-46 
LAND & WATER 
December 7, 191G 
/' 
Joy of the Working Woman 
By Mary MacLeod Moore 
A SK the thought- 
/% fill observer of 
/ % life in tlu's:: 
jL .^L.i>lands in war- 
time if he thinks British 
women are doing their 
share and he will say 
" jes, " bearing in mind 
the impossibility, for 
domestic and other 
reasons, of all women 
doing work of national 
importance all the time. 
iVsk tile j>cssimist, and 
you may come to the 
conclusion that the 
.women are not taking 
ad\antage of their op- 
portunities of usefulness 
in t lie great crisis. 
To a certain section of 
the press the number of 
soups or the menu 
placed before butterdy 
ladies— if one may refer 
to butterflies and soup in the same breath— the lavish^ 
tlisplay of fine clothes, and the gay scenes in theatres 
loom large. So far as Woman is concerned, taking her; 
in the aggregate, these things, as in the case of Meddle-i 
some Matty of our pinafore days, " like a cloud before the; 
skies hide all her better qualities." If they really repre-] 
sented the women of the nation well might we cryi 
" Ichabod," but they do not. The woman who flees, as 
from a noisome pestilence, from work and from respon- 
sibility, is not the child of this war. Her nuuiy-times- 
removed predecessor was a trial to the ])atriarchs and 
inspired the most mournful of the prophets. Her , more 
recent ancestors must have been a thorn in the flesh in 
half -forgot ten wars. A certain poem tells us there was a 
sound of revelry by night before a great battle, and there 
were ladies whose behaviour during the South African 
war was not all the most particular could ha\"e wished. 
The type is to be found even in Gentle Germany, where 
she rustles and shines on war profits. In that land, 
(however, females — as the Jane Austen school would say- 
are less hampered by pretty manners than civihsed 
iDcople. As a result German papers proclaim that hair 
has been pulled and cheeks scratched by the upright, as a 
protest against show and frivolity, and we are thus sup- 
plied with a relish for our morning egg or bacon (never 
;.both). 
I Thanks to dismal writers and to successful plays, there 
■ is danger that many of our own people here and o\er- 
Iseas, as well as those in neutral countries, will gain the 
^ipipression that our female population contains too 
•/large a proportion of light-minded idle women , who dance 
.and flirt and dine extravagantly while the world runs; with 
blood and hearts ache and break. Unhappily the doings 
of the well-behaved, the faithful and the industrious, who 
form the immense majority, provide no spicy paragraphs. 
To paraphase " G.K.C.", no one writes to the papers to 
tell eagerly that Mary Brown of Kensington still toils 
conscientiously, day in and day out, for twelve hours at a 
stretch, in a munition factory, nor do the news \'endors 
(hasten to attract the passer-by with the tiding^; that Jane 
Jones of Westminster, who had never, before the war, 
clone anything to order, now spends long days in a Govern- 
ineiit Oflice, a bank, or a hospital, turning an ear as deaf 
^as any adder's to the call of youth and pleasure. 
.\ hundred fountain jjcns leap, however, to write of the 
^^•If-indulgent girls and women who feel thev have 
I responded to tlie call of King and Country when thcv sell 
•ilags for the Allies in the shortest skirts" the law allows. 
They supply " copy " but they also obscure the public 
A'iew of the hundreds of thousands of women, e\-cni inillions. 
■-^ho are steadily doing splendid work f(jr long hours. 
with as high a bense of duty as that which sent tlieir 
Discharging Dross 
brothers and lovers to 
tile trenches, and are 
fmcling in the unaccus- 
tomed joy of working, 
and in the sweets of 
independence, the re- 
warcl of sacrifice. 
rhe woman war- 
worker lias, indeed, be- 
come something of a 
commonplace. 
Vet from half to three- 
c|uarters of a million 
women, drawn from all 
classes, are engaged in 
munition making alone, 
working on' nearly Ave 
hundred . different ])ro- 
cesses, many of them 
glad to be emiiloyed in 
danger rooms because 
they thus feel nearer 
their heroic men. Thou- 
sands of female clerks 
in the banks and in 
Government and general offices are taking the i)lacc of 
inen. Crowds of women and girls are working in hospitals, 
including several thousand V..\.I)-.'s, some of them of 
high social standing, who are glad to do manual labour. 
Nearly two thousand women are bus and tram conductors. 
Sturdy healthy girls, who " wasted their time " before 
the war in playing games, are helping on the land despite 
the prejudices of the farmer. There are numerous 
women drivers of horses and motors, and women are now 
to be employed to drive the Koyal Mail vans. There are 
" stable girls," and there are women working in canteens 
who stand behind counters or make beds and wash dishes 
cheerfully. Wcmien are working fcir railway companies ; 
thousands are engaged in Post Office work temporarily, 
as well as those iJcrmanently employed. Hosts of women 
spend their days at the A^arious hospital supply depots, 
making all that is required for the sick and Vounded 
sailors and soldiers. An army of kind, patient women 
has, since the outbreak of war, helped puzzled wi\es and 
mothers to obtain their allowances, or to till up the forms 
which arc bogies even to the better-educated. A myriad 
others work quietly and faithfully in various unclassified 
" jobs " and hundreds of thousands of the unparagraphed 
and unsung help the country by doing unaccustomed 
domestic work, abstaining from purchasing lu.xuries, and 
making many sacrifices, that more money may be lent to the 
Government or given .to.the Red Cross aiid kindred societies. 
In many cases women workers know only a change of 
occupation ; woric qua work is no novelty. In a vast 
number of others the workers enjoy a fresh sensation, for 
they have discovered one of the keenest and purest of 
pleasures in life, that of being able to do something that 
is necessary, and to feel that they have actually earned 
rest and pleasure and money. 
To most of them it was a surprise that "work could 
mean pleasure and satisfaction. They never dreamed 
that they would gain more than they ga\e. Manv had 
lived the life of the average woman of the comfortable 
classes— a certain amount of social life, pleasant trips, a 
few classes, some simple duties, a seasoning of church or 
charitable work, but nothing that must be done. It was 
a life that left many (.-mpty corners. Suddenly the war 
burst upon us. Girls who had never known responsibility 
fi'lt (he call to helj) a personal one and entered the ranks 
of the workers. In their unselfish desire to be useful 
they found treasure for themseh-es. Work became a 
\ ivid thing, and they tliemsel\-es won self-respect as useful 
members of scjciety actuallv worth a wage. And the 
pleasure of earning the moiiev tluit pays for your neces- 
sities and lu.xuries is a sterling one. 
'Ihe lessons taught by work are many. The girl who 
{ConlittiieU on /^ajc ^8) 
