, 1880-07-08
wonAn's Sphere

know lh44NAAuAt7t " ~
,ouli 7 sav tbs. thiEk they are On
,ir,lv equal Bat there are two visihly
standing begare the world (Nhich Is
made 90 Of theml 70 b. Judged accord
inc 20 ,heir works, ahd upon these
works wish 70 ask the reader Hrs and
her opini
Thisi is mine 10 start with-thAt when
God nut two creatures into the wo'ld Il
hone that persons OF advanced intelli-
eeace will forgive the old-fashioned
pbrase6logy, which perhaps is behind
the agel It Was not that one should be
the servant Of the other, but because
there was for each a certain evident and
sufficient work TO do. 1t is needless to
INQUIRE which work WAS the highest.
Judgment has been universally given in
favor Of the mans work, which is that
of the uroteetor and food producer
though even here one cannot but feel
that there is something to be said on
the weaker side, and that it is possible
that the rearing Of children might seem
IN the ewes of the Maker, who Is sup
posed to feel a special interest IN the
human race, as noble an occupation, in
its way, as the other. To keep the
world rolling OH, as it has been doing
for all these centuries, there have been
needsul two creatures, two types OF crea-
lures, the one an impossibility without
the other. And it is curious thought,
when we come TO consider 1t, that the
man. who is such fine fellow and thinks
SO much Of himself, would after all be
conplete nonentity without the woman
who be has hustled about and driven
into n corner ever since she began to be.
Now it seems to me that the first and
largest aud most fundamental of all the
grievances of women is this That they
never have, since the world began, got
the credit of that share Of the work Of
the world which has fallen naturally to
them, and which they have, on the
whole, faithfully performed through all
the vicissitudes. ...a.t ..na a.,
scarcely remember any writer who
has ventured TO say that the half of the
work Of the world is actually accom-
plished by women and very few hus-
bands who would be otherwise than
greatly startled or amazed, If not indis
nant, if not derisive, at the suggestion
of such au idea us that the work of
their wives was equal TO their own. And
yet, for my part, l think 1t 49, so far
as | can see, the workingman's wife
who has to cook and clean and wash
and mend, and do all the primitive SER
vices of life for her family, has harder
and more constant work than her hus-
band and rising upwards in the ranks
of life think the same balance goes on,
at least until that level of wealth and
leisure is reached at which the fayorites
of fortune, like the lilies, toll not,
neither do they spin. But | am not
concerned with those nights. What
dukes and duchesses do, and which of
them work the hardest, will scarcely tell
upon the argument nor am deeply
versed in the natural history of million
aires. But so far as am acquainted
with facts of existence, the wornan's
hands are everywhere as full Of natural
occupation as are those Of the man.
The mans work lasts certain num-
ber of hours, after which he has his
well-earned leisure, his evening to him
self, his hours Of recreation or Of loung-
ing but his wife has no such privileged
amount of exemption from toll. Her
work is 'never done" She has the
evening meal, whatever it may be, to
prepare and to clear away, and the chill
dren to get to bed, and the mending to
do, in the hours when be is altogether
free, and considers himself with justice
to have q right to his freedom. In very
few cases does it occur to the woman to
grumble at this, or to wonder why her
lot should be harder than his. 1t is
natural it is her share. The whole
compact Of their married life is based
upon this, that she sould do her work
while he does his and hers is the share
which is "never DONE" l do not say a
word against this law Of nature, but Il
object that while this is the case the
poor woman who works 80 hard is con-
sidered as passive object Of her hus-
bands bounty, indebted to him for her
living, and with no standing-gound or
position OF her own. She is so consid-
cred in the eye Of the law and though
the foolishness of the sentiment is too
manifest in her Individual case to be in