New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-21
4 MISE STEP BdCKWiRD.

| reform was toward complete emancipation TOT
our wives and daughters from old conventional
rules and habits. The most stringent idea in
the minds of The leading reformers in this cOun-
try was the fact that women must have other
WAYS to cam their daily bread besides domestic
service, teaching, and sewing. IL was so hard
to conquer these new foOiholds for them, the
fight was so protracted and so bitter that the
reformers began actually TO think that the only
essentials to make perfect woman were the
chance to do mans work and the ability to do
1T precisely like man. Let them be sea-
captains if they will !" cried Margaret Fuller,
and her Jealous followers would have preferred
q woman who could command ship to one
satisfied to nurse the sick babies in the cabin.
ANY education and work which brought them
| ont from theiI homes aud in contact with the
| world were exalted by the new school. In
measured contempt and ridicule were poured
upon the old type OF Domestic Women, WHO
found sufficient occupation through life for body
and soul in helping husband and rearing
| children. With each fresh eDcrOachmcnt and
| triumph which some courageous woman made
into the domain of medicine, politics, or trade,
so loud was the enthusiastic din OF applause
| that old-fashOned folk did not dare 10 ask what
was the price she had paid for her progress in
mOdesty, reserve and delicacy. A good deal
! of loud laughing was doneat the sickly senti-
ment of the-old school, and their stale chivairlc
tenderness toward the SEX" Let the sex
| alone, we were told, and it would take care of
| itself. AS for mOdesty aud delicacy, these
were mawkish, himsy traits, mere signs of SILL
ness and weakness. Talk of the danger Of rub
bing the bloom from the peach The best
| al, hat rin yaoHv for tho MOI
ket, with no bloom upon it. We were told. in
short in thousand ways, that the chief End of
woman was TO help the public with her talents
| to usc them alone in the family was equivalent
to folding them away in Il napkin.
Now, twenty years have elapsed, and the re-
formers have won the battle. They have con-
quered the foOtholds they coveted. No woman
need starve who chooses TO work, no matter
what occupation she finds she is fitted for and
adopts. She can be a doctor, lawyer, clergy
man, artist, barber, farmer, paper hanger, or
sell dry goods or oysters, and no man will say
her nay nor will she provoke much surprise
nor any opposition. The reformers, like piO
neers, have cut their way; and, like all pi0
neers they used the axe mercilessly, without
looking beyond the immediate necessity for
path. Now that the possibility OF work is con-
quered for women, however, the public mind
has slowly swung round to its old faith in
modesty, gentleness, and the domestic virtues,
as her chief possessions. No one bames a
young girl who is driven by necessity into the
highway to earn her living; on the contrary,
she is helped by the public more cordially than
. man would be, for the Advanced Female has
not been able with all her efforts to cure Ameri-
cans of their instincr of chivalry. But there is |
u general unexpressed wish that the young girl
could stay indoors, that she might have her |
share OF protection, shelter; that work in the |
marlet-place is hard, pitful necessity for her, |
not boon. Ii is hard to root out OF the world |
the Old belief that the most important work of |
woman is to rear healthy, pure minded, helpful |
men and women, not to earn money. For this |
reason the obstinate masses will persist In |
measuring woman III her own home, and not |
out of doors, shoulder TO ST. Oulder to men. SO |
strong is this public prejudice that the very re-
formers themselves among women have gained |
popular influence precisely as they combined
the qualities OF delcacy. modesty, wOmanly
charms with their force and power. The fore
most among them, by the way, wisely never
surrendered those charms. They were not less
lovable or feminine because they were re-
the most high and helpful life granted to any
American woman, was a small, beautiful
woman, exceptionally modest and sensitive;
for many years the centre of snglllarly
quiet, happy home. The foremost Aboitionist,
the passionate pleadeI for wOman's rights in
public, at her own hearth she was a busy, tender
wife and mother, and even in extreme old age
full of an arch womanish gayety which lent to
her a wonderful fascination. Women who have
dragged some trivial reform up and down the
streets until they have themselves grown
have learned much-needed lesson from this
lofty, simple, reserved life.
Another hint of the universal desire to pre-
serve the decacy and modest charm of women,
while giving them opportunities, if necessary,
to earn their living, is found in the recent effort
to find work at home for them. They are not
urged to become sea-captains nowadays but all
departments of decorative art are opened to
them; sales.--future, DECREASING, and dairy
work. In fact the old emplOyments of the
Domestic Women offer now the best promise of
profit to her emancipated successor, If pursued
and steadily. 1t is time that both
the Tcformers and their opponents who cling
TO the habits of the old school should recognize
the fact that in the new order of things women
have gained much material good and if they
choose, need lose nothing of their womanliness
in the gaming.
l." We shall put 81 100000 into the Park where
we take $4,000 out of it," says Mr.. Samuel A..
tba. sltarrft If no