The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-10-02

dustry, can seldom or never command any |
thing like the same remuneration.
II is, however, rather to the unnecessary
limitation than to the inadequate payment
Of female labor that we would call atten-
ton, for the inferior payment is probably
but the natural consequence Of the greater
competition arising from this very cause;
since in literature and the fine arts, where
from peculiar natural qualifications being
demanded excessive competition is kept
down, this inequality Of payment docs not
exist. There is indeed another csdse; It Is
alledged, not without truth, that in many
instances female labor is Of inferior quality.
But why is this!
Should any one Of our readers be inclined
to bring forward the old plea OF the na'u-
raj inferority Of feminine intellect, we are
not at all disposed to enter on that dispute,
and will gran, them any thing they please,
for the question, if not in itself an idle one,
is at all events foreign to our present Pur-
pose. Even if they should rule not only
that women are, but that they ever must be,
incapable Of climbing the lolliest heights oil
human genius, we will not quarrel about II,
but say-"Amen, SO be il" until time shall
perhaps one day overthrow the theory, and
place this impossibility by the side of that
Of the impossibility Of steam vigation
across the Atlantic, and many other imPos-
siblities which the meanest Of us now can
trample on.
But for how many Of the occupations by
which social existence is maintained, are
these high faculties demanded? What
number Of the members Of the learned pro-
LESSONS, for instance, may be presumed to
be in possession of these lofty qualihca-
tons! Assuming that women cannot hope
TO reach the first rank, may they not aspire
80 high as the intellectual level Of a third
rate apothecary, or fourth-rate attorney
This surely were not an absolutely hopeless
ambition.
With respect to the occupation they do
actually follow, it can hardly be supposed
that they are naturally incapable Of attain
ling the same degree Of excellence as their
masculine competitors. That their work is
necessarily inferior, we must deny; that II
is not actually inferior, We are not prepared
to assert but the point to which We would
gladly call attention, is the deslrableness OF
enlarging the field Of exertion in which wo
men may gain an independent subsistence.
A great deal Of eloquent but somewhat
vague defamation Of those who have ad
voca,ed what they called the "Emancipa
ton Of Women, has been answered by
corresponding fourishes on the loneliness o.
domestic life, and the happiness of "wo
mans position as a wife and mother
Now setting aside for the moment the fac
that considerable and perhaps increasing
class Of women never become happy wives
and mothers, or wives and mothers al all
and that when they do, it is often the in
scrutible will Of God that the stroke o
} death shall lay way waste their Paradise
and drive them forth to contend, feeble a
T they may be, with the storms Of the QUITE
world, and bear the brunt Of liie's battle
not only in their own defence, but in tina
! Of others still more helpless; setting thes'
} for the moment aside, and considering th'
! question We have proposed, in the first in
stance, merely in its reference to the happi
ness of marriage, is it not notorious that IN,
introduction of merely economical motives
. unavoidable when women have few othe
, means of subsistence, has tended sadly I,
the Dissertation of the marriage tie. Tn,
term mercenary is often too harsh, for man!
women who could not be tempted to MARI,
for wealth, are every day driven to MARI,
) for subsistence.
Not 50 much how they shall live, as by
what means are they TO live at all, is ofler
enough the question. In the rank Of li,
in which the sons would enter what al,
called the liberal professions-in which {
parent would think himself guilty of mos
culpable neglect if he did not provide then
them with the means Of honorable indepen
dence, he is content for his daughters t.
speculate on the chances Of their marrying
The miserable and humiliating practice o
what is called maneuvreing for the dispose
of daughters in marriage, has been Otter
held up to deserved ridicule; but perhaps
larger comprehension, and deeper sympa
thy, would see in these poor 'manGuvre
ing mothers" themselves, victims rather thar
criminals.
There are Yet darker shades to the =.
ture, which will but too readily Pr
themselves, but which we c,noo, 'ugge,
| on ""e'
Non r'gionam di l0r--m' guarda 9 Da..,.--
the subject, ipGeed, IS On. which h.a~-,.
OUT ,''e SO many Others, that We fear :.
.eeolng our space. and must, therefor, -
tent ourselves for the present wiz - col
suggested 1t, and with moving III haVln
~. INTO what appears ,bs 'or an inqu
grievance which wome- one suos'an'l.
oil in England at y Al have 10 eomplal
the limited num- ..e present day, namel
inadequacy Der Of the occupations, IL
main,op- Of the means Of independel
tai ance open to them. There is f
Prejudice, too, existing often in the
" Sn minds, as well as those Of others, thu
. the necessity Of exerting themselves for the
II subsistence is, if not degradation, at a
s events misfortune but this, after all,
: closely examined, may be found to arise in
y great measure from the fact that their occ,
n pations are not often very lucrative, and
depend on the more general truth, that, ,
Sidney Smith said, poverty is infamous.
!, We shall probably return to the subjec
y but in the mean time we would entreat o,
b readers not to be too hasty to dismiss it wit
> Jest or sheer.
. The evil we have alluded to is a deepl
felt and wide-spreading one; and wheth,