Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/53

 35 WOMAN'S WORK ^^■HH^^' .'/Tver a^^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^E^^H i mm ■^ A model farni'house in Western Canada Copyrisht Canadian Emigration Office I which could have been avoided had they known a httle more of the country. Unfortunately, domestic work is so ill paid in England, and still considered so beneath one by many people, that the average mother who knows her daughter must earn her living has her trained for a profession. In many parts of England it is not even easy to get good domestic instruction. Tne classes held are merely demonstrations at which the theory is learned, but not the dexterity born of practice. It is one thing to know the best way to peel a potato, bone a chicken, or iron a blouse, and quite another to be able to do it as easily and well as a colonial woman, who has been at such work since she could walk. One sensible English mother got over this difficulty by sending her girls to good classes, and then dismissing her maids and letting them do the whole work of the house for three months before they emigrated. Much the same plan is pursued at Arlesey House, near Hitchin,* where students are trained for colonial life, and to take up small holdings. There, only one maid is kept, and the students divide the work amongst them just as the daughters of the house used to do in nearly every home in England, taking it week about to be cook, housemaid, laundress, pig and poultry woman, etc. The training at Arlesey costs £50 lor a six months' course, which of course includes residence, or ^80 for the year, t'he full two years' course, for which a certificate is given, equips a girl to farm her own land if she wishes, and Miss Turner, the head, is in touch with all the colonies, and has always openings waiting for her students. But when one considers the number of girls who might and should emigrate, Arlesey, with its comparatively lew students, and the two or three other colonial training colleges, seem but drops in the ocean of our educational requirements. I hope that in a short time the many women's clubs in the Colonies, at any rate in Canada, may be induced to take up this question of the educated girl-emigrant. At present it requires a good deal of courage • An exhaustive article on this institution will appear in another issue of Eveky Woman's E.ncyclop^buia. and a considerable amount of money for an English girl who has no introductions to go out alone. The various Governments will not help her ; in fact, they do their very utmost to discourage the emigrant above the labouring class, and an interview with the officials at the various emigration offices leaves the impression that there is far less room in the Colonies for middle-class girls than there is at home. On the other hand, the railway and steamship companies incline to rather too rosy a view, though a little booklet, called " Canada for Women," issued by the Canadian Pacific Railway, to be obtained at the company's offices, 67, King William Street, or 62-65, Charing Cross, contains much useful information. Individual colonials, however, are often extraordinarily kind, and an introduction from an English or Scottish clergyman to one in a colony is of far more assistance than it would be over here. At the London offices of the various colonies the best local newspapers can be seen (most of these also have London offices), and if copies of the papers are obtained and carefully studied, they will give one a much better idea of the colony than most travel books. Advertising in these papers is not expensive, and a girl can often get a situa- tion in this way. The following are representative papers which have London offices : Australia : " Melbourne Age," 160. Fleet Street. E.C. ; " Sydney Daily Telegraph," 160, Fleet Street, E.C. ; " Australasian," 80, Fleet Street, E.C. ; " Brisbane Daily Mail," 265, Strand. W.C. New Zealand : " New Zealand Times," 134, Fleet Street, E.C. ; " Canterbury Times," 134, Fleet Street, E.C. Canada : " Manitoba Free Press." Bridge Row, Cannon Street, E.C. ; " Montreal Star," 17 and 19, Cockspur Street, S.W. ; "Toronto Globe," 222, Strand, W.C. ; " Winnipeg Tribune." 30. Fleet Street, E.C. South Africa : " Cape Times," 14, St. Mary Axe, E.C. ; " Transvaal Weekly News," 14, St. Mary Axe. E.C. ; " Times of Natal." 16. Devonshire Square, E.C. To be continued in Part 2 of Every Woman's Encyclopaedia,