Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-11-12


ry. OF those who do marry large propor-
tlon are obliged still 10 earn their own liv-
ing entirely or in part. The majority Of
widows have the burden of their own
maintenance thrown upon them, and that
of their children. 1t Is therefore an abso-
Lutte necessity of our present social condi-
tion that women should have as free ad-
mission to professional and industrial train
ing as men, that there should be no monop-
oily of sex and no protective duty on either
side.
The number OF occupations open TO wo-
men are so very few that they are crowded
with applicants who tread one another
down and keep wages at the very mini
mumy II is not tho fault OF the capitalist
that woman is so poorly paid for her labor.
II is the fault of society. Any article sells
cheap when there is TOO much OF 1t in the
market. And woman's labor is cheap when
there is too much of that in The market.
Take the profession OF teaching. Every
where the salaries of women are much be-
low those OF men. Why7 Not because
they are less successful than men in the
same profession or do less work. Nor yet,
as some affirm, because they have only en-
tered the profession temporarily, as a step
| ping-stone 10 something better-for this is
| no more true Of them than of men. But
there are too many Of them. A superin-
intendent OF education says, Remove all
the teachers lf the United States and their
| places could be filled in a week." There
are 5000 10 1000 women music teachers in
Paris. What is needed is free, untram-
meled access of women 10 all fields of la
Dor, and equal industrial training with men.
No girl should be considered educated for
life Till she is in possession of trade, pro-
fessio or business that will give her liv-
ing.
But the re is hope, for there is a growing
dissatisfaction with our system OF popular
education. 1t may be described as literary
for the use of the head and moi at all for
the hands. 1t does not bear directly on the
leading pursuits of the people. In the or
ganization Of schools and in the methods
of instruction there has been great change !;
little in the things taught. There is, how
ever, a growing tendency 10 modify popu-
lar education in our country and TO bring
it into harmony with the age, and the man
iiest demands of labor.
A two-fold movement in favor of indus
trial edu cation in America has already be-
gun. One looks toward the establishment
OF technical schools like the "Illinois in
dustrial university" open TO women as
well as mon. Another seeks a modifca-
ton Of our present school system, which
shall enable them TO send students 10 these
schools of professional training or the work.
shop of the artisan. Massachusetts has
taken steps to promote popular art educa-
tion, which will be felt by and by. And
already, some Of the manufactures OF Mas.
achusetts are sufficiently good TO compete
successfully with similar foreign markets.
In Massachusetts normal art school has
been established, from which are sent out
teachers. Women teachers from this in
stitution command good salaries, and are
in great demand. There are also schools
of design already established, and in the
field of designing there is prolific field Of
employment for women. 1t is said that
one city alone OF Massachusetts spends an
nually in Europe $40 900 for annfacturiDg
designs, which should be made here. Let
open, and fjrce the opening OF more. For
in the field OF industrial art training wo-
men can succeed as well as men.
Mrs. .LiveTnIOre said she could not close
without asking her audience for a moment
TO consider who these women we're, and
had been, who are denominated ''superhu-
ous," because unmarried. She IN ade re-
sumo Of the grand work done by the Calho-
lie sisterhoods during the last fifteen cent
uries, who have dlstricled the suffering,
misery and vice, crime, want and woe of
the world, and have everywhere entered
the llsts7against It, keeping alive in the
world faith in the Christ of helpfulness and
healing, to whom they had consecrated
themselves. Then she took up the work OF
Protestant "superfluous women" for the
last half century, summarizing in brief
paragraphs the lives of women like Bur-
dett Coutts, Mary Carpenter, Florence
Nightingale, Emily Faithful, Frederika
Bremen, Harriet Martineau, Dorothea Dix,
Clara Barton, Charlotte Cushman, Harriet
Hosmer, Rosa Bonheur, Elizabeth Black
well, Maria Mitchell, the Cary sisters, Lou
Use Alcott, and others of the same noble
class. But time would fail TO catalogue the
grand women of the last twenty FIVE years
alone, who according 10 the generally rec
ognized theory of wOman's life, have been
superfluous, because unmarried women,--
"social failures" as Sir Henry James calls
them.
All through the land, in homes and out
side of them, ind these wcmen, Hnwed-
| 1aA f, fba nr Nox
speech called "old maids" with shrug of
the shoulder, and slight dash of scorn, 10
the finer language of soeiolOgists aud es-
sayists deDominated "supsrhuous women"
They have been brave enough TO elect to
walk through life alone, when some man
has asked them In marriage, whom they
could not love; with white lips they have
said "no," while their hearts said ''yes, I"
because duty demanded of them the sacrl-
fee of their own happiness. Their lives
have been stepping stones for the advance
rnent of younger sisters; they have earned
the money 10 carry brothers through col
lege into professions like the CaryAtides
Of architecture, they stand in their places
and uphold the roof over a dependent
household they invert the order Of nature
and become mothers TO the aged, childish
parents, fathers and mothers, whose failing
ieet they guide gently down the hill of life,
and whose whithered hands they by aud
by fold beneath the daisies; they carry
words OF cheer and comfort to households
invaded by trouble, sickness or death. The
dusty years stretch far behind them; beau
ty and comeliness drop away from them,
and they grow faded and careworn they
become lnobodies TO the hurrying, rushing,