Page:Women Wanted.djvu/189

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE NEW WAGE ENVELOPE
173

uniforms up and down the country vary, of course, according to the duties they have to perform, but they must strike all who have observed them not only as useful and comely, but also as reflecting credit on the fatherly care which the Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Munitions has exercised over the many thousands of the daughters of Eve who look to him as their protector."

Daughters of Eve in your country's service, is there anything more that you require? Yes, one thing more: Parliament, please hold the baby! It was a response returned from Northumberland to Wales. Every government summoning its women in industry has sooner or later faced the request. There were lines of women applying for Poor Relief. But why not go to work, the authorities would ask. And the child in her arms was the woman's answer. Not every woman like Mrs. Black had a maiden aunt who could be hired to take care of the children. So it happened that, figuratively speaking, the baby was passed to Parliament. Those gentlemen, exclaiming "Goodness gracious!" hastily looked about for a place to lay it down.

And the public crèche has been promptly erected. Sometimes it's done by philanthropy, sometimes by the factory, and sometimes at public expense. "We'll pay for it," says perspiring Parliament, "only hurry!" And they have hurried all over Europe. The baby of a reigning monarch is scarcely more scientifically cared for to-day than is the working woman's baby.