The six essays brought together in this small volume, in the order in which they were written, leave many questions, still warmly debated with regard to working women, almost untouched. The point of view of the writer is circumscribed by the conditions set forth in the first two chapters, which, true in 1891, may have a narrower or a wider application as time goes on. The position of women in the small section of the community known as the middle classes is there shown to be exceptional. The great majority of women belong to the working classes and spend their youth as wage-earners, in many cases under conditions injurious to mind and body, although the real work of their lives is eventually to be found in their own homes. With middle-class women the position is reversed. To those who have once realised what a large number of them may have to be self-supporting, the constant problem henceforth is to discover how the lives of educated women may be made of more value to themselves and others. The cost and reward of efficiency are therefore the two factors which in this little book are treated as being of primary, although not necessarily of greatest, importance. The author begs to express her thanks to the Editors of the _Nineteenth Century_, _Economic Journal_, _Contemporary Review_, and _Charity Organization Review_, for permission to republish the articles which appeared in their magazines. C. E. C. THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF EDUCATED WORKING WOMEN. _February, 1890._