The whole range of motives is strangely different, and men
can never grasp the comparative unimportance with which women
regard the question of occupation. Occupation is for men a definite
and isolated part of life, a thing important and absorbing in
itself, quite apart from any motives or reasons. To do something,
to make something, to produce something--that desire is always
there, whatever ebb and flow of emotions there may be; it is an end
in itself with men, and with many women it is not so; for women
mostly regard work as a necessity, but not an interesting
necessity. In a woman's occupation, there is generally someone at
the end of it, for whom and in connection with whom it is done.
This is probably largely the result of training and tradition, and
great changes are now going on in the direction of women finding
occupations for themselves. But take the case of such a profession
as teaching; it is quite possible for a man to be an effective and
competent teacher, without feeling any particular interest in the
temperaments of his pupils, except in so far as they react upon the
work to be done.
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