“A lady in New York makes flat-furnishing a business.”
“That is making a home for other people,” said Jean.
“But her own at the same time,” answered Judith.
“New Hampshire has a woman president of a street railway company; and in Chicago is a woman who embalms—”
“Dead people,” interrupted Jean; “oh, dear me!”
“The world is learning the resources of the nineteenth century woman. A Swiss woman has invented a watch for the blind. The hours on the dial are indicated by pegs, which sink in, one every hour.”
“That is worth doing,” observed Judith; “I want to do real work. I know I do not mean my work to end with myself.”
“Lady Somebody has classified her husband’s books, with a catalogue—his papers fill five rooms; think of the work before her.”
“But that is not for herself,” demurred Judith.
“I believe Judith would like to be famous,” said Jean with a laugh. “Bensalem is such a little spot to her.”
“A lady is about to translate King Oscar of Sweden’s works into English; would you like to do that, Judith?” asked Mrs. Lane, who felt that she had been a friend of Judith MacKenzie’s ever since Jean Draper had known her and written of their girlhood together.
“The first woman rabbi in the world is in California. She has been trained in a Hebrew College; Rabbi Moses, the celebrated Jewish divine in Chicago, urges her to take a congregation.”
“Then how can the men give thanks in their prayers that they are not born women?” asked Judith quickly.
“Yes. But I don’t believe old Moses did, or this Rabbi Moses,” said Judith.
“A lady has received the degree of electrical engineer,” continued Mrs. Lane, who appeared to both her listeners to be a Cyclopedia of Information Concerning Women.
“Judith doesn’t mean such things,” explained Jean; “I don’t believe she wants David to teach her to be a blacksmith. But there is a woman in Dunellen who has a sick husband, and she is doing his work in the butcher’s shop.”
“Would you rather go to Washington, that city of opportunities for girls? The government offices are filled with women, and young women. Those who pass the civil service examination must be over twenty. Many states of the Union are represented. As the departments close at four in the afternoon, some of the girls take time for other employments, or for study. One I read of attends medical lectures at night. Some, who love study, belong to the Chautauqua Circle. French women, as a rule, have a good business education. In the common schools they are taught household bookkeeping. The French woman is expected to help her husband in his business.”