ami began immediately. <h<‘ applied -herself with such zeal to task that before the end of the year she and her eldest daughter Kate graduated from the law school of tin University of Wisconsin at Madison. New York. Next year - 1895 —the familv removed to Milwaukee, where the two graduates opened an otlice. Mrs Pier devoting herself to the otlice work while her daughter went into general No sooner had Mis* Pier begun to understand tin 1 practice of law than -h - set about making more possibilities in it for women, ami it was mainly due t • her efforts that the Wisconsin Legislature passed a Bill making women eligible for tin* otlice of Court ( ominNsioner. Then Miss Pier had the great, pleasure of seeing her mother receive the first appointment, which she has hold ever since. It wa* not long before the secor I daughter followed her elder sister’s example. and donned the gown. A year or so later Harriett Pier entered th? legal profession. Neatly printed on the letter paper of the firm you read the following inscription. ’Kate Pin. Kate 11. Pier, Caroline H. Pier- Harriett Pier. Lawyers.” All four are admitted to practise in the Supreme Court. Mis* Kate being the first to attain that honour. She is an expert in the medico-legal branch of her profession. Mrs Pier is devoted to Court commission business, guardianships, ami trusteeships, ami Miss Caroline looks after the family estate, whi’e Miss Harriett attends to the general civil practice which comes to the firm. It lias been said that lady lawyers, with the except ion of the family just mentioned, have by no means been a grrut success. Such a remark cannot he brought against Miss Cairo Clark, ( »f the ( . M. (lark Publishing Com panv. of Boston. She is said to be the oiilx *m<e**ful lady book publisher in the world. 'l'his plucky American girl netted L’ I (MM m during 19(13 in publishing books. The feat is all the more commendable when it is remembered that Miss Clark has built up hef vast business single-handed and without

any iiilluviicv. Her two most recent successful novel* were "Quincy Adams’ luiwycrs” and “Blennerhassett”—books well know n on t he other side of the Atlantic. After she accepted the manuscripts she print<*<l and published the works, advertising them in a manner in which no American novel had ever been advertised before. For the first three years of her career as a publisher Miss ( lark worked very' hard, from morning to night. Now she employs quite a large stall' of assistants. Periodically she makes extensive journeys to various cities, and commercial travellers have been astonished at the ground she covers and the immense ; mount of -usiness transacted. Arriving at a town, she spends two or three hours visiting her agents and arranging important sales. The moment her work is finished train is taken to the next stopping place, and so on until the programme is completcd- It should be explained. perhaps. that Clark is her maiden name, for she is a married lady. Her hush:.ml. Mr Atkinson, is a wellknown Boston business man. and even he has marvelled at his wife’s wonderful tact and sound commercial judgment. One might suppose that engineering would be man’s exclusive province. Yet Miss Alverda M. Stout, a bright, dash ing American girl, has shown that women can compete with men as engineers. She holds the position of engineer in a large Hour milling establishment. Iler duties consist in looking after a large stationary engine. She shovels her own coal upon the tire, attends to the furnace. performing her work as competently as a man. Previously she was employed m the firm as a bookkeeper, but. finding this position oll'-uvd no great advancement, she decided to make a bold plunge into a work hitherto untried by womankind and learn milling. in her study of milling Miss Stout had to learn the uses ami construction of the various kinds of machinery and how to operate them. She then learnt tiring, and in tin* end persuaded her employers to allow her to take charge ot the entire plant. In a recent test the district examiner found that Miss Stout answered more questions cor rectlv than most men. He regards her. he says, as a model engineer, and one who could compete with any man and hold her own. In speaking of her work. Miss Stout says*. “Engineering is not the hard work most people consider it. and although it calls for a pretty thorough underst anding of and liking for mechanics. | see no reason why women should not follow the profession with success equal to that of the men.” Another lady deserving of mention is Miss May Nannary. a clever and talented actress. hi the theatrical world she has earned the title of the “Memory Wonder.” According to her own story she has committed to memory no less than 500 plays during a period of three years, ami can at an hour's notice recite the words of any leading part she has studied. Such a power of retention, involving as it does the memorising of over two million words, may be fairly termed prodigious. “The most rapid, and at the same time most intelligent, method of learning plays.” *ai<l Miss Nannary to the writer, “is reading aloud. I began by reading aloud attentively a chap ter or two of some engrossing work at short intervals, so as to cultivate the power of sustained and continuous attention. I made myself interested in what I was reading. for those matters which are best comprehended by the understanding are longest retained by the memory. "I would then try and recollect what I had read, for it is impossible to recall what one has not consciously put away. Once, on a wager. 1 memorised titty pages in less than fifty minutes, ami did it. as it seemed, without any mental effort.” It is in America where women have successfully invaded those professions in which man has hitherto reigned supreme. There we find women stationmasters. women postmen; while in one small town the majority of the tram-way-ears are driven by women.