[-1-]

ENGLISHWOMEN AND THEIR WORK

IN

QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN.

DECADE I. 1837-47.

No especial stir in Women's affairs took place till towards the end of this period, and the Queen had nearly completed the first decade of her reign before any symptoms appeared of that remarkable alteration in the conditions and habits of thought and action of Englishwomen, to which it seems impossible to give any other name than the vague and wholly inadequate one of 'The Woman's Movement.'
    Very soon after our Queen ascended the throne an uneasy consciousness began to prevail that the disproportion in numbers of the sexes, of which the public were becoming aware, was likely to produce social complications of a novel kind. As early as 1825 a work, entitled The Appeal of Women, had been published by a Mrs. WHEELER, but as it has long been out of print, and is only known by its title, little can be reported of its contents, though Mr. THEODORE STANTON, the compiler of the Woman Question in Europe, published a few years ago, states that 'in it the whole position of women was thoroughly treated.'
    It has been stated that 'the population of the United Kingdom is growing at the rate of 1173 souls daily, of whom 705 stay to swell the population at home, and 468 seek homes and fortunes abroad: of these emigrants, so large a majority are men that it is a necessary consequence that the natural balance of the sexes is seriously disturbed.'
    Although the fact of this disproportion between the sexes may have been suspected early in the Queen's reign, it was not till some years after her accession that this and the Companion problem, how [-2-] the 'superfluous women,' as they were styled, were to be supported, began to press heavily upon the nation at large. It is not easy either to fix the exact date of the birth of a great movement, nor to trace the different phases and developments of public opinion which lead up to it.
    At this period the impulses towards the impending changes were hardly perceptible, but it is not fanciful to attribute many of them to the altered estimate of womanhood occasioned by the mere fact of the youth and sex of the Sovereign. Her very presence awoke a spirit of chivalry among men, and it was not long before the influence of her life and example acted as a charm upon the hearts of women. All unconsciously she exerted a favourable influence upon the destinies of her female subjects, even before the elevating influences of her womanly character, so transparent in its simple conscientiousness, absolute truthfulness, and entire devotion to the claims of duty, whether as Ruler, Wife, or Mother, began to make itself felt. The anecdote of a reproof of the youthful Queen to the Minister, who, when bringing her some papers for signature, made a remark about 'managing so as to give her Majesty less trouble,' - was calculated in itself to stir the hearts of Women to a nobler ambition than that of playing through life, which was all that was expected from many girls of her age at the time. Looking up from her papers she said quietly, 'Pray never let me hear those words again; never mention the word trouble. Only tell me how the thing is to he done, and be done rightly, and I will do it if I can.'
    Beyond, therefore, the first rising of upward impulses in the mass, and isolated examples of exceptional industry or energy in a few individuals, there is little of novelty to chronicle in this chapter. It may therefore be as well, first, to notice the condition of those Employments in which Women were at that time already engaged, leaving the history of their 'new departures' to be told as these took place, and postponing a Comparison between the general position of Women's Affairs then and now, to the concluding Decade of this Jubilee Period.
    For convenience of classification I will adopt the divisions which follow those great social lines of cleavage, Wealth and Education, and separate the Women of whose condition I am about to treat into those who worked and those who did not work for their living,- into those who possessed and those who did not possess some education. It is a sign of the changes which have taken place, that this rough division, though answering our purpose when comparing [-3-] 1837 with 1887, would be less satisfactory now that the levelling influences of the age have been at work. Education is now within the reach of all classes, and Fortune turns her Wheel so far more frequently than at the beginning of the reign, that it is quite un-necessary to invite her 'to lower the proud' more efficiently than she seems disposed to do. The Leisurely and the Wage-earning Classes are as constantly exchanging their position among Women as among men, though the fickle goddess seems to have a spite against her own sex, and keeps them down longer and allows them to rise far less frequently than men; the largest fortune made by a Woman (excepting as a Public Singer or Actress) being a mere windfall compared with those made by Men. But we must come to closer quarters with our subject, and will begin with Working Women.
    Domestic Service - In the year 1837 these were, broadly speaking, almost all engaged in Domestic Service or similar Employment. Even those apprenticed to Trades were more in the position of a servant than they now are, and the few girls (comparatively speaking) in Shops, and the larger number hired for Farm Service, as was then the custom at the Annual Fair of the District, formed part of the Family of their Employer in a way and to a degree which is less common now. How far the change has been a disadvantage it is not easy to judge; probably the difference is not very great - the comfort or discomfort depending, as in so many other cases, much more upon the character of the individual who administered the System than upon the System itself. Now, in the year 1887, the Callings followed by Working Women are so numerous as greatly to complicate any arguments based upon either their numbers or their employment.
    Industrial Employments.-In an excellent article entitled 'Our Working Women and their Earnings,' in the Fortnightly for July, 1887, to which I would refer any one wishing for more detail, Miss ROBINSON says :- We have a nation of working women among us; -i.e., the number of women following some specific calling in the three kingdoms nearly equalled, at the last Census, the entire population of Scotland and Wales put together!' Putting aside the Professional Women - who as Teachers, Nurses, Actresses, Clerks, &c., amount to about 300,000 - and those employed in Domestic Service (about two millions), there are still two millions of women who work as Industrials in Factories and Mills; and the total number of Women who [-4-] are earning their bread, exclusive of the many wives who help their husbands in their various callings, numbered at the last Census over four and a half millions.
    A comparison between the Industrial Arts followed by Women in the first year of Queen Victoria's reign and at present would indeed, if fully written, be almost a history of the whole Industrial Question, and would comprise the chronicle of one of the greatest periods of change and progress which the world has ever known, It would tell the tale of the revolution made in all arts by the introduction of steam; and it would, in fact, embrace, or, at any rate, touch upon, every social and industrial problem of the day.
    After the first check to employment by the introduction of machinery, the next result has, however, always been a greatly increased demand for workers, and for woman's labour as naturally cheaper than that of men.
    The problems which are now pressing for solution soon began to be felt; and very early in the reign A Manufacturer' wrote a pamphlet entitled Female Labour and our Unemployed, which he dedicated to Miss PHOEBE BLYTH, a lady well known f or the interest she had taken in the social and intellectual condition of the working-classes of Edinburgh, in which city she has since been twice elected upon the School Board.
    The following memoranda, culled from the last Census, may be of some interest, though the mode of classification adopted makes it difficult to obtain the amount of definite information which might be expected from so momentous a document. The majority of Working- Women are to be found in these callings:-
Domestic Service 1,230,406  
Bathing and Washing 176,670
Dressmaking, Stay-Service making, & Millinery 357,995   
Schoolmistresses 94,241
Cotton Goods Manufacture 302,367
Charwomen 92,474
    The age at which Women earn a living may be gathered from the following tables:-

 [-5-] It will he seen by this table* [" For which I am indebted to an article by Miss BOUCHERETT.] that the greatest number of domestic servants and schoolmistresses are from 15 to 20 years of age, dressmakers and cotton-goods manufacturers from 25 to 45, and women employed in bathing and washing service and charwomen from 45 to 65. The greatest number of workers are between 15 and 20 year's old, except in the case of women employed as dressmakers, milliners, laundrywomen, and charwomen. There are most dressmakers and mill-hands between 25 and 45. Laundry and charing are as distinctly the pursuits of elderly women from 45 and even over 60. Domestic service is the calling of the young. Every other domestic servant is under 20 ; every other charwoman is over 45 ; not one charwoman in forty is under 20, nor one domestic servant in twelve is over 45. One washerwoman in every twelve and one charwoman in every ten is over 65.
    It is hardly possible even to allude to the legion of petty Trades and departments of Trades in which women and girls are now employed, but an idea of some of them may he gained from a pamphlet lately published by a Committee of the Girls' Friendly Society, the Woman's Union Journal, and the Census, &c. One distinction between Industrial Arts now and fifty years ego is, that whereas in 1837 the larger number of women working industrially were spinners, weavers, lace-makers, straw-plaiters, handling directly the goods on which they were employed; they now - though still, by a curious anomaly, technically termed hands - actually handle the raw goods much less, and carry on their work much more by the use of machinery. This has, to a great extent, withdrawn the workers from home life, and massed them in great buildings ; the division of labour also concentrating their attention upon minute portions of the work. By thus minimising the interest and intelligence required, the individual is reduced more and more to the functions of a living machine, in distinction to the inanimate machine at which she works.
    Moreover, the greatly multiplied powers and possibilities resulting from machinery have indefinitely multiplied our needs, fancied and otherwise and time result is a variety of flourishing manufactures, the very names and uses of which were unknown when the Queen ascended the throne. The Spinning 'Jennies' - as the first spinning machines were called-have, therefore, speedily annihilated the real live Jennies who span; and the Sewing Machine, first introduced from America by HOWE, but not really brought into the English [-6-] market till the first patent expired in 1860, for a time appeared likely to supersede the needlewomen.
    From some trades men have ousted women, while in many others women maintain a precarious footing, more or less on a level with men's work, but too often at boys' pay. Some industries are on the wane. Makers of real lace, for instance, are reckoned at only 17,000 at the last Census, as against 39,000 in 1871 ; while in the boot and shoe trade increasing numbers of women are at work - 35,000 are in the proportion of one woman to eighty-five men in England and Wales alone.
    Hand-sewing still lingers as an industry; and in some form or other employs 40 per cent of the industrial women in England and Ireland; while in Scotland not 25 per cent are employed in making- up garments, though more than one half are engaged in making, in factories and mills, the textile material of which clothes are made.
    Although it may be roughly stated that there has been a steady and constant progress in the employment of women in industrial work throughout Her Majesty's reign, there was a considerable fresh impulse between 1871 and 1881, during which ten years they outnumbered the men in nearly forty new industries; and other trades still show a tendency to replace male by female labour. In fact, one generation has seen women's labour supersede that of men in many departments of exhausting factory work. The way in which this has been done seems often rather capricious; as women are to be found in some trades which appear little suited to their powers, while they neglect others, such as jewelry and watchmaking, which in France are almost entirely monopolised by women. In the American Waterbury Watch Company, lately settled in England, girls are being employed in the repairing department, and their numbers appear likely largely to increase.
    In some departments of female enterprise there are naturally no 'new departures' to chronicle. In manual labour, for instance, many branches of which are now dignified by the name of 'Industrial Employments' - as if industry were confined to the hands, and were not equally an attribute of the busy brain - the march of time has been, if anything, retrogressive. It is well, indeed, that it should be so. Many of the trades followed by women, almost into these latter days of #sweetness and light,' are but relics of those barbarous and early times of the human race, when the male seized upon the female as the feeblest and most easily attainable beast of burden within his reach; a period of which the picture of the 'noble savage' striding [-7-] along, with the humble wife following behind under the burden of weapons, provender, and child, is only the symbol.
    From some laborious and degrading occupations women have, however, within time last few years been set free; and if the desire to deliver them also from working at the months of collieries* [*5000 women still work at the pit-brow.]  has been recently overruled, it has surely not been because it is a calling especially suited to their powers, but from the fact that the struggle for life throughout the kingdom being so severe, it is a cruelty, if not an injustice, to deprive women, handicapped as they are in many ways, of any honourable, however apparently uncongenial, means of earning the bread no one else is ready to earn for them.
    It is impossible to enter here into all the questions which have lately arisen about the payment and condition of this huge labour-market, and who or what is most to blame for its many drawbacks.
    The condition of the Tailoring and Needlework Trades as carried on by Women is terrible in the extreme, and the records of crime and immorality are, doubtless, largely increased by the starvation wages which, on account of the employment of Middlemen and other causes, arising from the crowded populations in our great cities, the minute subdivisions of labour, &c. &c., are all that large numbers of girls and women can obtain. But an immense amount of attention has been drawn to this subject in the last year or so, and a Conference about to be held under time auspices of Mr. WALTER BESANT and others will, it is much to be hoped, bear some practical results.
    In 1874 Mrs. PATERSON, herself the wife of a cabinet-maker, outlined a plan similar to that of the National Agricultural Labourers' Union, incited to do so by the fact that the highest skilled labour of women was at that time paid at the rate of 17s. a-week, while that of the roughest unskilled man fetched 18s. The devotion of this remarkable woman lies, at any rate, initiated a movement which, though still very immature at the time of her premature and lamented death last year, may, it is to be hoped, in time effect the various advantages which she sought to procure for Women. The Protective and Provident League encourages the various Trades to combine, and thus obtain better terms for their labour. Through her exertions many Women's Unions have already been formed, and as a Memorial to her and her friend and fellow-worker, Miss WILKINSON, it is proposed to erect a Building comprising a Trades' Hall, a Working-Women's Club, Institute, and Lodgings, which in itself will con-[-8-]stitute an epoch in the history of the English Working Woman, and which must tend to improve and raise their condition materially as well as socially.
    Literature. - This is no new pursuit for women, though it is now followed by them in large numbers compared to the few authoresses who were at work at the time of the Queen's accession. HANNAH MORE and Mrs. HEMANS had recently died, Miss MARTINEAU was approaching the zenith of her fame, JOANNA BAILLIE and Miss EDGEWORTH were veteran writers, and Miss AGNES STRICKLAND had just completed the first volume of the Lives of the Queens of England in time to dedicate it to her present Gracious Majesty.
    Now women have made for themselves names in every branch of literature, while hundreds earn a more or less precarious living as Magazine writers, Critics, and contribute upon equal terms with men to the staff of time daily press.
    Miss BRONTE'S novels, and those of her sisters, form a sort of half-way step between Mrs. RADCLIFFE'S works and those of Mrs. GASKELL and Mrs. OLIPHANT, while GEORGE ELIOT stands alone as perhaps the greatest woman genius of the century. Miss RIGBY (now Lady EASTLAKE), Miss JANE PORTER, CATHERINE SINCLAIR, MARY HOWITT, and Miss MITFORD, were among the first women who dealt with literary matter other than novels, while Mrs. JAMESON treated Art with an intellectual and artistic force which has raised her works to the standard of a classic.
    In the middle distance, and as marking the rise of a distinctly new style of what maybe called Social Literature of a highly pitched moral and semi-religious tone, stand Miss YONGE and Miss SEWELL, both still exerting the fascination over a wide area which they have wielded for thirty years, and followed by a host of imitators.
    In Poetry, Mrs. HEMANS and the Hon. Mrs. NORTON have been overshadowed by the power of thought and force of expression of that truly intellectual and moral giant Miss BARRETT, better better known as Mrs. BARRETT BROWNING. Miss PROCTER, whose melodious verse and gentle pious thought have soothed and strengthened many of her way-worn sisters, is the leader of a chorus of sweet singers, among whom Miss INGELOW and Miss HAVERGAL are some of the later examples.
    As Moralists few will question that Miss MARCH PHILLIPPS in her My Life, and what shall I do with It? published in 1860; and Miss BREWSTER'S stirring little books on 'Work', strike chords and open [-9-] up questions which are entirely absent in the excellent platitudes of Mrs. CHAPONE'S letters, or even Mrs. HANNAH MORE'S excellent treatises, while both were among the first to sound time note of the dignity and independence of self-maintenance for women equally with men, which bore such remarkable fruit later.
    In Music and the Drama women have of course progressed with the progress of the world, but the difference is not so marked. The really great in every walk of life are rare and isolated. If no one in England can claim that the garment of Mrs. SIDDONS has fallen upon her, Miss FANNY KEMBLE and other clever and good women have pursued the histrionic art, and given pleasure to their fellow-creatures in that form which includes the charms of so many other recreations, inasmuch as a play combines the attractions of a good novel with living characters set to music, and with all the additional advantages of appropriate scenic surroundings.
    The progress in this instance is more perhaps in quantity than quality. For one woman musician or songstress in 1837, are there not to be found hundreds as professionals, and thousands as amateurs, who discourse very sweetly on instruments as well as by means of their own vocal organs? Within the last few years violin playing has been largely adopted by women, and two, if not three orchestras, entirely 'manned' by women have been heard recently in London.
    Art.-In the art of Painting women do not seem to have been as much embarrassed by the fact of their sex fifty years ago as in Literature, While Miss EDGEWORTH sought to shelter herself behind the personality of her father, thus materially damaging the value of her work, which was in many ways very superior to his, Drawing and Painting do not seem to have been viewed altogether as unfeminine accomplishments.
    Miss GILLIES, born in 1803, was one of the pioneers amongst English lady artists, and it is greatly owing to her exertions that the path of Art is now so much easier to women. She proved the false-hood of a statement made sixty years ago by an eminent artist, that 'a woman could not possibly be at the same time an artist and a lady,' and lived to see women entering the lists as artists upon almost even terms with men.* [Vide the Catalogues of the Royal Academy, the Grosvenor, and, other picture-galleries, where fully one third of the pictures are sent in by female artists.]  She started as a miniature painter at the age of twenty, and was exhibiting a picture in London when she [-10-] died at the age of eighty-four in this Jubilee Year. The history of the reign as regards Art is that of steady, constant progress, from perhaps half-a-dozen female painters to the multitudes of women whose pictures not only crowd the galleries, but who practise ain't in some of its lesser departments of engraving, china painting, art needlework, &c. This is dealt with elsewhere; but a brief tribute must here he paid to Miss GANN, the Superintendent of the Royal Female School of Art* [* The Queen has been graciously pleased to sanction the designation of this School as 'The Royal Female School of Art.' ]  in Bloomsbury, to whose devotion to art and painstaking instruction and advice more than one generation of women artists owe much of their success. That women have not, however, attained their present position as artists without opposition, is shown by the fact that Miss LAURA HERFORD, who was the first Female Student at the Royal Academy, only obtained admission by the stratagem of signing her initials, and thus being accepted among the male candidates; while in 1860 the Old Water-Colour Society made a law that in future no lady could be admitted as a Member or Honorary Member, and in 1856 women had found it necessary to start an Artists' Society of their own. The Royal Academy, more liberal than the Old Water-Colour Society, admitted female students to their classes in 1860.
    As Sculptors, Mrs. THORNYCROFT led the way some thirty years ago, and her example has been followed by many, among them by Miss GRANT.

[-11-]

DECADE II.

1847-57.

ALTHOUGH this Decade saw the commencement of the great change which has been effected during the present reign in the social position - and recognised duties of women of the leisurely classes, the moment of its rise cannot be fixed to any date, or referred to any one circumstance. The progress of such a social revolution makes itself visible by special events, but the revolution itself is neither born nor created - it simply grows. The force of circumstances compel a change in the fashions and modes of social life ; and as the necessity grows the old conventional rules are found too narrow, and, like the child's garments, have to be discarded for others that allow for more vigorous growth and greater freedom of action.
    Among other causes, three circumstances were bringing about this change:- First, The Evangelical revival, which involved an immense amount of individual and personal work, much of which could only be done by cultivated women, and for which they were the only available workers. The parish clergyman found the help of the ladies of his parish indispensable when the sanitary, moral, and educational improvement of his people became a part of his duty, and Sunday schools, infant schools, and visitors of the poor, had to be provided.
    Secondly,
    The rapidly increasing separation between the homes of the working masses and those of the well-to-do; which made it difficult for women living at home in leisure any longer to reach the poor.
    And, Thirdly,
    The increasing numbers of those women who could no longer be absorbed by marriage - the only end and object of their lives which had hitherto been recognised as suitable or decorous.
    One of the earliest forms of activity in which women took part was that of Missionary labour; and in proceeding to treat of this subject it will be necessary to go back to a date even earlier than that of the Queen's Accession.

[-12-]

    Women as Missionaries.- Before the accession of the Queen, and before the introduction into England of any of the Sisterhoods or other Religions Agencies for carrying on combined women's work upon religious lines, women had accepted some responsibility in the duty of Evangelisation, which had been laid upon His disciples without any distinction of sex by the Founder of Christianity. In the first instance they only did so, as it were, by deputy, limiting themselves to collecting funds and paying the stipends of men missionaries. As wives and daughters of missionaries, they doubtless bore their share of the hardships and duties undertaken by those devoted pioneers of Christianity and civilisation, but it was not till early in the present century that they took any individual action.
    In the year 1820 the Baptist Female School Society established three Native Schools in India, but whether English ladies went out quite so early to teach in them is uncertain.
    In 1821 Miss COOKE (afterwards the well-known Mrs. WILSON) was sent to Bengal by the British and Foreign School Society. Her influence led to the formation in 1824 of the Calcutta Ladies' Society for Native Female Education; and three other ladies joined her some ten years later.
    In 1827 Miss NEWELL went out to Malacca under the auspices of the London Missionary Society; and in the next year Miss WALLACE, who was sent out by a few friends to China, was 'adopted' by the same Society.
    In the year 1834 a number of ladies, touched by the appeal of the Rev. DAVID ABEEL, an American missionary to China, formed themselves into a Committee and established the 'Society for Promoting Female Education in China, India, and the East.'
    This Society sent out Teachers to Turkish Harems in 1836, and to Hindu Zenanas in 1842. - Their first Lady Missionary, Miss THORNTON, went to Batavia in May, 1835; and two years afterwards she was followed by Miss HULL. The whole number sent out is over 250, and besides having trained 300 Native Teachers, more than 2000 native ladies are receiving instruction at their hands.
    The first Missionaries sent by the Indian Female Normal School Society were the Misses SUTER in 1852. They went to Calcutta, and were the pioneers of many other devoted women.
    In 1878 Miss RICKETTS, a lady well known for her labours on behalf of the poor and distressed in Brighton, went out to China as a Missionary, and did much good there. To Africa many devoted women have accompanied the bishops and clergy, and some have lost [-13-]  their lives from the privations they have undergone. In fact, it is not too much to state that many hundreds of Englishwomen are working among the heathen in foreign lands; while as Medical Missionaries it is probable that before long that number will swell to thousands.
    In 1852 the 'Indian Female Normal School of Instruction Society' was founded, and it is now, under the title of the 'Zenana Bible and Medical Mission,' making great efforts by means of its medically trained Female Missionaries to relieve the physical sufferings, as well as the spiritual starvation of the one hundred and twenty-four millions of women under Her Majesty's sway in India.
    In an article on 'Modern Christian Missions,' published in the Quarterly Review in 1886, the following passages occur :- 'Our tables show that already in the advancing army of the Cross sent out by Protestant Christendom, no less than 2400 of these consecrated Amazons are sustaining their part in this holy war;' and although the wives of CAREY and his companions, who were the pioneers, were actually missionaries, it is only within the last thirty years that female agency has come to the front as a definite component to the missionary staff.'
    But besides leaving their country as Missionaries, large numbers of single women have emigrated; and a few words upon the rise of Emigration must also find a place in these pages.
   See Directory, page 128.
    Emigration.-There are two aspects in which this subject requires notice - that of the Women who have themselves emigrated, and that of the Women who have aided and abetted them in so doing. Women are necessarily affected by the action of all great social movements, through perhaps more tardily and in smaller numbers than men. This is especially likely to be the case in Emigration, which makes so large a demand upon the physical and mental resources of the emigrant. Excepting, therefore, as the wives or daughters of the earlier emigrants - and even these were rare, the pioneers in Emigration naturally being single men without such incumbrances - but few women had ventured abroad to seek their fortunes when Queen VICTORIA, the first Queen regnant over Australasia and Canada, ascended the British throne.
    As soon, however, as it appeared probable that the struggle for existence was beginning to affect single women, as well as families and the masses of the male population, the same remedy was thought of for them. It was first applied under the auspices of the great [-14-] and good Earl of SHAFTESBURY (then Lord ASHLEY) and of that benevolent woman Mrs. CHISHOLM, who herself took out some hundreds of young women to the Colonies. But the arrangements on board the emigrant ships were very defective. The emigration of women deprived of their natural protectors had hot been contemplated; nor even, for some time later, did it occur to the authorities that it was necessary to make any special provision for them beyond the very rough-and-ready ones already at the disposal of the men. The perils and temptations to which they were exposed on their homing voyages were enough to demoralise the most well-disposed; and the first experiments in Female Emigration ended so disastrously as to discourage the most sanguine.
    Many thousands of single women from Scotland and Ireland, as well as England, have, however, emigrated to almost every colony in her Majesty's dominions during her homing reign, and have been an unspeakable blessing to the countries to which they have gone; but greatly as their services are needed, Female Emigration has always been a burning question between our Colonies and our Home Government, on account of the great difficulties attaching to the selection of suitable women here, and the neglect of proper provisions for their comfort and protection on the journey.
    At this point comes in the second part of this subject - the Women who have come to the assistance of the Governments and of the Women Emigrants. About 1859 a lady visiting Plymouth happened to watch the embarkation of a number of women on an Emigrant Ship, and following them on board, was so shocked at the absence of all care for their welfare, either of body or mind, and at the facilities for the moral contamination of the better disposed by the more degraded, that she returned to town determined, if possible, to obtain permission from the Government for the appointment of respectable women as Matrons, and to secure, at any rate, some semblance of protection and womanly influence. How Mrs. CHAPMAN'S benevolent energy set about her task, how trained Matrons were gradually introduced into the Emigrant service and have become recognised officials on the staff of every Emigrant Ship, has already become matter of history, for 'The British Ladies' Female Emigration Society' has only this very year ended its long career of usefulness, when its indefatigable Secretary, Miss TIPPLE, was taken to her rest, and the work for which it was called unto existence has been satisfactorily accomplished.
    But the impulses towards Female Emigration, arising from their [-15-] distress and poverty at home, did not slacken, and in 1861 Miss RYE, Miss JANE LEWIN, and others, started a system of Emigration by Loan for middle-class women, which was soon followed by public efforts to raise funds for those who were entirely destitute. About this time great distress existed among needlewomen, to whose sufferings HOOD'S Song of the Shirt had earlier attracted attention; and Miss RYE was instrumental in emigrating some hundreds of that class, accompanying them herself upon several voyages. A few years later the Colonies began to offer 'assisted passages,' and then the Government commenced a regular system of emigrant ships. In 1862 a hundred women went to Otago; but great complaints were made as to the Depots established to receive them, the defects of which were said to be as great as those already alluded to as existing upon board the Emigrant Ships.
    Periodically - indeed, throughout the history of Female Emigration - similar objections have been made and partly remedied; and, as in almost all other directions, upward progress is discernible ; while in the Jubilee Year there is no hack of agencies for assisting women to emigrate, under conditions which leave but little to be desired. For this it may truly be said that they have to thank the women of wealth and leisure, who have exerted themselves to procure the necessary concessions from the Government. A few more names must be mentioned as having worked in this connexion. Miss MACPHERSON, who, with Miss BILLBOROUGH, began, even before 1860, to emigrate outcast boys, but who speedily extended her work to women and girls; Mrs. BLANCHARD, who, as the first woman officially appointed an Agent by the Australian Government, has been instrumental in transplanting thousands of women to happier lives under brighter climes; Lady HOBART, Viscountess STRANGFORD, Miss BARLEE, and Miss BLAKE, the latter of whom is still at work, and is one of the best authorities on Female Emigration at the present time.
   See Directory, page 87.
    Religious Communities, Sisterhoods, &c.-Very early in the reign of Queen VICTORIA the separation of women into Religious Communities for works of charity had been advocated, but it was not till about 1845 that the idea took definite form. In that year at Park Village, near Regent's Park, Dr. PUSEY gathered together a few ladies for this purpose, and interested Miss SELLON in his enterprise. She, however, determined to form another Sisterhood, of which she should [-16-] be Superior; and a few years later started one at Devonport, which still exists. Dr. PUSEY'S Sisterhood was afterwards removed to St. Saviours, Osnaburg Street. Some of the Sisters went out to the Crimea with Miss NIGHTINGALE; and in 1855 this community became incorporated with that of Miss SELLON. Miss SELLON died in 1876.
    In 1849, Mrs. TENNANT, the widow of a clergyman, with the assistance of Canon CARTER, began a work of rescue and mercy among the outcast poor of Clewer. Her work was taken up, about the year 1853, by the Hon. Mrs. CHARLES MONSELL, who had been recently left a widow, and who became the real foundress of the now flourishing Community of St. John the Baptist, Clewer. In 1858 only eight ladies had joined her; there are now (in 1887) about 250 Sisters, with many Homes in all parts of England for different sorts of work, four in India, and a flourishing Branch in New York.
    In 1851 the Sisters of time Poor were founded by the Rev. UPTON RICHARDS. They are now called 'The All Saints' Sisterhood,' and number over 200 Sisters with twenty-one Homes.
    About 1854 two ladies offered their services to the Rev. J. M. NEALE, in order to form a Nursing Sisterhood for nursing the poor in their own homes; and the devoted services of this community are well known. Its head-quarters are St. Margaret's Convent, East Grinstead, where they have an Orphanage and Girls' Schools; with Branch homes at Odessa and Madeira.
    Dr. NEALE'S Sister, shortly after this, started another Sisterhood in connexion with Mr. LOWDER'S work in London Docks, the headquarters of which are at Kennington. This is a Missionary community, and has broken ground in many degraded quarters, and opened laundries, &c.
    A very remarkable instance of rapid growth is to be found in the history of 'The Sisters of the Church,' who, starting about 1860 within the modest attempt, by means of half-crown subscriptions, to increase time number of clergy in neglected parishes, have how developments and ramifications of work too numerous to mention. That some of these are a little out of the beaten track may be gathered from the fact that they have large Working Men's Restaurants, where five trucks of food are daily despatched, a Convalescent Home at Broadstairs, two shops for second-hand clothing in the Edgware Road, and a depot for the sale of second-hand books at 6 Paternoster Row; besides Missions in the East and South of London.
    [-17-] In 1861 Mr. and Mrs. LANCASTER founded the Sisterhood now known as 'St. Peter's Home, Mortimer Road, Kilburn,' within four different Homes in other parts.
    Another large Sisterhood, that of 'St. Mary's, Wantage,' grew out of the parochial system of Dr. BUTLER in that parish, and the names and addresses of many others are to be found in the Directory, page 79.
    Deaconesses.-About 1861 an attempt was made in England to revive the Female Diaconate by Miss FERARD and Canon DALE. Although this movement has not attained the dimensions of that which has resulted in the numerous Sisterhoods referred to above, it yet appears to be endowed with singular tenacity of life, in as much as it has been established in some form or other in most of the Dioceses of the English Church. At a Conference held by Bishop HAROLD BROWNE at Ely in the year 1870, the difference between Deaconesses and Sisters of Charity, or Anglican Nuns, was distinctly defined, and all the existing Deaconesses Institutions, and almost all the Bishops, gave in their adhesion to the 'Principles' then laid down. Anglican Deaconesses work only under the Bishop and Clergy of the Established Church, of which they form a recognised female branch; and as they cannot be introduced or work in any parish except at the invitation and under the direct control of the Incumbent, they are more generally in request than Sisters. The small number of Women who elect to become Deaconesses is the only reason why the movement does not spread, as the demand for their service may be said to be almost a hundred fold more than the supply.
   See Directory, page 79.

[-18-]

DECADE III.

1857-67

IF the Turn of the Tide in Women's affairs had taken place almost unperceived in the Second Decade of our Queen's Reign, there could be no mistake about the fact that it had well risen by the middle of the Third, the story of which must now be briefly sketched. Two obstacles had to be swept away before the movement could cover the ground which most needed conquest.
    Women had no education to speak of, and but little Employment beyond Matrimony and Domestic Service. Some cynics (for there are such even among women) have been found to assert that these two are sometimes closely allied - that Marriage is but too often Domestic Service minus wages, while Domestic Service is occasionally as severe a bondage as Matrimony, but with ungilt chains! It is unnecessary to say that this is not our view; but it must be confessed that it was time to afford women with more means of cultivating their natural intelligence and intellectual powers than they had hitherto possessed; and that in the ever-diminishing prospect of Marriage, for women of (at any nate) the professional classes, it would, at least, be merciful to offer for their adoption some other means of maintenance. The two desiderata could not very easily be kept apart, nor much longer ignored, and so it is not surprising to find the Movement for Improving the Education of Women, and that for Promoting and Opening up to them New Employments, arising almost simultaneously. If there is any seniority it is on the side of their Education, and it is, therefore, necessary to go back a few years, even into the last decade, to trace its first signs of life.
    Nearly forty years ago a lady, the daughter of Mr. STURCH, a well-known Liberal politician and a scientific and cultivated man, had the grief of losing her husband, JOHN REID, M.D., after only six months of married life. Being a large-hearted and intelligent woman, who felt the deficiencies of her own education, perhaps, all the more [-19-] from its having been of the best then attainable, she took the noble resolve of devoting energies bereaved of their natural object to endeavouring to improve the education of the next generation of girls. She contributed funds, and took the deepest interest in Queen's College, Harley Street, besides being greatly instrumental in opening Bedford College in the autumn of 1849. Upon her death, in 1806, it was found that she had left her fortune in the hands of Lady-Trustees 'for the benefit of the education of women;' thus substantially expressing, not only her wish for the higher mental cultivation of her sex, but her confidence also in their administrative powers, thus supporting the principle, still too tardily accepted, that Women are themselves the best Executive for efforts for their own benefit. With this passing tribute to the services of Mrs. REID, and those of her friend and coadjutor, Miss BOSTOCK, we must proceed to the consideration of Women's Education in general as it them existed.

Education. - It is not too much to say, that before the present reign there was no systematic Education of any kind for English girls. It is true that considerable Endowments for their education existed, as from only one of the 699 Grammar Schools founded by early bequests were girls expressly excluded, the larger number of deeds using the word 'children' without distinction of sex, and many specially naming girls as well as boys. Here and there, as at the old Vestry Hall at Kensington, the grotesque statue of a girl in mob cap and pinafore stood as a companion to the still funnier little boy in frilled shirt and shoe-buckles, and bore witness to the fact that in those days, at any rate, 'Pious Founders' recognised the need of education as imperatively necessary for girls as for boys. It is not perhaps generally known that a portion of Christ's Hospital Fund for Boys, commonly known as the Blue Coat School, is devoted to the education of girls. But the larger portion of these endowments had been diverted, or had lapsed entirely to the boys; and the Grey Coat Foundation in Westminster, the Red Maids at Bristol, the Lady Holles' and Mary Datchelor Schools, were among the few that were still carrying on, more or less satisfactorily, the intentions of the founders. Thanks to the Report of the Endowed Schools' Commission, and the subsequent action of the Commissioners, many other ancient endowments have since been revived; and besides those schools enumerated in the Directory as already open, the schemes for several others, among them notably the Dean COLET Schools in St. Paul's, to accommodate 300 girls, are under consideration.
    [-20-]  Before the Elementary Education Act of 1870, village girls were dependent upon schools created by time benevolence of the clergy and county gentry. These were necessarily few and far  between, and there was practically no education whatever at the disposal of the working classes for their girls; while beyond very inferior private schools, generally styled in those days 'Polite Seminaries for Young Ladies,' there was no provision outside their own families for girls of any rank. In cultivated homes, where either the mother or the governess was a well-read and high-principled woman, it would have been difficult to improve upon the education thus supplied; but such advantages became rarer as the invention of railways introduced more stir into family and social life, and the greater facility for locomotion broke into the quiet hours of home study. As the domesticities of life were also falling out of fashion, and a spurious gentility, which piqued itself on doing nothing and knowing nothing of household matters, was in vogue, even the shrewd common sense and practical training which their homely duties supplied was lost, and the condition of English girls and women had become pitiable in the extreme.
    As far back as 1810 SYDNEY SMITH had asked, in the pages of the Edinburgh Quarterly, 'Why should a woman of forty he more ignonant than a boy of twelve?' and although no answer seems to have been given, or remedy applied, the remark itself may be viewed as a straw showing into what direction the wind was veering. For better times were coming. About 1845 Professor MAURICE, sympathising with the intellectual starvation of the girls and women of the day, opened classes for ladies at King's College, of which he was Principal, and with CHARLES KINGSLEY and other distinguished men founded Queen's College for Girls, which received a Royal Charter in 1848.
    Shortly afterwards Bedford College was opened in connexion with University College, and it is not too much to call these two Institutions the cradle of the movement which, some ten or fifteen years later created an entirely new standard and system of Female Education. Many of the gifted women who took part in it were influenced by one or other of these Institutions. Among them Miss DAVIES, who took so prominent a share in obtaining admission f or girls and women to the Local and Higher University Examinations, and in the establishment of Girton; Miss CLOUGH, who still reigns at Newn ham; Miss PEALE, the Foundress and Head of the magnificent scholastic establishment known as the Ladies' College, Cheltenham, [-21-] which, opened in 1853, has since been enlarged and beautified; Miss BUSS, whose private school was so grand a success that it served as a pioneer and model for the whole scheme of High Schools which have so largely, and in a measure so effectively, superseded the unsystematic private schools and teaching, which was all that was to be had thirty years ago.
    But these efforts to introduce a better and more thorough system of education for girls only threw light upon existing defects, and in 1864 the scheme of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into Education was extended so as to include girls as well as boys. The Report published by the Commissioners in 1868 attracted general attention to the slovenly, showy, and superficial style of the education supplied to girls in most private schools, while it was equally clear that there was little or no public provision available for them as there was in the case of boys.
    The Report of the Commissioners, with all its damaging details, was reprinted by permission by Miss BEALE, and Mrs. WILLIAM GREY gave a lecture on the same subject, with copious extracts. This did not exhaust the sympathies of this distinguished lady, and in 1871, in concert with her sister, Miss SHERRIFF, and others interested in the subject, she formed an organization under the name of the 'National Union for Improving the Education of Women,' which, after founding the Girls' Public Day-School Company in 1873, the Teachers' Training and Registration Society in 1877, and doing much by its magazine and numerous meetings to educate public opinion, died a glorious death in 1883, having accomplished far more than its most sanguine promoters can ever have expected.
    At the present moment the Girls' Day-School Company not only numbers over forty schools, with a roll of above 3000 pupils and a capital of 100,000l., but has stimulated the ambition of many imitators. The Church Day-School Company, though only established in 1883, has eleven schools, and there will shortly be but few large towns unsupplied with schools upon the same system.
    So munch for the education of young girls of school age. But already, before the foundation of the Day-School Company, a desire for education had arisen among older girls and women throughout the country; and this question was asked why a girl's education should be considered as complete at the age of 18, when men were then only entering upon their final stage at the Universities? It was no sooner asked than answered by efforts to procure the admission of women to the advantages of University life. As early as 1860 Miss DAVIES [-22-] was working for a Women's College on the same lines as the men's colleges; and Mrs. BUTLER, Miss A. J. CLOUGH, and others, were endeavouring to establish University Lectures for women in large towns. Much informal work towards this end was done in 1800; and in October and November, 1807, Professor STUART delivered the first course of lectures on the history of Physical Science, weekly, on different days, in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, and Sheffield. In November of the same year the promoters of this movement were formally constituted 'The North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women,' being elected by the representatives of the various towns.
    The Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education was already in existence, and doing good work in the county; and now the success of the North of England Council led other towns to take up the work and similar Associations  on a smaller scale were formed in Edinburgh, in Clifton, and in the south of England, till almost every large town had its Classes on Association, and all more or less aimed at preparing women for the same instruction received by men at the Universities. The Clifton Classes, the London Ladies' Educational Association, and an Association founded at Cambridge with the same objects in view, led up to the various Colleges since established in different localities.
    This brings us to the final stage of development, in which the full advantages of academic education have been thrown open to women. Miss DAVIES'S scheme for a Women's College was first tried in 1809, when a house was opened at Hitchin, as a sort of experimental College for girls over school age; and this modest attempt has since developed into the large and well-appointed building at Girton, which has been four times enlarged, and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1872. In October, 1871, a House of Residence for women attending the lectures of the Cambridge Association was opened in Cambridge by Professor SIDGWICK, and of this Miss A.J. CLOUGH took charge. This has since grown into Newnham hall, and subsequently, by the union of the Association and Newnham Hall, into Newnham College. The example of Cambridge has been followed in Oxford by the foundation, in 1879, of Somerville and Lady Margaret Halls; in London by Westfield College; by the Bangor, Aberystwith, and Cardiff Colleges for Women in Wales; by the growth of the King's College Classes, so largely attended in London, into the Ladies' Department of King's College at 13 Kensington Square, in which above 700 ladies entered their names last term; and last, but [-23-] not least, by the magnificent erection on Virginia Water, built by the late Mr. HOLLOWAY for the accommodation, among the most luxurious accessories, of upwards of 250 students.
    See Directory, pages 105-1.54.

Examinations. - But the necessity of some means for testing the quality of the education which was being supplied to girls soon began to make itself felt; and no means appeared more suitable than those already more or less in use for boys and men - that of periodical Examinations of the scholars by independent persons in the subjects in which they had received instruction. Had it been possible for those desiring the adoption of such tests to allow the whole of their scholars to be examined upon their ordinary work and general attainments, independently of special subjects and set books, many of the evils which have arisen out of the emulation of individuals and competition of different Institutions, together with the crowning crime of 'cram,' might have been avoided. But these evils had not been sufficiently pronounced, even in boys' schools, to act as a warning to women; and the eagerness to copy and vie with the University and other systems in vogue in the education of men, acted disastrously upon the greatly needed reform in female education.
    One Institution, the College of Preceptors, started in 1846, incorporated by Royal Charter, deserves honourable mention; not only by having anticipated the question by establishing in 1854 (four years before the institution of the University Local Examinations) pupils' examinations, and the granting of diplomas to teachers irrespective of their sex, but by doing so on principles which have since been lost sight of, viz., the testing of the whole school upon its general excellence and success, rather than upon what might be the accidental success of especially prepared individuals. In 1856 the Society of Arts threw open their examinations to men and women alike; but it was felt that no standard less independent than that of the Universities could be satisfactory, and in 1862 a Committee was formed for obtaining the admission of women to University Examinations, of which Miss EMILY DAVIES was Hon. Sec. Through the exertions of this Committee the Local Examinations of the University of Cambridge were thrown open to girls. This was subsequently followed by the opening of the Local Examinations of Oxford and Durham.
    But the University Lectures in various parts of the country had produced the need for a test also for girls and women over school [-24-] age; and accordingly in 1868 the North of England Council, under the presidency of Mrs. BUTLER, drew up a petition to the University of Cambridge, asking for a set of special examinations for women oven 18. This petition was granted by the University; and the first of what are now called the Cambridge Higher Local Examinations was held in London and Leeds in Ju1y1869. Gradually this example had its effect -other Universities followed the noble lead of Cambridge; and now (in 1887) all the examinations of the Universities of London, Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews, the Royal Irish, and Dublin, are open to women equally with men, and the only privilege of the kind remaining to be sought for is their admission to degrees. A glance at the list of Examinations in Part II. of the Directory will show, as nothing else can do, the extraordinary progress made in this direction.
    At present degrees are granted to women only by the London, the Royal Irish, and the Victoria Universities, though Oxford gives the title of Associate in Arts to those passing the Senior Local Examinations. Oxford has opened its Pass and Honour Examinations to women. Cambridge admits women to the Honour and Tripos, but not the Pass Examinations. St. Andrews gives the title of LL.A. In a Memorandum circulated by the Committee formed to secure the admission of women to Cambridge degrees, the following statistics are given: Besides those who had passed the Tripos Examinations informally during the years 1878 to 1881, 181 candidates have obtained Honours in different subjects, and in 42 cases have been placed in the first class. In less than ten years 145 women have obtained various degrees at the London University. Twenty-seven women, including H.R.H. the PRINCESS OF WALES, on whom the degree of D.Mus., honoris causa, was conferred in 1885, are graduates of the Royal Irish University, and nineteen are enrolled as undergraduates of the new Victoria University, which has power to confer degrees and distinctions on all persons, male or female.
    Besides all these Educational advantages now at the disposal of girls and women in Great Britain, none of which were ever dreamed of when the Queen ascended the Throne, there are numbers of other opportunities for improvement thrown open to them. They may attend the Art and Science Classes held in all large towns, as well as those of the London Society for the Extension of University Teaching, and many which are held in the Universities themselves. For a small fee they can obtain books on loan from Students' Libraries, and are eligible for admission at almost all Free Libraries in towns.
    [-25-] About the year 1871 a system of Instruction by Correspondence was originated by Mrs. PEILE, which has conferred great benefits upon hundreds of girls and women students residing at a distance from educational facilities. These classes continue to the present date, and are conducted by University men and women who have graduated in honours.* [*This example has been widely followed, and is, doubtless, of use in maintaining an interest in intellectual pursuits, even with far less highly qualified Teachers. There are 1200 girl members of the Students' Branch of the Christian Women's Education Union pledged to give half-an-hour daily to Bible study, and, at least, six hours a-week to one or more secular subjects.]  Women Teachers are received on equal terms with men in many Associations, such as the Teachers' Guild; and in this Jubilee year the Association of Head-Mistresses was entertained at its Annual Conference by the late Head-Master of Uppingham.
    See Directory, page 165.

Early Literature of the Woman's Movement. - The first expression of the Woman's Movement being the rise and development of a system of improved education for girls and women, the problem of their employment came up next for consideration. Very early in this decade the question of 'Our Superabundant Women, and what is to become of them?' had begun to weigh upon the minds of the thoughtful of both sexes. The initiative was taken by women themselves, though their efforts were ably seconded by the more sympathetic and liberal minds among men, and especially by those connected with that veritable knight-errant in women's interest, the Social Science Association, at whose annual meetings almost every question that has arisen in connexion with the Woman's Movement has obtained a favourable hearing, and been advocated, and more or less directly organized, by its members.
    Public attention had been definitely aroused by the statement that there were nearly half a million of women in excess of men in the British Islands, and it was no longer possible to doubt a fact, of which almost every one was beginning to be uncomfortably conscious, of the existence of a considerable number of adult single women with no visible means of sustenance. A little group of ladies, mostly personal friends, began to cast about for a solution of the difficulties which appeared to be impending, and a strong impulse was undoubtedly given to the Infant Movement by a paper read by one of them at a meeting of the Social Science Association at Bradford in 1859. The youth and personal charms of this gifted [-26-]lady, Miss PARKES (now Madame BELLOC), gave great effect to the words in which she dwelt upon the condition of women, and the appearance of the paper almost verbatim in the Times a few days later did much to heighten the impression made by it. Miss PARKES' efforts did not cease with the paper read. In concert within her friend, Miss BARBARA LEIGH SMITH (now Madame BODICHON), she started what may be looked upon as the first paper primarily devoted to women a affairs in England, though sympathetic and interesting papers hearing upon their employment and needs had previously from time to time appeared in a Magazine published in Edinburgh, entitled The Waverley. The first number of the Englishwoman's Journal appeared in March 1856, and a glance through its pages shows how early these ladies grasped the magnitude of their subject, and how ably they treated it. It would indeed surprise many workers of the present day to learn mow long ago many of the suggestions which are now made were not only recommended but experimented upon. For instance an educated person, a lady, had taken change of Cardiff Workhouse as Matron as far back as 1835 on 1836, as it is therein recorded that she died lamented for her faithful and efficient service as a public officer in the year 1859. Would that her example had been widely followed!
    Miss MARY MERRYWEATHER, again, had worked for fourteen years as Lady Overseer in Mr.  COURTAULD'S Silk Factory in Essex, and accomplished so great a work among the operatives before 1863 that even now, after nearly thirty-five years, a better example of such duties efficiently carried out can hardly be imagined than that supplied by this pamphlet she published at the time, which describes her work.
    The Baroness BURDETT-COUTTS addressed a most forcible letter to Earl GRANVILLE as early as the year 1857, dwelling upon the advantages which, with singular foresight, she even then foresaw would accrue to the Educational System if it could be carried out by teachers drawn fro a higher class than was then proposed. Public opinion took a long time to arrive at her conclusions, and it was not until 1873 that the same idea was mooted and practically carried out by the establishment of 'The Bishop Otter Memonial College for Training Ladies as Elementary School Teachers.'
    So far to give credit where credit is due, and to show how wisely the early promoters of this Woman's Movement proposed to remedy some of the needs they had already, at that comparatively early date, discovered.
    [-27-] In a pamphlet printed in 1863 women were advised to become hairdressers, upholsterers, saleswomen, and to take service in wholesale as well as retail shops. They were recommended to try gilding, the preparation of microscopic slides, the making of fishing-tackle, as minor industries by which money could be earned; and not to relinquish, as there was already symptoms of their doing, the healthy and, as was then thought, suitable calling of a milkmaid. In 1864, five women hairdressers were at work in London, and the sensible suggestion that they should form circuits in the country and visit country-houses, and stop in villages to wait upon women  and children, was not overlooked. It is curious that so sensible a suggestion has not been more widely followed, and though doubtless more is done in hairdressing by women than is actually known, this is one of the callings in which very little progress can be reported.
    In 1863 Miss FRANCES POWER COBBE published some Essays on women's work, and even since then her powerful support has been given to the subject. Besides occasional pamphlets and brief allusions to the subject of women's employment in the public press, the Englishwoman's Journal, which had become a quarterly in October 1866, and now appears monthly as the Englishwoman's Review, under the proprietorship of Miss BOUCHERETT, with Miss CAROLINE A. BIGGS as editor, - has published, as its name denotes, constant information upon all social and industrial questions, and a more comprehensive record can nowhere else be found.
    From the Victoria Press there also issued, under the editorship of Miss FAITHFUL, for some years after 1854, the Victoria Magazine, and for a short time a weekly, entitled Women and Work, which kept all matters connected with women well before, at any rate, one section of the public. In connexion with the former Magazine there also was for some years monthly discussion societies, in which men as well as women took part, and which largely contributed to educate public opinion upon this comparatively new subject.
    In 1875 the first edition of the present work, under the title of the Handbook of Woman's Work, was published. It was an attempt to gather up all the information then floating about in the press, &c., and aimed especially at combating the idea, that to work for hner living was a loss of position and an indignity for a woman, and urging upon parents and guardians the duty of training girls as well as boys with a view to their earning their hiving. A new edition was soon called for, but before the end of this year its compiler decided to supplement the information it supplied by the issue of a monthly [-28-] paper, primarily devoted to the subject of remunerative employment for women, and to afford them, as far as possible, the information which could facilitate the adoption, especially by gentlewomen, of means of earning their bread. This Magazine (3d., Hatchard's, 187 Piccadilly, W.) has appeared monthly since October 1875, when, and until 1880, it bore the name of The Woman's Gazette, but in that year the name was altered to Work and Leisure. As such it still appears, after having taken, it is believed, a considerable share in compassing the objects for which it was intended.
    The activity which had set in upon women's questions has since resulted in the birth of an incredible number of Institutions of all hinds; and these, although perhaps in the majority of cases of a philanthropic nature, had so close a relation to questions of employment, that this gradual compilation of the Directory, which forms the second pant of this work, became an almost inevitable portion of the Editor's task. It appeared in the form of separate Guides between the years 1878 and 1882, when they were incorporated with that year's edition of the Year-book, and have since been developed into the Directory as it now stands.
    It will be seen, therefore, that the Woman's Movement has had a by no means despicable literature of its own; and to the above must be added an almost daily increasing number of Magazines, the organs of the different Associations, which are in themselves almost legion, and of which some idea may be formed by turning to the Directory, page 93.

    Employment - But the most powerful reasoning and cogent arguments were not all that this little band of Pioneer Women brought to their arduous task. Supported by the Earl OF SHAFTESBURY, then Lord ASHLEY, the Right Hon. STEPHEN CAVE, and Sir FRANCIS GOLDSMID, Miss JESSIE BOUCHERETT,* [*I believe I am betraying no confidence, while I am sure that I am adding to the interest of the subject, by tracing Miss BOUCHERETT'S action at this crisis to the profound impression made' upon her by the following passage, which still appears upon the title-page of every Report of the Society founded by her: "The tale is plain enough. So far from our countrywomen being all maintained as a matter of course by us, "the bread-winners," three millions out of six of adult Englishwomen work for Subsistence, and two out of three in independence. With this new condition of affairs, new duties and new views must be accepted.' Edinburgh Review, April 1859.]  with the assistance of some other ladies, and aided by the services of Miss SARAH LEWIN as [-29-] Secretary, foummded, in 1860, the 'Society for Promoting the Employment of Women,' which has done so much towards practically carrying into effect the numerous suggestions for fresh openings for women's labour, which were being made on all sides.
    Classes for teaching Law Copying and Book-keeping were opened at the Office of the Society early in the year 1860, and the latter are still held there, while Law Copying is carried on at another address by private enterprise. The Committee has also been more or less instrumental  in introducing women and girls into the following callings; while in some cases - notably those of Printing, Plan Tracing, Wood Engraving, and Wood Carving - its assistance has led to the establishment of separate training schools for instruction in the different arts. Their first offshoot, the Victoria Press, under Miss EMILY FAITHFUL, has been the means of familiarising the public with the idea of employing women as Compositors; and a considerable number are now employed in different printing-offices in all parts of this kingdom. The other trades to which reference has been made are, as nearly as possible in the order in which they arose, Hairdressing, Photography, Glass Engraving, Decorative Art, China Painting, Lithography, Chromo-lithography, Type-writing, Lantern-slide Colouring, and Shorthand Writing.
    The movement thus originated has never slackened. Women have, in some measure, appropriated to themselves a part of the employment offered by almost all the mew inventions and discoveries of the time. Besides the obviously feminine occupations of Teaching, Nursing, Dressmaking and Millinery, of which there are now so mammy new departments, they have learnt how to dispense Medicine, to work Telegraphs and Telephones, to carry on the duties of Clerks and Cashiers, and to make incomes, if not fortunes, as Demonstrators in Cookery, as Lecturers on Art, Hygiene, &c., and as Teachers of Drill, Gymnastics, &c. Some of these directions call for a more detailed separate notice; pre-eminently in that of Needlework, to which we will next turn our attention.
    See Directory, pages 161-163.

    Needlework.- This is such a typical employment for women all the world over, that though in itself now but one of the minor handicrafts of the sex, it seems to require separate mention. Moreover, of late years, and since the revival of the taste for ancient tapestries, lacemaking and various branches of needlework, which may almost be called the nineteenth-century Renaissance of art, this humble [-30-] and once-despised industry for women lies arisen to the standard of a high art. When, in this light of the present day, we are confronted with portraits of our mothers as they appeared at the time of Her Majesty's Coronation, one wonders how even her youthful beauty could have awoke such enthusiasm in such a garb; and certainly both the millinery and dressmaking of that day appear defective in the very rudiments of grace and colour. In an age of high waists and poke bonnets art could hardly exist; and with flowing draperies and more symmetrical head-gear a greater interest in their manufacture naturally revived.
    Still, Needlework in connexion with all other tokens of what was called a 'domesticated,' and therefore neither a fashionable nor intellectual, personality, was not in much repute during the first half of this Queen's reign, though it has now fortunately revived in all its branches. The introduction of the sewing-machine, although at first checking the use of the needle, appears in the long run, like all similar mechanical inventions, only to have increased and stimulated the demand; and it is not in an absence of demand but in other directions that we must look for the reasons which still keep the prices given for Needlework so low.
    In 1851 the Census revealed the numbers of milliners and dressmakers in London alone to be nearly 44,000, while over 21,200 women were entered as seamstresses and shirtmakers, the number of needlewomen throughout Great Britain being estimated at 400,000. Even at that time, when competition was less severe than at present, it was calculated that more them half were struggling against misery and want; and in 1860, mainly by the exertions of Miss ELLEN BARLEE, a 'Society for the Employment of Needlewomen' was established at 27 Lamb's Conduit Street, W.C. The difficulty of obtaining a fair price for work was then, as now, aggravated by the number of hands through whom it had to pass; and the prices were really lower than even those of this present day, 'the women receiving for ladies' under-garments 2s. 6d, per dozen, and for common shirts 3d. a-piece (6d. if stitched); a sum which is only a third, on even a fourth, of the price paid to the contractor.' The slack season was then, as now, an additional terror to the distressed needlewomen ; and Government having granted the Society a contract for soldiers' shirts, the sum of 60,662l. was expended by it in the first eight years of its existence, representing the cost of making 886,717 garments.
    In the year 1868 the War Office withdrew four fifths of their grant of work, in order to better the condition of soldiers' wives by [-31-] employing them in the manufacture. The condition of these poor women was so open to improvement that it was impossible to regret such a decision, although the loss of the work was a serious blow to the London needlewomen. This Government work is still carried on in a spacious building on the Embankment, where the workers are under the management of efficient Superintendents of their own sex, and where the conditions are especially favourable.
    It is impossible to estimate the number of women now depending upon their needle for a livelihood, but they have certainly increased since the Census in 1881, when the number returned for Great Britain was over 640,000.
    As an occupation for women of leisure Needlework has quite recovered its position, and some of the Church Embroidery now executed not only compares favourably with the Convent work of the Middle Ages, but, to all appearance, must take nearly as long, to accomplish. Much, if not all, of this is due to the foundation in 1872. by the lion. Mrs. (now Lady) WELBY-GREGORY, of a Needlework School, now entitled 'The Royal School of Art-Needlework,' which is a worthy representative in Queen VICTORIA'S reign of the 'Broiders' Company,' which was incorporated in the reign of Queen ELIZABETH. Aided, in the first instance, by the practical experience of Mrs. DOLBY, this Art-School, under the fostering care of Lady MARIAN ALFORD and the Royal patronage of our Princesses, themselves true artists and skilled in the use of almost every kind of art-tool - the pencil, brush, and needle - not only diffused beauty throughout the homes of England, but became the parent of flourishing branch establishments in all parts of the world. Lady EDEN also - in connexion with that most sympathetic effort to help reduced gentlewomen founded by Lady MARY FEILDING, 'The Working Ladies Guild' - - has not only done much to further this revival of art-needlework, but has enriched it by her discoveries and inventions.
    For the revival of Plain Needlework as a definite branch of a girl's education we are, I think, largely indebted to the action of the Elementary Education Department, who by making instruction in it compulsory, and gradually raising the standard required from the scholars, has forced a realisation of its value upon the public at large. The very effective plan for teaching it to classes now in use was partly invented and partly adapted by Mrs. FLOYER, the first Woman Inspector appointed by the Department, though her system has since been modified and improved upon by others. She also founded [-32-] an Institute for the Advancement of Plain Needlework among other classes of women, which has been in existence for some years in London; and a 'Ladies' Association for Improvement in Plain Needlework' has also been at work by correspondence throughout the country. It is not too much to say that, whereas at the beginning of the reign plain needlework was by no means commonly practised by the mass of Englishwomen, while art needlework was unknown, or, existing only under the term of 'Fancy' needlework, was represented by bead mats on baskets made of sealing-wax, &c., there is now no style of work, from needle-point-lace to the fine-drawling of table-linen as practised by the French revandeuses, specimens of which could not be supplied by the dexterous hands of Englishwomen.
    See Directory, page 161.

[-33-]

DECADE IV.

1867-77.

IN the Fourth Decade the Woman's Movement entered upon a somewhat new phase. The general principles of Education and of Employment for Women (when necessary even outside their own homes) having been pretty fairly accepted, the ground was cleared for action at close quarters, and this question was asked in more detail, 'What they were to do?' And now was again illustrated the truth of the old saying, that History repeats herself; for again was it discovered that the Supply had already created or found a Demand, and instead of apologising for and making the best of the number of adult idle women who were found to exist in the nation, it began to be noticed that they and their services were very greatly needed by the nation at large.
    In one of the collection of Essays published in 1865 under the title of The Church and the World, and which attracted considerable notice at the time, a writer, describing the horrors of the Sick Wards in the Workhouses, and the need of better Nursing, not only in Hospitals and Private Families, but in Village Parochial Districts, asks: 'Where, then, is the remedy? It is within the reach of all. Those who will, may see it in operation and judge for themselves ; those who can, may help in it if they will. There is surely work enough, and more than enough, to be done  . . . Surely we want our young women by thousands for Nurses ; we want our ladies by hundreds for Sisters. Surely some of the half million of women who are in excess of our male population, and are said to have no occupation, might come forward and find fitting employment here.'
    Right nobly have the Women of England answered to this appeal, not only in coming forward in thousands to the consolation of the Sick, but to the rescue of all who are in sorrow or sin, besides taking up no mean share in the general work of their country. Even now [-34-] that the half million of surplus women has doubled itself, I should be loath to say that they are in excess of the need which exists for their services were they better prepared for the work before them. We must, therefore, now consider Nursing as one of the occupations awaiting them.

    Nursing.-As Nurses in their own families and among their friends women had, of course, always given their services; but although it is, therefore, impossible to claim any novelty for the adoption of Nursing as a recognised calling for women in the reign of Queen VICTORIA, the trained nurse of the present day is so different from the 'Mrs. Gamp' type of 1840, or thereabouts, as to constitute almost a new creation. The only organized attempts before that date to supply nurses to the sick were to be found on the Continent, in the Nursing Sisterhoods of the Roman and the Deaconesses of the Lutheran Churches. Most of the arguments brought forward in support of this Sisterhood movement in this country in its early days, were based upon the urgent need which prevailed among all classes for better and more skilled nursing than that supplied by the entirely untrained, and often inexperienced, women, who, as isolated individuals, without science, art, or organization, were occasionally to be found, and too often found wanting, as hired nurses.
    The Crimean War afforded the opportunity required to call forth the latent powers of women in this direction. At the request of the Minister for War, Miss NIGHTINGALE, already known for the interest she had displayed in charitable objects - schools, reformnatories, and hospitals, and in a measure prepared for the work by a short residence in the Deaconess Institution at Kaiseewerth, organized and carried out, as efficiently as was possible under the stupendous difficulties which surrounded her, the nursing of our troops in the East and crowned her devotion at Scutari by giving up the whole of the fund of 50,000l., subscribed by a grateful nation on inst return, to found a Training School for Nurses in England.
    This famous Nursing School, now occupying one of the succession of palatial buildings forming  St. Thomas's Hospital on the Thames Embankment, which has been the Alma Mater of hundreds of highly skilled and efficient Nurses and Nursing Superintendents scattered in hospitals all over the world, and the precursor of several other large and important Nursing Schools which have paid it the compliment of imitation, had its beginning in the old St. Thomas's Hospital at Southwark in the year 1860. One of its first visitors was Miss [-35-] MERRYWEATHER, who, after a short period of study in it (and also with the Nursing Sisters of St. John's House, who had been at work since 1856 in the neighbouring Hospital of King's College), started a Training School for Nurses in Liverpool and organized the scheme for District Nursing throughout that great town for which it has since become so deservedly famed. The system inaugurated by her has recently been magnificently developed by Miss FLORENCE LEES (now Mrs. DACRE CRAVEN), in the 'Metropolitan and National Nursing Association;' which has several branches in London, and whose example has been followed in many other large towns.
    In 1865 Miss AGNES JONES, with a courage and devotion upon which the work made heavy demands, undertook the experiment of substituting Trained Nurses for the untrained pauper women, who had hitherto been all that could be called this nursing staff of the great Liverpool Infirmary, numbering 1500 beds. This effort was the first step to the adoption of a better system of nursing in workhouses throughout England, which has been most ably advocated by Miss LOUISA TWINING, who has lost no opportunity of pressing upon the public the need for a body of Trained Nurses, under a trained and educated Lady Superintendent, as a necessary part of every work-house staff. Two Societies, one 'for Promoting Trained Nurses in Workhouse Infirmaries,' and the other, entitled 'The Workhouse Visiting Society,' have done good work in this connexion.
    From St. Thomas's, and other Nursing Schools in Edinburgh, Liverpool, and other great cities, which were afterwards established, trained Superintendents have been gradually supplied to numerous hospitals, not only throughout Great Britain, but to Berlin, Stockholm, and our colonies in India, Ceylon, &c.
    Religious Communities, Sisterhnoods, &c., have also taken up Nursing as a profession; and grateful mention should he made of the house of St. Margaret, East Gninstead, of the All Saints' Sisterhood (who nurse University College Hospital), and of others, under whose devoted and efficient care many hospital authorities have placed their patients. The unfortunate differences between the Council of St. John's House and that of the King's College Hospital, and more recently between the medical and nursing staffs of Guy's Hospital, which became burning questions, agitating the general as much as the medical and nursing public in 1882-83, had their effect in bringing the importance of skilled as well as experienced nursing home to the public conscience: and it is hardly too much to say that, whereas at the beginning of this reign there was but little or no scientific [-36-]  training to be had for Nurses, and that as late as 1850 the few dozen Nurses known as Mrs. FRY'S' at the Institution founded by her in Devonshire Square, were all that were available, there are now in England many thousands of fully trained and competent Surgical, Mental, and Monthly Nurses, adapted for every class of patient, together with Masseuses, and women skilled in the exercise of every new discovery for the relief of suffering.
    Quite recently, again, a successful experiment to meet the needs of the labouning country poor, the only class hitherto unprovided for, by an organization for utilising the services of respectable women upon terms and under conditions suitable to the requirements of cottagers, has been made by Miss BROADWOOD, The Lyne, Horsham; and if her plan of a cordon of Nurses, all of whom are available over a certain area of several contiguous parishes, with a central Bureau and Secretary, were universally adopted, the organization, at any rate, of the Nursing System of this country would be complete.
    Large numbers of women have also attended the classes held by the St. John Ambulance Association founded in 1877, which indeed may be said to have taken its rise out of the Nursing movement, and last year nearly 7000 women took 'First Aid' Certificates.
    Quite recently the Nurses employed in Military Hospitals have become a recognised part of the British Army Medical Staff. They wear a grey and scarlet uniform dress, are entitled 'Her Majesty's Nursing Sisters,' and are, with others, eligible for the Order and Decoration for Nurses which the Queen has lately created. This system has worked so well that it is now extended to the Naval Service.
    In this Jubilee Year itself a great impulse has been given to Nursing by the enormous demand which is found to exist in India and the Colonies for fully trained and certificated Ladies. The Secretary of State for India has sanctioned the employment of Lady Nurses in the British Military Hospitals ; and the work has started with a staff of seven at Umballa and thirteen at Rawalpindi, the Government of India undertaking the whole of the expense. With a true woman's thoughtfulness Lady ROBERTS is seeking to provide the only other absolutely essential condition to success - Sanitaria in the hills for those European Nurses who will be unable to carry on their duties in such a climate without intervals in which they may recruit their health.
    Even in England the Sick and Death rates among Nurses are so very high that it is earnestly to be hoped that some really practical [-37-] measures of relief may result from the recent Meeting held by the Society of Arts in London, for founding a National Pension Fund for Nurses and Hospital Officials. It is calculated that  upwards of 15,000 women are employed as Nurses in England; and it is characteristic of Her Majesty's clearness of judgment and constant watchfulness over this best interests of her subjects, that amid all the conflicting suggestions for the bestowal of the Womens Jubilee Offering, she has determined to appropriate the whole to the large and deserving class of Women Nurses.
    See Directory, Part III.

    Medicine.- Although the irregular practice of Medicine by Women is by no means new in this country, their admission to a Medical Degree, after a course of scientific and clinical training identical with that followed by men, is one of the most remarkable innovations of the reign. Even twenty years ago few would have ventured to predict, that within this short period the whole question would have been fought out successfully, and that not only Schools of Medicine and Hospitals officered by Women Physicians, Surgeons, and Dispensers, would be in existence, but that over fifty Medical Women, registered in accordance with this law of this hand, should be in practice, while an almost limitless field should have opened before them in connexion with the movement to supply the native women in India with medical aid from their own sex, within which Lady DUFFERIN'S name will always be associated.
    The history of the amazing change which has passed over the spirit of our times in this particular should be studied in the forcible words of that remarkable woman, who has been so deservedly styled the Champion of the Movement, Dr. SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE. In her work, Medical Women - a Thesis and a History, she tells us that Medicine was always practised in nunneries, and references to female surgeons appear in an edict of King John of France, in 1352 ; and indeed as early as 1421 a petition was presented to our Henry V., praying that 'no women use the practyse of fisyk under payne of long imprisonment.' In the seventeenth century Lady ANN HALKETT was said to be no mean proficient in both Physic and Surgery; and about this same time ELIZABETH LAWRENCE, afterwards Mrs. BURY, 'took much pleasure in Anatomy and Medicine;' and in her Life, published by her husband, it is stated that 'instances of her success in the preservation of human lives were not easily numbered.' Except as Midwives, however, women do not seem to have practised Medicine [-38-] to any extent in the Middle Ages in this country; though many instances occurred in other parts of Europe, and especially in Italy, where several women have filled Professorial Chairs.
    The first Englishwoman who took a regular medical degree was ELIZABETH BLACKWELL, whose family had during her childhood settled in America, and who obtained the degree of M.D. from Geneva College, in the State of New York, in 1849. When the Medical Act of 1858 was passed she was able, by virtue of a special clause, to place her name on the Medical Register; but this could not be done by any one who subsequently took a foreign degree. Miss GARRETT began to study Medicine in 1860, and obtained her education partly in the ordinary classes and partly privately by the payment of large fees. She complied with the regulations of the Apothecaries' Company, and therefore they were, by their Act of 1815, compelled to examine her; but, to exclude other women, they then passed a rule forbidding any student to obtain instruction 'privately.' Both the doors, therefore, by which these pioneers had entered were closed immediately after them.
    In 1869 women were, after a severe struggle, admitted to the University of Edinburgh, and allowed to attend 'separate classes' there; but as many of the Professors refused to give separate classes they were not able to complete their education and graduate as they had intended. The question was brought before the Law Courts, and finally, in 1873, decided against the ladies by a bare majority of the Court of Session. The Edinburgh students then came to London, and succeeded in founding, in 1874, the London School of Medicine for Women at 30 Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square. In 1877 the authorities of the Royal Free Hospital agreed to admit the students of the School, and so the curriculum of medical education became complete. At the end of 1886 no less than 177 students had attended the School, and 75 are now studying there.
    The question of the examination and registration of women cams up repeatedly in Parliament, and at last, in 1876, Mr. RUSSELL GURNEY carried an Enabling Act, which enabled (but did not compel) all the Medical Boards to admit women to Examination, and grant them their Diplomas. The King's and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland at once consented to admit women; and in 1878 the University of London, and in 1879 the Royal University of Ireland, did the same. In 1885 the Irish College of Surgeons threw open their doors, both as regarded Education and Examination. In 1886 the Conjoint Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Edinburgh and [-39-] Glasgow agreed to admit women to their Diplomas, and in October of the same year a Medical School for Women was opened in Edinburgh, and has now moved into premises of its own in Surgeon Square. Eight ladies attended the classes during the first Session, and during this second winter the number has risen to sixteen. The authorities of the Leith Hospital have undertaken the clinical education of the students, and complete arrangements have now been made for all departments of instruction. Women can now, therefore, study in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, as they may prefer; and certain Examinations are also open to them in England, Scotland, and Ireland. In January, 1887, no less than fifty-four women had recorded their names in the British Medical Register, and the number is constantly increasing.
    See Directory, Part III.

    Midwifery.- A comparison between the condition of this calling as practised by women now, and at the time of Her Majesty's accession, is not an easy task; partly because there is so little to say about it. There has, no doubt, always been a considerable number of women calling themselves Midwives, and earning a precarious living as such in this country ; but the value and dignity which accrued to it in the Middle Ages, as a profession scientifically studied and carried out under proper control, has long since departed. It is still a disgrace to England that there is no recognised system or regulation for the proper training and registration of Midwives, as there is in every other civilised European country.
    Although it has been calculated that from 70 to 90 per cent (according to the locality) of the million births annually registered in Great Britain are attended by women only, there is nothing to prevent any one, however incompetent, from taking upon herself the responsibility of practising as a Midwife. Notwithstanding much that has been said and done to educate public opinion upon this important matter, time has not yet been found by the Houses of Parliament to consider and pass a Bill for the protection of the lives of women in child-birth and their infants ; and England still remains almost the only European nation in which Midwives are under no control or regulation. This naturally acts disastrously upon the calling; and it is only recently that some few women of education and position have taken up the work, after as thorough training as it is possible to obtain in this country ; and with the only independent diploma available, that of the Obstetrical Society of London.
    [-40-] A society was founded in 1882, with the hope of raising the efficiency and improving the condition of Midwifery, under the title of the 'Matrons' Aid Society and Midwives' Institute;' and it has already borne good fruit, besides initiating and obtaining a considerable number of signatures to a Petition (which is still in circulation) for securing the licensing and registration of IMidwivos. Beyond the further fact that a Committee appointed my Lord Derby in 1875 to inquire into the customs of other nations ascertained that in France, Germany, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, all Midwives were under State licensing and regulation and cannot practise without a certificate of efficiency, there is so little to say, that the following facts of their history in the past, culled from Dr. SOPHIA JEX-BLAKE'S work, Medical Women, seem all that is worth mention.
    MARGARET COBBE, the first English Midwife whose name has come down to posterity, drew a yearly salary from the Crown, and in 1473 special provision was made for her rights and privileges by Act of Parliament. About this time Midwives were duly licensed, but, strangely enough, by members of the Episcopal Bench! This, probably, arose out of the fact that their duties frequently involved the administration of the rite of Baptism; and an Archbishop of York expressly provided that 'All curates must openly in the church teach and instruct the mydweifes of the very words and form of baptisms.' In 1547 it was proposed that Examinations for Midwives should be instituted, to be conducted jointly by 'the Byshoppe and a doctor of physick;' and in 1610 that 'some order may be settled by the State for the instruction and civil government of midwives.' Although this desirable suggestion doss not seem to have been carried out, another midwife, Mrs. CELLEON, mentions in a letter written towards the end of the seventeenth century, that in 1642 'Midwifery was adjudged a chirurgical operation, and midwives were licensed at Chirurgeons' Hall.' In 1662 they were, for some reason on other, referred for their license to Doctors' Commons, but even this has fallen into abeyance.
    In December, 1875, a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons moved to admit women to the license in Midwifery in that College, and in January, 1876, three ladies applied for Examination, handing in all necessary preliminary qualifications The Council took legal opinion, which was to the effect that it was bound to admit the applicants to Examination, and the Council, by resolution, admitted them. Dr. BARNES, one of the Examiners, immediately resigned - then Dr. FARRE and Dr. PRIESTLEY, and, in fact, the whole [-41-] Examining Board. Since that time not only has there been no Examiners and no Examination, but at a meeting held immediately afterwards of the Obstetrical Society a vote of thanks to thus Examining Board was carried by acclamation.
    In 1877 the latter Society submitted to Her Majesty's Government proposals for imposing exceptional conditions on women desiring to act as professed Midwives. Desirable as this would he in the interests of the patients, and almost universal as this registration is in all other countries, it is not supported by the Medical Council, because they do not wish to make unqualified medical practice in men a misdemeanour, as a clause in their proposal would make it for Midwives.
    A peculiar irony is given to this carelessness which prevails upon this question in this country by the fact that Her Majesty's birth was attended. by a woman, Frau VON SIEBOLD ; and that until the present reign, both here and abroad, midwives were employed by most of the members of the Royal Family. Mrs. STEPHEN, who usually attended Queen CHARLOTTE, wrote a book on the subject, which has been characterised by a high medical authority as perhaps the best book upon the subject written by any woman in our own language.
    See Directory, Part III.

    Women as Civil Servants.- But not only in such obviously feminine callings as the care of the sick was it shown that this British Nation needed the services of her women as well as of her men citizens; and we must now say something of the introduction of women to Government Offices. One of the most important of the 'new departures' for women in this reign has been their employment in the Civil Service. Nothing of this kind existed at the time when  Queen VICTORIA ascended the throne and became, by virtue of her sovereignty, the first and greatest officer of her mighty realm. In no other direction can women so literally boast of following in her steps, and it will be well for them if they follow also in the spirit which she brought to the execution of her great task and the bearing of her heavy burden.
    It was not until this year 1859 that even the idea of employing a woman in any sort of public clerical was mooted, and it then arose out of the natural circumstances of a young girl having helped her father in the Post Office, and desiring to continue her employment after his death. Mr. RICARDO, M.P., thought the idea worth trying, and ninety women were soon at work by way of an experiment.
    [-42-] When the Government took over the Electric Telegraph Offices in 1876, Mr. SCUDAMORE, the then Postmaster-General, added to the number of women he already found employed, and made a further experiment by engaging others to act in the Post Office as Counter-Women.
    The success which attended this step led to the introduction of women of more education as Clerks in other branches of the Government service; and the Times of January 3rd, 1882, gave a glowing description of the Telegraph Clearing-house, the business of which was being successfully carried on by Female Clerks only. Their quickness in detecting errors fully justified the expectations which had been formed of the advantages which would arise from employing women in in this department of their work, and they have since been advanced to other branches of the service, the return at the last Census of the number of women employed in the Civil Service being nearly 4000, and it is probably now considerably over that number.
    In 1872 the Clearing-house of the Receiver and Accountant-General was opened to Gentlewomen, and in 1881 130 Ladies were employed in the Examiner's Branches of the Savings' Bank and Postal Order Departments; but these have since been thrown open to competition. Between one and two thousand women are also employed in London and large towns in the Postal Telegraph Offices.
    The example thus set by Government has been followed by many private persons and the Civil Service, and large numbers of women are now employed by the United Telephone Company, the Prudential Assurance Company, and as Clerks and Book-keepers in all parts of England.
    See Directory, page 115.

    Women in Public Life.-From Public Work undertaken as a means of livelihood, to Public Life undertaken by Women of Leisure as their contribution as Citizens to the work of the Nation, is a natural step; and we pass on now to the consideration of women in public life.
    That women should take any share in what is called public life, such as attending Business Meetings, sitting on Committees of Management, and even speckling or taking part in Discussion or Debate, is one of the most startling innovations of the present reign. Even Mrs. JAMESON, who pointed out in her lecture, entitled 'The Communion of Labour,' delivered in 1856, the absolute necessity for the thorough co-operation of both sexes in the numerous works of education and reform which her prophetic eye saw were [-43-] impending, could hardly have foreseen this greatness of the changes she heralded. The question, 'What is and what is not becoining for a women to do?' seems now to rest upon a simpler and broader basis than it did fifty years ago, when this inquiry was not so much 'What needs doing?' as 'What can be done without offending against the dictates of custom, conventionality, or what used in those days to be known by the name of "gentility"?'
    The first cause in support of which women began to speak in public was the Suffrage, and the next impulse was received from this urgent need found to prevail for their action as well as their speech in matters of Sanitary and Moral Reform. It was at once conceded that there was a great work opening before Ladies in dealing with the multitudes of their own sex who were being massed in factories and towns away from family life, and a few earnest women, deeply impressed with the importance of one or other burning question of the day, as it affected their sex, began to discover that they could speak as easily to fifty people as to five of that of which their hearts were full; so that, strange as it would have appeared to our grandmothers, it has become quite an ordinary occurrence for women to speak with fluency, modesty, and dignity, not only to audiences of their own sex, but occasionally to mixed meetings of men and women. They have learned how to propose, second, carry, or veto resolutions, to draw up minutes of meetings, and to carry on all the technicalities of business with due formalities ; and both as lecturers and speakers they may emulate, though they cannot surpass, the dignity and sweetness with which the First Woman in the land pronounces, with a trimly feminine as well as regal dignity, her 'words from the throne.' It is an appropriate compliment to them that in this, Her Majesty's Jubilee Year, women have been for the first time permitted, even by so exclusive a body as the Church Congress, to speak as well as to listen at the meetings for Ladies and Working Women, which met to discuss some of their own especial topics side by side with that august and clerical association at Wolverhampton.
    A few data bearing upon the movement for procuring this Enfranchisement of Englishwomen may not be out of place before alluding to their further recent steps into the party political arena; for it must never be forgotten that, though supported in the first instance by Liberals, and more recently by Conservatives, Woman s Suffrage is in no way or degree itself, or as it affects women, a party question. Members of both parties alike, and sometimes, alas! [-44-] alternately, condemn and support it, but in itself it is independent of either.
    The first impulse to the movement which will probably, and before very long, procure to women a voice in the affairs of a nation of which they already form so large a proportion (one million majority majority in a population of thirty millions), may his traced hack to the year 1792, when MARY WOLSTONCRAFT wrote her Vindication of the Rights of Women; and more recently to Miss CORNWALLIS' papers upon 'The Property of Married Women' and 'The Capabilities and Disabilities of Married Women,' in the Westminster Review of 1851 and 1857. JOHN STUART MILL'S works, especially The Subjection of Women, brought a powerful impulse to hear upon the question in the second and third decades of this reign; and the greaten activity of women in social affairs brought to light so many evils which they were powerless to cure, that it seemed as if the possession of the vote was the only hope left to them that their interests and those of their children would be considered.
    It was not, however, till 1866 that they mustered up courage enough to present a petition to Parliament praying for admission to the suffrage. This was signed by 1500 women, and presented to the House of Lords by Lord BROUGHAM, and to the House of Commons by Mr. J. S. MILL. In the following May the latter introduced his celebrated Amendment to extend Parliamentary Franchise to Women; and in November of the same year 'The National Society for Women's Suffrage' was founded. In 1869 the Municipal Franchise Amendment Act restored to women their right to vote in municipal elections; and in March 1870 the Women's Suffrage Journal was established, and in its pages, which still appear, a full record of subsequent events will be found.
    After more vicissitudes than it is possible to notice, the movement made a great stride forward in 1880, when several large and influential Demonstrations, notably one in Manchester in the month of February, took place, and the passing of the Women's Suffrage Bill in that miniature Parliament entitled the house of Keys, belonging to the Isle of Man, was looked upon as a favourable omen. This furthest step was, however, reached in 1886, when the Bill for extending the Parliamentary Franchise to women passed the second reading without a division. Owing to the subsequent dissolution of Parliament its further progress was delayed; but a majority of the members returned at the General Election (July 1886) have already supported, or promised to support, the measure.
    [-45-] That the suffrage is desired by working women is shown by the fact that the deputation from the Women's Protective and Provident Union, which yearly attends the meetings of this Trades' Union Congress, always carry a majority approving the principles of the Suffrage. In 1885 this numbers were seventy to six. The fact that women have attended and taken part in this Congress since the year 1875 is another instance of the place now occupied by women in public life.
    See Directory, page 85.

    Women and Politics.- However powerful has been the influence hitherto exerted by women over Politics, and that they have canvassed from the days of the beautiful but not oven-fastidious Duchess of DEVONSHIRE of election memory is a matter of history, they have not until the last decade of the present reign taken any direct and personal part in politics.
    This first organised and deliberate action of women with regard to party questions took place about 1881, in the December of which year 'The Bristol Women's Liberal Association' was founded; that of York having arisen still earlier, and those of Darlington, Scarborough, and some other towns, soon after following suit. These were all organized and officered by women, but were independent of each other.
    Shortly afterwards 'The Primrose League' was founded; and though at first intended to enlist and utilise the services of young men in the Conservative cause, ladies, both in London and the  provinces, came forward so prominently, and were awarded so conspicuous a place in its programme as Members, Dames, and Grand Councillors, that they have, in the estimation of many, almost appropriated the whole organization, and obliterated the remembrance of those for whom it was originally designed.
    The success which attended the establishment of the Primrose League gave a further impetus to the political activities of women and led the Liberal panty to make a federation of the Women's Liberal Unions already in existence. 'The Women's Liberal Federation' was accordingly founded in the present year ; and although but a few months old, Branch Associations are already numerous, and the rapid growth of these political combinations point to women occupying a new and very strongly marked position in future elections.
    See Directory, page 85.

[-46-] Women in Official Life - Politics have not exhausted this interest women have learned to take in public life; nor have they shrunk from participating in this anxious responsibility which is felt by all conscientious persons to attach to official positions.
    WOMEN ON SCHOOL BOARDS.- School Boards had not long been in existence before the very natural suggestion was made that, having regard to the age and sex of the children attending the schools, women of education could do a good work by offering themselves for election; and there are now about a hundred women on the School Boards of England and Wales.
    WOMEN AS POOR-LAW GUARDIANS - The same argument was soon repeated, with even more strength, with regard to the Guardians of Workhouses; and although the difficulty of finding women of wealth and leisure possessing the necessary legal qualifications was great, forty-three are now serving as Poor-law Guardians in England and seven in Scotland. For although the first connexion between Women and the Poor Law (otherwise than as Matrons of Workhouses) was that of an official appointment - Mrs. NASSAU SENIOR having been appointed first woman Poor-law Inspector in 1874 - it is certain that women are impelled to enter into public official life by the promptings of philanthropy rather than of ambition. The valuable work she did has caused little short of a revolution in some of the principles of the Department, notably that of the boarding-out of pauper children; and it is to be hoped that the interval between her lamented death and the appointment of Miss C. MASON to a similar but not exactly parallel post in 1885, during which time there was no Female Inspector, will not be allowed to recur.
    WOMEN AS INSPECTORS. - A very strong feeling exists that women would be useful as Inspectors of Schools and Factories. In this instance India has taken the lead; Mrs. JAMES BRANDER having been appointed, in 1880, Inspector of Schools at Madras.
    Mrs. POWER LALOR has lately been appointed Inspector of Lace Manufacture in Ireland. 
    See Directory, page 84.

[-47-]

DECADE V.

1877-87.

ON entering the Fifth Decade of our Queen's reign, and approaching the final years of her Jubilee period, the plot perceptibly thickens. This works that have been begun by women are, in many instances, reorganized and largely developed; while possession is taken of any unoccupied fields, and individual women break ground in unexpected directions, the history of which is interesting to record, even if it is unlikely that their example will be largely followed.
    This spirit of activity, if not of enterprise, spreads into ranks of life in which the pressure is not so much from within as from without, the impulses to action arising more from the necessities of other women than from their own. Some women of Wealth and Leisure have in all ages been moved by compassion to try and improve the condition of others less favoured than themselves by fortune, whether members of their own sex or not. In this decade, however, owing probably to the greater publicity given to distress, and to the greater freedom of action mow permitted to women belonging to this class in society, such persons are to be reckoned not by units, nor even by tens, but buy hundreds - if not thousands. This good and useful work which has been long and patiently carried out, in spite of small means and many obstacles, by the wives and daughters of the clergy of the Church of England for the women and girls of their parishes, is raised in character and heightened in effect by the opportunities for mutual counsel and support afforded by the Associations which now began to be formed in almost every direction, and for every conceivable object.
    Mothers' Meetings; Girls' and Boys' Classes; Secular and Religious Work among Men; Work among Women, Factory Girls, and Shop Girls; the establishment of Cr?ches, Schools of all kinds, Cottage Hospitals, Convalescent Homes, Soup Kitchens, Cookery Classes, [-48-] Ambulance Classes ;Needlework Instruction; Wood Carving; Home, and Art Classes; Evening Recreation and Servants' Homes, and Free Registries ; Penny Readings and Village Concerts ; Guilds and Missions of all kinds - in each and all of these women take the lion's share, even where they do not initiate and carry on the whole work. It is to such subjects as these we must now turn our attention, and gather up the fragments which still remain of this perplexing task of the history and classification of women's work in the reign of Queen VICTORIA. We will begin with what, for want of a better definition, we may call

    Works of Benevolence.-Under this head it will readily be believed that there is much to be said, and also that it is a subject which almost defies classification.* [* Perhaps the earliest attempt at any form of classification of Women's Work was made by the Society for Promoting Female Welfare, when a a few years after its foundation, in 1866, the compiler of the present work had the pleasure of arranging for its Committee the 'Tabular Report' of the Institution affiliated to it. This Report is still issued annually, and to it reference is recommended for fuller particulars of these Institutions, which number nearly one hundred, all of which are conducted on strictly Protestant principles.]  Women's hearts are proverbially tender, and as the sphere in which they moved began to enlarge, and they became cognisant of needs and sorrows beyond their own families and neighbourhoods, the desire to extend their works of beneficence grew apace. Their first efforts were naturally directed towards the amelioriation of the condition of their own sex ; and it is pleasant to reflect that this earliest impulse to a Movement which now includes many large and flourishing Societies, and befriends thousands upon thousands of young women and girls, not only in every corner of Great Britain but in almost all her colonies, was given by the devout use of that wondrous and mysterious Agency which God empowers His children to use with Him upon their own behalf and that of their fellow-creatures - Prayer. It was from a Prayer Union, formed in 1855 by ten ladies - among whom were the Misses ROBARTS and Mrs. PENNEFATHER - that the Young Women's Christian Association perhaps the most comprehensive if not numerically the largest of the four great Associations which have since so effectively covered the whole field of labour among women and girls, took its origin.
    In the same year, the Hon. Mrs. (now the Dowager Lady) KINNAIRD suggested to the supporters of the Home for Crimean [-49-] Nurses that that Institution should be continued as a boarding-house for homeless London girls; and this was the first Home of the kind ever opened. A glance at this numerous addresses in the Directory, not only in London but the provinces - while bearing in mind the hundreds of class-rooms and additional smaller efforts of all kinds which exist for the benefit of working girls throughout the land - will give some slight idea of the extraordinary growth of this work in this last thirty years.
    In a deeply interesting circular put forth under the presidency of the venerable Earl of SHAFTESBURY, to whose sacred and beloved memory for his incessant labours in behalf of the young and suffering of both sexes an affectionate tribute from women is pre-eminently due, the then infant Society was entitled 'The Young Women's Christian Improvement Association.'  A few years later it was incorporated with the Young Women's Christian Union, and the great work of this Association may be said to have fairly begun. Space fails to recount into what it has since grown; but besides its Homes, Restaurants, Clubs, secular and religious Classes, enumerated in the advertisements which will be found in the Supplement, it has recently instituted an Agency for protecting young women travelling all over the world, a Factory Helpers' Union, a Park Mission, and a Rural Home-study Association. It also works in connexion with this International Union for Befriending Young Women, founded some years ago at Neufch?tel.
    Some years passed before the rise of the next great Society founded by English ladies for the benefit of their less protected working sisters; and this also may truly be said to have been born and cradled in prayer. Almost simultaneously a desire to form some great sheltering agency for the protection and improvement of the young girls in our towns and villages seems to have been laid on the hearts of four or five noble-minded women, who, at the instance of Mrs. TOWNSEND and by the invitation of Mrs. TAIT, met together in Lambeth Palace in 1875, and then and there laid down the principles and sketched the outline of that really mighty organization, 'The Girls' Friendly Society,' which numbers a quarter of a million of women and girls' names upon its roll, and is almost an enhantress in the hold it has gained upon the affections of its Associates and Members. Again I can only refer my readers to the pages of the Directory and Advertising Supplement - or, better still, send them to the head-quarter's of the Society - for statistics and details of its wonderful work and numerous publications.
    [-50-] 

WORKS OF BENEVOLENCE.

It has been truly remarked that the G. F. S., as this Association is familiarly and affectionately called by its devotees, has effected almost as nnuch good by what it has been obliged to delegate to others as by what it has accomplished itself. Starting with a high ideal of women's purity, its pronnoters had hunt little idea of this multitudes of girls and women in this Chnistiamn nineteenth century whom they would find to be disqualified for membership under the regulation of thins Third Central Rule. It is not necessary to dwell upon this painful subject; suffice it to say, that after long and anxious consideration it was judged better to maintain a high standard than to lower it so to cover a nvider area; and the sequel must have .showun the wisdom of this decision to any who douhuted it.

But it necsssani1~ limited the area over which the usefulness of the Society could extend; and the only inediate advantage at first gained was this formation of another large and flourishing organization by Mrs. PAPILLON, one of the ean'hiest supporters of the G. F. S -, who, while equally upholding the supreumne importance of character' in the new Society, arranged for it a more elastic constitution, and admitted as one of its objects this raising of the fallen as well as the strengthening of such as do stand.' It is entitled The Young Women's Help Society;' and, founded in 1879, has already nearly one hundred Branches, and some thousands of members belonging to its different orders.

Rather earlier in point of time, and quite independent in its origin, is to hue reckoned another important Society, which is doing a great work amomng the girls of the metropolis. This is the Me tn-apout an Association Iou- Be.friending Young Seu-vnts,' which arose out of the vahuabuhe work dons huy Mrs. NASSAU SENIOR during her short period of office as Inspector under the Local Government Board. It has now nearly forty Free Registries in London, seventeen Training and Lodging Homes, and upwards of eight hundred voluntam'y Lady Workers. No words are too strong to express the excellent and very businesslike work done by the numerous honorary Secretaries of this Society.

In tinat work of great practical utility which also arose out of Mrs. Sinuous's Official Reports -the boarding-out of pauper children

-female volunteer assistance has been invaluable; and sun Association for the Advancement of Boarding-out' has been entirely formed and carried out since 1883 by women within great success.

Notwithstanding these large bodies, and the numem-ous Uuilds, Clubs, and Philanthropic Helps of all kinds for girls and working

51

women which abuonnd thnrouglnout the land, and are carried on almost entirely by voluntary help, they are by no means conensurate with the growth of the population or the needs, especially in London and the greater manufacturing centres.

More recently, and inmpelled thereto more or less directly by this revelations respecting the national morality-or, alas! should we not rather say, imonorahity h-which resulted from the work of the Societies above referred to, and also from this greater freedom of this Press upon these topics, a great sister-movement has begun to make itself felt, nvhichs may hue descnihued as that of Preventive and Reformatory work, as distinguished from what might be called this General Welfare Societies on this ems side, and those for Rescue and Penitentiary ~Vonhc on the other. To this movement Miss ET.LICE I-IOPKINS has brought all this resources of her rennarkable intellect and gm-eat powers of speech and pen; and while this majority of the Ladies' Associations fou die Cone of Fu'iendless Girls,' existing in more thamn a hundred diffeneunt localities, owe their existence to her splendid exertions, sine has nnot confined herself to working among her own sex only, bnmt has had the courage to carry this warfare into the enenmy's country also. Sine practically om-iginated the agency entitled The White Cross Army (for men only), whichi is at work in England and Amnenica, and sine is the ceuntre of a great movement for raising this tons of morality generally in the British Empire, for which she is entitled to this dlespest affection and respect.

For whatever may hue thought of the comparative morality of different classes of society nonv and fifty years ago, there can b:e no qnestion that the standard of pubulic opinion upon this relations of the sexes as a whole linac risen considerably; and this is distinctly attnihuutahuie to the altered attitude in which educated women of the more protected classes stand towards it. Somnething, too, is always gained huy the mere sweeping away of a pretence. It was impossible for middle-aged women, even in the year 1837, to have been quite so ~gunorant of the existence of vice ins they professed to lie; and painful as have bueen the experiences through which they have since been j2ahled tepon to pass in learning the full extennt of the evil, it is at least nn advantage that they are not now guilty of this sin of pretending to lie ignOranmt, as well as indifferent, to that which their ignorance then practically condoned. Now, in this year 1887, all affectation of ~gnorance has bueen snvept away; and though gained at a cost of much mental suffering, there seems hops in the futum'e, not only for the growth of a rohuuster form of virtue among nvomsn generally,

430

WORKS OF DENEVOLENCE.

4

4

PENITENTIARY WORK. THE TEMPEnANCE MOVEMENT. 53

but for an entirely new form of virtue among men-a change which is due to the fact that, for the first time in the world's history, virtuous women have risen up in defence of their frailen sisters, and refused any longer tacitly to sanction a certain portion of their sex being set apart as a prey. By claiming the same standard of morals as equally obligatory upon men as upon women, they have unconsciously inaugurated a revolution in the minnoral relations between nuemn and women which, by the grace of God, will, it may he expected, issue in a completely new order of things.

See Din-ectory, pages 9-12.

Penitentiary Work.-It is not surprising therefore - under the circumstances to which allusion has been made, viz., the ignorance, partly real and partly assumed, of the inoral side of nnen's nature affected by the middle and upper-class women in past years-that the initial effort at reformation should have come from men. It was as far back as 1756 that some benevolent men, merchamnts of the City of London and others, among ~iiem notably one JONAS

HANWAY, founded the Magdalen Asylum, still existing and doing good work at Streatham. It was pen-haps equally significant of the character of public opinion, that though men might hue expected to have been equally sensitive to the demnorahising effects of this vice upon their own sex, they appear only to have proposed to conubat it in women, and this curious anomaly has existed almost to the present day.

About 1850 thus lion. Mi-s. MorssnmL and Mrs. VieAnts, two excellent Chnistiamn women, though of widely diffening opinions mis respected Church doctrine, dedicated their lives and their means to an attempt to reclaim fallen women; the ems giving an impulse which has resulted in the largest and most infiueuntial Sistem-hood wlnichm has been founded in connexion with the Chum-cia of Emnghand, and the other establishing a successful Institution for reclaiming pennitemnts upomn a more secular outline, but based on deeply religious principles. Miss SELLON at iDevonport had anticipated the work of the Chewer Sisterhood by a few years; but for the numerous Institutions and Associations of all kinds which have followed in the wal~s of these early efforts I must refer my readers to those pages in the Diu-ectou-y which treat of this sad subject. Closely allied to it is that of Tempenamice, to the furtherance of which the efforts of women hmve greatly contributed.

See Directory, pages 42-56.

)

The Temperance Movernent.-It may be said, without exaggeration, that these words would have conveyed buut little idea of their present meaning to ears in 1837. Drunkenness in its grossest forms was even then becoming unfashionable among men of the uppem classes, but attracted little notice or rehuuke among those of the working classes who had the money with which to indulge themselves. The rennarkabhe decrease of drunhseumness in all ranks of life, the alteration of public opiumion, which now views as a disgrace what used to be looked on almost as something to boast of, is greatly owing to the part women have taken in discountenancing and discouraging at. But, alas! truth rein imnds us tin at there is another side to the mattel-; and for one woman of the degraded classes who drank systematically in 1837, there are, it is to be feared, ten who do so now, and these are to be found in every rank of life, and among those in whose behalf neither poverty nor igmnorance caun be pleaded as ami excuse.

One of the first wounen who came forward publicly to combat this great sin among this mnen and buoys of her neighbourhood was Mrs. WEITBRECHT, whose work in ?Worcester, if not actually the pioneer of the numerous Societies now in existemnce, was, at any rate, one of this first steps in a path now crowded by workers. It is, indeed, hardly possible to give statistics upon the amount of Temperance Work specifically done by avonnen, because a branch espscially imntended to deal ivithi it is found to be a mnecessary and almost m,nevitable adjunct to all efforts to help the poor. Mrs. BARLEY, authoress of Ragged ITomes and Home to .Miend Them, gave valuable aid with her pen; and the need for some organized opposition to the mnsidious encroachments of this mighty evil became so great, that thmese ladies were speedily and numerously reinforced; and not only individuals, but small Societies and Temperamnce and Total Ahustinence Associations, pledged to grapple with the emnemy, sprang up all over the country.

As early as the fourth Annual Meeting of the Social Science Congress in 1861, winen Twenty-five Papers were contributed by women, I~irs. Frsou read a paper on the suhuject of Temnperamnce, and there are now, as will be seen in the Dim-ectory, four lam-ge Asso- .ciations established and carried on by women, two being designed for preventive work amomng chuldnenn, besides a flourishing Women's Department of the Church of England Temperance Society, which has over one hundred Bramnches and reckons many thousand supporters, nouns even among the peculiarly tried and tempted class of barma.ids.

MISSIONS TO PRISONERS. 1uIBLE WOMEN AND NuRSES.

]3esides these, there are at least 500 Women's Temperance Societies in different parts of England, with some 30,000 to 50,000 members all pledged to do battle for the good cause.

The British Womemn's Temperance Association'is not only entirely managed by Women under a Female President, but there are only two paid officers; all the workers, iimcluding Speakers at Meetings, giving tlneir services.- It has a home for Inebriate \Vomen, and holds Annual Conferences in London and the Provinces. It is a Federation of 169 Women's Temperance Societies.

A Women's Benefit Society' was founded in 1880 in connexion with the Church of England Temperance Society, and is registered under the Fmiendly Societies' Act.

See Directory,page 59.

Missions to Prisoners-No one will question Mrs. Fnv's m-ighnt to the first place in this work. Her visit to Newgate Prison and the- influence she exerted, not only upon the wild and degraded creatures, but with the officials of that terrible place, has become historic, and is worthy of being pictured, as it is, upon the wall in the lobby of the I-house of Conons. It was natural that with the advent of a gentle Woman Sovereigmn, who pleaded with her Minister to bud aim excuse to avoid signing the first Death-warrant submitted to hen-, and joyfully dashed the word Pardoned' across the dreadful document, some help should come to the poor creatures languishing in the terrible stats of durance then represented by our Prisons. Much, of course, was done in accordance nvith the gentler spirit of the time, and the sweeping away of the greatest abuses of Prison discipline is due to many noble-bean-ted men; but Christian Women also have uot been behindhand in amnticipating their Lord's behest-' I was in prison, and ye visited Me,'

Now in this Jubilee Year there is, I believe, no Prison to which a. Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society has not bueen attached, and is busing maintained by this voluntary, loving succour of women. The lady whose name is principally and nuost deservedly associated ivithn this. blessed work of ministry is Mrs. MEBEDITTT, who with her sister, Muss LLOYD, Miss CAVENDISII, and a host of devoted fellow-workers,. hiss founded the famous Institution known as I The Princess Mary Village Homes for the Children of Prisoners,' and gradually added to it a whole congeries of useful and philanthropic agencies for the- benefit of chihdren, girls, and women of many different classes, even to a highly prosperous Christian Umnion for advancing the intelhectuat

studies of girls desirous of following up the mon-sunsuit for the Higher Education of Women upon it strictly religious basis. About 318 women are employed as Officers in Prisons, but it is a pit.y that more gentlewomemn do not apply for these posts.

Perhaps no better testimony to the success of the work accomn- pushed by women for the criminal members of their own sex can hue adduced than the following statement by a writer in the Daily Nemvs, whose words I thnemefore quote verbatinm. The article is entitled, Female Convicts reduced buy Half,' and it says: The recemntiy issued Report of the Directors of Comnvict Prisons shows that there are now less tlman half the mnumber of female comnvicts than there were temn years ago. This is a very gratifying result of the many agencies that have lueen in operation for the benefit of girls and women, and the importance and significance of the decrease become more apparent when it is remembered how large an influence crinninah women must have on the children about them. There were only 706 female convicts last year, whereas ten years ago there were 1477. Partly owing to this diminution of uunbuers, and partly to the fact that all convicts now pass the first nine months of their sentence un local gaols, it has been found practicabuhe to close Fulharn Prison, jun nvhich female convicts have hitherto hueen confined, t.hus effecting a considerable pecuniary saving. There can be little question that ems of the most potent influences that have of late years temaded to reduce the number of female criminals hiss bueemn that of the " Refuges, which take in women who have fallen into crime, hunt who are penitent and desirous of a fresh start in life. The Royal Society for the Assistance of Discharged Prisoners hiss for the past fifteen years had such ama establishment at Streatham. The number of young women this Refuge has enabled to find respectable employment, or to emigrate, nmnstead of lapsing back into crime and the convict's cell, must have constituted no uniniportant proportion of the reduction n the number of female convicts during the past ten years.'

See Directory, pages 49-58.

Bible Women and Nurses-But the work of women for the reformation and spiritual benefit of others has been by no means confined to their own sex. A lady walking through Seven Dials on a Midsuner day in 1857 was so horror-stricken with the scenes of sin and misery that she witnessed, that she felt impelled to make some effort in buehaif of a population living so obviously without God and without hope, either for this world or the mnext. A stranger to

I

56 hOME i%fl55IONS. 57

London, hut accustomed to poverty in country districts, and well acquainted with one great source of comfort and help to riclm and poor elsewhere, her que~tion was not, How do these people hive?' but How are they supplied with Bibles ? This answer she received. did not satisfy her; and learning more of the condition of the population of St. Gihes, and especially touched by the sad condition- spiritual and physical-of the Working Poor in Sickness, Mrs. RANYARD started the idea of employing respectable members of the same class to evangelise and nun-se their mieighbours. The Society sims founded for the purpose, under the name of The Bihule and Domestic Female Mission,' still carries on a great work under her niece and successou-, Mrs. SELPE-LENNARD, and numbers upwards of 200 Bible Women and Nurses, nvho are constantly employed in caring for the souls and bodies of the poor in the most degraded parts of Londomn.

This Society has had also the honour of having stimulated the ennulation of the Established Church to do likewise; and in the Parodual Mission Women's Fund,' started in 1860 by the lion. Mrs.

OLDFIELD and others, upwards of 200 women are constaminthy employed in carrying to the Sick and Aged Poor that personal ministry in word and deed which is so peculiarly acceptable to them whien received from persons belonging to their rank in life. In the twenty- six yeai-s that have elapsed since the foundation of the Society, upwards of 262,4401. have hueen saved by the poor through its agents.

See Diu-ect erg, page 87.

Home Missions.- The seed of another great work for relieving spiritual destitution was sown by a lady, who, an invalid residing in the country, was yet so stirred to the heart by the tales sims read of perishing London, that she conceived the idea of attempting to aid luy raising money for the Additional Curates' Society. She obtained 20001. for this purpose; and in 1868, after her death, an appeal was nnade to the country at lam-ge to comntinue her won-k. Many local Associations were formed; and in 1880 a new impetus was given buy reorganizing it upon diocesan limes, while last year upwards of 17,0001. was raised for this Society by the exertions of this Association.

In the year 1864 Mrs. TAIT, wife of the then Bishop of London, established a Ladies' Diocesan Association,' to introduce women of leisure to works of charity conmnectsd mvith the Church of Eungland and under diocesan organization; and besides itself supplying workers to many hospitals, muan-ishes, and other spheres of useful work, its

FRIENDLY LETTER MiSSIONS, ETC.

example has been followed by other denominations, some of which are of a secular mature.

See Directory, page 87.

The Mildmay Institute.-Amnotlmer great religious Association which, started buy the strong personal iunflusnce of a few persons, lass been gm-adually built up luy thus devotion of ninny, is the remarkalule ivoi-ht known familiarly and lovingly as Mildmnay.' Although pri- manly started buy the late 11ev. JosErmr PENNEFATHER, rector of a London parish, it owes so much to the extraordimnary powers of his distinguished wife, and its work is umow so completely in the hands of women, that a lurief mnotice of it conies within the scope of this chapter. The Mildmnay Institutions' took their rise out of a sort of informal Union or Conferemnce of persons deeply imbued with the importance of Christian Religious Life and Progress, and hat enlarged its sphere and extemnded it.s operations until it appears to emlurace every woman's work of spiritual aind material niimnistry.

The Conference Flail,' seating 2500 people, was opened in 1870, mainly to provide suitable acconnmodation for the annual Conferences which had been meld simnce 1856 at Bernet; and in conunexion with it are numerous Deaconess and Training I-homes for Female Missionaries at home and abroad, with a Cottage I-hospital, Nursiung Home, Orphanage, Iunvalids' I-home and Kitchen, Registries, Coffee and Lodging-houmses, Railway and other Missions, an Educational Bin-such, and Parish Deaconesses, altogether nuunnheriung many hundreds of educated women, who wom-iu for the good of others in every form that piety can devise and a devoted emnemgy accomplish.

See Directory, page 87.

Friendly Letter Missions, &c.-Perhmaps there is hardly any form of Missionary effort so essentially feminine in idea as that of buenefitiung our fellow-creatures by writing letters to them, but, like other apparently trivial experiuneunts, it has been successful lueyond many other attennpts which, at first sight, seem. more adequate to the emnd in view. Of these the most remarkable is the Friendlmj Let ter Mlusiomu, carried on almost entirely by Miss SKINNER of Bath. It arose out of that lady's philanthropic visits to Public-houses in the hope of benefiting those who kept and those who frequented them, and with the ostensible purpose, in the first instance, of presenting attractive texts upon cards to be hung up in thenn. After a time she begamn to correspond with the Pub-

WORK AMONG SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. ENGLISHWOMEN'S WORK ABIiOAD. 59

licans, and her letters were so lam-gely appreciated by them that it was found necessary to have recourse to print. A Policeman asking her to write a Friendly Letter suited to the needs of himself and the Police Fom-ce in general was the next impulse, which led in coum-se of time to a semies of twenty-nine letters addressed to men and women of almost every class, the total issue of which amoumited to nearly 400,000 within seven years, while they circulated, not only in England, but throughout Europe-a demand having actually arisen for their translation into French, German, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Portuguese, and even Arabic and Bohemian! As will he seen by the Directory, the above does not exhaust the efforts of Ladies in this direction; and the idea of letter-writing,' by nvay of a comfort for the sick and lonely, has been followed by the Hospital, Christmas, and Prison Letter Missions.

See Directory, page 83.

Work for Sohdiers.-In 1862 Mrs. DANIELL, the widow of sun officer in the East India Company's service, shocked at the spectacle of drunkenness and degradation offered by the them recently created Camp at Aldershot, conceived the idea of a Public-house without the Drink,' and iletermiuned to devote hen-self to attempting to improve the condition of the soldiers congregated there. In less than a year a beautiful Hail and Soldiers' Institute was built, and the won-It became so engrossing that this devoted lady and her daughter gave up their own home in London and took up tlmeiu' abode at the I-hail, where Miss DANIELL still resides since the launented death of her mother in 1871, and gives up her whole life, not onmly to fnrthening the spiritual and material nvelfare of the m-egiunents quartered theme, but doing her utmost by her own persomnal exertions, and my stimulating and encouraging others, to afford similar advantages to the troops quartered in other parts of Euugland. The English Soldier is thus benefited by English Ladies in Colchester, Manclnesten-, and Plymouth; while Miss ROBINSON has also won the regard and respect of all by her independent work for the same class at Plymouth, where she has founded a Soldiers' Imustitute.

See Directom-y, page 92.

Work among Sailors.-Aiout the year 1868 the seed of a great work was sown by the simple incident of a lady, already aim emnemgetic worker in Te'mperance and Religious causes, being asked to write a letter to a sailor on foreign service, because ins misses his dead

mother's lettem-s so.' From this pleasure and benefit thus so lightly bestowed hiss developed a work of woman's ministry which is almost conensurate with that great Navy of which English women, as well as Eiughisha men, may well be proud, now that omne of themselves has found a nvay to purify the hearts and brace and strengthen the arms of our unoble Blue Jackets. Upwards of 5000 letters are now wnittemi amnnuahly to unen and officers all over the world, ivhuile the issue of some pnimnted monthly letters, called Blue Backs, in 1884 was 270,000 copies, which cheer and instruct men upon stations however lonely and f an from home. Miss WESTON has founded Sailors' Rests,' or Ilomes, in five different seaport towns, over the coumnters of which about 12,0001. a-year is taken; and buesides Temperance Meetiings, Classes, and the buenefits of all kinds which are provided in connexion with these Rests, a paper called this Brigade News is especially edited for thenn by Miss W~INTZ, which hiss a circulation of l22,O~0.

8ee Directory, page 92.

Enghishwomens Work Abroad.-The exertions of Englishwomen have been buy no means confined to their own country, nor, indeed, to their own country people in foreigmn lands. It is true that their charity has, in sours cases, so far begun at home, that it has meceived its initial impulse from the necessities of their own country- nvOmen; but it has bueen rapidly emnbarged to ennbmace, at first this American girls and women who come to mnnost of the great European capitals in search of Art-training or Employment, and then genem-ahhy to the distressed of all nationalities whatsoever. The C'ase Vocalizia'

-a I-home in Milan for Emnghishn and Annenican artists-was opened for the numbers of young girls who ~ock there to study; bunt, unfor- tumuately, it did not last many years. Since then Miss MAYOR hiss fouumded, and for mnnamny years most successfully carried out, a Training College and Boarding Home for Lady Artists in Ronne, which afforded a most kindly shelter to many who thankfully availed theun- selves of its protection; but this also has recently beeun closed, and it would seenn as if there were something in the nature of even quasi- eleemosynary benefits which are nnacceptalule to the artist-nature abroad, though the Students' Homes started in England have answered so we1l, that the unagnificenthy appointed Alexandra College, presented to II. R. Ii. the PRINCEsS OF WALES by the munificence of one iundividuai, appears certain to fulfil the high expectations which have been formed of it.

00

WOMEN AS SOCIAL PIONEERS.

In Paris Miss LEIGH has founded, unot one Institution, but a whole cluster of Institutions, so long and so comprehensive is the list of their names and the purposes for which they have bueen successively established. The number of persons (women and children) annually henefited more or less directly through them amounts to some thousands, and embm-acss all nationalities and almost all needs; for in addition to those which appear in different - parts of the Directory, she hiss been instrumental in building a lueantiful Anglicamn Church and a Hospital.

In most countries in which Enghishwomeim have resided, - they appear to ha-vs left some traces of their wide sympathies and benevolent intentions. Viscountess STRANGFORD founded I-hospitals for the Bnhganians, and pleaded the cause of even\ the unspeakable Turk' so pathetically, that large gifts, both in kind and in coin, were sent to her in this country for transmission abroad. Two ladies, the Hon. Miss INBY and a friend, have not only established large Schools for the native populations in Bosnia and Henzegovina, bunt extend to them personal snpenintendence when in those countries, and devote much time and labour during their brief visits to Eng~ land in procuring the interest and funds with which to carry them

on. Mrs. Morr and her sister, Miss LLOYD, have founded large and successful Girls' Schools at Beynout, while Miss WHATELY in Cairo and others in various Eastern towums have done, and are doing, much to raise and ameliorate tk2 condition of Egyptian and Arabic women. The great efforts of Englishwomen in the zenanas of India and in missionary work in heathen countries are alluded to elsewhere.

Women as Social Pioneers.-Women have led the way in many Social movements of great importance. In Sanitation, for instance, they appear very early to have recognised the necessity for Voluntary effort in the endeavour to deal with the varied problems arising out of the rapid growth of our gm-eat and complex civihisation. In 1857 a few wise womsn'(to quote the words of that -venerable authority, 1-hcnclm, the Editor of which occasionally bestows the meed of its approval upon some especially important sem-ious social topic), inn- pressed by a sense of the wide-spread ignorance of the laws of health, and the vast amount of preventibie illness and death thence arising, began to get together and circulate plain knowledge on the subject.' How they have accomplished their task may be gathered from the statistics of The Ladies' Sanitary Association' them founded,

WOMEN AS SOCIAL PIONEERS.

61

and which is still in active operation, besides having given the impulse to many sinnilar Associations, not emily in London, bnt in the Provinces.

Individual effort also has not been wauiting. A very remanhcaluie contribution to Wonnen's \Vork in Public Sanitation was made shout the year 1870 by a Mrs. JOHNSON, who, conceiving the idea that it only required certain definite and very closely-followed-out scientific regulations to stamp out Infectious Diseases, ehahuorated and, with the aid of the Sanitary authorities, carried out in h-hastings a scheme for doing so, which has proved so successful that it is surprising it has not been more widely followed. In XVestrninster-perhaps the most crowded and least sanitary part of the Metropolis-the experiment of an Association, modelled upon the hues laid down by her, has been at work for a few years, and the comparative inunity of that district from the Scarlet Fever Epidemic which has so seriously affected London in the present year may certainnly be attributed to its operations. By the exertions of Miss Nmv WARDELL the first Convalescent h-loins for Scarlet Fever Patients Was established at Stanmore in 1885.

From this principles of Samnitation to Sanitary Dwellings is a natural step (for is there mnot a close connexion between Health and the Manners which make or mar the Woman as much as the Man ?), and among Sanitary and Moral Reformnners that remarka-hube nvomnnan, Miss OCTAVIA I-hILL, reigns supreme. It is now some years since the idea of helping the lawless to luecomnne a law uunto themselves, and thins remnnodelling their lives and environnnent by an internal rather thamn by an external imnnpuise, occurred to this deep-thinking, sympathetic, and large-hearted womamn; and with a sum of money lent for the purpose buy Mr. Rusmcccc, she made the dust experiment, nvhmich hiss led to the great and imnportamnt movemcmnt for Improving this Dwellings of this Poor, with which her name will be for even associated. It is an open secret that in 1884 sue would liars been appointed to serve upon the Royal Counmission by special Royal request, hind she not declined to serve on the plea, the weight of which was fully acknowledged and accepted, that her time was more profitahuly ennployed upon direct mnneasures of usefuhmness conuiected with her world.

More or less arising out of her nvork are The Kyrbe Society for bringing Beauty home to this People,' with its gifts of Music, Books, Pictures, to East-end slumnns, Hospitals, Schools, and Institutes thus Associations for Preserving Conons and Open Spaces;'

02 PHILANTHROPY. WOMEN AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.

for Supplying Concerts to the i'eople,' the People's Entertainment Society,' &c. &c. There is little doubt bunt that it also pie- pared the way for that great social expenimeuut, The People's Palace,' the opening of which formed ems of the nnost popular features of the Public Rejoicings of the preseunt Great Year of Jubilee.

In the conversion of the notorious Music I-hall known as the Vic' of the New Cut into the reputable and attractive Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavenun, Waterloo Bridge Road, women, and, shove all, the Foundress and present Mamnager of the Institntion, Miss CONS, have taken the lion's share.

It is not surprising that se-venal other Societies-nvhich have indirectly resulted from the closer acquaintance with this uneeds of the London Poor, thus brought about - should also be largely indebted to the services of women, if not always as the onigimnators, at any Tate as forming the practical executive when the idea has ounce arisen. Among these may be enumerated The Country Holidays Fund,' which in the course of three years has formed twenty-nine Local Conittees, and sent away 12,000 poor little town children for a fortnight's change of scene and air in the country at an expense of 20001., one third of the total cost busing defrayed buy the parents, and many simiiam- efforts. Also Flower Missions for collecting and distributing to the sick or bedridden in their own homes or in hospitals, Window Gardening Societies, and many others.

See Dim-eatery, rage 84.

Phulanthropy.-The spirit of sympathy with others, and the desire to ameliorate the condition of the needy and sorrowful, is confined to no one class of Englishwomen, but is to hue found iun all ranks. In 1877 the Lady MARY FEILDING, whose tender heart had long bueemn troubled by the distress existing among the class of women who by iuirthi and education had hitherto been considered to be aluove the reach of need, founded, and has since elaluorated, a scheme entitled The Working Ladies' Guild,' for uniting ladies of all conditmons in one great organization of mutual affection and help. Seconded luy the devoted zeal of the first Secretary of the Guild, Miss CHAPMAN, a lady whose death a few years after was deeply mourned by many to whom she had been a true friend, the Guild was soon joimned by many ladies of high rank, some of whom opened in their own houses what are known as group meetings,' for the relief of distress among gentlewomen. The Guild now numbers over a thousand Asso

ciates, has m'ehieved many hundreds of cases, opened workrooms, estabulished associated residences for ladies of small means, and neglected no opportunity of opening up new employments for their maintenance.

In 1886 the MARCHIONRSS or~ TAVISTOCR and the COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN initiated a further effort for bringing muons help, and introducing more nvorkers to the numerous benevolent works which appeared deserving of it; aund under the title of the Associated Woi-kers' League' endeavour to luring the gifts and talents of leisured and wealthy women to the service of the poor.

About the same the the Lady BRABAZON (now COUNTESS OF MRATH) conceived the idea of educating a future gemneration of philanthmropists, by awakening a sense of m-esponsiluility among even young children, and bindiung them together as membuers of a Ministering League, pledged to do daily some somali office of ministry. Although not unsuccessful in England, her world has received its nvarmest response in Canada; where, as also in other places, many luranches have lueen fornned.

Women as Travellers-The spirit of enterprise in Englishwomen inns not been limited to work for the huenefit of their own countrywomeun, or, indeed, to definitely religious or philanthropic ends sbus, powerftd as have been the impulses in those directions. Their interest has lueen aroused in unatters of Sciemntiflc Research, and as travellers and iunvestigators in many branches of Social Science they have made their Diem-id. Miss Bin~, Miss GORDON-CUNING, and Mrs. HFCKFORD, have not only umndergomne perils and hmardships in new aund hittle-knowmi countries but cmi their return liars wnitteun brilliant and successful books for the enlightenment of their fellow- countrymen. Miss MARIANNE NORTH hiss brought back from her travels, and preseunted to the nation at Kew, in a building especially designed by herself for the purpose, a Collection of Pictures, as valuable as faithful botanical studies as they are beautiful as works of art. It was while travelling through Sicily that Miss YATES, the indefatigable promnnoter of the Bread Reform League, became so strongly comnviinced, from observing its effects on the peasantry, of the superior qualities of whole meal as a nourishing article of food, that sine fonunded a Society for the purpose.

Women and Scientific Research-Although I am not aware that any womaun iun this reign has nivailed the scientific attainments

-~

04 NEW DEPARTURES. WORKS OF PUBLIC UTILITY. 65

of Mrs. SOMERVILLE and Miss 1IERSCHELL, who were elected members and received the Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society in 1828, a lady, Miss POGSON, was made Meteorological iRepom-ter to the Government of Madras in 1881; and English agriculture owes nnuch to the exertions of Miss ORMEROD, who holds the appointmemnt of Consulting Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society.

Women as Scholars.-Of these N-s. GROvE and Miss ANNA SWAN WICK are, perhaps, the best n-spnesentatives in the pmesent reign; but many authoresses might claim notice under this heading, besides other scholars unknown to fame.

New Pepartures.-It may seem that munch that Inns lueen already said might fairly he placed under this heading, and in some cases it is true. The following instances, however, are those of more or less isolated individuals, who, while securing a footing for themselves in differemnt cahhings usually mnnonopolised buy mnen, have not yet been followed in sufficient numuhuers buy other women to maids it possible to judge whether they are acting as pioneers or no. In nnost cases, indeed, it is unlikely ; and yet that Englishwomen have-or ratlmer are

-acting as DENTISTS, CHEMISTS, HOUSE DBCORATOImS, Fionrsrs, PLAN TRACRBS, Woon CARVERS, LIRRAImIAYS, and even in the cahhing of a LANDSCAPE GARDENER,* is a fact of sufficient interest to require notice. The list might indeed bus longer if I add to it buesides ~Voon ENGRAVING and DISPENSING (in which perhaps scone dozen or muons ladies are professionally engaged, tn-c or three of them holding regular appointmeuits in Hospitals, and a n-ei-y much lam'ger number earmning salaries as more or less qualified Assistants to mnnedical men) the still muons unusual pursuits fon- womemn of STOCKDROKING, CONVEYANCING, and ACCOUNTANT and AUDI-void.

Of ~TOOD ENGRAVING it is indeed imnaccurate to speak as a new hauidicraft for wonnen at the present time ; for it is cue which was successfully followed by a few ladies early in the century, who were a relic, it may be supposed, of the numerous female engravers uvino flourished in Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Plates in two handhoolds, published in 1842 by Siu HENRY COLE, under the nonm-de-pltamne of Felix Sunerly,' were cut by ladies

while an article suggesting wood engraving as a suitable calling for women appeared in the lVcstminster Review in the same year. Some English ladies are said to have executed emngra-vings for Paul at Virginie, published in Paris in 1838.

The nnames and addresses of three ladies who are acting in London as ACCOUNTANT audi AUDITORS is givenn at page 40 of the very comprehensive and interesting pamphlet published (price 3d., Simphdu, Marshall, & Co.) by Miss HELEN BLACKBURN, and entitled A Women's Suffrage C'alendar, 1888; while the nanines of very efficient SHORTHAND WRITERS and RRPORTERS may be obutained from the office of the Women's Employment Society, and from the Editor of this Year-book, ale Hatchmards, Piccadilly.

The causes which liars incited women to enter upon these somewhat unusual cahhings are often far simpler and more natural than could have been expected; as in the case of Miss BELL, who so efficiently practisss STOCKBROKING at 1 Russell Chambers, London, without in the slightest degree infringing the most delicate feminine propnieties, of which, indeed, it would he difficult to find in any other iuersosanel a more stnikiing ihhumstration. She is probably buy mo means the only instanmce of a uvoninan urine has adopted an nnnsual pursuit in consequence of the associations attaching to it from its having been the calling of a beloved father or guardian, and the services

-which sims is ahule to render to her own sex in their business dealings would certainly justify, were it necessary, a greater deviation from conventional ideas. Persons acquainted with the usual functions of a Stockhuroker may be satisfied to learn that Miss BELL does not herself attemnd the Stock Exchange, but, like many other memhuers of Firnns, does so buy proxy.

Of smother emphatically new departure.' of which nnsntion must be made what has beenm said may he repeated with equal fomce; and it is emily necessary to hdnow Miss ORME, of the firm of OR.ME and RICHARDSON (huoth ladies), who carry on CONVEYARCING, as by Conveyancing Clerks, in their own chambers at 27 Southampton Buildings, we., instead of in a solicitor's office, to be favourably affected towards any calling which that lady may elect to follow.

Works of Public Utility.-A great deal inns been done by Englishwomen of Leisure, and buy one or two of great Wealth, during the present reign, which hnan-dly admit of any sort of classificatiomi, and of which some meuntieum must assuredly hue made. Besides this

F

* Miss F. R. WILKINSON, 15 Bloomsbury Street, London, we. (te the Kyrie Society and Metropohitan Oardeun Association).

66

WORKS OF PUBLIC UTILITY.

large sums of money devoted by the Baroness BURDETT-COUTTS to specific objects more or less initiated by herself, and so well known as not to need recapitulation in these pages, especially as few, if ninny, have been particularly appropriated to the benefit of her own sex, with whom this Chapter primarily deals, several large Donations and Legacies have been bestowed on Charitable purposes. Among these may be named Miss DunzN BRowN's gift of 10,0001. towards founding the Westfield College, Mrs. HEvwOon's legacy of a similar amount to Owens College, and Miss GAMBLE'S legacy of nearly 20,0001. to Girton College.

But, as a rnls, the greatest wonlcs seem to have bueen undertaken and accomplished by Women whose gift of personal devotion has far outweighed any financial offering they have been able to make, except upon Our Blessed Lord's estimate of the Widow's Mite-that  she has given most who has given her all. Upon this calculation there liars been many who hare given supremely, not only their all, but themselves in addition; and in some degree, some more and some less, it will be found that all who have done any great and good work have thus acted. Among these may be reckoned many of the Founders of the Institutions enumerated in the Directory, some of whom have given up this comforts of luxurious homnes to share the bare necessaries of life with tlmose who would otherwise have heen heft to perish. Among so many good Samaritans it would be invidious to mention mnames lint imperfect as this brief sunnmary of Women's Work in England since 1837 must necessarily hue imn all directions, ~1i muons is it so absolutely inadequate as in expressing the value and the amount of the help given buy them from motives of the purest Phihamnthropy to all sorts and comnditions of men,' and of women also.

No need, social or religious, appeam-s to arise that some good and devoted Woman does mnot do what in her lies, either alone or in conjunction with Men, to meet it, or to remedy the evils which have anisen from this neglect or abuse of past opportunities. In this connexion it is innpossibule not to refer to the happy influences ladies -are exerting upon the men and boys of the rural districts, by the instruction they are passing on to them after having first obtained it themselves, through the instrumentality of the Home and Arts' Industries Association, Langham Chambers, London, iv., for the existence of which they are so greatly indebted to Mrs. JEBB.

In Ireland, both Irish and English -women are vying with each other in their efforts to help the peasantry of thmat suffering country.

WORKS OF PUBLIC UTILITY.

0~

Miss GooLn's name is well known; Mrs. PoWER LALOIt receives orders for Im-ish Lace and Ennburoidery at the Distressed Irish Ladies' Work Ddpdt, Lomng Orchard, Tenmplemore, co. Tipperary; Miss FRANCES FITZGERALD for knitted goods at Glanlean, Valencia Island, Ireland; while Mrs. ERNEST IIART's name has become a household uvord tlmrough the beautiful goods, both inveimted and nmanufacturei[ through her agency and in connexion with the Irish Home Industries~ the London Ddpdt of which is 43 Wigmon-e Street, w.

68 611

C ONCLTJSION.

A PEW words of Sunary seem required to complete the bare factsr which are all that it is possible to supply in this brief outline of the last fifty years' progress as regards the women of this country.

Census Statistics.-Perhaps a short comparison of the Census of 1831 and thi~t of 1881 may, in the first instance, he instructive. It is easily made; for in 1831, six years before our Queen ascended her maiden throne, the only mention made of women is contained in the returns of the population. These were as follows :-Abo~t 8,375,780 women to 7,884,602 men, or an excess of nearly half a million of women. No occwpation whatever is specified as apper- taming to women except that of domestic service, and even of that the number is not given!

Now in 1881 the number of occupations mentioned in the Census as followed by women is upwards of 330, while their number in. population amounts to 15,345,814 women to 14,653,529 men, or aim excess over men of nearly one million.

Even allowing for the possible absence of data or differemnt calculations in the Census of 1831, it is clear that since that date women have entered upon an enormously increased sphere of work,. and that they have broken ground in an inense number of new employments.

The following brief extracts from the Census of 1881 may be of interest. In it the female population is divided into six classes :-Thme Professional, numbering 106,120; Donuestic, 1,545,302; Connmercia1~ 19,467; Agricultural, 64,840; Industrial, 1,578,189; the Indefinite and Non-productive class being still largely in the majority, or, roughly speaidng, as ten millions to four millions. The largest numbers in any one occupation are those of servants, school teachers,. and dressmakers ; the lowest are those returned as bankers (5), gardeners (45), persons engaged in scientific pursuits (14), and vermin destroyers (4)!

Besides the intyodmuctjOii of women into new callings, there has ~ueen an extension over all of the women originally limited to one class. Educated women have awoke to t.ime responsibilities arising out of the possessiofl of their talents; and very soon after reahisiflg the fact that it was necessary for them to work they have become will~mg to accept any womk that came in their way, and have, therefore, entered upon fields of labour whichn had hitherto been left .entirely~ to the uneducated. This has brought about a twofold advantage: a higher standard of conscience and a more iimtehhigent and scientific treatment hmave been introduced into occupations which had hitherto been carried on principally by rule of thumb ; and in the spirit descrihued luy this expression, Jacks-in-office,' i. e., of persons who, raised fronm the populace, use their elevation more for their own self-conuphmiCemnoy, than for the imuterest~ of those over

homn they are placed.

No principle has hueen more strongly vindicated in the present day than that while those who rule should have learned how to serve, the fact of a woman being descended from the rubuinng class, and therefore accustomed to rule, is greatly in favour of 1mev wielding the power ~ntvusted to her considerately and wisely. The ehevation of the lahuourer's child into the post of pupil-teacher, for no other reason than a somewhat greater degree of iinnteilectual smartness, or of the pauper into a nurse because she is rather more able-bodied than her patients, are expedients only to be tolerated until more suitable arrangements become possible. Emngland has few stronger reasons for ~ongratuhating herself upon the history of the last fifty years, as they affect social affairs, than because it has resulted in the gradual adoption by more educated, and therefore more intelligent and re- source-f nil women, of those important posts of leadership, for which candidates were raised in former days from the ranks. As Elementary Teachers, Hospital Nurses, Superintendents of Institutions, Matrons of Prisons, and it is earnestly to lie hoped that we may soon add Matrons of Workhouses, women of education and culture are now emphoyed~ to the very great advantage of those in whose unterests they are engaged.

But viewing the changes which liars taken place in more detail, perhaps that which inns muiost affected women of all classes is the greater amount of personal lihuerty they now enjoy. Girls of every rank, except this highest, leave home for educational or conercial purposes, travel long distances alone, earn and dispose of their wages indepeimdently of all control, and are, in short, fully emancipated at

CENSUS STATISTICS.

70 CENSUS STATISTICS. CENSUS STATISTICS. 71

an age when, fifty years ago, the country maiden had hardly wandered five miles from her birthplace, and the young lady lied never left her mother's side.

The age at which women marry has ahsum greatly altered. Although village girls still marry, as our grandmothers did, ahuont the age of nineteen or twenty, town and factory girls marry at sixteen or seventeen, or even earlier, to their own great detriment and to thus deterioration of the race. In these crowded centres of popn- lation wives and mothers are to be found at the age of fifteen; amud worn-out constitutions and chronic suffering in later years are too frequently the results of their early independence and the abusence of all self-control.

In what are known as the higher ranks of life exactly the reverse is experienced. There the effects of the disproportion huetween the sexes are more inediately obvious; the higher standard of luxury, the withdrawal of the men by ~nigration, or into the army or navy or foreign service, makes marriage so improbable to the majority of

-women of marriageable !age, that it has almost become the exception instead of the rule; and it is hardly too much to say that only one in ten of the women belonging to the professional class can marry, for the very simple but sufficient reason that there is no one to mam~ry them. For the same reasons marriage in these ranks of life is postponed to a much hater period than of old; and although at the beginning of the reign a woman of 25 was looked upon as a qujte hopeless old maid,' women are now called girls' until they are 30 or older, and marriages at 35 or 40 are perhaps almost as frequent as those in the twenties.

In the year 1837, on the contrary, all women of the educated or leisurely classes were, with a margin for exceptions, wives and mothers; the exceptions being that very distinctly nuarked class of what were then euphemistically known as old nnuaids,' but have since been satirically described as social failures,' or, more tenderly, as unappropriated blessings ! Suffice it to say, that not to liars married was in those days nothing less than a reproach-another word for failure or bankruptcy in life; and the utmost to be urged in favour of an old maid' being allowed to exist was, that with much self-suppression and humility she might perhaps be tolerated in the useful capacity of aunt or family friend, and earn her right to masculine recognitnomu in the form of a humble relation or sort of domestic slavey of a higher order.

Another fact which has greatly effected the social life of women

is the far higher standard of luxury which prevails in all ranks now than in the year 1837. It has been calculated that the sum of 28s. goes as far now as 34s. did at that time; and more ccii certainly be purchased for a small sum than in those days.

At the seine time, strange and contradictory as it may seem, a greater simplicity and directness in life exists. The old spurious ideas of gentility,' as it was called, are dying out. Girls are no longer ashamed of healthy alupetites, or of being able to take plenty of exercise. In fact, it hieing difficult to prevent reaction into extremes, it may lie questioned whether the violent exertiomus of the Rink and the Tennis Court which succeeded to Croquet, as that followed the languid Promenade, which was all that decorum permitted to the school-girl of 1840, may not sometimes have resulted in as nuuch harm as it has averted. At any rate, it is a more wholesome excess, as is also the taste for the Domestic Arts, which is so happily reviving; for if domestic duties were rather out of fashion when our Queen was young, her Juluilee Year is seeing a very welcome and needed revival of them.

In 1837, or thereahuouts, indeed, there seenus to have been a sort of deterioration of the old customs, which lasted through a generation or two of decadence before the new spring of life and vigour arose. In the years 1840-50, and even ahnost imp to 1860, the old type of domestic womanhood was falhing into disrepute-greater luxury was setting in, and this division of classes, the gradual congregating of the wealthy into London, the withdrawal of rich womenm from the personal superintendence of their homes, all brought aluont a condition of helplessness and igmnorance, which was thought, as mumay be gathered from the Punch cartoons of the period, a sign of high breeding. For a linde not to recognise this joints in a butcher's shop, or to know the difference between the leg and shoulder of a sheep, was then considered a token of birth and hureeding, and a sign that this possessor had never soiled her hmands by any meniah occnpation, and had always been what was then considered a real lady.' Public opinion upon this point is now fortumnately changed, and even those who may not be themselves altogether ready to adopt the new idea of gentility, yet recognise as one of the characteristics of a real lady that she will put her hand to anything and yet do everything well.'

The introduction of machnimnery lies also set limits to some of the manual labours of women, while the tendency of this day has been to alter, modify, or entirely extinguish others. This pastoral idea of a milkmaid, for instance, will shortly be extinct; and, except poetically,

N'

72 CENSUS STATISTICS.

one mvin hardly regret that the neatly shod and gaitered Cowman has driven her indoors, where as dairywomanm she may still reign, even when the use of cream separators and steam churmus remove her into the category of a presiding genius rather than that of this active, bare-armed, buxom lass of fifty years ago. The same may lie said of laundry work, the more laborious part of which is now done by machines of all descriptiomis; and of mneedlework, in which patent heners and folders liars taken the place of the needle and the distaff. Field work has gone out almost completely, except in this north of Engiand, though here and there in rural districts the women still cling to this old fashion so far as harvesting,' hop-picking,' bean-setting,' and similar temporary occupations are concerned, though they seem to comnsider some apology for doing so necessary em the score that it is good for their health.

More respect for nuannal employment is now displayed by all rank-s of women than of yore. In 1885 a Loan Exhibition of Women's Industries took place at Bristol; a passage in the Catalogue of which especially reminded visitors that the work was exhibited by Women who make a profession of their pursuit, either for the Arts' sake, or for this sake of earning a livelihood. No work done for recreation or amusement only is shown.' The Conittee further remarked that Some important occupations, which have from remote ages been regarded as specially pertaimuimug to women, liars, since the introduction of machinery, passed from their hands entirely.' One of these lost trades was represented in thus Exhibition by Spinmning~ wheels; and besides examples of Art in almost all its forms, Letter- press from the Women's Printing Society, the very existence of which should be recorded as a sign of the times, there were mnunero~s interesting and useful Imnventions and Patents - all the work of women. The contents of that Exhibitiomi must greatly heighten the expectations which are beginning to gather around the similar Exhibition which it is proposed shortly to open in Glasgow for this seine pnrpose-.the display of Women's Industries.

This return to the homelier arts which used to he practised buy women has fortunately not been confined to any one handicraft. Ahout 1870 an impression began to prevail that the style of Cooking practised in Emugiand, especially among the working classes, was omne that neither did justice to the mcmv material at their disposal nor to the intelligence of Englishwomen. Lady BAnKER-a womaim of great and versatile talent, who had knomvn, fronm experience in India and the Colonies, the value of practical acquaintance with these domestic

CxNSUS STATISTICS. 73

arts and sciemnces - came to the rescue in this direction; and largely by her own personal exertions assisted to create what is now known as The London National Training School for Cookery,' to which the fashionable world flocked, and which, by its success, led the way to the estahhishnuent of similar schools in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, and other large towns; besides raising into a system, which may be taught even to the children of the working classes, what had hitherto been learned amiyhow, and reserved priincipahly for the service of the rich.

The advantages which were foumnd to arise from the introduction of more science and method into these humble domestic arts, incited the ambition of some energetic workers to carry those principles still further; and classes for instruction tin Home Nursing, Laundry Work, and almost every branch of knowledge, excepting perhaps, practical house and panlonr-nnaid's work, were added to the curriculum of many Cookery Schools, notably those of Edinburgh and Manchester.

Now, in the Jubilee Year, even these apparently impracticable forms of technical household science are about to be dealt with, in the Classes and Publications of the National Housewifery Association. The uvork of this Society has arisen out of Miss HEADD0N's energetic attempt to introduce into this country the system invented by Miss HU~STINGTON in America, of accustoming children of tender age to the handling of miniature household inuphements by way of toys, and imbibing household lore through this medium of school songs and an

ordered system of playing with them.

The daughter of Sir DOUGLAS Fomtsvvtr, convinced that Mistresses, as well as Servants, need a practical acquaintance with Household Managenuent to order their families happily and well, baa opened a Technical School, for supplying Home Training for Ladies,' at 1A Victoria Square, s.w.; and this sensible aimd benevolent enterprise seems to complete the opportunities now afforded to Englishwomen of all classes, of carrying out their home duties according to tried and tested scientific principles.

From what has been stated it will he seen, that the change in the position of Englishwonmemn of almost every class during the last half- century is so great as almost to amouuut to a revolution in their habits and mode of thinhuing and acting. This, however, is not to be won- dered at when the altered condition of their hives is taken into consideration. The postponement of marriage to a hater age, and its absolute impossibility, it may almost be said, to a large majority of

74 CENSUS STATISTICS.

women above the labouring class, has obliged them to originate and make for themselves occupations in life other than those hitherto amply provided for them by matrimony. The need of some opening for their powers has been felt almost as trongiy by women of leisure as by those who mused a means of maimutenance, and has led them into the paths of philanthropy as well as of employment. Nor would it be right to attribute their exertions in this direction merely or principally to the emptiness of their hives, or to that genius for activity whelm is uS conon to women as to men. Women of past ages and of all ranks have always adopted ministry to their fellow- creatures as their natural vocation, and it only needed a period when a large number should be free from home ties for a fresh impulse to be given to works of beneficence.

Shakespeare wrote,- Sweet Mercy is Nobility's true badge;'

and in all ages women have been Lady Bountifuhs,' as well as Wives and Mothers, although there has been little or no omganizatioui of their benevolence, and the idea of any specific training or preparation for its exercise never seems to have entered their thoughts. Nor would it ever have done so had not marriage so entirely disappeared below thus horizon of the majority. XVhuen a uvoman might at amuy moment be removed from her sphere of work, the claims of whmich, homvever great in themselves, were relatively viewed as subordinate to those which would certainly, and sooner perhaps rather than hater, supersede them, the idea of work for its own sake could hardly exist. As a pass-time,' in the original sense of the word, thus attainments of an amateur were more than sufficient.

But by the middle of the Queen's reign a change was beginning to pass over the spirit of their dream, and women were awaking to the fact that what was worth doing at all was worth doing well, and that the task before them was so herculean in its demands and vast in its dimensions that care, thought, co-operation, and organization, would be required to grapple with it. Right nobly have they responded to this idea. Almost every kind of work possible to women has in turn been taken up by them. A need has only had to be made well known for a woman to come forward and make it her life-work to grapple with it.

Mrs. FRY'S visit to the prison, Mrs. CrnsnsoLeu's care for the emigrants, have been followed in spirit and in deed buy such women as MALy CARPENTER, Mrs. FREDERIC HILL, and the Misses

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~0

DAVENPORT-HILL; while Miss Ronmuson is known as the soldiers' and Miss WESTON CS the sailors' friend.

It is calculated that many thousands of single women are mneeded to officer the numerous works of beneficence which are now afloat; and what would happen to the thousands of Girls' and Infants' Schools, Elementary; Endowed, Industrial, Public and Private₃ the Hospitals, Prisons, to say nothing of the Civil Service, Telegraph, Postal, and other employments requiring wonmen, which were hardly dreamed of in the year 1837, were every girl now, as then, absorbed into the ranks of married women before she were twenty-one?

Marriage is no bar to the employment of a man, rather an addi- tior~al guarantee for steady application, while it makes such demands upon a woman as in most cases absorb all her pourers and effectually withdraw her from any other career than the supreme and sufficing omue of wife and mother. Let us theim accept the truth we have been so slow to learn-that nuder the providence of God the march of civilisation demands a standimug arnuy' of women free from the engrossing home ties of hmusbamud and children, and welcome this fact that they exist, and only need training for the work that awaits them.

But perhaps the greatest change of all, and that which has lied the nuost beneficial effect upon Enghishuwonmeu, has been the chaninged estimate of work, and especially of work done for remuneration, which has lueen both a cause and a result of the woman's movement. Whereas fifty years ago it was thought to be not only the supreme, but the emily duty of a womamu to hook, speak, and act beautifully, keeping this fact that sims could be useful as well as ornamental in the huachuground, as something to be asimamed of rather than the reverse; while to accept renuuneration for any service was viewed as a degradation, and, like aim insult in duelling days, one hardly to be effaced, it is nomv considered as suitable for a woman to receive payment for her services as for her brother the lawyer, the doctor, the clemgyman, to pocket his fee or to draw his stipend. Indeed, to be able to conand a sum in hard cash for any work that one can do seems, and in a measure rightly, to give to it a cachet, not only of assured success, but almost of distimiction, which raises it aluove the amateur productiomin of dilettanti into thus hmonourable region of the professional. Perhaps of all the changes in the last fifty years which have taken place there is none which is more a reversal of the past than this.

So much for changes in kind. There is one of degree which,

I.

THE LAW As AvrECTINa WOMEN.

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thnough yet in its infancy, may in God's providence issue in untold blessing to all His children-I refer to the extraordinary difference of opinion upon moral questions, of which, although only at present iinitiated, it is hardly possible to conceive the end. And the prium- ciple now recognised, and from which this has arisen, does not seem so very wonderful. It is only that the same standard of morals slnonld be applied to both sexes. Hitherto conduct wimicim has been viewed as ruinous to a woman's reputation for life has been held as emily casting a temporary shadow-even if that-upon a mans. This is strange when we remember that both stand in the same relationship to the Great Father, Who made mo distinction of sex in the conand He laid upon His children to be pure in thought, word, and deed; nor in the illustration our Lord uses when He asserts that the evil thought is identical with an evil deed.

But while recording so much that is satisfactory in this Past and hopeful for the Future as concerns the women of this country, Truth, alas! requires the introduction of some shade iiuto the picture. There is, I fear, no doubt, that in one direction there has lueen a terrible deterioration. How far the granting of the license to sell wines and spirits to grocers in 1860 has caused the great increase in Female Intemperance may still he considered by some an open question; about the fact itself there is, alas! no question at all. In the Report of the Lords' Conittee on Intemperance, in 1879, occurs the following appalling statement

Female Intemperance is increas~n,q on a scale so vast, and at a rate of progression so rapid, as to constitute a new reiJroaCle and danger.'

Neither is it confined to what are called the lower class. Although in the drinking charges in one year in London women recently stood at as high a rate as 12,000, or nearly half this total number, yet even that high figure does muot represent the full extent of the evil. Women of fortune and education-in fact, women in every rank- are acquiring the habit of drinking too largely, if not of beer or gin, yet of champagnes and liqueurs at balls and diners, cherry-brandy and sherry in confectioners' shops; or worse, take eau-de-cologne, absinthe, or similar imntoxicants, in the privacy of their own boudoir or bedroom. Is it surprising that the brain too often becomes clouded, and that terrible and scandalous stories occasionally startle a horrified Society?

A comparison between the purity of English Society, as regards

I

the character of its women fifty years ago and at the present time, is a more diffi~~lt matter, and one that I would fain leave alone. Although statistics are proverbially unreliable, some comfort might be gathered from the following table, which appeared in an article by Dr. Haymair in the Fortnightiy Review for October 1886, were it not that it is hard to draw any consolation from the reflection that, bad as we are in England, otlner nations are a great deal worse. In f act, the record is so black at its extremes in Bavaria, that it seems almost possible to hope that there is some error in the way it has been calculated. It is as follows

The tables of Illegitimate Births are-in London, 4 per cent; Edinburgh, 9?5; Berlin, 134; Paris, 28'5; Swedish Cities, 27; Rome, 44; Vienna, 50; Munich, 50; and Gratz, 62.

Tbis Snmnuau'y wonld lie incomplete without some notice of the changes which have taken place in the English Laws with regard to women and children

The Law as affecting Women.-MaflY changes in the law as it affects women have taken place since the Queen ascended the throne, and the agitation for most of them appears to have begun about the middle of I-ler reign-viz., between the years 1867 and 1877. The Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act had indeed been passed as far back as 1857; but this Act, though of course applying equally to men, was franued very much more in their interests than in those of women.

But the attention which began to lie directed to women's affairs, and the education of public opinion resulting from it, led to a desire to deal with other defects in the law as relatimug to women and children. In October, 1870, a Society was formed, entitled the Vigilance Association for the Defence of Personal Rights and the Amendment of the Laws relating to vVomnnen.' Since then relief has been given in many points where the law pressed unequally upon men and women; and though much remains to be done, much has been gained. Far gmeater consideration is now paid to matters connected with women and children in Parliament; for it was at one time almost impossible to keep a [louse together for a debate upon any subject relating to them, while a question to be asked upon a point affecting their interests was too often only a signal f or a count-out.

Now, thank God, a higher tone of sympathy with women prevails; and since the rapid passing of the Criminal Law Amendment

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78 THE LAW AS AFFECTING iVOImtEN. THE LAW AS AFFECTING WOMEN. 79

Act, owing to the terrible revelations of the Press in the suner of 1885, and the recent interest taken in the CASS case, and that of the poor girl, MIRIAM JONES, such indifference may truly be said to be at an end.

Principally through the undaunted courage and devoted energy of Mrs. JOSEPHINE BUTLER, who, though at first standing aloine, was supported by women of every shads of opinion in this last petition sent up to Parliament for the repeal of the Acts which constituted so terrible a blot upon England's escutcheon, they were removed from the Statute Book in 1883, and it is to be hoped that they will not much longer continue in force in India.

The following is a slight indication of the course which the law has taken with regamd to women : - INDUSTRIAL WOMEN AND GIRLs-The first Act restricting

Wonmen's labour in Mines was passed in 1842, and further regulations for the employment of women and girls in mines, workshops, and factories, were introduced in the Mining and Consolidated Factory Act passed in 1878. The hours of work in factories were limited to 12 for weekdays and 6~ for Saturdays; in workshops to

15 hours a-day and 8 on Saturdays: in the former case with 2 and in the latter with 41 hours off duty daily for meals, except Saturdays. Some trades-such as straw-plaiting, glove-making, &c.- are exempted

from the Act; and there are other exceptions and regulations to meet exceptional cases, while there is also a provision for meals and holidays. By the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1872 no women or girls are allowed to work in coal-mines, while th isis Regulation Act extends this prohibition to all mines.

I-lowever excellent in intention has been this interference with the hours of work, it has been considered to interfere prejudicially with that freedom of contract between employers and employed, which is held to be desirable for the true interests of both, and it sometimes puts fresh difficulties in the way of women getting employment.

PROFESSIONAL WOMEN-All Act was passed on August 11, 1876, which removes all restrictions on the granting of qualifications for registration under the Medical Act on the ground of sex. This opened the way to women taking their degree of M.D.

WOMEN AS WIVES.-1857. An Act was passed which enables married women to dispose of reversionary interests in personal estate.

1870-74. The Married Women's Property Act secures to a married woman absolute right to any property which she might eitlner earn

herself or inherit during marriage, and also to all investments of money in her own name, invested in any form, whether before or since marriage. This Act contains provisions which prevent fraud on creditors, securing a wife's liability for her own debts, and prevents her investing momney of her husband's withnout his consent. In 1878 a similar Act came into operation in Scotland. If deserted by her husband, a wife's property is now protected; and although still held irresponsible for felony (except murder and robbery) when conitted in conjunction with her husband, she is amenable to pumnislnment if she conit the crime in his absence.

In 1886 the Married Woman's Maintenance Act was passed. By this Act a mnarried woman deserted by her husband can sunon him before any two justices in petty sessions, or any stipendiary magistrate, who, if satisfied that the husband, being able wholly or in part to maintain mis wife or his wife and family, lies wilfully refused or neglected so to do so and has deserted his mvife, may order that the hmusbainnd small pay to his wife such weekly sum, not ex- ceeding 21., as the justices or magistrate may consider to be in accordance with mis means and with any means the wife may have for her support and the support of her family.

WOMEN AS MOTHERS-Tn 1873 the law us to the custody of infants was amended as follows :-The High Court of Chancery has the power to order that  mothers petitionning for the right may have access, subject to such regulations as the Court deem proper, to infants under sixteen years of age; or may deliver the same infants to the mother, to remain in her custody and control~ also subject to regulation. The Court, however, can only act in the case of Wards in Chancery, and these must have property, though so small a sunm as 1001. settled on the child will enable it to lie made a Ward. In the case of an illegitimate child the position is different : the mother is held responsible for the support of the chnild, though the father may be made, through a magistrate's order, to pay Sm. a-week until it is either thirteen or sixteen years of age.

1n 1886 an Act was passed for the Guardianslnip of Infants, by which the mother, if surviving, becomes naturally the guardian of her chnildren, and which also gives her the power to appoint guardians for them after her death: two natural provisions whmiclm, strange to say, were before that date only possible to the father.