The National tribune., 1883-05-24
LOYAL W0MAN'S WORK
The FireSide and the World Wide.
Helpful Hints and Friendly Talks.
conducted by Kate B. Sherwood, Toledo, Oh

we hear very little now a-days about woman's
sphere" and what woman may and may not do
and yet remain woman still. think the
war, more than any great outside influence,
put an end to that kind of talk. 1t gave wo-
man opportunity of testing her strength in
many ways and put an eternal quletus upon
those Gerce dragons of intrenched superstitions,
who maintained that woman could not step
beyond the domestic threshold without putting
the dignity and glory of her sex in eternal
jeopardy.
We ceased to hear learned dissertations upon
the beauty of female retirement when woman's
hand was needed in the hospitals and on the
battlefield! When the food and the cordials
and the lint and the fannels were to be for
warded to the sick and the wounded When
the editorial desk was left without its busy
occupant and the anxious untaught wife, who
| had smothered her tears when she said good
| bye, had to take up the unfinished lines and
gather up the broken threads of thought as best
| she could! When woman's pale face looked
| out from the little store, or grocery, where the
| hearty greetings of an ardent young patriot
| had never failed to warm the heart of his pat
rons Aye, when the harvest-felds were neg
! lected and the wives and the mothers and the sis
| tiers, with hands all unused to such hard toll,
saved moiety for the long and weary days to
come! All honor and praise to the women Of
America who stayed the hands and cheered the
/ hearts of tie soldiers Of the Union! And honor
|
| their services at their worth and who to-day
extend to them that reverence and recompense
which only the patriot can rightly feel for de-
voted and self sacrificing wOmanhood
If the war for the Union emancipated the
| down trodden black men and women from
| degrading human bondage, it did more. 1t rent
| the veil of partition between the men and wo
men of America and revealed to them the fact
| that henceforth, they should walk side by side
as helpers and co-workers. 1t was no longer
Ought women to do this CIR that it was, "can
she do t?" 1t was tearing off the fetters of false
reasoning and cumbrous superstition, and learn
! ing the intellect to work in its natural chan
nels, in its chosen line of taste or duty. Men
| began to realize, and women too, that woman
could widen her usefulness and enlarge her OPP
portunities without the sacrifice other womanly
graces and domestic virtues; that to be a good
wife and mother it was not necessary to shut
| herself up as i'll an Eastern harem.
This was a conviction that came none too
| soon, since the women who came to the rescue,
owing to the scarcity. of men in the old war
! days, very early found that there was call for
them to stay just where they were. Their own
| selfprotection demanded the sacrifice. The
| men whose lives went out in the white heat
of battle left untold thousands of women
! unmatched and minated, and compelled
| thenceforth to bear the burdens of life alone.
Who will say that, in their various occupations
and callings they have not been competent,
! exact patient and accomplishing; that they
| have not, in all things, shown themselves the
| worthy compeers Of the heroes of the Nation
| Look for a moment at what women are doing
And where are they not to be found, besides be-
| lnnd the counter and in the dress making es-
Establishments and in the public Offices? Their
admission to the Departments at Washington
was the result of the war, and the same may
be said of their presence in the various State
and county offices throughout the country.
More quiet and inconsequentia, politically
! speaking, than the Chinese, and with no less
perseverance and determination, they are max
ing their way into every avenue of professional
and industrial life. They are manipulating
the telegraph and the telephone; they fill the
book-keepers' desks i'll some of our largest es-
adjustments; they are editors and amanu-
! enses and shorthand reporters; they are prac
| teal agriculturists, and manage our most ex-
tenslve greenhouse and gardening interests;
| they are a success in bee culture and the
dairy; they are our best educators, and have
| organized and are managing the most economic
and systematic charities in many of our towns
and cities. Even the railroads are open to their
conscientious, sober, and exact services. The
| time has indeed come when brains are rated as
a most excellent thing in woman Whether
| it be to write a book or broil a beefsteak, the
work is well done in proportion to quantity
of that most excellent brought to bear upon
the subject.
THE WORLD OF WOMEN.
Be woman-brightest model
OF that high and perfect beauty,
Where the mind, and soul, and body
| Blend to work out life great duty
Be woman-naught is higher
| On the gilded list of fame
/ On the catalogue OF virtue
| There's 10 brighter, holier name.
| BE woman-on to duty,
Raise the world from all that's low,
| Place high in the social heaven
| Virtues fair and radiant bow!
Lend thy influence to effort
| That shall raise our natures human;
Be not fashions gilded lady,
BE brave, whole-soued, true woman"
THE HAPPY HOME.
Now, I fancy / hear some sweet peachy
bride or perhaps, some noble woman who has
given her life to the rearing of a family of
dutiful boys and girls, say, all too carelessly
What is all this to happy homer" All,
what, indeed, since home should ever be upper
most to the woman who can call that most
blessed earthly state her very own. l would
not give much for that woman, whoever she
may be, who would make it secondary in her
thoughts and affections 1t should be not only
the duty but the privilege of every woman to
make her home just as bright, as CHEEKY, as at
tractive, as beautiful as it is in her power to
make 1t. AT the same time no woman can do
this who lives for herself and her own selfish
ends 1t is not the shrinking recluse, however
INDUSTRIOUS ana capable she may be, who Gre
ates such home. Rather is it the woman
whose sympathies go out to her kind, who
overflOws with generous impulses and who
, drinks in inspiration and heathful emulation
by commingling with the hopeful, helpful busy
, world outside. We are social creatures, and
we absorb much more than we give in return
from our intercourse with those who help by
illustrious examples or who make us content
with our lot in contrast with the pitiable state
of theirs.
But, dear friends, remember that the ma
Jority of women have not the happy home.
Vast numbers of them have no home at all.
Their lot has been sorry one; it is still a
hard and anxious one. But when one works in
the line of his own best talent hard work
ceases to Cypress and chafe him. And is it not
well, since woman must strain and toll that
she can do it in her own chosen way. Nothing
eats out the heart of a woman like emergencies
unsupplied. And since by sheer excess OF
numbers woman is forced to be fawning de-
pendent earn the bread sweetened with
honest effort it is a grand and glorious thing
that she may, with acknowledged propriety,
take whatever course her natural bent may
dictate. Her capabilities are quickened, her
powers are enlarged, and the generous emula-
ton that comes with contact with the business
world very soon increases her powers many
fold. So much for the outside worker.
, The woman at home needs in her way the
same sort Of development which the outside
worker finds in her chosen or enforced labor.
She needs system order frnUarnrnapt tho do