The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-05-30
LITTLEToN, WARREN Co,
Nav -, 1878

the last number of n FARMER AND
MECHANIC. after perusing its pleasant
pages. and there is one sister of the
s.circle" whose hand | should like to
take and give a regular shake" and
that is c. w. What she says of "Wo-
mans Work" goes "home to my
heart" and most earnestly do l repeat
her question: What can a woman
do who must depend upon her own
and upon whom others may
be DEPENDANT
This is called a free country, yet no
galley-slave was ever more firmly fit
ted. bv bands of iron, than the daugh-
tiers of this land are bound by custom
and prejudice and it seems to me
that it is time they were shaking off
these useless shackles hat bind SO
many of them to uncongenial and
h~arrassing employments. | do not
mean bv this that | advocate two
mans rights" in the Northern accep-
tation of the phrase far from it. |
believe that politics, the pill-box and
the pulpit are mans by right, and that
woman's kingdom is her hOme-what-
ever she may understand by that
word-whether a mansion or a cot
tage, or a suit Of apartments in a fash
ionable hotel, or a single room in a
tumble-down tenement house and
whether it is shared with father or
mother, sister and brother, husband
and children, or whether her own
shadow is the only one that falls upon
it's bare walls.
| have often heard many mothers
say that an unmarried woman had two
great rights First. always to look as
pretty and be as agreeable as possible;
second, to be as useful and Obliging
as it lay in her power, and that when
she married she added three more
privileges to these two:-First, always
to keep her husbands socks darned
and his buttons on; second, to share
all of his joys and sorrows; and third,
to slook we'll to the ways of house
hold" To all of these l think ever
the chords of creation" will agree;
| but to these l think she adds to scorn
the bread of dependence and be self
supporting when circumstances have
deprived her of her natural supporter
in the form of father or husband; and
the customs l think she ought to rebel
against are those that limit her exer-
tons to such a narrow field. There
ought to be more ways open for a
woman to gain her livelihood than the
customs and prejudices of this glori-
Gus nineteenth century allow her!
think 1T is in Kentucky that, upon
the day that a man becomes of age,
his father goes to him with a bride in
one hand and a spelling book in the
other, and bids him choose his profess
sion. If he takes the spelling book
he becomes a teacher, if the bride, a
horse-jockey's life is before him. And
this is very much the case with the
women. not only in Kentucky, but
from Maryland down to Florida. and
from Carolina across to California
No sooner does one of them announce
her intention of working for her own
living. than her dear five hundred
friends" crowd around and hold I'll
for her choice as the scene Of her la.
bOrs. a school-room, an boarding-house
and sewing-machine. In ten cases
out Of twenty she has no talent o.
inclination for either, but tbs all she
III do, as she chooses the least of tht
three evils and begins the round O
uncongenial duties discouraged ane
dispirited. Then, if she is still upol
the rosy threshold of youth, i'm iv,
cases out of ten, disheartened by fail
ure and hopeless of ever succeeding
she turns in despair and says-.yes
and thank you too to the first mar
who offers to release her from he
bondage, never pausing to consider i
he is qualified to render her happy. Q
whether the habit he has of sometime
drinking more wine than is necessar,
may not, in the future, lead her t,
disgrace and misery far deeper AM
more lasting than ever followed a fail
ure in a school room or sewing apart
ment. In her relief at leaving a lf
where only vexations and disappoint
ments have met her, she does no
realize that she is little qualified t
govern a home of her own, in whicl
her affections and interests are no
conferred, as she is to Irvine the vine O
knowledge round tender young trows
or cut out a dress after one of Madam
Demorest's most approved models
and thus she "marries in haste an
repents at leisure"