THE SINGLE WOMAN
Teaching--Teaching Women in Society--Parliamentary
Law--Games--Book-reviewing--Manuscript-reading for Publishers--Library
Work--Teaching Music and Painting--Home Study of Professional
Housework--The Unmarried Daughter at Home--The Woman in Business--Her
Relation to Her Employer--Securing an Increase of Salary--The Woman of
Independent Means--Her Civic and Social Duties.
Teaching is a profession that is particularly the province of the
unmarried woman. The best teachers are those who have chosen it as their
life-work, and have therefore thoroughly prepared themselves for it.
A girl who takes a school position merely for the money that there is in
it, expecting to give it up in a year or so, when she hopes to marry, is
inflicting a grievous wrong on the children under her charge. There are
other remunerative employments where her lack of serious intention will
not be productive of lasting injury. Lack of preparation for teaching
generally goes with this lack of intention, doubling the injury. Against
this the examination for the school certificate is not always a
sufficient safeguard, since many girls are clever enough to "cram up"
sufficiently to pass the examination who have not had the perseverance
necessary to master the subjects they are to teach, not to speak of that
interest in the broad subject of pedagogy, without which the application
of its principles in teaching the various branches is certain to be
neglected. Enthusiasm in her profession, a whole-hearted interest in
each pupil as an individual personality should characterize every
teacher, for next to the mother, she plays the most important part in
the development of the coming generation.
There is a general complaint that the salaries of school-teachers are
too low, measured by the rewards of persons of corresponding ability in
other professions. When, however, the certainty of pay and the virtual
assurance that the employment is for life if good service is rendered,
are considered, together with the respect accorded the teacher by the
community and the fact that her work necessarily tends to the
cultivation of her mind, the lot of the school-teacher must be reckoned
as one of the most favored. Americans are more prone than any other
people to spend money on education, and this spirit is ever increasing,
so that the school-teacher is more certain than the member of any other
profession that she will be rewarded worthily in the future.
The establishment of the Carnegie pension fund for retired college
professors is an indication of this growing spirit, as well as the
recent advance of the salaries of public school teachers in New York
City and elsewhere, in recognition of the increase in the cost of
living.
To the bright woman who is interested in the study of civics, political
economy, and sociology, there is opportunity to earn a living at home
by organizing classes in these subjects among the club-women of her town.
Teachers of parliamentary law are in especial demand. The organization
of a mock congress for parliamentary practise is the most entertaining
as well as the most improving play in which women can join. There is
also a demand among women who seek an intellectual element in their
recreation for instruction in the games of bridge-whist, whist, and
chess. Bridge-whist is the most popular, largely because of the desire
to win money and valuable prizes at the game. Then, too, a greater
amount of time is spent at it than is legitimate for recreation.
For moral reasons, therefore, the teaching of it cannot be recommended.
Straight whist is also played occasionally for money, but this practise,
happily, is rapidly becoming obsolete. Chess, except among
professionals, is played purely for sport, and is therefore the best
of games to study. Unfortunately there is very little demand for
instruction in it by women; nevertheless, it is the best of all games
for cultivating the analytical power of the mind, a faculty in which
women, as a rule, are weak.
This power may, with equal pleasure and greater profit, be gained by
paying special attention, in the reading of books and magazines, to
literary style and construction. The average reader assimilates only a
small percentage of what he reads. The careful thought which the author
puts into his manner of presentation, no less than into the matter, is
appreciated by very few of his readers, and by these only to a limited
extent. Especially is this true of fiction. If one wishes to become an
author, he should first cultivate this power of criticism, always
accompanying the study by exercises in reconstruction of faults in the
author read. Thus, wherever a sentence appears awkward in expression,
the reader should revise it; wherever there is a seeming error in the
logical development of a subject, or the psychological development of
a fictitious character, he should reconstruct it. Nothing is so helpful
to a writer as self-criticism. Thus Mrs. Humphrey Ward has recently
confessed that the happy ending of her "Lady Rose's Daughter" was
an artistic error, false to psychology, her heroine being doomed to
unhappiness by her character. After creating his characters, and placing
them in situations where their individuality has proper scope for
action, the author must let them work out their own salvation.
A thoroughly artistic work is marked throughout by the quality of
"the inevitable," and for this the reader should always be seeking.
There is no surer indication of shallowness than the desire to read
only about pleasant subjects and characters and events. It is akin
to the habit of ignoring the existence of everything disagreeable in
life, which Dickens has satirized in his character, Mr. Podsnap.
And "Podsnappery" exists among women even more than among men,
because of their more sensitive emotional nature. If women are to
join with men in making the world better, they must not blink at the
misery and vice about them, and the evil elements in human nature
and society which produce these. To be good and brave is better for
a grown woman than to be "sweet" and "innocent," in the limited sense
of these terms. A woman, like a man, should, "see life steadily,
and see it whole."
The foundation of a critical habit in reading has a practical bearing,
inasmuch as it is a direct training for the positions of book-reviewer
and manuscript reader for magazine and book publishers. Since women read
more than men, the woman's view of a manuscript is often preferred by
publishers. Therefore there are more women than men in the position of
literary adviser. These are paid salaries ranging from $25 to $50 a
week. Manuscripts are read by the piece for from $3 to $5 each. Book
reviews are paid for at all prices, from the possession of the book
alone to the payment of a cent a word. It is best for the aspiring
critic to practice herself on book reviews first. In these she can with
profit display her power to analyze the artistic construction of books,
and so develop her abilities as a manuscript reader.
The knowledge of books and the ability to digest their contents are
necessary to the making of a library worker, an employment which the
great increase in libraries, through the benefaction of Andrew Carnegie
and others, is offering to thousands of American women. The salaries are
low, but in considering entering upon the work, weight should be given
to the opportunities for literary knowledge and culture it affords and
its refined surroundings. The making of a descriptive catalogue of the
home library, using the card index system, forms an ideal test for the
young woman who is uncertain whether she has the taste and ability
required in this sort of work. To the student in the home, even though
she intends to follow some other vocation, such as teaching or writing,
such an inventory of her intellectual store-house will be invaluable.
It matters not how small the library is, for "intensive cultivation"
is as profitable in mental culture as in agriculture.
Even such accomplishments as music and painting are most cultural when
pursued as if the intention of the student were to teach them. Knowledge
of technique and of the methods by which its difficulties are overcome
is the foundation of all appreciation of art. The only true connoisseur
is the one who can enter into the delight felt by the artist in creating
his work. Exercise leads to invention. The ancients well said that the
contortions of the sibyl generated her inspiration. Critics have been
sneeringly defined as "those who have failed in literature and art,"
but this is not true of the greatest critics, who never carried their
creative work to the point of success simply because they had found a
better vocation in criticism before reaching such a point. What a loss
to the world it would have been had Ruskin developed into a painter,
even a great one, instead of the master interpreter and teacher of
painting that he did become!
Household employments, such as cooking, needlework, etc., as vocations
for the unmarried woman, no less than the married, need only be
mentioned here, as their appropriateness for the girl at home is
obvious, and they are fully discussed elsewhere in this series. It
should be suggested, however, that the greater leisure of the unmarried
woman enables her to try experiments in these subjects while the married
housewife is too fully occupied by the routine of her duties to
undertake them. Indeed, if a woman become a notable cook after marriage,
it is often a sign that she is not a notable wife or mother.
It is an old saying that,
"My son's my son till he gets him a wife,
But my daughter's my daughter all her life."
By the common bond of sex, a daughter is her mother's natural companion
in sympathy, however separated from her in distance. Therefore, when she
lives at home, what a special obligation is there to be her mother's
comfort and dependence! Even though she acquire greater skill in
household affairs, she should still resign herself to the subordinate
place of assistant.
The thought that she is becoming useless is the chief dread of a woman
who has been a managing worker all her life, and her daughter should
carefully avoid bringing this to her mind, indeed, should so act that
the ageing mother retains the management of the house, even though her
labors diminish. In respect to the direction of children, the elder
daughter should take a hint from the manner in which the school-teacher
supplements rather than supplants the mother in her care of the young
people, leading to a difference in the kind of regard which these feel
for them. The sister should always consider herself simply as the
eldest, most experienced of the children, and so the natural monitor
of the group, and, when necessary, the mediator with the parents.
In a similar fashion the unmarried woman should act toward her neighbors
who are wives and mothers. In matters where the interests of children
and households are of chief concern she should resign the leadership to
the married women, and, after them, to the professional teachers.
Religious, social, and civic matters, wherein as a church member and a
citizen she is on an equal footing with wives and teachers, afford her
ample scope for exercising her instinct for leadership.
Every unmarried woman who lives alone should, whether or not she possess
an income, have a vocation. Earnings and wages are not alone good in
themselves, but are an additional gratification, in that they supply a
proof that the earner's service is of worth to the world. Some day, when
social conditions are so adjusted that economic competition is really
free, and wealth cannot be obtained save by service, money will be a
proper measure of standing in the community. It is all the more a duty
now, both to herself, her class, and to society, that the woman who
works should contend to the last cent for her part of the wealth that is
created by the business in which she is engaged. Where her work is equal
to a man's, she should contend for wages equal to his; where it is
inferior, she should be willing to accept less; where superior, she
should demand more. In these matters women are apt to be either too
complaisant or too clamorous. They should first be sure that they are
justified in their claims, and then, if right, be firm in their demands,
and, if wrong, be resigned to abandon them. The law of supply and demand
acting in the labor market allots wages between workers with natural
justice--certainly more equitably than the interested opinion either
of employer or employee.
It will be seen that the woman in business needs to study the
fundamental elements of political economy even more than the housewife.
Books and magazines are filled with superficial, obvious advice as to
the way in which women as employees should conduct themselves toward
their employers and fellow workers, but rarely is there a hint given
of the actual rights and obligations of these relations, upon which
the proper conduct is based.
Employment is a business contract between employer and employee, in
which there is no legal or moral obligation for either party to exceed
the terms. Owing to an over-supply of labor, wages may be exceedingly
low, even down to the starvation point, but for this condition the
employer, if he be not also a monopolist, is not responsible. Indeed,
as employer, his presence in the labor market as an element of demand
raises the market wage. In fact, it is only by his increasing his
business that he can raise wages. If he pay more to his employees than
he needs to, or is profitable for him, this increase is not real wages,
but a gratuity, something no self-respecting person likes to take. Some
other class in society created this condition, and it is this class that
the low-paid workers should blame, and, as citizens, take measures
against, not the employers. Indeed, they should consider these as their
natural allies in making better economic conditions.
Accordingly, the woman in business should have sympathy for her
employer, who owing to the prevalent condition of shackled competition
has troubles of his own. She should aid him by loyal, efficient work,
thus, and only thus, establishing a moral claim upon him to recognize
her loyalty in kind. Personal relations, except of this nature, should
not be sought by the employee, particularly if she is a woman. Outside
of the office or shop she may meet and treat her employer as a fellow
citizen and member of society, under the common rights of citizenship
and the proper social rules, but in business hours she should obey the
strict ethics of business. Thus she may don what dress she will when
her work is done, adopt all the eccentricities of fashion she pleases,
but she should wear with cheerfulness, and even pride, the simple dress
prescribed, for good and sufficient reasons, as her working costume.
Even when no such regulations are made, her good sense and taste should
lead her to adopt a modest, practical working dress, simple mode of
arranging the hair, etc. This is always agreeable to customers, and it
is by pleasing these she best pleases her employer.
Stenographers and secretaries have a special obligation to keep sacred
the confidences of their employers. If they find that in so doing they
are made instruments in perpetrating frauds on other business men,
or the community in general, they have no right to expose these.
Their only proper course is to resign their positions, holding sacred,
however, the knowledge gained while acting as employees. It is only when
formally relieved of this obligation by legal compulsion to testify in
court that they may reveal this knowledge.
While it is the custom of an employer to demand references of the
employee, and not give them for himself, the only safe course for a
woman seeking employment is to look into the character of the man for
whom she is to work, and the nature of his business. This she may do
indirectly in the case of character, and directly in the case of nature
of business. If the employer refuses to impart this, saying, "Your work
will be to do whatever I ask you," it is a blind, and therefore
dangerous contract into which you are entering, and you should withdraw
from it in time.
When an employee has proved her efficiency, and has seen that it is
producing an amount of returns to the business of which she is not
receiving her proportionate share, it is her right and duty to ask for
an increase in wages. If she fails to receive this, she should
investigate the conditions in the labor market of her class, and guide
her action accordingly. If she finds that there is a demand for workers
of her ability at the higher wage, she should again proffer her request
to her employer, with a statement of this fact. If he still refuses the
increase, she should resign her position, upon proper notice, and seek
employment elsewhere.
When the unmarried woman employs herself in free service for the public
good there will be no need for her to contend for the proper returns,
which will be the love and respect of the community, given her in full
measure. In comparison with these rewards, the honors of club president
and society leader, for which many women contend with a rivalry that
surpasses in bitterness contests for political honors among men, are
mean and empty. The words of the Master to His disciples, that he who
would be first among them should be servant to his fellows, should be
taken to heart by American women, before whom are opening new and vast
opportunities for the display of pride and ambition no less than for
modest, faithful service.