GIRLS IN CANADA.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I am an Englishman. I have travelled about Canada, have met Canadians in the United States of America, where I lived for twenty years, and I have lived in Vancouver for three years past. I should like to comment upon the letter " Girls in Canada" by " A Brother," in the Spectator of March 29th. "A Brother," if he had Vancouver in view, has made many errors in his letter. The "older and acclima- tized friend " overlooked the fact that the great majority of girls in British Columbia are English or daughters of English parents, by which I mean they may have been born here but their parents were not, they being English or Scots. Mark that word " Scots," because there are wondrous few Scottish girls from any walk in life in the United Kingdom who cannot adapt themselves, and that quickly, to their environment. Their natural common sense is the larger. The houses here do not all have hot and cold water laid on to the bedrooms ; the fireplaces do not have shoots for ashes ; and hot-air furnaces do not " save" fires, " unnecessary " or otherwise. But if they did it would be a hopelessly unreasonable girl who did not admit that her work had been made easier. "Husband and wife must do everything for themselves" (not always), and "to the local-reared girl this is no hardship." True enough, but neither is it a hardship to English girls now any more. I omit a few, very few, ladies whose people have hopelessly missed catching on to the spirit of the times we live in.
" A Brother " might have pointed out that at present rich people are not coming here or to British Columbia for pleasure, as they go to the moors, but that people who are far from well off and who want to get on in the world are coming, lots of them, 'and no better place can they come to. These latter send for their sisters, and the sisters are doing very well indeed, and not only have a good prospect ahead, but, best of all, nobody here thinks or feels anything but in a kindly sense towards those who work, men or girls, which makes all the difference, doesn't it P The same does not obtain where the sisters came from mostly. "A Brother" truly says of the Canadian girl, "She does not allow her appearance when off duty to suffer any neglect." She certainly does not (nor when on duty either), which is more than can be said of the average English girl. And as for the " English cousin," who has " very little else to think about," it often looks as if she doesn't "think" about it. Ladies who go to afternoon teas dressed as if they were going golfing have only themselves to thank if people notice it, and Canadians never treat their hostesses in that way. The Canadian girls, take them right through, outdress the English girls, and it makes no difference what scale you are talking about, the Canadian shop-girl out- dresses the English shop-girl, and, in my opinion, does so easily.
Where are the parents who consider a knowledge of cooking ridiculous ? None of the modern girls do ; should there, however, be any so inclined, they quickly get over it and adapt themselves to it, and don't grumble either. At home they may do, if their circle is that kind. The girls don't fail—they never have done; where would England be now if they had P —and what in the world does the last sentence of the letter, " Girls in Canada," mean ? " We have no servants, but then we have no militants." Does it mean "A Brother" who is
out of date P—I am, Sir, &c., FRED. FLOWER. 1111 Seymour St., Vancouver, B.C. April 22nd, 1913.
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