district, I was told: "Really, don't you know, this is the last place we ever expected to see women. But they are here."
The gentleman who spoke might have come out of a page of "Pickwick Papers." His silk hat hung on a nail in the wall above his desk. And he wore a black Prince Albert coat. He looked over his gold bowed eye glasses out into the adjoining room at the clerical staff of the Orient Steamship Company of which he has charge. He indicated for my inspection among the grey haired men on the high stools, rows of women on stools specially made higher for their convenience. And he spoke in the tone of voice in which a geologist might refer to some newly discovered specimen.
It was withal a very kindly voice and there was in it a distinct note of pride when he said: "Now I want you to see a journal one of my girls has done." He came back with it and as he turned the pages for my inspection, he commented: "I find the greatest success with those who at 17 or 18 come direct from school, 'fresh off the arms,' as we say in Scotland. They, well, they know their arithmetic better. My one criticism of women employés is that some of them are not always quite strong on figures. And they lack somewhat in what I might call staying power. Business is business and it must go on every day. Now and then my girls want to stay home for a day. And the long hours, 9:30 to 5:00 in the city, well, I suppose they are arduous for a woman."
"Mr. Clarke," I said, "may I ask you a question:
