Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-08
THE WORKING WOMEN


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THE WORKING WOMEN.
Presuming, nay, knowing that Gen
eral Chalmers had been misrepre-
sented in the construction we heard
placed upon his speech in the Browne
Adams case, we called his attention to
the fact, and his letter, published in
another column, is the result. 1t will
be seen that instead Of d~isparaging
laboring women, General Chalmers
pays a just tribute to their worth.
The result of the late war has pro
foundly impressed the Southern peo-
pie with the dignity and nobility Of
labor. To work for a living is now
the business OF all. and it is not de-
rogatory to a mans dignity, or a blot
upon female character to labor. From
the earliest history of the world ladies
of the frst rank have engaged in do
mestic employment. Homer tells as
of p~rincesses who used to draw water
from the springs, and wash with their
own hands the finest linens of their
respective families. LucTetia used to
spin in the midst of her attendants;
and the wife of Ulysses, after the siege
of Troy, employed herself in weaving
until her husband returned from
Ithica; and to see a woman If the
present day attempting to keep of
starvation with the little point of a
needle
"Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A shrOud as well as a shirt"
is a sight that commands the admira-
fion Of gods and men, and involun-
tarily calls forth the sad exelaim:
"Oh, that bread is so dear and life 50
eheapi" But we agree with General
Chalmers that a woman. in filing her
mission, should seek employment in
a sphere unpolluted with the man.
mon Of UnrighteOusness, and which
does not invite a eontaminat-
ing connection with the world.
WOman's influence is almost univer-
sally good. She is looked upon as q
refined being, free from the coarseness
Of man. OF more delicate and finer
texture, both physically and mental
ly, than man; her very nature appeals
to all that is good, and neutralizss all
that is bad in mans composition.
Break down all, or a part of the dis
~tinetiOns that exist between them,
by making it fashionable for woman
to engage in avocatiOns which should
engage only men, and woman's in
huenee is dissipated like the mist of the
morning before the rising sun. While
a man is drawn into the path of recti-
tude by the influence of agen-
tie woman, he is repealed by
the brawling street virago, or
even the woman who habituaI
ly mixes herself in those demon
STATIONS that are tolerated in So
ciety, where the strong minded give
vent to the -cosrseness of their natures
or engage in those avocations
which are alike injurious to both
sexes. Ii woman is heavens last,
best gift to man, she should be re-
garded as q precious treasure, and not
an ordinary ware, to be handled and
psrsded in public along with vulgar
things. If she is mans good angel,
she should not be taken out Of her an
gelie sphere and made his boon COM
paniOn in the rough-and-tumble OF
everyday life. Woman's good in
fuences consist solely in that native
graeiousness and gentleness inherent
in her nature and accorded her by
mankind, and which is not possessed
by the sterner sex. Whenever woman
sbsndOns the elevated sphere by
which she rules and exercises a re-
straining influence, she lapses back
into the condition which she occu-
pied in the middle ages. Divest her
the sacred charm Of her sex, and
her power for good is gone. Nothing
could more eieetually do this than to
throw her upon the highways, and
the byways, and into the vortex of
political strife, so foreign to her nstu
raj instincts. Men will then have no
from the miserable tur-
moils Of the day, no soothing and
influences to purify a becloud-
ed or distorted Judgment and calm his
Derturbations. The angry crimina-
lion and recrimination of the street
,Ofner would but be renewed at the
ireside. The true idea of woman's
influence and woman's society is, that
beneath their gentle benisons man
inds an earthly paradise from which
ler very presence excludes the anx-
.Ous cares and rough experiences of
he world, and fills his soul, as
4 by a miracle, with the gentler and
lobler, and the more god-like attri-
Outes of humanity. Could woman
wish a higher sphere or a nobler mis-
'icn, and would she be willing to re-
inquish them for the fatal decisions
md snsres that dwell in the babbliDg
mouths Of the many-hesded mons
.er, the multitude. We do not
srgue that woman would misuse
IT demoralize the world by a con-
act with it; but we do maintain
hat the world would misuse her,
md, like a canker, cut up her good
lsme and usefulness, leaving nothing
,ut an arid wilderness where there
ihOuld be a flower garden Of beauty,
# goodness, of truth, and Of angelic
influence.