ABSTRACT
MAD..ur,-Does not Colonel Higginson unconsciously exaggerate, and to a certain extent, misapprehend the arguments of reformem, who seem to him" to proTe too much t" He says: "it is no kindness to women to enfranchise them on the ground that they are Angels, and are needed to help men, they must equally be enfranchised also on the ground that they are in mauy respects restricted and impoverished and need a larger life. If women necessarily do everything well, then their training is already much better than that of men, and the equalising should be in the other direction. If they do not neceslilarily do everything well, then they need precisely the same criticism that men have; neither foolish attack nor foolish defE-nce, but free and un-:flinching criticism." I have never read or heard any arguments attempting to prove that "women necessarily do everything well." Such arguments (so called) are of course supremely foolish, and can prove nothing but the folly of those who use them. The" Angel" line of argument, which professes to make women a kind of superfine creatures, "too bright and good for human nature's daily food," is of course familiar to us all, and a truly Judas like one it is. But it seems to me not a whit more Judas like and mischievous than the arguments of those at the other extreme, who endorse the unjust and cynical exaggerations of certain journalists who are for ever proclaiming that women are
286 CON'e'pondence. I EIIgllthWOMRu'J Ilnte .. JUDe 14th, j 118. incapable of working well in any sphere of labour. I do not doubt the good faith and intentions of many benevolent women and men who accept the statements of these journalists for truth; that" God of our idolatry the pI'ess" has naturally a great weight with the former especially, but I think they should not accept it as infallible, they ought rather to enquire for themselves, and be sure that they are not allowing their judgment to be guided by the dictum of that species of "Human Justice" which Lucy Snow described in the famous essay or theme which she composed for the two college professors at Villette. The" unflinching criticisms" of these latter upon the abilities of Lucy Snow, are wonderfully like those lavished by English and Irish journalists on woman's work. To read their brilliant leaders and to hear their followers talk one might imagine that all the young and middle aged gentlemen around us, working away as secretaries, assistant secretaries, librarians, clerks in government or in lrivate offices of one kind or another, drawing goo salaries which enable them to live most comfortably while they remain single, were geniuses of the first water, or at least very highly educated, clever men, possessed of extraordinary business capabilities. I have not the slightest wish to be severely critical on these gentlemen, I have not a few relatives amongst them, but the interests of truth and justice to my own sex depreciated unjustly, and in an insidious way, compel me to say that eight out of ten of them are the most commonplace of human beings. They are amiable and gentlemanlike men, with a good knowledge of the two first R's and often a very imperfect knowledge of the third. Some of them are very dull and indolent, others are dull and plodding, a very few are fairly intelligent, clever men. They work on an average five or six hours daily, and calltl~at hard work which I call child's play. The short hours of work at the Public Record offices, when I have gone there day aftflr day to copy historical documents, have been a great inconvenience to me. Again; the notion. that all, p'oor~lal! inspect,ors, .gaol inspectors, secretanes to pubhc IDstltutlons and libranans, &c., have all had special training for their work is utterly
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t&lse. Many of these officials have spent their youth in perfect idleneBB, or in amusing themselves hunting, shooting, racing, others are retired officers of the army or navy, some are briefless barristers. If the whole of these employments were thrown open to womt'n tomorrow. there would be, perhaps, as many failures amongst them as there are now amongst the men who who till them, but assuredly not one more. I will even go farther and say that if intelligent, educated ladies, retired from the governess profession, or, who had never worked out of their own household, had been appointed inspectors of poor-houses and gaols, the gross peculation and neglect which have been more than once exposed in courts of justice and in the newspapers as going on for yea.rs unchecked in those institutions, could never have existed. How many of these gentlemen inspectors of kitchens, and dormitories, and storerooms have ever served an apprenticeship for their calling at home or abroad! What possible knowledge can they have of the best way of sweeping out a room, or examining the way in which it has been swept, or of the best way of arranging a kitchen, or a store room, or of making abed 1 And when we find men, notwithstanding their want of experience or training, invariably appointed to these
~tuatioDs, is it Dot perfectly plain that all the talk about woman's being derued work on account of her want of training for it, is the merest nonsense and pretence!
