One of the first of these needs is for what we call “economic independence.”  The spirit of our day and of our system of government is personal, material independence for all.  Under the old regime the girl had her economic place.  The family was a small community.  It provided for most of its own wants, hence the girl must be taught household arts and science, all of the fine traditional knowledge and skill which made, not drudges, but skilled managers, skilled cooks and needlewomen, skilled hostesses and nurses.  She had a business to learn under the old regime, and there was an authority, often severely enforced no doubt, which made her learn it well.  There was the same appraising of the efficiency of the girl for her business there was of the boy for his.

The girl of to-day rarely has any such systematic training for the material side of her business, nor is a dignified place provided for her in well-to-do families.  Her place is parasitical and demoralizing.  Take the young girl who has been what we call “educated”; that is, one who has gone through college and has not found a talent which she is eager to develop.  The spirit of the times makes her less keen for marriage, puts no feeling of obligation of marriage upon her.  She finds herself in a home which is not regarded as a serious industrial undertaking.  Things go on more or less accidentally, according to traditions or conventions.  Her ideas of scientific management, if she has any, are treated as revolutionary.  Her help is not needed.  There is no place for her.

The daughters of the very poor often have better fortune than she in this respect.  They, from very early years, have known that they were necessary to the family.  Almost invariably they accept heavy and sometimes cruel burdens cheerfully, even proudly.  It is the pride of knowing themselves important to those whom they love.  One of the difficult things to combat in enforcing the laws which forbid children under fourteen working, is the child’s desire to help.  He may hate the hardship, but at least there is in his lot none of that hopeless sense of futility which comes over the girl of high spirit when she realizes she has no practical value in the group to which she belongs.  “Not needed”—­that is one of the tragic experiences of the young girl in the well-to-do family.  To save herself, to meet the truth of her day which has taken hold of her, she must seek a productive place; that is, leave home, seek work.  If she has some special talent, knows what she wants to do, she is fortunate indeed.  With the majority it is work, something to do, a place where they can be independently productive, that is sought.