New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-05-02

we make the following extract from we'll
written article, entitled as above, in the PhiIa-
delphia Gazette, suggested by the employment
Of females In various situations vacated by mem
under the operation Of the recent strike .
movement Fortunately, we st the South have
little experimental knowledge Of the destitution
and wretchedness to which women in Northern
and European cities are>reduced, and Ne txust
such may long continue to be our happy eondi-
ton 1t is interesting to observe, however, that
public opinion at the North, where, like . sen
timental school girl over mawkish novel. peo-
pie have wept 80 much over imaginary evils that
they cannot see rese suffering at their own door
ways, has at last found q legitimate object upon
which to vent its sympsthies and for which to
tax Its powers q relief We copy from the Ga
zette:
one OF the subjects which have engagedhhe
| attention Of the enlightened and practical phi-
| lanthropists Of the day, is the limited opportu-
nifty OF the female pcpulation Of every large city
| to earn an independent living. The hard con-
dition to which they are reduced has been Tor .
long time, and is yet, compelling thousands of
them to toll with stinted rest and refresbment.
at tasks which speedily wear ost the health a
the strongest and yield nothing in return hut I
bare subsistence. With talents that are cspa-
bic of various application in the useful arts, they
are crowded ont Of employments for which they
are, in some instances, even better adapfed than
men, and obliged almost to starve on t4e poor
wages Of a few overstocked eallings 4s
| This is a grievous wrong. which is daily
| crushing hope out of the hearts Of the young
women Of the land, burying faculties which
might be converted, by cultivation and ezercfse,
to the great benefit Of the public, and causise
| an amount Of physical and moral suffering
| which ent1ld IL ho tod yronId ounsxn .~d
sadden the community. There is plain and
easy remedy for this evil, and the obligation to
correct it rests upon society. Wherever the
labor of females can be substituted for that of
males, it should be invariably preferred; and
we believe that, were the policy once pat in
practice, and carried out to the farthest limits
of which the capacity Of the sex would admit, It
would be the most benevolent, and, perhaps
important reform that it il possible to intro
duce into the industrial economy Of every civil
lied State c --s
We provide asylums for the deaf and dumb,
for the lame and the blind-we erect schools Of
reform for the abandoned and depfaved--we
cover the land with homes for paupers-and VA
grants, and boast perpetually OF the vast sum
Of charitable effort we are making to ameliorate
the lot Of the wretched and unfortunate Of every
class. But while self-complacent phflanfhrupy
} is doing all this really valuable good, does &
not unthinkingly close upon the eosphaa gisl nd
the helpless WIDOW access 70 that n0ppy ond
, proud Independence which willing hands and
: Intelligent minds would win in many sphef>
of industry which the prejudice Of habit and
J the scruples of false delicacy exclude them
What comfort should we take to ourselves fol
: placing a starving wretch in poor house, o.
! sending broken-hearted sister to some sane.
tuary from the sneers of the world, while w
. afford no sufficient opportunity Of exertion f0l
4 contented and honorable livelihood to hundred
of frail and friendless creatures, who grew
blind, and sick, and famished. in dark AM
: noisome cellars, sewing their fingers to the bon
y for ten and twenty cents day.
: There is giant sin at our doors in TIL
? dreadful shutting out of self-dependent womel
from the occupations for which they are q
less fit, if not better qualified, that their usurp
: ing and monopolizing brothers. Providence
y not unmindful of the injustice, and is already
!. by His indirect and slow, but eventually s6ee
s tual interposition, working out reformation
l. Much auspicious progress in the change
7, even now evident among us. Women ar
: gradually gaining admission into places Of en-
lployment from which they had been rigorousl
y kept out; and the better taste and skill, th
e superior steadiness and diligence they an
le bringing to tasks in which they have supplaats
n male labor, are fast opening to them other AZ
r higher departments Of industry