ing may in time work to
advantage, and though such positions are probably more mechanical than
any others, yet they often leave the teacher considerable freedom to
pursue her own tastes outside of school.

But if you feel that your temperament is essentially that of the
student, so that you could fill the place of assistant in some advanced
school, then give yourself to special studies. I would not say study
history exclusively for ten years, even if you have a taste for history,
because there are few schools where a teacher can be employed for
history alone. But suppose you spent half your time for twenty years on
history, and the other half on literature, languages, etc., you would
probably find some place open to you all the time, and at the end of
twenty years you might be fit for a college position, and much more fit
than if you had narrowed yourself to one study. In most cases the bent
in one direction is not so strong that the student cannot do many things
fairly well. The half dozen best scholars in most secondary schools are
usually the best in mathematics, in the sciences, in literature, and in
language. It is a good plan for such scholars to "level up" in every
direction. Two years' study in each line after leaving school will carry
them beyond the requirements of most schools,--though of course no
teacher can hope to succeed who does not study daily the branches she
teaches, to keep abreast of the times, and to make her teaching
fresh,--and if she is able to teach a variety of subjects she is pretty
sure to find an engagement in some of the many schools where only a few
assistants can be employed. And it is no small additional advantage that
her own mind is more evenly developed than that of a specialist.

Just now the demand for women to teach the sciences seems to be greater
in proportion to the supply than in any other direction. If a girl has a
natural taste for chemistry, zooelogy, or mineralogy, and cultivates it,
she is very sure to "put money in her purse." But the supply is
increasing, so this state of things may not last long.

No one thinks sewing an attractive means of livelihood, but where a girl
has a decided taste for the needle there are openings for her gifts. I
know a mother and daughter who support themselves in comfort by
embroidering dresses for the stage, and by giving lessons in the making
of fine laces. And I heard the other day of a farmer's daughter who came
to the city to work as