Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-07-26

The superstitiOus, we hope. did not regard
the lightning stroke which last summer shiv-
cred the flag staff upon the building a sign
of i'll omen. The public interest in the bril-
liant opening in March should rather have set
the keynote of expectation. The crowd was
enormous, and the accounts in the papers
were copious and exhaustive. Ventilation,
heating, furniture, food, all the primary ele-
ments of IA pleasant home, seemed to have
been well considered, although the sagacious
and inquisitive eye of women detected the alb
sence of what Aunt Margery fondly called
''clussets." The proveIb that what is every
body's business is nobody's business was read
backward and there was n fusillade of sharp
and rattling criticism and censure upon the
details of arrangement and management. The
fact meanwhile remained that an admirable
house admirably appointed offered home to
working-women who could pay the reckoning
required, and who would conform to the rules
of the house.
That the prices were too high was II COM
ment often made, and that they defeated the
object of the foundation, which was a home
for working-women. But the reply was that
the working women who could pay the prices
were legion, and that they We're those for
whom the house was founded. There could
be no answer to this unless the critic assumed
to know the purpose of the founder more tru-
ly than the trustee. There was also a great
deal of censure of the rules as being absurdly
arbitrary, and necessarily deprivng the house
of the distinctive character of home and
making it rather a dreary hotel, if not an
ameliorated peuitentiary. As the weeks pass
ed, it was rumored that the rooms We're not
taken, that the number of guests was very
small, and that the daily loss in expenses was
very great. Suddenly after three months
trial, the doors of the house a working
womans home were closed. That enterprise
was relinquished and after a little delay the
doors were opened again those of the Park
Avenue Hotel for the entertainment of stran-
gers and travellers.
Here again, We're fine chances for the COM
mentator. and the papers for some time teem-
ed with articles and letters, and the feeling
finally eliminated in woman's mass meeting
at the Cooper Institute, at which a considera-
BILE part of the audience that greets the Count
Joannes appears to have assembled, and it
saluted the denunciatiOns of Judge Hilton
with great noise of applause and laughter.
The reason of the failure of the enterprise
which was generally given was the strictness
of the rules. But evidences instantly arose on
all sides conclusvely showing that working
wOmen's homes with similar or seyerer re-
strictions were in prosperous operation. A
| friend of one of them in Boston wrote to the
| something left over for repairs, improve
ments, etc. and have no debts even through
| all the hard times. No union of numbers of
| men or women are more honorable in meet
| ing all their obligations more conservative,
| discreet, and reasonable" The same cores
pondent says very sensibly, that the reasons
of failure in such an enterprise are not to be
found in any peculiarly of women but that,
ito succeed in anything, character and needs
| must be studied"
This was, perhaps, forgotten in the Stew
art Home. 1t was apparent to many intelli-
| gent women who looked into the matter that
| women of interest and experience in such
work had not been intelligently consulted
and there was over all, "A doubt whether the
success of the design was earnestly desired.
No man can build wisely in such enterprises
without faith The correspondent whom we
quote says, 'He who most helped the help
less lived among them-knew them by the
most intimate and comprehensive sympathy.
In no other method can one begin to know
the struggle and need, the worth and WORTH
ness, of working-girl If the conditions
| imposed by Mr.. Stewart We're that the house
must pay its own way or be abandoned, and
if the management has decided that after fair
and patient and intelligent trial it has failed
to do so, the only question-which there il
no ready method of determining is, wheth,
er the trial has been fair, patient, intelligent
and within the just spirit of the founders in
tention. There is no conceivable reason why
a working -woman's home of the best kind
should not pay expenses entirely" in New
York, if it does in Boston. Editors EGsJ
Chair, in Ha,pey's Magazine for august.