"I've been looking into this business some since we went down to
college. I had a lot of these schools send me their catalogues and
they're mighty interesting, though a good deal of it I don't understand.
Sylvia" (Sylvia never heard her name drawled as Mrs. Owen spoke it
without a thrill of expectancy)--"Sylvia, there's a lot of books being
written, and pieces in the magazines all the time, about women and what
we have done or can't do. What do you suppose it's all leading up to?"
"That question is bigger than I am, Aunt Sally. But I think the
conditions that have thrown women out into the world as wage-earners are
forcing one thing--just one thing, that is more important now than any
other--it's all summed up in the word efficiency."
"Efficiency?"
Mrs. Owen reached for the poker and readjusted the logs; she watched the
resulting sparks for a moment, then settled herself back in her chair
and repeated Sylvia's word again.
"You mean that a woman has got to learn how to make her jelly jell? Is
that your notion?"
"Exactly that. She must learn not to waste her strokes. Any scheme of
education for woman that leaves that out works an injury. If women are
to be a permanent part of the army of wage-earning Americans they must
learn to get full value from their minds or hands--either one, it's the
same. The trouble with us women is that there's a lot of the old
mediaeval taint in us.
Pages:
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474