Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-01-21

not be possessed of that soaring spirit which
so nobly animates my Sarah Jane. What
will she gain in that case? Our home is
roomy, airy, with pleasant apartments and
agreeable surroundings. She can walk and
sit and lie down at her own sweet will now,
and is her own mistress and mine. How
will she profit by becoming paid and bound
employee of somebody who will only regard
her as machine by which money can be
made?
She may become school teacher For
five or six hours day she must be cooped
up with unwashed, disordcrly, diabolcally
possessed urchins, more OIL less gifted with
individuality and proportlonatcly hard to
manage, over whom she has very restricted
authority, and for whom sine cannot feel any
very fcrvent gushings Of affection. What
will it profit her to abandon her own chill
dren and for paltry hire be tormented by
the offspring of strangers?
Will she become housekecper for some
widower, or take charge of the domestic
economy in a family where the mistress il u
confirmed invalid? If she rightly dis
charges such duties, will she be less worried
and troubled than she has been by the ar
rangemcnts of her own modest little home
Perhaps she might receive higher salary
than her present allowance, and SO could
buy more "tllings." Are "things" then the
one supreme desire, the highest good OF ihe
feminine heart? Is fine clothing the one
thing needful? For that shall a mother for.
sake her children and depart from under her
husbands roof!
1t is not Miss Dickinson only who has
carried these momentous questions into the
current of my calm and uneventful life. 1t
is most Of all Olive Logan. She is not mar
nestle slavery. She has u soul above but
tons and above babies. The latter she DE-
scribes as 'limp-backed. That is her
favorite epithet for helpless little immorlas
who in thedvine order Of creation are The
weakest of all young creatures and need the
tenderest care. From their birth she would
hand them over to the wonderful, uncoy-
enantcd merces Of hired nurses, leaving the
mother free to go out and earn part of the
living Of the family. Not because her hus-
band refuses to labor, but on the ground that
by both parents being engaged in some nc-
cupation, more servants can be hired aud /,
greater degree of liberty secured for the wife
and mother.
m tnp1 9 tlnyt @ pa il,r al,
thought it was one of the grave questions
of the present time in this country-not how
to be able to hire more servants, but rather
how to be able TO dispense with them almost
entirely, if not altogether
Are children simply an annoyance? They
may be to Miss Logan. l suppose she has
none of her own. Is there no delight in
their caresses, no joy in their society, no
pleasure in watching the development Of
their mental and bodily faculties, no high
and holy occupation to be found in training
them for usefulness, honor and goodness T?
Is there better work for the noblest wo-
manhood than shaping the dispositions
and the destinies of human beings Arc
luey HOt Dcttcr tHttH DUuuctS UT urcSScS vi
even ''things?"
Do not cry out that am restricting wo.
mans sphere. When n woman can lecture
well. let her do it and be well paid for it.
Lot her fill clerk ship, or ''stand in store,
and get rs much for IL ,yould be mid ,
man in the like situations. But if she la, i.
home of average comfort, husband o
average amiability and children of averag,
angcli ity, is she justified in fcrsaking then
to follow the precepts of Miss Olive Logan
Did somebody once follow shining VIII q
the Wisp,
| "Through bush, through brier,
Over park, over PALE"
and bring up at last in II Dismal Swamp
| Did bird in the hand ever commend it
self as being worth more than two in til,
bush?
Ought Sarah Jane to leave her disconso
late husband and weeping children for th,
| sake of more "things?"
pause for reply.
Yours Afllictedly,
PETER PIPER,
of Pickle ST.
p. S.-We keep one servant.
p. P. S.-Sarah Jane wants half th,
household goods. p. p, of p, $.