June 12, 1915 
LAND AND WATER 
* 
THE GIRL 
OF THE PERIOD 
BY 
Mrs. eric DE RIDDER 
EVERYTHING in daily existence has undergone 
a radical change, but nothing has been altered 
so fundamentally as the life of the girl of eighteen 
or twenty. For the first time for years she finds 
herself in a world making no special arrangements 
for her benefit. The events of a " coming-out " season, 
which many a girl had grown to regard as a matter of course, 
and her rightful due, are simply swept away. The customary 
course of life has been altered out of all recognition ; there are 
no precedents to guide, little to steer by. We are all living 
a life which bears no resemblance to anything anybody has 
lived before. . Older people learn adaptability with every 
passing year, but it is not such an easy lesson for the younger 
generation to digest. It has to be learnt, however, willy-nilly, 
at the moment — of that there is no shadow of doubt. 
To do the girl of the present day justice, however, she is 
trying in every possible way to adapt herself to these new 
conditions of hfe. Things are too terrible, events too momen- 
tous to permit of small considerations. The vista of a first 
season has vanished for ever for numbers of girls, but what 
does it matter ? An event which in past years would have 
been of great magnitude has vanished away to a minute speck. 
In less dread days it would seem a pity. In these it simply 
does not count. AU that counts is happening within sound 
of the guns. All that is worth doing at home is to help the 
country in one form or another. This is true now, but it 
wiU become more true yet as days progress. Every girl now 
has a chance she did not always possess in times of yore. 
She can be of tangible use in the " scheme of things entire." 
On Occupation 
The most superficial observer must see that the main idea 
of the great majority of girls is to be occupied. The gospel 
of work is one, which has been preached for some time to 
womenkind ; often in the past we have heard of some girl, 
born of parents of comfortable means, who has left her home 
to launch forth on her own elsewhere. We have shrugged our 
shoulders, murmured something about the restlessness of 
the age, perhaps gone a little further in thought and considered 
it a pity that well-to-do people should compete with those 
having their own bread to earn. But without doubt it was 
a sign of the times, a reaching out for the realities of life. 
Occupation is a blessing and a boon ; it always has been so at 
all times and seasons, but now it is a veritable necessity. 
Without occupation most women at this time would go out 
of their minds. And if they are not seeking for it for them- 
selves they are most certainly obhged to do so for their 
daughters. Youth is an energetic thing ; vent must be found 
for this energy, otherwise the results are bound to be harmful. 
The wish for occupation is one thing, the finding of it another. 
There are many signs, however, to show that opportunities 
are increasing, and that every girl will have a chance of 
proving her practical worth. War is a primitive thing, 
and we are back in primitive times. It is with the very simplest, 
yet withal the most important matters that every girl has to 
concern herself. If she is an expert at invalid cookery she 
should be hailed as a rara avis — she is a valuable asset to the 
nation at large. If she can sew, if she can scrub a floor well, 
if she can stay cheerfully at home, releasing a more valuable 
member of the family for service abroad, she is a help to her 
country ; there is occupation in abundance for those who have 
the wit to see in which direction their own special talents lie, 
but it is occupation having little glamour about it. It is 
a case of sheer hard work. In no other way is a girl of any 
use at the present time, nor, indeed, from that point of view, 
is any one else. 
From Small Beginnings 
Once having made up her mind, however, that she must 
start from the beginning, and gain experience, the EngUsh 
girl is a power in the land. We are waking up to the fact 
that all that matters is efficiency. It is a pity we did not do 
so ten months ago, but it is better now than never. The day 
oiE the cheerful young creature, who did some " good work " 
to help pass away her time is over and gone. It is surely 
not too optimistic to hope it will never return. Girls are 
going into hospitals, and working until their backs ache, 
and they are limp with fatigue ; they are running coffee 
canteens at home and abroad, and not shrinking one iota 
from the inevitable fatigue. From all accounts, life in a coffee 
canteen at the big military centres (Rouen, for example), 
is one of infinite variety. For a while there may be nothing 
to do, then there is a rush of business, and a girl's power 
is taxed to the uttermost. But all workers are agreed that it 
is splendid work, well worth the doing, and with the gratitude 
of customers for its crowning reward. 
The need for training is one that most girls are sensible 
enough to recognize, and if they do not do so themselves, 
others are quick to recognize it for them. Heaps of girls 
who had left schoolroom days behind have practically gone, 
to school again since the outbreak of war. The difference is 
that instead of learning many things, which fail to do them 
one ounce of practical good, they have gained most valuable 
knowledge. The intricacies of a custard pudding have 
baffled many an intelligence which made mincemeat of 'ologies 
in the past. Heaps of girls have gained a practical training 
of a kind, which would never have appealed to them before 
the world was turned upside down. And those who are 
still meandering in the old path of amiable inefficiency will 
ere long be forced to see the error of their ways. 
The Qirl of the Future 
There is no one whom the present course of events will 
affect more deeply than the girls of a family. At such a time 
as this it is difficult to look for the briefest while ahead ; 
everything is in the melting-pot, and the making of pre- 
dictions is hkely to be a waste of time. It is obvious, however, 
that it is the generation just growing into womanhood who 
will feel the change of conditions most. It also seems likely 
that many a girl who in the ordinary course of events would 
have married and had a home provided will now have to 
live her life alone, and depend upon her own resources. The 
carnage amongst our manhood can mean no other thing. 
And this being so, it is fortunate that it is the spirit of work 
that is being spread broadcast amongst girls to-day. As 
this year progresses we shall undoubtedly see girls in many 
fields of activity, which were either closed to them formerly, 
or in which they themselves had no previous interest. Women 
will engage in much which has been considered exclusively 
man's work. They will, from the sheer force of necessity, 
start many businesses on their own, which previously they 
would not have dared to attempt unaided. Posts will be 
offered them for which in the past no women need have 
applied. Already there are policewomen and messenger girls 
as a sign of the times, and it is impossible to say with what 
further deviations from ciistom we shall be confronted any 
moment of the day. 
Life will open in some directions for women even though 
it closes in others. At any rate, the girl of the future will 
be far removed from the helpless being she was apt to be in 
the past, and the knowledge she has gained of nursing, 
cooking, and such like occupations will be a permanent asset 
to her. 
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