EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN.
"WRONG change !" is a frequent complaint with the railway passenger, who finds it out too late to rectify the mistake ; and it is not worth while to take a second journey, or to enter into a correspondence, for the sake of a shilling or half-a-crown. It is an open question how far these little errors may be more or less voluntary, how far they are intentional ; how far they are the commencements of Redpathism among a class which is sympathetically "fast," or simply the carelessness incidental to youth, to young men in particular. The annoyance is likely to continue so long as it is necessary to employ a number of youths in the minor offices of the railway. The same sort of error is observed, in a less degree, at the smaller telegraph stations, although at the larger stations extraordinary pains are employed, and on the whole successfully employed, to attain accuracy.
It is a natural question, whether this inaccuracy might not be prevented by extending the employment of women at railway stations ? It would be one among the few additional employments available for the sex. It is observed that upon the whole women are much more exact in attention to details of business, and for various reasons : from an early period of life they are more bred to attend to the details of a household ; they are by nature, on the whole, more patient and personally conscientious than men ; and the vices into which they fall do not usually tend to counteract those virtues.
It may of course be a question how far it would be practicable or expedient to introduce women into the booking-station, "all among the young clerks." To the platform they are already introduced, in the refreshment-room ; and it is difficult to draw a very logical distinction between the counter over which change is given for the cup of tea or the sandwich, and that over which change is given for the railway fare. Perhaps in some places the booking business might be intrusted entirely to 'women; and most probably the telegraph-office could still more easily be placed in safer charge.
Previous page
