Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1865-11-27

women ana Thear Needs.
Two gifted sisters, Miss Catherine
Becchcr and Mrs Stowe, hsse been writ
ing recent articles for the ,eile tit OF women .
The former has chapter in Horper'sa
.NonAkly Tor November, upon How to Re
deco Woven 8 Professions from Dishonor,"
in which she asserts that, while philan-
thropists are clamoring for wider range Of
feminine employments. woman's special
vocation-that OF ministering to home
comforts-is very rarely mastered and
taught. She thinks houses are constructed
on the principle of having all the enjoy
ment in the parlor, and all the toll and
hardship in the kitchen, and, as natural
consequence, refined women hate house
hold labor and seldom learn how to per-
form it, while domestics are discontented
and comparatively worthless. She would
have the whole house made pleasant to
cultivated and tasteful woman, SO that She
may enjoy domestic labor, study house
keeping as art or accomplishment, and
teach it to her daughters and such single
women as she may kindly train as assist
ants, either for herselfor others There is
something in Miss Bcechers idea Most
kitchens are anything but inviting; and
even in the costly establishments many of
the socalled onveniences are very incon-
venient. A spacious kitchen with all the
modern improvements, closets, pantries,
laundry AID fuel room attached, is an i'm
posing establishment in itself; it requires
strong hands to keep it in order, and the
women who walk through it for many
hours OF each day ought to have mileage
| allowed them. Moreover, help is more
and more difficult to obtain, it might be
we'll for every man not absolutely mil
ionairc to build his house in such man.
ner that his wife and daughters may take
sole charge of it il need DC, without loss of
comfort or self-rcspect.
There may nave Ueen no special under
standing between the sisters, but Mrs
Stowe las touched upon kindred subject
in the Atlantic Monthly for the coming
mnnth. She speaks of two large classes OF
distressed women, the one class suffering
for want of pleasant homes and remunefa
tive labor, and the other class suffering for
want of full assistants i'll the pleasant
homes they have she repeats the question
50 often asked beforc-Why will not intel
ligcnt, capable American woman, when
| left without means, a.d themselves by
helping their more favored sisters as do
mestic servants Here and there they do
so, with excellent results for both parties,
but these cases are rare exceptions, and do
not effect the rule. The secret of trouble
! in the domestic department lies deeper than
can he sounded by the carpenters lead; it
| is found in the very nature of the sex--
| Woncn have quicker perceptions and
| kccncr sensl,iveness than men; they are
uiosc ambitious as to appearance, more eN-
acting As to the minuta of life. They have
abundant emotions without equal self con
troll they often speak and act from the
| impulse OF the moment, without regard to
broad principles or far reaching results
In consequence, women can seldom live
togcihe especially upon unequal terms,
without more or less friction. In adult life
Il man can generally get along with his
father, while his vile and hi mother are
often unable to agree. The woman who is
overlooking with sympathy for the afflicted
and an ardent champion of the oppressed,
may, from the very warmth Of her feelings.
and the severity of her conscience be .'hard
Ia get along WITH in the domestic sphere.
| The very finest feminine cndow nieuts tend
i to unfit the sex for contact with each
other. They are ike vases of delicate chi-
| m, that must be packed with ;rrosser ma
ierial between, and on no account be per-
United to collide Woman was made rs
help meet for man, but not for woman.--
She has more agreeable relations with the
other sex than with her own, for their in
| stinct is in her favor; the nature must be
very coarse when there is not something of
chivalry on the one side and loyalty ON the
ether.
And as the best things when perverted
prove the worst, SO when women are really
thoughtcss aud cruel. they art the dead
Hest upprcssors oftheir sex. Many snow
| pure reputation has melted like frost be-
fore a woman's breath. Many poor
laundrcss sewing girl has dark tale to
tell of womanly wrongs. 1t is said that
men do not pay women "a fair price or
| their labor, and there are too many instan-
ces OF is TRUTH but we know Of an in
stance i'll this city where a wife and mother
has gone ia thcr than most men would 20
in withholding wages from helpless girl
Then here are the newly rich, who having
never been accustomed to servants, are
often acgravating in their deportmcn,; and
| the butterflies of fashion who, knowing
nothing about muscular labor, make cruel
| cNactlons without knowing il and the sim
| ply incompetent, who throw all the dumc>
tic machinery "';t of gear, and then expect
| it to work out harmonious results With
all these Il household aid must take her
chance.
Depend upon it, if family work could be
put out by the job SO many loavcs baked
and potatoes peeled, so many beds made
and rooms busted and delivered at the door
ut given hour, there would be plenty of
women eager 10 take the work home and
do it. 1t is the coming in hourly contact
| with person Of alien habits, of indefinite
| and varying requirements that disheartens
and repels. MIS-. Stowe makes the wife of
christopher Crawfeld" say, If | were
left in tightening circumstances, would
seek Il position as II servant in ore of our
good families" Now we have the greatest
respect fos Mrs. Crawlield, but is she Ger.
tam that she could live comfortably with
A servant precisely like herself .--Spriag-
feM Republican
WON'T USE ANY OTHER.