Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-11-14
WHO 10 TO BLAmtzt
ny REV. II. L. wAYLArD.


men should be confined to so few en-
ployments, and these for the most part
almost menial and far from lucrative;
that she should be now the toy of man,
and now the prey of his avarice, or of his
lust; that her right to the full avails of
her labor, her right to share in the
Government of the State of which she
forms a half, should be a question, and
should only now be beginning to shed
the? all this is surely reproaeh to our
age and to our civilization.
But then, who is to blame? The settle
rnent of this question will help us, per-
haps, towards removal of the evil
While freely taking to the stronger sex
a full share of the blame, 1 confess that,
to my mind woman herself seems largely
at fault. For example, why does not she
command and receive higher rate of
wages? Because (for some reason, known
no doubt to Deity, but hidden at present
from finite minds,) women resolutely
refuse toenterupon enployments that lie
open for them, and insist on pressing
into the callings which are already full
and, therefore, poorly paid. So they
crowd into needle-work and teaching
while they neglect domestic work and
the care of the sick. A friend, residing
In Chicago, told me that he paid recently
twenty dollars week land board OF
coursel for a monthly nurse, and found
II difficult to secure one even at that rate.
Its because she will not invest employ
ment, will not originate industry; be-
cause she seems to ask "What is every
body doing?" rather than "What is it
that everybody wants done, and that no
one is now dong?n The widow of
clergyman in New Hampshire was left
destitute, with Il family dependent on
her labor. She had the singular wisdom
to look away from the beaten track and
to think for herself She knew that she
could make raspberry jam as good as 1t
could be made. She wrote to n friend in
Boston, Il grocer, and asked II he would
undertake tho sale of all she might make.
He willingly promised. She made the
jam, perfect Of its kind, perfect in flavor,
and in the qualities needed for its preser-
walton. The reputation of her jam eX-
tended. The orders were beyond her
power of supply. Boston housekecpers
made haste to engage their supply qfjam
months ahead,-as the crowned heads of
Europe compete with the Pope in en-
gnging years in advance the produce of
the vineyards that yield to the "I,acry-
mae Christi" The result was self-respect,
independence. competence, SUGGEST
Now If every woman in the same spirit
would say, God has not made a mistake
In sending me into the world, and in
placing me just where / find myself;
there is work for me, work in which (
may gain an honorable support, and
will find ii, or die i'm the attempt" |"
then there would be less complaint about
want Unemployment and starving wages
Again the rate of wages Is lower be-
cause women do not master the work
they undertake, are contented with mod
crate attainmcnts, and often with almost
complete ignorance. An intelligent
friend, in charge of n printing establish
ment, recently told me that, while the
men In his employ read books bearing on
their craft, the women do not go beyond
the mechanical part and are content with
drudging Mt the rudiments.
In u family whose members earn a liv-
ing by labor, one son becomes q black
smith, one carpenter. Each of them
gives patient years to the mastery of his
call He takes pride I'm IL the appren-
tice aspires TO he Jour-" the "jour" to
be "boss workman" and he to be an
employer. A sister in the same house is
to earn her living by going out to service.
Nineteen times out Of twenty she will
not give the slightest pains to preparn-
tion for her work. She does nothing
that she is not compelled to, learns moth
ing of which she can by any possibility
remain ignorant, has no more disposition
to rise than has thesour, leaden substance
that encumbers her kneadlng-troughs,
and her whole nature IL ~ limp rs her
last weeks washing, which Is feebly got
out of the way by Friday night or Satur-
day noon. But need not dGlineate her
character. 1t was drawn to the life by
Mrs. Stowe in one of her inimitable pa
pers in the Atlantic. TO me, and i'm
agine to alt who long to reverence true
womanhood, These experiences and Oh
servations are not only annoying-they
are profoundly saddening, as a revelation
of the low aims that pervade 30 many Of
the sex.
But why does not her employer direct
her? you ask Why does she not correct
the faults of her erring handmaiden, and
show her how TO manage house? Be-
cause, my dear sir, she does not know how
herself. Her brothers prepare them
selves one for II profession, another for
business. For this preparation they
counted no time, no labor too great. Even
when not compelled 10 depend upon their
own labor for subsistence, they felt n
pride in doing something, in suppoi ting
themselves, standing high In profession
or on Change. Their sister expects to
be married, 10 be the mother OF family,
TO preside over household. What ef-
fort does she make 10 master The future
situation? What years, what days. what
hours, does she devote TO learning how
10 preside over u house, to rule her SER
wants, to he independent Of them, and In
ease OF need To do without them? How
does she prepare herself to exercise judg-
ment, economy, thrift, to dispense hos
pitably, elegantly, yet unwastefully?-
What lesson does she take In the art OF
making n small income do the work of II
large one, or in that frugality which il
the condition of the means of penevo-
lencep rtr 49,
know one lady II use the singular
number not unadvisedly,) and she, not
compelled by her circumstances, makes
housekeeping an art, who studies chem
istry and physiology, that she may adapt
her table to the comfort and health oI
her family; who is the mistress of hel
servants. not their unpaid dependent
who knows when the work of the hous,
Is done. and, II 1t IL not done, IL able /,
show the servants the reason Of thel
failure. And with all this, she Is not'i
drudge, with soul confined TO pots anC
pans; but sensible, pleasing, aud trul,
religious woman, who while enhancing
the happiness Of her family, aud doubling
the income of her husband, alike by re