Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1868-11-27
win the Coming woman work ?

Yes, if you give her the opportunity.
| But before this time comes, we must
brush away many old cobWeb prejudi-
cess and start upon very different idea
of the sphere OF woman than that which
| generally prevails. The common idea
I Is, that our girls have got to be suppOr-
| ted at home until they are married, and
/ then the husband viii take them in
charge Hence the great majority Of
our young women, among the more
comfortable and wealthy classes, grow
up in comparative idleness- Their ed
ucatiOn is of the most superficial char
aeter, and If they are thrown upon the
world in after life to support them
selves they are wholly untitled for it.
1 Besides, there is still larger number
who by their necessities are obliged to
earn their own bread.
In our older communities, the excess
of women over men is that Of two to
one, so that at best only One-half can
be married. In England and Wales
there are from three to four hundred
thousand women who are obliged to re-
main single in consequence Of the ex-
cess of numbers. In the State of New
York there are 38, ,783 more women
than men between the ages of fifteen
and twenty, and the same ratio holds
with all the other States.
Now this large number must live in
state of dependence, eating the bread
of idleness, or they must work. But
what can they do +?
Here we come to the radical question
Of Woman's work. At present, she is
restricted to q few FocatiOns. She can
sew or try her hand at writing. All
these being crowded, the pay is small.
The remedy is very mple- Throw open
to her every avocation for which she is
by actual experience. We do not see
why women should not do light work
on the farm, keep books, become tel
lers in the banks, agents for insurance
companies engage IN various kinds of
business and enter the professions. At
present, her education units her for
many of these, but training comes from
experience. No one can learn to swim
until he goes into the water. When we
enter upon this experiment, then wo-
men will learn from practice TO do
many things for which both she and
the community now think her untitled.
This enlargement of woman's work is
fraught with industrial and social
changes. There were in Massachusetts,
in 1860, 626, POI W0meD-outnumbe bering
the men 5000. Suppose that only a
quarter of these, instead of eating the
bread of idleness and dependence, or
selling themselves to base uses, engage
in some useful work. As far as they
do this, they add to the productiveness !
of the commonwealth. So much for
The benefit to themselves is very evil |
dent. Let women be trained to the |
which require skill, and |
you at once raise her wages. Open !
new avenues of work, and she will not |
be Obliged to stitch her own DEATH |
shroud. At once she becomes more in- |
and rises In intelligence |
When young, the girl will not be sim |
ply fondled as a doll, or treated as |
toy, but educated in habits of self |
reliance. Her character will be |
and her faculties enlarg- /
ed.
But we are told, that il you educate
the daughter for a distinct vocation or
profession, you unfit her for domestic
duties. This is not true, as experience /
testifies. In fact, we maintain that the 1
which comes from these va
ried vocations, is a much better prepar-
alton for the duties of wife or mother
than the girl gets at our fashionable
boarding schools, or in a life of ease at
nome-alternatiDg between idleHess and
parties. We have vastly more hope Of
the future generation, when our moth
srs early in life are trained to some in
1ustriaI employment or profession,
thar now, when in so many cases that
period is wasted.
As far as women become self-support-
ing, they will be emanclpated from the
bondage of dependence, and be more
free in respect to marriage, This rela-
lion will not be entered upon to secure
a support, as is so often done now, but
more from the promptings of affection.
she hOEa will not b8 less halloWed aud /
sacred, but viii rect on secure basis.
Christian Re0iSteT.