156 TRINIDAD: THEN AND NOW. 



the gods. ' 9 If the education which they so indus- 

 triously have striven to acquire, and the knowledge 

 of the world and the past history of other nations 

 and other races which it has bestowed, will not en- 

 able them to stand the crucial test of prosperity — 

 notwithstanding that it has opened up to them the 

 learned professions which many of them adorn— it 

 will have been acquired in vain. 



Before concluding this chapter there is a marked 

 change in female life in Trinidad that it delights me 

 to touch on, showing as it does the wonderful strides 

 they have helped to make in the progress of 

 Trinidad. The introduction of this subject will also 

 serve to display the true spirit that has arisen in our 

 community, tending as it does to illustrate the will- 

 ingness of females to bear their part of the burden of 

 life imposed upon them, and rescues them from the 

 sore temptation that through the idleness of bygone 

 days was the lot of some of their predecessors ; and 

 not only this but it also enables them to assist as 

 bread winners and lessen the burden of the other 

 members of their family. 



When I came to Trinidad I was struck by the 

 absence of female assistants in the stores, and so out 

 of curiosity I counted them. I could only make out 

 five — I have since been told that there were six, but 

 one doesn't make much difference — and they in one 

 store. For the purpose of this article I recently went 

 round the principal stores in Port-of-Spain and found 

 out that they, at the present day, employ over five 



