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A WORD WITH THE WOMEN

(By Elia W. Peattie.)

It's worth while to remember now and then, when life seems to have become tragically monotonous, and to stretch out before one like a treeless and weary plain, that even for a queen the days may sometime seem very dull. Victoria, for example, must have many a tiresome day.' The thing thad made life sweetest to her are gone. She has long been a widow. Her children have all left her. Some have known sorrow, some are submerged in common placeness, some have been dull, and one has been foolish-sicked perhaps. None of them have done any thing to make a mark on their time. They have been distinguished only because of the relationship they bear to her. And certainly, for all of her conservatism and formalisim, she has been a very judicious and admirable ruler. She has hemmed herself about with all exclusiveness, wrapped herself in a womanly modesty, and preserved in the mids of the court, the perfect model of an English home. Her pleasures have been music, books, flowers and a few friends. She has not in any sense been a picturesque woman. Her extreme temperance of action in all directions, her well-ordered affections, her stately manners and her unrelaxing fortnalism have made her a veritable proverb for propriety, but have done nothing to inspire or exhilarate her people. England has been under her guidance as a well-trained four in hand. She has been a careful driver, affecting no bravado, incurring no risks. She has never been beautiful, nor poetic, nor remarkable. But she has shown a polse, a consistency and a termperance of demeanor which is almost unequalled among sovereigns. It has often been said that she has done nothing to advance the cause of woman. Perhaps this may be true in a way. But it seems more just to say that a subject is a subject to her, regardless of sex, and that she has not been bitten with the womanphobia which is the development of the age. The fact remains that under her reign England has reached a freedom and order never, perhaps, attained by any other country in the course of history. Women, as well as men, enjoy the most complete liberty under her dominion-a liberty more comlete and sure in some ways than that of which even we, the citizens of a republic, can boast.

There may be some American women who will mention Mrs. Maybrick at this point, and say that there is one woman who has not been able to enjoy liberty in her majesty's dominions. That is true. A woman, presumably innocent, tried inconsistently, beleived to be innocent by the best minds in England is confined, and may be till the day of her death, because of the lack of a court of criminal appeal in England. But the creation of such a court is another step toward more complete liberty, which may-which must- come before long. May it come before her majesty has passed from earth! May this be the crowning stone in the temple of liberty ash has reared!

There is a new lodging house for working girls in Omaha. It has only been in existence five weeks, yet already it has sheltered thirty-five girls, and been means of securing employment for twenty-one. It has been opened by two Roman Catholic young women who come to this city recommended by the Paulist fathers, whose mission in this city a few months ago aroused much interest. Miss Nellie Enright has for years studied methods of operating among working women. Her cousin opened a home for working some in Cincinnati ten years ago, and has attained an extrodinary success there. Miss Enright has lived with her cousin, and is competent to bear the responsibility if suh an institution. Associated with her is Miss Lizzie Buckley, who has for many years been an instructor of languages in an Episcopal academy. A cottage of seven rooms has been hired at 1720 Cass street, and it is open to all women who may apply so far as they can be entertained. Factory girls, and other workers who have small wages are especially invited. The board is $2.50 a week for those who have employment and who can afford to pay that much. Girls out of employment may stay at home till employment is secured, and pay board when they can afford to do so. A musical and literary entertainment is to be given for the benefit of the come at the Y. M. C. A. hall Thursday evening. February 14, at 8 o'clock.