in charge of her case directly, but rather subject to the doctor’s orders.  She must, nevertheless, be resourceful in emergencies, and of good judgment always.  She should be calm as well as patient, quiet in speech and movement, a keen observer, and willing to accept responsibility.  Absolute obedience and loyalty to her superiors is expected, and a high conception of the ethics of her calling.  Underlying all these qualifications, the nurse must have not only good health but physical strength.

[Illustration:  Copyright by Keystone View Co.  During the World War nursing offered to women perhaps the largest opportunities for service.  Here is shown Princess Mary of England in the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London]

Social work.  This term covers many occupations which overlap the work of the teacher, the nurse, the secretary, the house mother or matron, and even that of the physician and lawyer.  The field of work is a large one, including settlement leaders and assistants, workers in social and community centers and recreation centers, vacation playgrounds, public and private charities, district nurses and visiting nurses sent out by various agencies, deaconesses and other church visitors, Young Women’s Christian Association leaders and helpers, missionaries, welfare workers in large manufacturing or mercantile establishments, probation officers, and many others.

[Illustration:  Photograph by Brown Bros.  Settlement work at Greenwich House, New York.  The settlement worker to succeed must be truly altruistic]

The social worker must of course have the same suitability for teaching or nursing or any other of the various tasks that she may undertake as has the teacher or nurse or other person who works under different auspices.  She must have in addition a truly altruistic spirit, a deep earnestness which will survive discouragement, and a real insight into the circumstances, handicaps, and possibilities of others.  This insight presupposes maturity of thought; and the young girl must serve a long apprenticeship with life before she is at her best as a social worker.  It sometimes seems as though no field was so exactly suited to the abilities of the married woman who has time for service, or the mother whose children are grown, leaving her free again to teach or nurse the sick or bring justice to the little child as she was trained to do in her youth.

Less common vocations for women—­but still often chosen after all—­are reserved for those whose abilities are so specialized and so striking that they compel a choice.  Singers, artists with brush or pen, the natural actress, the journalist or author, need usually no one to guide their choice.  Our great difficulty here is not to open the girl’s eyes to her opportunity, but to restrain the one who has not measured her ability correctly from attempting that which she cannot perform.  The same is true of girls who aspire to be physicians, lawyers, or ministers.  Some few succeed in all these vocations.  Many more have not the scientific habits of mind, the stability, or the endurance to make a successful fight for recognition against great odds.