THE DISGRACE OF LEISURE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 239, 5 January 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE DISGRACE OF LEISURE.

WOMEN WANTED. By LADY SCOTT. (Lady Scott, tha widow of the jreat explorer, who lost his life liter reaching the South Pole, has >een working in a munition factory for eleven months, and emtodies her experiences in the article we print below.) Hie Ministry of Munitions say they nt more women workers. I can understand this appeal and tingoney of it, having myself worked : n iactory. )n all women who still have leisure, 0 are not actually engaged ni somo pessary occupation, I urge, first the ty of work, then the pleasure of it. t has come now to this, that war 's t a war of armies but of nations, in-poiwer no longer suffices; womanwer must be utilised, and to the lennost.- Man-power lias been conipted; women to-day are where men wd a year ago, confronted with the 1 to serve but under no obligation re that of honour. When it was a. estion for men the best women used fir influence to enforce the call to ms, saying, and truly, that it cost im more to send others into danger an to accept a sacrifice for themIves. Now their service also has awn essential; the call comes to air own door. They are asked to 'e not danger but discipline—the oral, new to many among them, of ily hard work— and it would be mean apply the obligation to volunteer 9 severely for themselves than,for ;ir men-folk. fet their hesitation is not unnatural, ere were thousands of nfcn who too* ig to realise the urgency and the uni • ■sality of the need. Perhaps women not yet understand that unless they to nia!v3 munitions soldiers must be pt from the front to do work wnicft imen can do as well. Again, there i thousands of men who thought that enter the ranks was a strange social parture, almost a social degradation. )wadays, <we all know that no man is 3 good to carry a rifle in this war. tt it is just ae true that no woman is » refined to be a factory hand; the est kd? is the woman who has the est sense of honour. Exemption can be had' only from e\s own conscience; and where the ed is so urgent do not see who can exempt except for some higher illed utility. At such a time as this i able-bodied citizen has the right to sure. Ease and comfort for one can bought only by strain, overwork, or ath itself for someone else. |

I would say this also. Parents have i more right to keep back their girls am the factory than their boys from e ranks. The moral advantage of rvice far outweighs the moral dan>r of changed conditions of life. Ined, to suggest that girls cannot come t£ go about the business of real work lharmed seems to me an insult to our pilisation and our race. So much then for duty; now about e pleasure. Factory work means acKitance of hard, monotonous regular our. At my factory >we began at ? id we -worked till 6, with half an >ur for breakfast and one hour for nner; but I can certainly testify that ctory work has pleasure in it. I am >ry proud of one thing which was id to me: " "We never knew it was in being in the factory until you ime." And it was fun. There were lys, of course, when I counted the mrg till I got away, but there were lys, toe, when I was actually sorry 'be interrupted, to brteak off before had finished. An honest pride in one's work—the sire to excel—an honourable sense of cing—these things made the fun of . When I began of course I cou'ld jt reach the allotted measure of the ty's task; it was a great event when passed it and began to earn a bonus, fterwards I doubled, trebled, and ladrupled the measure; but there was ways a girl who could beat me, if ie tried, and the spirit of competition ept us alert. In munition work, gen-ally-speaking, intelligence and dex>rity count for more than robustness. hysicaliy it as a strain just as th* ddier's work is a strain to most men: it you train into it, and the uniformy of regular labour is good, and not id, for health. I was never better fo>i long a period than during the eleven lonfhs of my iwovk there. * * * For me, too, I confess the change to ich unfamiliar conditions made an adenture of which, contrary to my exectations, the zest did not wane. Partr, I suppose, because I made friends; ley came and stayed with me, I ayed with them; they were new to ie as I to them; but we liked each ,her. There, was a joKiness about it II —arriving with daylight into a arm ro.im among friendly faces and i the evening hurrying each other up 3 get ready so that friends could walk rime in comDany. Tn short, there was real comradohip, and the personal lives of my riends became of great importance to ie. Beyond uV. this was absolute freeom from that unrest which is a chareteristic disease of this time. The lunition worker, like the man in the anks. is under orders, doing her piece f assigne.l work. There is no time to e anxious, to fret for news, to feci he davs drag heavily. One gets home, ats, sleeps like a tired animal and akes fresh and ready to go on again. ;ookin" back on it 1 would not for iivthing bo without the experience. Bid I honestly believe that no one who olunteers will regret the choice. Earning moncv. too, will lie for many n adventure and not an unpleasant no Men have told me that they never -allied anything more than their shi:in<rs drawn at the pay-table. "Women iavo tli.- advantage of the soldiers, beause what the munition worker earns . verv appreciable. "Yon go for six treks'm one of the schools established i V the Ministrv of Munitions and then •on Van go into a factory and start .it 21 :i week—earned bv making what ' o ur eor.ntrv urgently requires : and •jr.ss! S;Vr, »u» .- |0n1( ,„,, which <om... t<. every self-re-pocting f 'iil •>!■ woman when -he ask* ,or.sclf whether it i- right or fair or | rt .f. n t that she should be having a ,„od time whi> her iiif-n-folk arc fjieng and -tiff.-rin- what «> hoar of,nd much, too, that we do not. It s 0 small in..r.i! comfort in these day. ; n u«>\ yonr-4-lf '!<-ar of the disgrace of eisure.