New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-08-09
THE DIFFICULTIES or BUSINESS WOhEA

| To the EdftOr OF The Trt0Hhe'
SIR: A hateful phrase is the title of Busl-
ness Women" commonly used to separate one class Oh
women. who are doing their duty in the sphere where
Providence has placed them, from another whch ~
doing equally hard work at home. Pray have not 'o
| wives and mothers who filling the parts OF seam
stresses cooks and accountants in their own houses
quite as much business their hands requiring just as
much preparation, system, and dispatch as those WIN
sit at desks and rent offices in other peoples buildings
Every woman is ought to be, woman OF business
whether she be heress with an estate TO administer
the affairs Of or Lady Amberey, with charitable con-
Germs enough on her hands for Colonial Secretary, OF
| Mrs Brown with SIS week housekeeping money anu
the marketing to do, lady editor an auFciu'nS
| agent or a house broker. 1t Is reproach 10 HIN"
| TO be without a business and 1t may soon peoo'"o
equally reproach and cause OF suspicion 10 woman.
Admit this fact and where certain false NOTIONS Vi
decorum co. The woman whose task calls her 10 meet inc
world will 90 forth unconsciousiy ana as aDSorpou Ill
| her work a a housekeeper goes TO MARKET fH'aioH
and thoughts OF personal attraction Will be no more III
her line OF business down town than with the Ducher OF
tax collector at home. When good women have ialth
enough characters to endure the contact Oh
solitary bardworking outsiders TO trust them and eVen
IL need be- support waywardness and eccenfrcyi
when plying women for having 10 put heah
or hands honest work. instead OF living idle lives open
to temptations of soth selhshness caprice, morbdness
and when women single not, learn to thank God for
1
business women Men and women alike were made to
work. and TO suffer temptation. Let woman think 1t
strange or exceptional If she meets 1t in its direct and
| last dangerous, because most reDulsye form man
who has seen moro Of the world than you or have,
writes that there Is appointed to every man and woman
born into the world. deep, deadly, bitter struggle
and that we must pass through this dark water at some
time OF our lives certain that are to die. What
need there making fuss because there are pUddcs
at the street crossngs Those are to be counted
very happy whose lives have been free from the touch OF
| insult which walks side by side with the young belle
promenading at Long Branch passes the deInure ana
guarded darlings Of pous homes with quick daring
even at the church gates Those whose outlook In life IL
unsheered may consider the fact that hundred rains
cannot wash the bloom from the grape or the carnne
from the rosebud that though willful touch may
mar the delcaey the soul the northeast storms of life
| may beat upon it without occasloning bemish
IL the avenues OF womany occupation are not open TO
| her and an occupation out Of the common line OF rs
ITSELF there ia why woman should refuse IT,
There ia but one question indispensable p and If
this Is answered in the Affirmative let her where she
must But il she carries cOquery or desire TO make
acquantances. TO win sympathy with her, be sure
that the world will detect before she knowsit herself III
women will sit down in offices TO retail their grievances
and their private histories to amuse the half kind half
idle curiosity OF who choose to invite such cont-
dence they may expect find their folly taken advan
tage Of. A very lovely and amable woman once con-
planned OF the insults she exposed to in her business
| "A book agent "A man wanted to know my history
in his office where went the other day, with the Life OF
Lincoln and told him how my husband drank, and was
Que OF business and had to do this to support the fam
y When had finished, he asked me to give him kiss
told him. Indignantly II was selling kisses need not
be carrying heavy books around TO msy Offices Dear
innocent woman. with the soft black eyes and splendid
hair nothing could be more modest than your dainty
plain dress and rough straw bonnet; nothing more un-
| nbt and
very hard for to have to you brought the demon
stration yourself by ilmed cOmmunicatlveness m
glad you did MT slap the in the face or all weapons
| in wOman's armOry, none Is so cutting "a HUE
| self possessed contempt. Men do not mind virtu-
| GUS vixen who breaks her parasOl across
the face OF who utters unbecOming language or
pors forth the vias OF her wrath upon him in vitrolc
English half so much a cool level glance OF contempt
and an II do not understand" OF marked poeness
from who thoroughly understands herself The
old books decorum prescribed Inconsistencies the
antidote ilsut. Business women. venture to
say. receive aronts il they attend strictly to
business than uptown women In society ana on shop
pingexcursiOns It's matter of taste, but the question
will up, when noticing the style Oi some very clever
business women whether di5heveed hair flowing to the
waist costumes which would not be out of place at
picnic party obviously appropriate to the desk and
the street. "Sweetness and light" do very well in the
extension of Murray Hill, but the sweetness isn't
wanted below Foureenths on business premises, or at
best It is an alkaline rather than confectionery quality
that is desired there.
II women fixed their minds doing their work with
skill accuracy and Dispatch they would impress men
whom they meet too absorbed FOR galautry and half
the annoynnces they complain OF would escape their at
tenon prcoccuped air is the most successful damp
err 10 such speeches dislike to listen to, and
protects her ehectually moist hand protects itself
from burning metal. At this moment young working
girl passes the window, playing with parasOl pink
yOn with flowers and lace enough on her hat to attract
The birds nest huntng. \ sign hung ont, Admiration
Wanted would make the motive Of all this palmer.
Innocent enough, all this, but in no way eXpedient.
and If the cyEicism were not so hateful,
one mi .ht ,undcr the breath remark that limo
ccncc is not virtue" Contrast this with the sober
wear as lac goes down street The fact j., nineteen
twenticths Of the women that work for ther Vg TO-
day have idea of the meaning Of the words
curacy and diS"ach than they have Il orders In
Chancery Nobody need shake her head about IT, Can
lady tell her sewing-w0han now 10 MAKE the simplest
dress with any that she will follow the diicc
TONS unless the work is taken from her fingers AT
twenty different stages OF MS progress ana she is SHOWN
how Half the worhngw0nen to-day are mere appen-
w u ~ ~ Ti ", go, IL a. - ~
not run III siflg nhcsnlpu'lhS silr j. ~
clcrk-and what pretty bunSe she VIII make OF IT,
Such mystery where there was none such reserve on
trivial points ana hdtngs a critical placS7 WIN hugr
mistake pumped in the middle Ia complete the mess!
Instruct your household that II is essential 10 business
interests that you should depart for the anp0des WITHIN
day, and what woman will put hand To work an
then "why r1nt Won 20 next week \! and :" II could
have known IL sooner when the heediu Nalc might ne
packed in the time taken TO wonderland lament Ny wrath
rises ! remember the engagements have been
compelled To break by the perdy of w0rkwOmen of one
business and another A wellknOwn writer taxes lady
lecturers task severely for being ardy on the plat
form. would ~ bail that at least half the time the
trouble lies with Inferior feminine slowcOach who
failed iron cut the from Miss Lecturers
muslin oyerdress, or to stitch the rethaid ON the silk
gown she wanted Ia wear aud who could neither he
helped hurried out OF her accustomed gait
have found II possible to make lOchSmith ana FOR
ter understand that their work must Ice hurried 10 suit
emerg cncy but working woman never or II she at
tempted she blundercd In her work fatally. Dis
patch attention If these were the leading ideas OF
woIncns work, neither uling nor danger would mud
approach To their lives | don't say that any woman
preserves herself entirely from them ny attending 10
her business but she enhances the assurance OF her
safety by doing In the language Of life Insurance
companies she reduces the risk to nominal percentage