The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-10-28

Il
timely extracts:
I'm business hours men must mind
their own business or the worlds
work VIII be left undone; and If the
presence of women amongst them dis
turbs the evenly flow of thought, the
women must and should get out of the
way. -f1h5. s 4,5 81 Eifl
1t hath been said that woman is best
dressed when no one can tell what she
wears, and if ever there was place in
which a true gentlewoman would feel
that quietude of dress and demeanor
were especially desirable, it must be in
a pnblic office, in business hours. Ills
Il painfully nhumiliating to any lover of
4 the race 10 see American women of ed
ucation holding important placesin the
lgrandest Government the world ever
saw, and initiating the costume and
manners of Parisian grisettes. Let any
thinker watch the troops of women.
Y stump stump, stumping, or rather
thump, thump, humping, upand down
the long stone stRirways of our differ
II ent departments, with their feet crushed
into shoes SO tight that all elasticity of
step is gone, and the foot comes down
4 like an old fashioned stick-lec: while
the shoe, which, iflarge enough, would
last easily sir months; must burst in
one; let him or her look at the spread
ling hoop and hashily festooned and or
namented skirts which invite attention
to- these poor, crushed, and crippled
4 feet; let him or her note the iaunty hats
and Cunning" feathers the poor hair
stuffed with "ratsn and "mice" and
4 bundles of buffalo hide, which make.
one sick with disgust, and then beliz.
ened with buds and spangles enough to
satisfy the vanity of a brace of Ghippe-
wa squaws-and let him say what these
women are, externally, hut bad iInita-
dons Of the genuine grisette? 1t would
| certainly be better for humanity tIlnt
Eall OF this class of Government em-
ployees should starveat hometha thew
should corrupt public morals and we
lower the national standard of woman+
\ ly delicacy by recognizing their right
to fill the honorable positions MANY OF
them occupy. ~
Two incidents, in my own Office life
Will best illustrate my ideas of the pro-
prietics of that life. ~
"A brother editor, by whose desk mine
had stood for nearly two years, turned
to me one day with a puzzled look, and
asked:
.Is anything the mattor with your
replied, Then, why do you wear that
Isaid il, kept my hair ont OF the way.
SHUT, he added, !" t'do YOU know how
old 1t makes you ioolS? A gentleman.
speaking Of you but Yesterday, thought
IL .YOAA llllys IlS WikS SuFDflSetl when
thirty"
1knew before that my toilette was a
success. Ono whose business with mo
referred simply to tho contents of tile
skull could never imagine its covering
was intended to challenge admiration.
1t was necessary, one evening,
should remnin in tho office until near
midnight. AS left the room. where
were some eight or ten editors, repor-
ters, proof-renders and clerks, he sim
ply nodded his good night. A sub-edi-
tor, whose wife was my friend, got his
hat, and bowling, remarked: y
since our senior resigned his privi-
lege, VIII you permit me to see you
safely home ?" kT tE
The senior drew himself up to his full
height of six feet four, and looking
down ut the kind little man said.
sternly-
81 want it understood that NIrs.-'s
relations in this Office are purely those
OF business, and that when she REQUIRES
anything of anyone init she will COM
mand his services. She has not COM
manded mine, and the fact that She has
kept her servant here all the evening to
attend here home, should be sufficient
notice that she required no other escort"
This fixed my status. For ten wears
l came and went ut will, and think
was never in tho way. The men folk
and had tacit understanding that
they should not swear in my presence:
but If they forgot / was deaf, and some
little act of kindness was the apology,
Otherwise than this, I think ii seldom
occurred to any one of them that was
not one of them. This may appear un-
wOmanly, but 1 insist that II women
are to be the companions of men in
public employment, the idea OF sex
must not be the prevailing thought of
their lives. They must establish busi-
Inkf H. AZ.
and entirely business relations.
Hume, in speaking of Elizabeth, the
greatest of England's sovereigns, saws:
lone must not judge her us d woman.
but as ruler" As wife, mother, Sis
ter, daughter, let woman be judged as
woman; us clerk, let her be Judged as
a clerk. The display OF personal
charms, adornments of dress, of graoes
of conversation, should be reserved
for the social circle. What man of!l
sense and delicacy could value the
secondhand articles of this description
which have been hawked around
through public Offices us the price of
some tritling privilege, some immunity
or preference?
Another thing; their purchasing Of
privileges with pretty or pathetic ap-
peals, II extensively practiced, must
end In hnal dismissal from employ-
ment. There are four men like my
noble friend, who have the discernment
and courage to aid women in establish-
ing business relations with themselves
and others. Most yield to appeals to
their gallantry; but In nineteen cases
out of twenty such yielding must be
against their sense of right, and If per-
sisted in, will bring reaction. Women
should aspire to be counted Iaw-abid-
ing; to be caphble of making and full
filling fair business contract. sf.5
When one takes place in depart
ment, she contracts 70 work a certain
number of hours daily for Il certain
sum. 1t misunderstood that she is to
work faithfully during these hours, and
when she spends portion of them.
] habttually in reading or goSsfping, or
in any other way shirlSs her duty, she
iSa swindler-only this, and nothing
more; and the man she induces to over
look her delinquency is an accomplice
| in the dishonest evasion. Heisher best
friend who holds her most firmlyt to the
fulfilInent of her contract. rsE
Nor should the sickness, brought on
by folly, be any excuse for failure to
| fill the contract. The headache and
1 backRches and dyspepsies and endless
miseries brought on by impeded circu-
lation from pinched feet and crushed
/ waists; the colds and chilIs and cattar-
rhs caught from hnlf-clad feet and
arms sand shoulders, should be no
apology for undone or half-done work.
| Women as well us men are under moral
\ obligations to 'suseall lawful endeayors
i of others, and their failure to do SO is
i nojustification of their failure to per-
form any other duty. That nineteen
twentieths Of womens' sickness Is the
\ direct result of improper dress is fact
patent to all thinking phY8icians. and