The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-11-08
WOMEN AND THEIR NEEDS.
Miss catharIne Reecher.s Chnpter. I'm
IEarper's MRSnzIne-.-s.IIOw to Re
deem woman's Profession from DIS.

Miss Cathafine Beecher'S Chapter I'm
1Earper.s AIREnzlne-.-s.IIOw to Re
deem Woman's Profession from Dis
hOnOr.''
Two gifted sisters, Miss Cathnrine
Beecher and Mrs. Stowe, have been
writing recent articles for the benefit of
women. The former has chapter in
Hdrper's Monthly for November, upon
CHOW to Redeem woman's Profession
from Dishonor,' in which she asserts
that, while philanthropists are clamor-
ing for wider range of feminine em-
ployments, a woman's special vocation,
that of ministering to homo comforts,
is very rarely mastered and taught.
She thinks houses nre constructed on
the principle of having all the enjoy
ment in the parlor and all the toll and
hardship in the kitchen, and, as nattl-
ral consequence, refined women hate
household labor and seldom learn how
to perform it, while domestics are dis
contented and comparatively worthless.
She would have the whole house made
pleasant to a cultivated and tasteful
woman, so that she may enjoy domestic
labor, study housekeeping MS an art or
accomplishment, and te1ch it to her
NuA6hGeta.duu sucn SluBAe women as
she may kindly train as assistants, eth
er for herself or others. There is some
thing in Miss Beecher's idea. Most
kitchens are anything but inviting; and
even in costly establishments many of
of the so-called conveniences are very
inconvenient. A spacious kitchen with
all tho modern improvements, closets
pantries, laundry and fuel room attach
ed, is an imposing establishment in
itself; 1t requires strong hands tokeep
it in order, and the women who walk
through it for many hours of each day
ought to have mileage allowed them.
Moreover, as domestic help is more and
more difficult to obtain, itmight be we'll
for every man not absolutely mfllion-
aire to build his house ain such a manner
that his wife and daughters may take
sole charge of It, if need be, without
loss of comfort or self-respect.
There may have been no special un-
derstanding between tho sisters, but
Mrs. Stowe has touched upon q kindred
subject in the Atltfntfc Monthly for the
coming month. She speaks of two
large classes of distressed women, the
one class suffering for want of. pleasant
homes and labor, and the
other class suffering for want or skill
full assistants in the pleasant homes
they have. She repeats the question SO
often asked befOre,-why will not intel
| ligent, capable American women, when
LETT without means, aid themselves by
helping their more favored sisters jas
domestic ServantS9 Here and there
they do so, with excellent results for
both parties, but these cnses are rare ex-
cepttons and do not effect the rule. The
secret of ftrouble in the domestic depart
ment lies deeper than can be sounded
by the carpenters lead It is foundiin
| the very nature of the sex. Women
have quicker perceptions and keener
lsenstttveness than men, they are more
strenuous in their ideas of propriety,
more ambitious as astoappearNnces; more
exacting as to the minutiR of life. They
have abundant emotion without equal
self-control, they often speak and act
\ from the impulse of the moment, with
out regard to broad principles sor far
reaching results. In consequences, Wo-
men can seldom live together, especial
! ly upon unequal terms, without more
I or less friction. In adult life man can
| generally get on with his father, while
his wife and his mother are often una
BILE to agree. The woman who Is over
flowing with sympathy for the afflicted
and an ardent champion of the oppress-
ed, may from the very warmth of her
feelings and the severity of her con-
/ science, be ahnrd to get along with in
\ the domestic sphere. The very finest
| feminine endoWments tend 70 unfit the
sex for contact with each other. They
] are like vases OF delicate china, that
must be packed with grosser material
i between, and on no account be permit
ted to collide. Woman was made as a
help meet for man, but not for woman.
She has more agreeable relations with
the other sex than with her own, for
] there Instinct Is! in her favor; the ma