56 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



her plans for her honeymoon. Nothing was want- 

 ing, seemingly, but a husband. He — it appeared 

 — had been left behind in San Francisco. 



Let us turn now to the women who earn their 

 own living : the type-writers, the stenographers, 

 the book-keepers, the telegraph and telephone girls, 

 the doctors, and insurance agents. The fact that a 

 girl can and does earn a fair living gives her a sense 

 of independence and a self-possession quite admirable. 

 But often, avoiding the Scylla of ineptitude, she 

 is engulfed in the Charybdis of a too strenuous 

 endeavour. She is pushing behind a coach that 

 already is over-horsed. Whatever she may accom- 

 plish to-day, to-morrow must hold for her sickness 

 and disappointment, — the protest of the body femi- 

 nine against uses to which it is ill-adapted, the 

 protest of the mind whose desires have outgrown 

 performance. There is a loss — who can deny it ? 

 — of womanliness. Does this loss to a community 

 outweigh the gain ? 



Some years ago I walked into my office, and found 

 at my desk, in my chair, reading my paper, an 

 insurance agent. She was tall, well-dressed, and 

 had the impudence and insolence of her tribe. 

 With these weapons she had fought her way past 

 my clerk, and through a door marked " Private." 

 When she saw me she smiled and nodded. 



" I 'm making myself to home," she said blandly. 



" So I see," was my reply. 



" Won't you be seated ? " 



" You are very kind." 



I sat down and waited. 



