r skilled
employees and, therefore, every girl ought to become a skilled worker.
To be a skilled worker means that you can command good wages and that you
are more certain of steady employment than an unskilled employee, since
your employer will wish to retain your services even when the work in the
factory is slack. The girl, therefore, should not be anxious to find that
there is little to learn about her work. When she discovers that it will
be some time before she can carry on all the operations required, then she
may be sure that she is learning an employment which will be of value to
her. It is exactly the same as in school. No one was ever so clever as to
be able to learn to read in one day, yet we all know how well worth while
it is to be able to read.

How is the girl to choose the industry in which she hopes to find work?[2]
She should make inquiries about a factory before she enters it. She may
have a friend who is working in a whitewear factory, or a biscuit factory,
or who is making boxes. The friend probably will be willing to speak to the
foreman or forewoman about the girl's employment. But she should notice
the surroundings in which she means to work. Is the workroom light and
airy? Are the conditions under which she must work sanitary? Are the
workers respectable and well-behaved? If she is to work where there is
machinery, it should be properly guarded, so that she will not be in
danger. She should not choose a factory where the hours are longer than
the average nor one where over-time is encouraged. The management also
should be fair and considerate.

The kind of work carried on in the factory should give her an opportunity
to become a skilled worker. If the girls employed are all young girls
earning only a low wage, and there is little chance of promotion, then,
while it may be convenient for her to begin in such a factory, she should
not be content to stay there. She must be sure to make herself a skilled
worker, with a good chance of promotion and a fair certainty of receiving
a higher wage than is usually paid to a beginner.

When the girl knows the kind of factory for which she ought to look, she
may very well ask herself what qualifications she should possess in order
to become a successful factory worker. She should be healthy, of good
average physical strength, quick in her movements, with some natural
mechanical ability, good eyesight, and quick, steady hands. If she is to
begin where there