But it is not of those who are merely inconvenienced by illness that we
would speak to-day. Not of those who are only subjected to the loss of a
little pleasure, a good deal of temper, and who are learning a lesson in
being patient. In a word, we do not write for the well-to-do invalid,
but for a very different class. Our remarks are intended especially for
those of "our girls" to whom health is, perhaps, the only capital they
possess. To whom loss of health means loss of work, loss of wage,
anxiety, which aggravates matters, and perhaps serious privations to
those in any way dependent upon their exertions.
Yes, the army of girl and women workers in this great metropolis is,
indeed, a vast one, and work for them is no sinecure. If they cannot
work so thoroughly or efficiently as men, at least it is for them
greater toil than for the sterner sex. Of a more delicate organisation,
of less robust frame, of smaller powers of endurance, the "buffets of
fortune" meet with less resistance, and are more readily yielded to.
Added to this, men have the advantage of being early trained to the
habit of work which many of our girls have not, and they have greater
facilities afforded them for outdoor exercise, of which they very
readily avail themselves.
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