[Illustration: CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
Fourth Series
CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS.
NO. 684. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1877. PRICE 1½_d._]
FEMALE PROFESSIONALS.
Discussions respecting suitable employments for women have for the last
few years caused much unpleasant excitement. Society is divided on the
subject. Shall women study to be medical practitioners or not? Are they
not entitled to compete fairly with men in such occupations as are
consistent with their strength and abilities? Surely you are not going
to treat them as inferior beings? These are the sort of questions that
have been debated, and not always in a very placid humour. Having never
interfered one way or other in this matter of dispute, we approach it
in a perfectly impartial spirit, and desire to treat it not from any
of the partisan views usually presented, but in the broad light of
Nature--for to that every temporary and local interest must in a great
degree eventually give way.
Let us go practically to the point, as that is better than any abstract
reasoning. In a late number of our contemporary, _The Queen_, a London
periodical partly devoted to illustrations of ladies' fashionable
apparel, it is intimated that a wood-engraver of high standing
had opened a class in London for instructing ladies in the art of
wood-engraving. The announcement proceeds to say that wood-engraving is
a lucrative art, in which partial training is valueless, and that the
artist referred to being 'deeply interested in the extension of this
work as an employment for women, does his utmost to impress upon all
whom it may concern that no one can hope to succeed as a wood-engraver
who is not willing to devote six hours a day for six years to learning
the work. It has often been a matter of surprise to us that ladies
did not study wood-engraving as a profession. If any novelty in dress
or millinery is brought to us, and we desire to illustrate it in our
pages, experience has taught us--and we only say this after repeated
trials--that to Paris it must go to be both drawn and engraved. We have
tried artists of fame, as well as unknown men, and always with the
same result--utter failure. The figures may be more natural, and the
faces better drawn perhaps, but as illustrations of dress or bonnets
the English engravings failed to convey any definite idea of them, and
were practically useless. Now that the use of illustrations in the
literature of the day is constantly on the increase, and the number
of periodicals devoted to ladies' requirements, are legion; also now
that catalogues issued by the leading London mercers of their latest
novelties yearly become more complete, we marvel why ladies who have
a talent for drawing do not attempt to bring it into the market, and
acquire the French knack of drawing, even such trifling matters as
bonnets, on wood. Delicacy of touch rather than strength of hand is
required; the cost of the requisite tools is nominal; it is essentially
a home occupation, cleanly in its nature, and free from any unpleasant
accompaniments. Wood-engraving is certainly worth a trial to any ladies
who have studied drawing, and like the occupation, but to succeed it
should be taken up seriously, and not as a pastime.'
We should be exceedingly glad to learn that the artist mentioned was
successful in finding a numerous class of young women, who having
little or nothing to do, would patiently and intelligently 'devote six
hours a day for six years' to acquiring a satisfactory proficiency in
the art of drawing and cutting illustrations on wood. It is an elegant
art, requiring taste and accuracy of observation. In London especially
it is, as is stated, largely in request, and accordingly to the skilled
who are ready with their services, can hardly fail to be fairly
remunerative. Nor should we forget that it involves no more severe
bodily labour than needlework, if so much, while it is ten times more
interesting.
Unfortunately, there is a _per contra_ in almost everything, and
particularly as concerns the prosecution of industrial occupations by
women--wood-engraving and doctoring included. We frankly own that in
many employments women are qualified to come up to men in proficiency,
if not to go beyond them. We see this in various departments. It is
much more observable in France than in England, perhaps because the
draining away of men for the army has long been much greater in
France than in our own country. In Paris, as we have seen, the man
struts about in uniform, while Madame, under the pressure of domestic
necessity, paints pictures, keeps the shop, or in some other way
employs herself to secure a living, and sends baby to nurse with the
chance of never seeing it more either alive or dead. That may be called
making the most of women as bread-winners.
In England, society has not got this length, and we hope it never
will. The foundation of our polity, civil and religious, is the family
system, and it is the natural and proper system, anything else being
abhorrent to cherished feelings and convictions. The destiny of man has
been indicated with a plainness not to be mistaken. 'Man goeth forth to
his labour.' In the old texts we do not hear of women having, like the
over-drudged shop-keeping females in Paris, to toil for the support of
husband and family. Knowing, and in no respect objecting to his fate,
a young man learns and sticks to his profession. There is his work
before him. It is the thing by which he proposes to live, as well as to
maintain those for whom he may incur a responsibility. He may in the
progress of affairs enlarge and improve upon his original employment,
but unless he be a downright ne'erdoweel, or by good-luck falls into a
fortune, he never entertains the idea of giving up work altogether as
long as he is blessed with health and strength. The truth is, in most
instances, work becomes so much a pleasure and a habit, as not to be
readily relinquished, even when the pressure of necessity has passed
away.
Such is the destiny of men according to the order of Nature. That of
females is very different, or at least it is only modified by special
and unavoidable circumstances. The young woman does not naturally look
out for a trade which she will have to pursue for life. If she selects
an employment to support herself, it is a kind of make-shift. It is
something that may honourably provide for her wants in the meantime,
or for a few years, as the case may be, but is not seriously viewed
as a profession for life. The result is a degree of training and
self-sacrifice inferior to that to which men feel obliged to devote
themselves. Miss Nightingale has said that 'three-fourths of the
mischief in women's lives arises from their excepting themselves from
the rules of training considered needful for men.' Just so. Women might
in many departments of labour be equal to, or outshine men, but they
will not take the trouble. They are thinking about something else, as
it is quite natural they should do.
Miss B. B. M'Laren, a lady in Edinburgh, who has interested herself
in the instruction of young women in wood-engraving as a pleasant and
remunerative profession, does not speak very hopefully on the subject,
in a small pamphlet which she has issued. Her words are worth quoting:
'In some of the novels of late years, in which a heroine is suddenly
thrown on her own resources for maintenance, she at once becomes an
engraver on wood, the profession being invariably acquired in the
course of a year! Accuracy had to be sacrificed for the exigences of
the tale, and anything can be accomplished on paper; but in real life
_several_ years of daily work will pass before proficiency is acquired.
This does not mean to say that a proficiency very pleasing to the
amateur may not be reached at a much earlier period, and pictures
for admiring friends to praise grow under her hands; but the amateur
standard and the professional one are widely apart. Partial training
has been the ruin of many attempts to gain new employment for women. It
is often spoken of as desirable that they should do "a little" work,
but the "little" which is meant to apply to the matter of quantity, is
easily transferred to that of quality, and this effectually bars the
way to success. It is very undesirable to see a lowered standard for
women's work, and yet what reason is there to expect the attainment of
the higher one in any way but with the same amount of time and labour
given by young men? No one asks for more. It is sometimes said that
girls "take up things" more quickly than boys; but even where this is
the case, the intuitive quickness of perception which rapidly obtains
some knowledge of art, will not do away with the need for that time and
experience which alone will give the power to practise it.'
In the education of women, according to this lady, there is usually a
fatal want of 'thoroughness.' Things are learned superficially. This
she laments; but from what we have already hinted at, it does not seem
strange. The ordinary professions are not the vocation of women, and
by no contrivance can we make them so, any more than we could make
water run uphill. The hope of woman from the outset is some day to
be married, and fall into the range of duties imposed on a wife and
mother. Now, there is nothing wrong in aspirations of this kind. They
are, on the contrary, to be commended, and at all events spring from
moral and intellectual conditions which Nature has demonstrated from
the earliest girlhood. Take, for example, the love of dolls. In every
country in the world, dolls are the solace of female children. In the
most savage nation, where the neatly manufactured doll, or _poupée_,
as the French term it, was never seen, the little girl instinctively
dresses up a piece of bone, and fondles it with an affection as
ardent as that shewn by an English female child for a poupée of the
most life-like and costly description. What is this but an inherent
idiosyncrasy in the female mind, obviously implanted for a beneficent
purpose. The girl playing with her dolls is the incipient mother loving
and nurturing her children.
So is it in tracing girls up to womanhood. In their education, their
domestic training, their style of dressing, and love of personal
adornment, are recognised the position they are destined or hope to
assume. Acute and clever as they may be, they seldom fail to make
themselves as attractive as possible. From youth to age, dress runs in
their head. The largest mercantile concerns in the world are got up
and maintained purely for decorating their person. We find no fault
with this prevalent taste, unless when it degenerates into something
grotesquely absurd, as it occasionally does under the impulse of
fashion. Every woman is entitled to make the very best of herself,
to insure if possible the admiration of those whose good-will she
especially cares for. But all such, and often very costly efforts, as
regards dress are significant of the fact, that professional labour
lies not within the course of life appointed for women. Their rôle
is in the region of the heart--the domestic circle--not within the
hard lines in which men find it incumbent on them to struggle for a
subsistence.
Doubtless, through various exigences, large numbers of women betake
themselves to professional employment of some kind. They become
domestic servants, governesses, teachers, dressmakers, shop-assistants,
and so on. While still young they work in factories. But we repeat that
whatever they do in these several respects is done on the principle of
a temporary make-shift; the predominant hope they indulge being that
they will some day settle down as the happy and respected mother of a
family. In this candid view of the matter it is hardly to be expected
that women--taking them all in all--will ever make that resolutely
persevering effort to attain the proficiency in a profession which is
universally aimed at by men. To expect anything of the kind, is to hope
for more than human nature can justify. In the notification which has
been made respecting wood-engraving, it is specified that young ladies
must make up their minds to study six hours a day for six years. Of the
propriety of this obligation, we have no doubt. What concerns us to
know is, how, besides paying fees, young ladies driven to the expedient
are to live in the meanwhile, and how many will persist in giving six
years of assiduous diligence in learning a profession which any day
may be tossed aside on marriage, the paramount object in life, being
happily achieved.
As far as we know, there are few or no instances of any regular trade
being successfully appropriated entirely by women. Such, indeed,
is not to be looked for, and, properly speaking, no blame ought to
rest on females for essentially following a primarily assigned duty.
We have known cases in which, from motives of benevolence, young
women alone were invited to conduct a trading experiment, and they
failed, not from want of skill, but want of perseverance. The members
of the establishment broke away piecemeal, and went to other and
more attractive pursuits. Where young men are employed along with
young women in any commercial undertaking, there is less chance of
disruption; and the reason why is so obvious as to need no particular
explanation. No accusation can be made on this account. Celibacy is
a violation of every instinct and sense of social obligation. It is
often nobly submitted to as a duty by females, but the instinct is
indestructible and to be respected.
When one reflects on the many reasons why young women are not, as
a general rule, likely to give that close and lasting attention to
any branch of scholarly or mechanical art qualifying them to excel,
the vehement objections sometimes made to female professionals seem
not a little ridiculous. We should like to see the subject treated
in a more practical and sympathising spirit. A little consideration
might shew that only in a few remarkable instances--such as that of
Mrs Somerville--do women possess that resolute spirit of study which
leads to eminence in scientific or other learned pursuits. The thing
is not to be done off-hand, or by fits and starts, and half-formed
resolutions. Look at the hard and tedious work that young men must
undergo before attaining proficiency in the practice of medicine.
Success with them is a matter of life and death. No one can reasonably
expect that any large number of young ladies are ever likely to make
similarly enduring efforts.
To us there is something melancholy in the exigent circumstances
that often in this old country drive ladies to look for subsistence
in pursuits not very accordant with the delicacy of their sex. The
redundancy of unmarried young women should set people thinking on the
causes for so much enforced celibacy. That is a broad department of
inquiry somewhat strangely neglected. Neither emigration nor drafting
for the army will account for the phenomenon. We have space here only
to hint at one or two prevalent errors--or call them failings--in
which society is intimately concerned as regards the number of female
celibates.
Let us first point to the extravagant modes of living--extravagance
in dress, extravagance in house-furnishing, extravagance in nearly
everything--that has conspicuously gained ground among the middle
classes within the past forty years, and in the face of which marriage
has become a much more serious affair for men to encounter than it
ought to be. There, plainly enough, lies the basis of innumerable
mischiefs. For such a state of things, both sexes must bear the blame.
Fathers of families are seen mis-expending means, and leaving daughters
unprovided for, but with tastes and habits which are incompatible with
their position, the result being that they are reluctantly obliged to
swell the already overswollen ranks of governesses. On the other hand,
the lofty expectations erroneously entertained by many young women,
drive away suitors who have still to make their way in the world.
Hence, from various preventable causes, the vast numbers of young
unmarried women crowding public places of resort.
Pondering on these social mistakes, who need feel surprised that women
of an independent spirit should try to make their way as professionals.
Applauding, we yet pity their meritorious endeavours. Only a few out
of groups of aspirants are likely to be eminently successful; and we
are prepared to learn, that as opportunity offers they will drop into
the line of duty for which they were destined by the imprescriptive
ordination of nature.
W. C.
THE LAST OF THE HADDONS.
CHAPTER VI.--FIRST IMPRESSIONS.
I did the best I could in the way of adorning for dinner with some
of my dear mother's old lace, and a cherry-coloured bow or two on my
black silk dress, and flattered myself that I was presentable enough
for a family party. But on entering the drawing-room, I was somewhat
dismayed to find Lilian in full evening dress. To my unaccustomed
eyes her elaborate toilet appeared more suited to a ball-room than
for dinner, and my taste in this case served as well as knowledge,
for I know now that it was too much for home-dress, according to the
decrees of Society. I think she saw what was passing in my mind, for
she apologised in her half-shy graceful way by asking me to excuse it.
It was 'a fancy of papa's to see her so; and she liked to gratify his
lightest fancies now.'
Mrs Tipper had also made more change than seemed necessary for home
toilet; and did not look at home in her rich moire and too massive
jewellery, put on haphazard as it were: brooches stuck in upside down
and on one side, as though it were enough for them to be there; rings,
bracelets, &c. glittering with diamonds and other precious stones, not
combined in the best taste.
But I soon had something to think of besides our toilets. Lilian
whispered to me that 'he' had arrived; and when presently Mr
Trafford entered the room and was introduced to me, my attention was
concentrated upon him. Interested as I already was in Lilian Farrar,
I was more than curious to see her lover. Moreover I was altogether
inclined in his favour. No one could be more prepossessed in another's
favour than was I in Arthur Trafford's; and yet I had been in his
society barely half an hour before I was conscious of being not a
little disappointed. Whether my expectations had been too exalted, or
there was some graver cause for the disappointment, time would shew. I
certainly had expected to find Lilian's lover and Mr Wentworth's friend
very different from the fashionable-looking young man before me.
His bearing was that of a gentleman, and he was handsome--some
might say very handsome. I would not allow even that much, in my
disappointment, telling myself that his head wanted more breadth; that
his features were too delicately chiselled for manly beauty; and that
his hands were too small and soft and white. The very grace of his
figure offended me, as indicating lack of power. What does the world
want with graceful men, with hands incapable of grasping anything?
I had been prepared to like him for Lilian Farrar's sake; and already
I was unpleasantly conscious that I might learn to dislike him for
her sake. I tried to persuade myself that I was too hasty in my
judgment--that his might be the type of manly beauty--the refined
delicacy which in certain instances has accompanied a fine order
of intellect. But no; Shelley had a different brow from that, and
something very different looked out of Shelley's eyes.
While I was summing him up in this uncompromising way, I am bound to
acknowledge that he was most courteously trying to make talk with me.
Lilian had introduced us in her pretty graceful way, informing us that
we were to become great friends; and he had taken the hint, making
himself specially attentive and agreeable to me during dinner. He
talked well, and appeared well read; and I must do him the justice also
to say that his bearing towards Mrs Tipper was all that it should be,
with no perceptible under-current of pride or satire. Above all, I must
acknowledge that his love for Lilian was sincere; no woman could for a
moment have doubted that; whatever its value in other respects, it was
sincere. And yet I was perverse enough not to be satisfied with him.
Why could I not take to him? I irritably asked myself, conscious that I
had not sufficient grounds for my prejudice, and ashamed of feeling it.
But there it was, and I could not overcome it.
Mr Farrar joined us in the drawing-room, which was lighted up as if
for a large assembly, for an hour after dinner; and I, who had been
accustomed to note certain signs and symptoms in an invalid, could see
that the effort cost him a great deal. He was, however, not too weak to
tell me the cost of building and furnishing Fairview; that he had paid
two hundred and fifty pounds for the grand piano; a guinea a yard for
the curtains; that the carpet had been made to his special order, &c.;
whilst Mrs Tipper was smiling amiably in her after-dinner nap, her fat
little jewelled hands folded at her capacious waist; and Lilian and her
lover were sauntering amongst the flowers in the moonlight outside.
As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, Mr Farrar told me there were
to be all sorts of entertainments given at Fairview; dinner-parties,
garden-fêtes, and so forth. Then he named two or three City magnates
as his friends, and went more fully into the Trafford pedigree for my
edification, dwelling enjoyably upon the idea of being father-in-law
to a Trafford. 'The Warwick Traffords, you understand, Miss Haddon; it
is very essential that should be remembered.' Going on to point out
the great things which might be expected from such an alliance. 'With
money as well as birth, Arthur Trafford would enter parliament and make
some mark in the world.' All of which proved that he too had faith in
the young man's capabilities. I know now that it was Arthur Trafford's
evidently sincere admiration for things great which misled so many who
knew him. Were he capable of doing the deeds he could admire, he would
have been what he had the credit for being. When I heard him dilate
with glowing eyes and heightened colour upon some heroic deed, I could
understand how he had obtained an influence over a young imaginative
girl. He not only made her believe him to be endowed with the qualities
of a hero, but honestly believed it himself; persuaded that he only
lacked opportunity to prove that he was made of very different material
from that of ordinary men.
I listened to Mr Farrar politely, as I was bound to do, and not a
little pitifully too. All this was what he had set his heart upon;
and he would not live to have his ambition gratified, even had Arthur
Trafford been all he was imagined to be. Had no one warned him? Did
not the sight of his own pinched and drawn face warn him that he was
already on the threshold of the other life? Had I been speculatively
inclined just then, I might perhaps have carried on the thought which
suggested itself to me. I will only say that I felt more respect for
the etherealised body at that moment than for the earth-bound soul. I
think now that Mr Farrar would not be warned of what was approaching,
and contrived to deceive his child and those about him as he deceived
himself respecting his real state.
There certainly was at present no foreshadowing of the coming
separation, in his daughter's face. She was altogether free from care;
and I was presently very glad to find that my first estimate of her
had been so far correct; she was not the kind of girl to be selfish in
her happiness; in small things she shewed herself to be considerate
for others. Mr Farrar was presently wheeled away in his invalid chair,
bidding me good-night with the information that he was just at the
period of convalescence when rest and seclusion are essential; and
as soon as his daughter found that I was left companionless in the
drawing-room, she came in, her lover's protests, which were carried on
to the very threshold, notwithstanding.
But I begged to be allowed to make acquaintance with the garden; and
went out into the moonlight, leaving the lovers at the piano together.
It was the very best light in which to see the Fairview grounds where
there were no trees higher than shrubs, and too much statuary, with
vivid patches of colour, so fatiguing to the eye--masses of flowers
without scent or leaves, arranged with mathematical precision, as
though they had become strong-minded, and would only speak to you
in problems. In fine, it was the newest fashion in gardening, which
Mr Farrar prided himself upon keeping up at great expense. To my
unaccustomed eye, it lacked the poetry of the old less formal styles.
But it looked its best in the softening and subduing effect of
moonlight; one got some hints of shadow, which was as lacking during
most of the day as in the famous Elizabethan picture. In the light of
day the silvan gods and goddesses looked specially uncomfortable, for
want of a little foliage. One 'Startled Nymph,' placed at the corner of
a gravel-walk, without so much as a shrub near her, appealed to one's
sense of justice in the most pathetic way.
My best enjoyment, as time went on, was to go down (the grounds sloped
down a side of the hill upon which the house was built) through the
kitchen gardens, seat myself upon the low wall which bounded them, and
turning my back upon the glories of Fairview, refresh my eyes by gazing
upon the beautiful undulating country, stretching far into distance
beyond. I never tired of gazing at the varied scene--pasture-lands,
deep woods, ripening hop and wheat fields, pretty homesteads, an
occasional glimpse of the winding river, and a primitive-looking little
ivy-covered church. It was this little church that Lilian and I elected
to attend, instead of going in state to the newly built edifice near
Fairview, to which Mr Farrar had given large donations. There was one
nest of a house, peeping out from its woody retreat, on the slope of a
hill, rising from a small straggling village in a lonely valley, half a
mile or so to the left of Fairview, which made a special appeal to my
fancy. A long, low, old-fashioned house, with veranda and green terrace
walk, I pictured to myself the lovely view as seen from that aspect;
and what life might be with Philip in such a home--the rest and peace
we two wanderers might find in such a haven as that. Had not I been a
wanderer too? He was writing more and more hopefully of being able to
return and settle in England in another year.
'Thank God, there will be no more need for money-grubbing, Mary. We can
live with a few chosen friends and our books in some cottage-home free
from care.' It was part of our arrangement to live simply as well as
largely, our only ambition being to gather congenial friends about us.
Ah, me--ah, Philip! what a glorious dream it was!
Lilian was very impatient to hear my praises of her lover--or to talk
them; it did not much matter which--and that first evening instituted
a custom to come to my room the last thing every night. 'If you do not
mind, Miss Haddon?' in her sweet pleading way. Mind, indeed! It would
be the very best way of finishing the day which she could invent, I
told her; taking her face between my hands, and putting my lips to her
brow.
'But--I fear you are engaged; you must not let me be selfish,' she
murmured, glancing at my open desk.
I had commenced a letter to Philip, telling him of my change of abode,
and doing my best to convey to him the impression that my engagement
at Fairview was a less business one than it really was. I closed my
blotting-book at once. Philip would get his letter quite as soon if
I wrote later; and it was my fancy to write to him during the silent
hours of the night.
She took a seat upon a stool at my feet, for that also was to be an
institution, she laughingly observed; and commenced with a few words
expressive of the hope that I should like Fairview; and then, in
charming Lilian fashion, told me that '"Dear Arthur" (you must let me
call him that to you when we are alone, dear Miss Haddon) is delighted
at my good fortune in having you. He sees, as we all do, how very
different it might have been.'
She seemed to think that nothing could be more gratifying than to find
favour in 'Arthur's' sight. The possibility of his not finding favour
in my sight, did not, I think, for one moment enter her thoughts.
Fortunately, she took my admiration of him for granted. I should have
found it difficult to satisfy her expectations upon the point. How
pleasant it was to listen to her ideal talk of her lover--her vivid
imagination investing him with all the grandest attributes of a hero;
though it would have been even more pleasant, had I had no misgivings
upon the point, or felt sure that she would never be disillusioned. As
it was, the fear that she might some day be roughly awakened from her
bright dream, and the knowledge of what such an awakening would cost
her, caused me to listen rather gravely and abstractedly.
I was a little disturbed from another cause, not sufficiently
appreciative of the wisdom which comes with years. Ah, me! how far
apart that twelve years' difference between our ages seemed to set us!
I was so sensitive upon the point, that it did not occur to me that
the difference between our characters or temperaments might in some
measure account for my reticence. I was not naturally so expansive in
my manner as are many women. Though the thought of Philip would set
my pulses throbbing and my cheeks aflame, I could no more have talked
of my love to Lilian Farrar than I could have cried it aloud in the
streets. The rhapsodies over a certain portrait--the kisses pressed
upon the paper that _his_ hands would touch--and sundry other vagaries
committed after she had left me that night. Could she have seen it all,
she would no longer have thought it necessary to apologise for talking
so much love-talk to me. I was illogical enough to be wounded at her
supposing it to be necessary to apologise; whilst I took no steps to
shew her that no apology was needed. But the kisses and rhapsodies
notwithstanding, the tone of the letter written that night to Philip
was tinged with a _soupçon_ of melancholy. It contained more than
one reminder that he must not expect to find me exactly the same in
appearance as the girl he had parted with eight years ago.
But I do not think mine is a morbid nature, apart from that one
subject, and fortunately there were now too many demands upon me, and
my time was too fully employed in the duties of my position, to leave
leisure for unhealthy study of my feelings.
Mrs Tipper at once left everything in the way of management to me; only
too glad to resign the reins of government, which had been but loosely
held, into my hands, and cease to have any recognised individuality in
the household.
'My dear, the servants all know that I haven't been used to it, and I'm
sure they are no way to blame for that; of course anybody could see,
only they won't mind what I say.'
Moreover, I received a hint from headquarters that it would be
considered part of my duty to keep the domestic machinery under my
supervision, the housekeeper with the high wages notwithstanding.
The management of a set of servants who had been accustomed to do
pretty much as they pleased, except with respect to their master--he
was as exacting and ready to take affront as his sister was lax and
good-natured--was, I soon found, no easy task. Lilian was simply the
pet of the house, as she had been ever since her return home; seeing
nothing the servants did not choose her to see, and with no thought of
evil--no suspicion that others might be less trustworthy and unselfish
than herself. Warm-hearted, sympathetic, and lavish with her large
allowance of pocket-money, she was ready to give wherever she was told
help was needed, and was made acquainted with all the requirements of
the servants and their relations. Grandmothers, mothers, brothers and
sisters, aunts and uncles--numberless needy people were made known to
her, and all found sympathy and help. The servants at Fairview had good
cause for their fealty to their young mistress.
I was too often obliged to look upon the reverse of the picture. Many
a trait of human nature, of which it is painful to be cognisant, and
still more painful to be the censor of, came under my notice, and for
a time my position was a not very enviable one, the servants resenting
what I suppose appeared to them as undue interference. But as time
passed on, they learned to distinguish between my blame and their
master's. They found that I blamed neither from pleasure nor anger, but
simply because it was part of my business, which it gave me no little
pain to be obliged to do.
Then they could not say that they found me either proud or ashamed of
my position. Little half-speeches and innuendoes, with which I was
first assailed, to the effect that 'People who took wages had no right
to set themselves up above other people who did the same,' were met by
the frank acknowledgment that they certainly had not a right. 'I was
ready to take the blame for any undue assumption of superiority they
might convict me of, whilst trying to do the work I was paid to do.' So
at length we came to understand each other better; difficulties became
fewer, and my work was less a task.
One step which I took, and which I quite believed would cause me
to lose ground in the estimation of the servants, had quite a
contrary effect to what I expected. I was very soon able, with dear
old Mrs Tipper's ready sanction, to give Becky a step in life. An
under-housemaid was required, and I contrived to win Mrs Sowler's
consent for Becky to come to Fairview. As I laid no restrictions
whatever upon Becky in the matter, I thought it quite possible that
certain facts concerning my poverty, and consequent rather hard life,
whilst at Mrs Sowler's, might become known amongst the servants at
Fairview.
But I did not do Becky justice. As thoughtful and considerate for me as
she was true, nothing relating to the past escaped her. Although she
was at first awed and overwhelmed by the gorgeousness of her new home,
and was, when alone with me, very frank in expressing her astonishment
at the ease and readiness with which I accepted it all, I found that
she said no word down-stairs about my past troubles. She only displayed
her surprise at my philosophy and delight at her own good fortune, when
we were safely shut in alone together.
'Ain't it lovely, when you have been used to things so different, Miss?
Here's me sitting down to dinner every day like a lady born! No call
to snatch bits off the plates as they come down now! And instead of
washing and doing my hair in the back-scullery, there's a beautiful
bedroom of my own to go to. Mrs Sowler wouldn't believe! And I've got
you to thank for it all! Just see if I won't try. They shan't say you
have recommended a girl as can't work; though Sophy says it isn't
genteel to tear at it as I do.'
Becky's gratitude to me was even deeper and more enduring than I had
expected to find it, and her love--I must have been very different from
myself, to deserve such love as Becky's; though I knew that it did her
no harm to indulge it.
Lilian who, from my description of past hardships, took great interest
in her, and was extremely kind to her, did not, as I took it for
granted she would, share with me in Becky's love. Nay, I verily believe
that in her allegiance to me, poor Becky was jealous of a rival power.
I could not get her to be enthusiastic about even Lilian's beauty.
Becky always insisted that it was the pretty dresses which made her
look more attractive than I did; and tried to persuade me to endeavour
to outvie her. Her staunch friendship did me not a little good. It was
especially cheering to me just then to find that I could keep love as
well as win it without using any unlawful means.
DECEPTIVE ADVERTISEMENTS.
Latterly, the newspapers have brought to light a variety of curious
instances of credulous people being imposed on by deceptive
advertisements. Human weakness appears to be specially preyed upon
by medical pretenders. The practice of medicine without proper
qualifications being illegal, the pretender takes care to avoid marked
publicity, and works at a distance by way of advertisement.
We may give one or two instances. The illegal practitioner announces
his power of curing an ailment by being furnished with a letter
describing the symptoms. To this the ailing one receives a gushing
reply, written upon showy paper, with embossed address, monogram,
crest, and everything calculated to deceive the prey around which
the empiric is about to wind his toils, not to be unwound until the
uttermost farthing shall have been paid. The patient is informed that
his symptoms indicate an unusually deranged state of health, which will
necessitate the preparation of special medicines, and for a supply
of which a fixed sum is to be immediately forwarded; the writer's
conviction being expressed that this one supply will produce all the
effect that could be desired; though, should it not, the case must
be an obstinate one, and the patient is urged not to lose a day in
renewing the supply, and again renewing that, if need be. There are
not wanting instances in which these nefarious compounds (of which
an average supply lasts about six weeks) have been imbibed several
times a day for nine or ten months, the credulity of the consumer
evaporating at that stage. And here we may mention that our statements
have not had their origin in speculation, certain victims being of
our own acquaintance. It is not our province to determine whether or
not the trifling ailments referred to are the premonitory symptoms
of the more serious maladies turned to advantage by the quack. Apart
from our own knowledge on the subject, it is to be presumed that
the exaggerated statements rest on some foundation; but we have no
hesitation in pronouncing the vast majority of these advertisers to
be nothing more than medical highwaymen, and wish that it were in our
power by these lines to banish them for ever from the scenes of their
abominable extortions and infamous exploits. Almost all of them are
amenable to the law even in its present state, as is proved by the late
successful prosecution of large batches in Lancashire, one of whom
engaged to restore to health his detective-patient in a couple of weeks
for the modest sum of forty pounds. But in general their security is
undisturbed, and their unlawful operations carried on openly.
Not long since, we encountered an advertisement which purported to
emanate from a gentleman who had suffered from polypus in the nose
for many years; who had been treated by various medical men without
any benefit, but who, after prolonged and intense suffering, obtained
permanent relief, having discovered means by which every person so
afflicted might _cure himself_, and which, actuated by feelings of
humanity, he desired to make known. For this information--this means of
self-cure--there was required nothing save a stamped directed envelope.
Having our own ideas respecting such an advertisement, we applied
for the recipe, though not nasally afflicted; and received in reply
a printed letter, directing application to be made to another person
possessed of an extremely high-sounding name, who, Number One declared,
had been the instrument under Providence, &c. On application to Number
Two we obtained--a pamphlet, with the usual exhortations to lose not a
moment in forwarding a sum considerably in excess of a sovereign! At
the present time there are quite a number of such advertisements to be
seen; some of them are even published in the falsely assumed names of
clergymen, who are prompted by feelings of humanity, &c., and contain
disclaimers of any connection with quacks or quackery of any kind.
The advertisements of those private parties who profess to be
systematic _money-lenders_ are of two kinds--the one from those who
do lend; and the other from those who do not. The former are almost
universally deceptive; the latter, of course unquestionably fraudulent.
The advertisements of those who do lend, addressed to certain specified
classes, almost without exception contain assertions which the borrower
will find abundant reason to doubt ere the loan is completed. On
application the needy unfortunate will be puzzled to reconcile the
terms named to him with those in the alluring advertisement, and will
find the rate of interest to be truly 'six per cent. and upwards,'
fifty per cent. being no uncommon demand, in addition to expenses
incident to and deducted from the loan, and which, the applicant is
usually informed, are necessitated by the existence of some special
risk in his particular case.
To those who pretend to lend, but who do _not_, we shall now proceed
to devote a little more attention. They are seldom found associated
as a company; but for reasons of their own, most of them prefer to
sail under amalgamated colours. Their advertisements are always more
alluring than those of the usurers whose occupation they counterfeit.
Those who require temporary confidential accommodation are informed
that they can obtain the same by application to A. B. C. & Co., without
the inconvenience of inquiries or sureties, on security of furniture,
&c., or on personal security--at a small extra-risk-premium. Distance
no object. Or occasionally it is varied by the falsehood that no
preliminary fees or office expenses of any kind are charged. But when
this stage of the transaction has been reached, the dupe always learns
that these payments are dispensed with only in the cases of certain
classes, to none of which, it is scarcely necessary to add, he is
fortunate enough to belong.
The profits of those who do not lend are derived solely from booking
fees, office expenses, and charges for the sham inquiry, which always,
of course, is of so unsatisfactory a nature that the 'loan' cannot be
granted.
We were recently informed by a casual acquaintance, that some time
ago, when in reduced circumstances, occasioned by various losses, he
resolved to obtain a loan of forty pounds, and for that purpose made
his way to the office indicated in a very attractive advertisement. He
found the advertiser occupying, as offices, two apartments in a dingy
building used by various persons in a similar capacity. A single clerk
represented the entire staff in the outer office. Within was an old
oily-looking individual, whose get-up was quite in keeping with the
wretched surroundings. His red face beamed with apparent pleasure as
he beckoned his impecunious visitor to a chair. After having stated
that he could give the security of his furniture (value for many times
the amount he required), replied to a number of queries, and paid over
two shillings and sixpence, the applicant was handed a form, to be
taken home, filled up, and returned to the office, when the application
would be considered. On suggesting that he should fill the form just
then, urging his anxiety to obtain the loan as soon as possible, he was
informed that, if received the following morning, it would be quite
time enough, as the principal himself (just then absent) must first
consider it.
The form contained a number of questions, one incorrect answer to
which, a note informed the applicant, would invalidate the entire
transaction. Another note furnished a scale of inquiry fees, in
pursuance of which he inclosed with the form an ill-afforded seventeen
shillings and sixpence. The receipt of this was acknowledged, and his
suspense began. After about a fortnight of anxiety, during which he had
several interviews with the aforesaid clerk (the principal being always
absent), and had parted with an additional five shillings in payment
of the legal document incident to the loan, the applicant received by
post the gratifying intelligence that, as the result of the inquiries
had proved unsatisfactory, Mr P. Q. regretted to have to inform
him that the negotiations must be considered at an end. No further
explanation was given; but the disappointed applicant resolved to
obtain more explicit information. He called at the office, and learned
from the clerk, who at first feigned ignorance of his person, that Mr
X. Y. the man of business had just gone out. 'Was the principal in or
at home?' brought the response: 'Neither: he is expected back this
evening.' Another visit had a similar result; but while requesting to
know the time of their return, he observed the clerk reach for a ruler
which, rolling along the desk from him, fell heavily on the floor; and
the visitor remembered with suspicion that a similar _accident_ had
occurred on the occasion of his previous visit. Having informed the
scribe of his determination to see the principal or his manager, Mr
O. took his departure. Next day he called again. Mr X. Y. was in, but
engaged, and likely to be so for a considerable time. The clerk was
again sufficiently awkward to let the ruler fall. The visitor, despite
the endeavours of the clerk to dissuade him, persisted in remaining.
After a while, the clerk, with a remark to the effect that he would
mention Mr O.'s presence, knocked at the inner door, opened it, and
vanished through. Presently he returned, apologising. The manager was
alone. The gentleman who was with him must have passed out while the
unobservant clerk was writing or calculating, or both. Just then Mr
X. Y. himself appeared, expressing his regret, firstly in relation to
the clerk's mistake; secondly, regarding the falling through of the
negotiations, consequent on the receipt of a certain letter. In reply
to Mr O.'s request to be permitted to see the letter, or even to be
informed who was the writer of the unsatisfactory tidings, he was told
that such would be a flagrant breach of faith with the correspondent,
and so contrary to the practice of the profession, that Mr X. Y.
could not possibly take upon himself to do so in the absence of the
principal. As the conversation progressed blandness disappeared,
the manager's red face assumed a redder aspect; and the visit was
terminated by Mr O. being ordered out of the office--a command with
which, under the circumstances, he could do nothing but comply.
This is the case as we remember having been told it; and our informant
stated that, from further inquiries, he had no doubt the object of
this advertiser was other than the lending of the needful. Few men,
especially those who appear in comfortable circumstances, care to
trumpet their poverty to the world; and this alone, we believe,
prevented Mr O. from instituting proceedings against the swindling
sham-manager and his accomplice.
Another class of deceptive advertisements are those offering
remunerative employment to all persons without hinderance to present
business, &c. We write of the _class_, and do not affirm that there
are no exceptions. Generally the sum stated to be _very easily earned_
is a tempting one to the class of people for whom it is intended. They
send half-a-dozen or a dozen stamps, as requested, receive a reply, and
then forward six or ten or sometimes twenty shillings in the nature
of security, obtaining in return some articles of insignificant value
for sale on commission. We have been informed that on one occasion the
articles so sent were a few pencil-cases and trifles of like nature, by
selling which, our informant stated, a very persevering man _might_
realise one-fifth the income mentioned in the advertisement.
It is not often that the person defrauded finds himself amusingly
hoaxed in addition; in this position, however, was the person who,
reading an advertisement of a certain means of earning thirty shillings
a day, which any one sending three stamps would be put in possession
of, remitted them, and obtained the advice: 'Sell a ton of sugar a day
at five per cent.'
We have seen that quacks, sham-usurers, &c. owing to the nature of
their transactions, are generally safe from legal proceedings by any of
their victims, who naturally are averse to appear before their friends
and the public in such matters.