Page:Una and the Lion by Florence Nightingale.djvu/20

 country in the world, to do this work, is this: We do not say, as in Roman Catholic countries, the test of fitness to serve God in this way is whether He has given you private means sufficient to do it without pay. We say: The test is, whether you will be trained so as to command the highest pay. May we not hope that in this country our Lord, were He to come again, would say, instead of "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,"—Ye can by serving God command that mammon necessary for the workers who must also eat—themselves and their families.

Let the religious motive be so strong that it will enable you to train yourself so as to earn the highest pay for the best work. The pay is offered; it is the trained workers we cannot find to be paid.

Thirty years ago, if a girl wished for training, there was none to be had. I can truly say there was no training to be had to fit a woman thoroughly for any life whatever. Now the training is offered, there are but few to take it.

We do not say, as was said to women in my day, Look about you, and see if you can catch painfully a few straws of practical experience or knowledge in the wind. We are not now inviting women to a life, without being able to show—Here is the training all ready, if you choose to