io6 MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 



n 



Do you mean in clothes, auntie ? " 

 Well, yes, my dear, clothes and other things." 

 What sort of independence do they want, auntie ? In- 

 dependence of what ? " 



" It is rather difficult to define it in a few words, Lavvy. 

 It has been the custom for women to take a secondary 

 position for such a length of time, that the suggestion that 

 they are adapted to better things equally with men is apt to 

 be received with scoffs and jeers." 



Miss Lavvy smiled into the apricot jam-pot^ but said 

 nothing. 



" The popular mind has to be educated up to recognise 

 the fact," Miss Badsworth went on. 



" And how do you propose to do it, auntie ? " 



" By education, my dear ; by gradually accustoming the 

 public mind to recognise woman's worth." 



" But the value of a coin depends upon what sum of money 

 it represents, does it not, auntie ? Isn't the public mind 

 guided by that circumstance ? " 



** I don't understand you, Lavvy." 



"There are many things which a man can do better than a 

 woman, and there are many things which a woman can do 

 better than a man. It's a mere matter of comparison, but 

 I'm afraid there are more men who could do woman's work 

 than there are women who could do man's work." 



*' I don't agree with you at all, my dear," Miss Badsworth 

 said, moving a little uneasily. 



*' Well, take the case of a tailor-made costume, auntie. 

 Why do we go to a man when it is woman's work ? " 



'' My dear, it's a matter of cut and the pressing of seams." 



Miss Lavvy laughed. "Just so, aunt; and you, the 

 champion of woman's superiority, mean to tell me that in 

 a matter of scissors and goose-irons a woman cannot equal 

 a man. If a man can learn to be a cutter, what is there to 

 hinder a woman doing the same ? It seems to me that the 

 fancy or prejudice, or whatever it is, is on the woman's 

 side." 



