Page:Australian views of England.djvu/53

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IV.]
OF ENGLAND.
41

carry the meeting with him by the sheer force of his common sense. All this apart from speculative politics, and with a close bearing on the practical realities of life. It is difficult now-a-days to stir the workmen of English towns by a party cry, but their attention is easily caught by a new invention, or a plan for their moral elevation. They have got a taste for public parks, cheap concerts, and Fine Arts exhibitions; and he must be a gifted charmer on public wrongs who could win their ears from Jenny Lind

Not the least important of the efforts for social change is the movement, now rather prominent in England, for extending the field of employment for respectable women. A number of clever young ladies, whom it is simply coarse abuse to be always designating the "strong-minded," have taken the lead in this work with a noble earnestness. In London and Edinburgh they have established printing-offices where the compositors are all young girls. The ladies at the head of this decisive movement in London are Miss Emily Faithful, Miss Bessie Raynor Parkes, and Miss Maria S. Rye. The former presides over a well-organised printing-office at No. 9, Great Coram-