t it cost her in work and study, to know and
understand her duty. In her later letters she appears as an old, very wise
woman, one of the first statesmen of her age. Queen Victoria had great
responsibilities. Ours are smaller. But no girl, whether she works at home
or in paid employment, can reach her highest development in the twentieth
century without living up to her civic and national responsibilities.

CHAPTER XXX

THE BEST KIND OF WORK

Summing up what we have been able to learn, and what the world has learned,
about employment, it is generally agreed that hard work is best. By hard
work is meant work which requires from us the putting forth of all our
energies and which calls for all our gifts. Work is very beneficial. As a
man has said, "It takes the nonsense out of people," not the fun out of
life, but the nonsense out of people, foolish, wrong, mistaken ideas which
make people disagreeable to work with or play with or live with. It is not
until our work, and methods of doing work, make use of all our ability and
capacity that we know how fine work can be. You remember the story in the
Bible which tells how Jacob wrestled with an unseen adversary until the
breaking of the day. Then when Jacob was asked what he would have, he
answered, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." So work when we
do our best with it blesses us.

Musicians speak of "technic" in playing and artists of "technic" in
painting. Technic is skill, but it is more than skill. It is skill and
individuality joined together. There is technic of a certain kind which we
all may acquire in our work. Perhaps a story will explain best what this
technic is. A beautiful girl who had all the gifts of a great actress but
was untrained once made an extraordinary success in one of Shakespeare's
plays. Later she failed utterly. She had not had that patient unceasing
practice which makes every performance a high level of acting. When she
felt inspired, she could act; but when she was dull or tired or out of
sorts, her inspiration failed her, and she had no technic or skill in
acting to fall back upon.

The good cook practically never fails in what she makes. She may not feel
like cooking her best every day, but she knows how, and all her good work
in the past stands by her skilful hands and makes her cooking a success
every day. In the same way, the practised writer can rely on a certain
technic or skill in writing even when he is dull and j