Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-05-19

of fast-growing girls, another pre-.
sents itself with equal force and ter.
ror, as we note the rapid vicissitudes
of American fortunes. If women
who have been trained to work from
their cradles, barely wiring a support
from the world by incessant toll,
what guard have our daughters
against the calamities that have over
taken other young ladies, as we'll
born and bred as themselves?
Teaching and authorship are pro-
fessions to be studied and practiced
assiduously for years before one can
hope to attain to eminence in either.
1 wish that the limits of this paper
allowed me to tell somewhat OF
"what I know about" amateurs in
the latter business-those who rail
alike at the selfshness of authors
who are paid for their work, and the
flinty-hearted publishers who will not
accept and pay for MSS. which they
are sure will not sell. There is a
hideous side to this picture, but the
pathetic is far more prominent. 1
have told, in the language of an
other, the always sad history, so oft
en- repeated, OF the would-be teachers
discouragements.
Every lady who "puts out" her
plain sewing has dozen pensioners,
eager and clamorous tor all she can
furnish. And unless she be very
conscientious in her determination
to give fair prices to her fellow-wo-
men, she will thrust all away with a
tart refusal, and buy ready-made gar
ments for what she ought to pay the
seamstress, exclusive of the cost of
the material.
Let us bring this matter directly
home. Your bright-eyed girl-or
mine-my friend and sister, in whom
we are living over the sweetness and
freshness of our own youth, with a
zest that makes us smile disdain at
the poets croaklng
''There is in life but one short spring,
And it can neer return
what of her, and her prospects in
this changeful life of ours? Have
you, or have I, any just conception of
how our thoughts of, and planning
for her, interpenetrate and color our
being and existence? We berate
her with loving pride for her disre-
spect in growing taller than her
mother, and resist her attempt to
pluck the gray hairs from about our
temples with, "No, love! A woman
who will have a grown daughter in
day or two, ought to look matron-
ly." Really, we forget to oe careful
about the preservation of our own
good looks, in our interest in the de-
velopment of hers. We are secretly
as vain of her first long dress and
engraved visiting cards as the mink
herself. Her accomplishments seem
to us very wonderful, and we quote
her gay sayings privately to papa as
choice bon mots. off she develop in
to such a woman as her mother, l
shall be content" he says with ten
der gallantry.
We thank him, but shake our
heads in wisttul dissent. We want
her to be stronger mentally and
physically; wiser, richer in all treasu-
res of heart, head and affection. We
"keep up" our French that we may
chatter with her, and revive our
long-forgotten duets, instrumental
and vocal, that we may be her COM
panion in this pleasure also. We
study the laws of health for her as
we never did for ourselves. If we
can spare her one pain or ache, in
the present or future, by much look
ing into these matters, 1t is plainly
our duty to do so. TO this end, we
read in our locked rooms Napheys'
"Physical Life of Women," and DR..
Clark's very dishcartning treatise,
s'Sex in Education" and recover our
spirits somewhat over Mrs. Duffey's
spicy "No Sex in Education," and
speculate until our head aches as to
who has the right of the. dispute-all
for the lassie's sake.
Be brave with me for moment.
Let your mind run forward to the
possible day when father and moth
er have laid their gray heads upon
the pillow from which they will not
be lifted until the resurrection morn
ing; to the hour when, without for
tune or protector, our daughter must
face life, and know the world as it is.
Her brothers have learned trades or
professions, and are breadwinners
and money-makers for their own fam
lilies. She knows no one thing well
enough to become the instructor of
others, or to compete, by reason of
the excellence of her workmanship,
with the many who are already striv-
ing together in the field she would
enter. 1t is not q bad thing to be
well shattered in polite society. 1t
passes current there nearly as well as
does solid neutrality-suspicious. bet
ter. But even clever smattering
does not, except in very exceptional
cases, bring livelihood and substan-
tial gains to her who practises it.
Our girl has q soul and conscience
above humbugs. If questioned, she
tells fairly what she knows and what
she does not, and if the list of her
Accomplishments" remind the sim
cere well-wisher too strongly OF poor
Miss Priscilla's dilemma over her
fathers spasmodics, he will probably
feel more like crying than laughing
at the resemblance.
"How absurd!" interrupts Mrs.
Positive, in her end-of all-controversy
tone. "What borrowing of trouble
upon interest! If the young woman
be but moderately attractive, and
play her cards well, she will marry,
of course, and be honorably provid-
ed for all her days"
1t suits Mrs. Positive to forget, for
the nonce, what thorn in the flesh
of her pride, and a leak in the family
pocket, is the allowance her husband
feels called upon by natural affection
and public sentiment to make to his
widowed sister and her four children.
The impecunious sister-in-law marri-
ed with as fair prospects as was then
Mrs. Positive's own, but her hus-