San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-12
WOMEN'S WORK.
Some Who Earn Their Own Livingston
They Do Il and What They Are PAID

In spite OF the DeautlIul tncpry V""'
women are born to be taken care OF,
and men created in order to perform
that office, the number of women who
are of necessity self-supporting, who
must earn their own bread or 60 han-
ory, is large and increasing. Broader
views and wider civilization have open
ed to them many doors hitherto shut,
and to-day it may be safely sald that
any woman may earn her living, ny any
employment for which she has skill ana
strength. Her physical endurance as
rule, falls far below that of the man,
and this fact, together with that, that
in most trades and professions there ex-
lists among employers prejudice in IA
yor of male labor, has disastrous effect
upon her wages as compared with those
of the man. Only when bodily strength
counts for nothing, in art and in htera'
ture, when, as some one has said, there
is no sex, does this distinction cease to
exist. Whether coming ages are to al
ter this; whether the shrieking sister,
hood" are to bring about all the changes
for which they clamor, those ages must
themselves unfold. Our business lies
with the present state of affair, with
things as they are, not as they shall be,
when this and perhaps few more gen
erations are dead and buried. Ordi.
narily, the wages paid to workingwom-
en- are rarely more than enough to SUI
flee for a modest support. In large
cities, where so many girls are sales
women, their wages range from So to
$40, or perhaps Sl5, per week. A few,
exceptionally valuable, earn from $50
to S25, while q skilled forewoman may
be paid $50 or more; but such wages
are rare, and the general average may
be set down atfrom s. to sS-an amount
which it will readily be seen does not
allow much margin beyond necessary
living expenses. The army Of teachers
is proverbially ill-paid. Family gov
ernesses often receive but little, if any
thing, over 500 and board for the
scholastic year, and sometimes the
stipend is less. When the salary is
larger, the family is usually weather.,
the pupils older, and the governess is
expected to dress and appear in con-
formity to the circle in which they move,
and at church, at least, her attire must
be handsome. Public school teachers
are, as rule, much better paid; but
these, in country parlance, must " find
themselves" and thus the difference in
compensation is not so wide as one is
apt at first thought to imagine. Ii the
teacher lives at home and can command
her salary as pocket money she has
really pretty little income; if, however,
the amount must cover all expenses for
board and lodging, fuel and clothing,
she must be economical and prudent in
order to attempt a bank account.
JOURNALISM FOR WOMEN.
Of late years journalism has offered a
new field for educated women, and to-
day in America there are a few who
make money and whose names are
known to every one. But, alas, we see
and hear of those who win; the many
who fail do so with no one to tell OF
their struggles. People are apt to fancy
writing for the press easy work, which
any one with tolerable fluency-and
most women are fluent-can do. In
point of fact, no profession needs more
careful training. A man who sets up as
q cabinet-maker, knowing only how to
handle a plane; woman who essayed
shoemaking, expecting success because
she could sew straight seam, would be
as wise as she who hopes to make her.
self name and fame among writers on
the strength of her ability to write a
readable private letter. And journal
ism steady, faithful work-which is
ready with its article to order on any
subject, at any hour, is the only literary
work which may always be depended
on for daily bread and butter, let alone
the cakes and sweetmeats so dear to the
feminine tooth. "There is always
plenty of room at the top" but genius
is the poisoning of an aloe-the fruit
of a century. Talent allied to pluck
and perseverance is sure to win in the
long run, bu5 it must be in most cases
by a hand-to-hand fight with defeat-a
close contest with the struggling crowd
at the bottom. In general literature,
even where there has been real talent to
back the aspirant, and where success
| has come at last, il has often come after
many failures, and when success comes
the pecuniary reward is often pitifully
small. A distinguished writer is re-
ported to have once said, jocularly, that
his books averaged him dollar and a
quarter n year apiece, and even the
great novelists of the century have not
made fortunes. The woman who can
gain a decent living by her pen may
count herself successful.
She who marrieS for living has, per-
haps, the hardest life of all. Where
the union secures Il large fortune, this
remark, of course, does apply: but
where the husband is master of only a
moderate income and the wife becomes
such expecting to be taken care of, she
makes woefnl mistake. For the wife