The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-07-11
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ELKTON, JULY III, 1874.
COOPERATION AMONG FEMALES.

ELKTON, JULY III, 1874.
COOPERATION AMONG FEMALES.
The accounts from Washington Published
a few days ago, of the discharge of several
hundred female clerks from the depart
ments where clerks had accumulated greatly
in excess of the requirements Of the place,
is sad chapter to contemplate in the his
tory of our civilization. Some idea may be
formed of the utter wretchedness and hope
lessness of many of the women thus cut
loose from the means of earning living,
by fourteen of them fainting when the
news was first annouced that their services
were no longer needed by the Government.
A great deal of the misery suffered by the
civilized portion of the human family is
self imposed by arbitrary custom, in the
classification of necessary labor. The GUS
tom which measures useful labor by scale
of respectability, and exalts one branch
above another is source of untold woes
to a large class of the human family, espe-
of labor are to be preferred to others be-
cause they tax less severely the physical
endurance and strength, but that which is
Familiarity termed "hard work." should not
be avoided through a mistaken or false
notion that it is less respectable than kim
dred pursuits. Were it not for this arti-
fetal graduation Of the different pursuits, or
rather occupations, which are indispensable
the scale of responsibility, nine-tenths of
the misery, the mental suffering, and physi
cal wants, which wiring the hearts Of tens
of thousands would be avoided. This is
especially true of female occupations. The
national capitol is besieged with thousands
of females, and men, too, (but our remarks
at present are of the former class applying,
aye begging for positions as clerks in the
desk is considered nobler occupation than
q hundred other more necessary employ
ments in the family circle, which are solicit
ing female hands and brains to engage in
their performance. Ten thousand homes
are calling for female help, and such help
as women alone can properly render, while
an unceasing wall is going up in the land,
demanding wider sphere and more work
sphere of useful occupation for women, but
it would be higher wisdom to seek to
occupy the field already open. How many
noble victories await to be achieved on the
fields deserted, while the clamer for new
ones to conquer is going on. Thousands of
young women waste their lives and destroy
health toiling over sewing machines for
mere pittance, when better wages, pleas
anter occupation and robust health invite
them to engage in house work.
The sirene of fashion, in an unfortunate
hour, has beguiled the race of woman in
the pursuit of occupations under the false
notion of more responsibility, while the
labor in the family circle has been neglected
and fallen almost entirely into the hands of
the most ignorant and unprincipled class of
females. A cry of almost anguish is con-
stantly going up all over the land for labor
ers in this field, where, like every other
employment, wages, honor and respect
await those who are willing to engage in
it, in full measure to their intelligence, self
respect and virtues.
This field needs re- occupying by the bet
ter class of unmarried girls and women,
who can bring intelligence and brains to
aid the cunning of the hands. Thousands
of this class would be welcomed most
gladly by the overta1ed mothers and house,
keepers of the land, and gladly made the
peers of the sewing girl, the school teacher
and clerk, while more diversified employ
ment would bring them robust health, and
better wages; insure them future COM
potency, while the chances Of honorable
marriage and house of their own, which
they demonstrated they were so competent
to manage, might be numbered among the
prizes almost sure for them.
No individual efforts can reclaim this rich
field of labor and profit which has been lost
through false notions of responsibility and
the systematic degradation of useful labor,
which was SO industriously cultivated by
Americans the last half century.
Cooperation and intelligently directed
efforts might effect one of the most bene-
fetal revolutions in this matter of female
labor, which has marked the nineteenth
century. The theme is inexhaustible while
our space is comparatively limited, and the
most we hope to accomplish by way of
agitating this momentous question, is to
throw out few hints, leaving the train of
reflection to be taken up and pondered by
those who lament their hard lot in life;
both the married and the unmarried female;
the one having house, home and family,
but suffering for assistance to make that
home perfect and her domestic circle one of
comfort and happiness, while the other
seeks a precarious subsistence depending
on uncertain pursuits, where crowded
competition makes success a lottery. A
unity of purpose in the matron and her
help, directed by an intelligent brain on
each side, would insure degree of comfort
and contentment unknown under the present
abnormal condition of society, and open
up field full of promise of domestic hap
piness for the future of the poor but intel
ligent single girl, who has to depend on her
own efforts for life and it's enjoyment in
the years to come.
THE NEW Postmaster GENERAL.-The
Post Office Department, which went beg
ging for some days after Postmaster Cen
eral Creswell handed in his resignation,
having first been accepted by Mr.. Hale, and
then declined, has been rendered to Mar
shall Jewell, the present Minister to Russia
Mr.. Jewell is citizen of Connecticut, of
which State he was elected Governor in
1869, and reelected in 1871. In May, 1873,
Mr.. Jewell was nominated as Minister to
Russia, and was at St. Petersburg when he