The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-12-02
such methods rs have brought swift
and surf rpturns

for men. The man-wOrker needs the
solace of u home, the cOmpaiiiOnShip
of wife who performs innumerable
small offices for him, the society of
children who are cared for and guard
ed without his personal help or SIT.
pervision. This is just what the out
side woman-worker wants. She has
not strength left for HOUSEHOLD duties
and cares after performing those of
the store, the Office, or the workshop,
aud the effort TO ill both places, il she
is conscientious and tries To do both
well, is what we call burning the
candle at both ends. 1t makes her
life one continued WEAKNESS and
struggle, and finally cuts 1t off in the
middle, leaving all that she would
have done incomplete.
The outcome OF Il brilliant career
was never more strikingly illustrated
than by the recent death of an nd
mired actress, who had Outlived
nothing that had assisted in securing
her proud position. but on the con.
trary, was in the very midst of the
brightest circumstances which had
grown about her. Yet what did they
amount to after all! Dinners which
brought on frightful dyspepsia ut Il
cafe, the society of II paid companion
and a slab ut the Morguc when she
died. That she cared for none of the
accidents of her position was evi.
dent. Trunks full OF rich dresses
were put up ut auction and sold for II
song, before leaving to ill what
proved to he her final engagement.
Quantities of jewels, and ill of them
gifts. and costly, were disposed of in
the same way, and her life, spent in
travelling from one hotel to another.
rendered home or home ties and
associations out of the question.
Was such career worth it's cost!
| Was it worth the honor, the happi-
ness, the wOmanhood. the heart.Sick.
ness. the WEAKNESS of life, the isola-
ton, the disgust of all created things
that Adelaide Nelson paid for it!
1t is true that all actresses, even
actresses of genius, are not cut off in
so untimely Il manner as the one to
whom reference has ju't been given;
but as II career must have Il begin.
ming, or it must have an ending; and
this ending does not always come
about by natural means, that is
through length of years and failure
of the vital forces. When this is SO
1t is hard enough. Is is always diff
cult To realize that the place that we
called our own is ours no longer, that
those who knew us and cared for us
know Us and care for us no more; hut
it Is hardest OF all to bear when we
are IN the midst of our strength and
the plenitude of our powers; when
We are trusting, and confident of the
goodness of the rest of the world,
and the loss comes through trcachery,
OF the wretched green-eyed monster,
jealousy.
This is the experience of men, and
must be Of woman who hold that
which is considered desirable by
Others. There Is man who is poor
lunatic in u public hospital in New
York city, whose fine mind was DIES.
troyed by successful attempt TO
Dust him from laborious position Us
teacher, which he had striven hard
to obtain. His sensitive spirit could
not stand the disappointment and
humiliation, and his faculties in a
measure Succumbrd to the crushing
distress of his position.
Woman possess this constituencies
almost universally. and complicated |
organism which renders them parti. |
cularly susceptible to influences,
whether sympathetic or opposing; and
4 Ia.
than the majority of men under the
same circumstances. AIen are made
for conflict, and expect it, even if
they do not,like it; To many women
to the most of wOmen-it is intoler.
able, and they would rather retire
from the field than live in a state of
warfare.
Moreover, to women q home is
much more than it is to men it is
protection, it is safety, it is shelter
from men; and home means family
life, it means the love and care of
children; it means the cultivation of
the tastes, the growth of social life,
the fulfillment of social function
which is difficult, if not impossible,
to the woman who has the work of
IN outside career upon her hands.
She may endeavOr to perform it.: she
may be the recipient of newspaper
notices that describes in glowing
terms her gatherings of the witty
and the distinguished; but she knows
how perfunctory this sort Of hospi.
tality is. and how far it falls short of
that genial outflow, that truer spirit
of cordial friendliness. which makes
II home IN eyery-ready rest and refuge
u never.failing fountain of content
and happiness to all privileged to
enter its portals and bask in its sun
shine. Such home cannot exist
without the perpetual presence Of n
good, sweet.natured woman, to create
the atmosphere which every one feels
and enjoys without being able to
analyze. The natural ending to u
home life is peace, and memory
embalmed in the hearts of children
and friends. The woman whose life
is spent at home, and who fails in this
fails in her duty, and should find ont
and endeavor to remedy her own
shortcomings before it Is to late.
1t is a life which exercises the
widest influence for good of any
which could he lived by any woman;
a stronger and better influence than
that of the preacher, or doctor, or
writer, or, lecturer, or reader, or
store keeper; life which, IL truly
lived by I'LL women who have homes.
would educate men ont Of their sci.
fshness. their brutality, their coarse
,. hess. their injustice, their spirit of
appropriation and domination, and
make them strong only rs protectors
and helpers. Not that this would he
: accomplished all ut once hut the
awakening and humanizing influence
!: Of a good home, and strong. true, con.
scientious wife and mother, Is such
!. that nothing could withstand it; and
the moral force thus exercised, both
Individually and in the aggregate,
would be overwhelming.
' These considerations will not deter
I those "born to Il career" but perhaps
o they may make some ambitious but
ignorant young girls stop moment
a and ask themselves some serious
| ouast;nus hpfnre 1acilinu IN plunu.