The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-12-02
TALKS WITH GIRLS.
ny JENNY JUSR.


There is Il proverb that decribcs a
man who has no history. IL this Is
true of men, it is infinitely more true
OF women. "She looks rs if she had
history" is the remark made about
any strange women, whose appear
ance betOkcns sadness, and some de.
gree of mystery. Happy lives, Oh
the contrary, have no concedlmentS,
and leave but few traces. The bloom
of youth gives place to comedy mid
die age, but the advance of crow's-feet
and the whitening of the locks are
not FASTENED by the terriers and
anXieties which wait day and night
upon the woman who has had passages
in her life which she would fain blot
out, or who is burdened with respOn.
sibilities belonging to the outer, us
well Us the inner world.
But Il career" is Just what women
are signing for--not its pains. not its
penalties, not its WEAKNESS. not its
isolation from SO much that makes
the happiness of other women's lives
but its apparent superiority, is
success. its rewards, its hon0rs, its
emoluments, its variations from the
monotony of everyday lire.
This Is the way career looks to
women, especially young women who
are OH the out side of one. They do
not wish to relinqulsh jot or little
of what should naturally fall to their
lot--home. husband, children, love.
domestic peace and happiness --but
they wish 10 add To all these the
wreath of laurel for the browning of
thrir own brows, forgetting the les.
son that was taught by the fate of
"Sdppho," and many other poor
women genius since her time, that a
woman cannot secure both the laurel
and the myrtle crown. that one or the
other must give way If she strives to
win and wear the two.
In trying To estimate the cost of a
career however, it must be under.
stood, us nearly and clearly as posi-
bic, what is meant by ~ career or
we never can arrive at just cOnclu.
Sions, and may well he charged with
under or Ovcr-stating the facts. To
begin, then, we must put ont of the
way those remarkable people who are
born with so wonderful u spoon in
their mouths that everything they
touch turns instantly into check for
Il Large amount--pe0ple who for Il
little poem. turned off without thought
or intention. receive Il hundred dol.
lars-people who can sit III home, and
for u few hours work in Il week re.
ceive enough to live surrounded by
al the art and literary luXuries. and
entertain friends with prodigal hos
pilality. Such eases are rare, seldom
found out Of novels or imaginative
newspaper paragraphs, and therefore
not worth taking into consideration
rs a basis for an actual study of facts
and probabilities.
Neither, on the other hand, Is ii
necessary to take any note of the lit
tie overflow the loose, ignorant, dis.
iointcd, fragmentary efforts made
by both men and women, without
knowledge, without preparation,
without single qualification for the
work whose confines they dare ap-
proach, without anything but the
desire to gain the rewards which
their imaginations swell far beyond
the actual truth, and which they
wish TO share with those who do the
real work.
\ career, whether it be business
or professional one, involves q taste
for the pursuit, whatever it is, and
must possess the dignity of distinct
4 Vnnst hn nnfnrn1 ut
least nowadays, with some knowledge
some thought, some preparation, and
it must be pursued earnestly, unre-
mittingly, in the face of sharp and
eager competition from unscrupulous
| persons often, whose weapons an
honorable man or woman would he
ashamed to use.
| All this il done by woman for the
length Of time "a career" involves
that is, the active part of a lifetime
is accomplished during the time that
she is performing the inevitable
duties Of wife, and mother, and
friend, and daughter, and sister, and
social force in the community il
which she lives. DO not interrupt
little girl, to say that you do not in
tend to marry, and that therefore thu
duties of wife and mother will not
fall upon you.
! To- you, in that case, 1 have moth
ing to say. Your isolated life vii
he the penalty you will have to pa!
for a career. and if the bargain il
satisfactory, the career success
and the independent life IN enjoyable
one, no one has any right To object
and you will deserve the credit o
having carved out your own fortune
But the majority of women do no
look upon this isolation rs a necess
ity in contemplating II career. The
intend to work it into their lives
like yeast into bread, in such q wa
us to vitalize the whole, not write
as IN inscription upon the grave-ston
of their hopes.
And few women have succeede
In doing this. They have been favoI
ably circumstanced, they have bee
content with the range Of their POI
sibilities, and have either not needle
| na.uniurv aplo ruo mont for dali