Morris tribune., 1884-04-30

are suitably described, and that they are
spoken of as charming! Thinking Of life in
its reality, of what it ought to be and mean,
then looking at this phase Of it, represented
by a large type of American womanhood To-
dav one maryels that the world is so old to
so little purpose.
Another class of women here, inevitably
an outgrowth of the former, are the society
correspondents of the newspapers. Women
of ability, many of them, whose business
wear after year is describing dresses and en-
tertainments so much alike from generation
that one wishes floral decorations could be or
something besides "smilax" and "tube roses"
and that dresses need never be en- train OF
hair "pompadour" again; that Rr. Jones
would not lead Mrs. Recherche to dinner,
and that there never was anybody to sit "at
the right hand of the host or hostess" until
the kingdom of heaven shall come, when the
whole human family can sit down to nectar
and ambrosia, and no more fuss about it,
Ladies' who do society writing" do it be-
cause it "pays best" 1t is commercial, not
an intellectual enterprise, and on business
grounds is as iustifiable as the selling OF pins,
and just about as interesting to those who
do it. Pins get monotonous, viewed lndl-
vidually or in large numbers. Considering
the difference in intensity in the points OF
thousand pins for long term OF years would
hardly calculate an eclipse or ease heart
ache; nor would the study of human nature
from the dead levels of conventional society.
Here impulse is dead, enthusiasm unborn,
earnestness precluded. The effort is to
shine" and that in candle-light. The sun
has gone out of fashion.
al ~ t,1l TnS
ineton are those working in the government
departments. A hopeless, weary task for
educated, refined, we'll reared women as
many of them are would rather go away
to the western prairies and preempt a few
acres of Gods good soil, and with my own
hands guide the plow and plant the seed, in
the free air and sunlight of the blue heaven,
than take position at one Of those monoto-
nous desks to write, write, write dreary
copies of soulless documents until the light
fades out of the face, the warmth from the
heart, and health from body and soul.
Woman was never meant to be a machine.
Every nerve in her body protests against it.
Every fiber of her soul revolts against the
murder of her own free will. Automatic
action in society OF independent labor is her
doom and death.
In a room adjoining this where I write lies
at this moment on a bed of suffering gentle
girl whose life for eight years has been in the
treasury department here. And, by the
way, George w. Peck never wrote a better
thing than his humorous but kind and just
defense of the women in the treasury work
here. This young woman is very finely cul-
tured, trained in the atmosphere of books
and music, in the library of a studious father,
who, dying, left a small competence that
was soon swept away by lack of manage
ment. For eight years she has written in
that office until her health has gone, and she
lives to-day in constant fear lest her
position shall be taken from her
and given to another whose vitality
is unimpaired. AS she lies there now
her greatest dread is lest she shall
hear tomorrow that there is no more work
for her. Across the way, perhaps, my 1ady's
carriage rolls to her door, and she enters it
in disquiet lest her neighbor's is more mag
nifcent She does not see the sunlight as
she rolls along; she does not know that the
yellow jessamine is in fragrant bloom on the
sunny side of the Soldiers home, for it is not
fashionable to 60 there until later in the
season. She does not know that my young
friend is dying there from toll. yet suffering
because even it may be denied her; but she
does know, and it clouds her face and
hardens her heart that valleader went to
the presidents dinner last night, while her.
self was uninvited
Were one to make choice between these
two and take the place Of one of them, I
would take that of the poor, frail girl. Bet
ter, even, the discipline through which she
has passed, if that be necessary to give
birth to so sweet a soul, than the cold, dead
arrogance of her whose birth of spirit must
be in another life, if ever, since she has
lived too long for "change of heart" here.
Beauty of character! How few are striving
TO attain it! Fewer, even, than they who
nre asking for intellectual development.
Courage, hig h-mindedness, guilelessness,
true kindness How rare are they!