not the work which does it. Would that there might be less of this
unwomanliness! Because a woman is a doctor, why need she use slang
or profanity? Because she holds certain great, liberal truths in regard
to woman, why must she wear a stiff derby, swagger, and strike
attitudes? These expressions, extremes in dress, conspicuous actions,
deceive many, and turn the world bitterly against what it ought to
receive. Such peculiarities are wholly unnecessary. Some of the
loveliest women who walk the earth are found among doctors, among
professors, among book-makers, among farmers, even.

You think there is less chance for girls to work than for boys? Yes,
there is; but, on an examination of statistics, I find that in all
positions--professions, clerkships, manufactures, trades, industries--
where you find men working, you will find women also, though in smaller
numbers usually. Examine the reports of census takers, and you will
find my statement true. In Mr. Wright's valuable pamphlet on "The
Working Girls of Boston," you will be surprised to find so great a
variety of employments as he there enumerates. There are recorded
merchants, machinists, carpenters, plumbers, cabinet-makers, and
tanners, even.

Why is it so many of you girls try teaching? Is it because that seems
a genteel way to get a living, and does not seem so hard as other
callings? In 1880 there were 8,562 women engaged in teaching in
Massachusetts. Of these, a fourth would probably have done a better
work in some other way. Teaching is a noble profession: it has great
chances for self-culture and for helpfulness to others. In no profession
can one do more good, if one tries with all one's heart. It is one
of the highest callings even for this reason: a teacher utterly unable
to see any results of her labor, in black and white, at the end of