The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-04-03
Unemployed Gentlewomen.

| on an invalid or travel with one. Will
you be so kind as to inquire among your
friends and obtain such a position for
me, if ifpossible?"
From time to time communication
similar to this in tone and expression
float into the haven of the writer's desk
ForlOrn little barques, sent so truStfuliy
out upon the sea by my unknown cor
respondents. | am filled with a pro-
found pity rs l gaze on them. A gen
eral kinship pervades them all.
! One is from a widow, residing in pow
erty and dependence in the home of
brother-in-law, where she feels that she
! is received only on tolerance. Anothe;
pleads the cause of a young lady, who
was reared in aiiluence, sent to good
schools and taught a little of everything.
but nothing thoroughly; who knows not
| even the alphabet OF bread-winning.
but will undertake any service mot
menial." With touching simplicity and
confidence these people safe their cir
cumstances and theirrequirementS, and
! then having. Is it were, thrown them
selves into ones very arms, await be
nevolent action. If they happen to be
able, aS, fortunately, most women IN
! this day are, to write moderately good
English, they appeal to You to get their
stories or poems into print, evidently
suppoSing that YOU can do so without
the Slighte difficulty.
And when YOU write the kind, courte-
Gus explanatory note, in which, veil 1t
tenderly as You may, the fact which
shall most prominently stand out to their
perceptions will be a cold, disappoint-
! ing no, dash of ice-water on roSeatc
hopes, you feel through all your being
that YOU will seem to them cruel and
ungracious. Worse, still, than thiS,
they probably will regard you hence
forth as a delusion, 4 writer of comfort
able words which you only half mean.
Dear unemployed gentlewomen, you
will say that advice is cheap. Never
theless, beg you to accept it. There
is always place in the world for skilled
work, and it always wins its legitimate
price. The world, however, is big and
busy and pushing, and the unskilled,
especially if they be modest and timid
and out of the way, have little chance
of recognition or of success. And, in
deed, when you look at it fairly, why
should the unskilled have q claim?
Skill has been gained by long, faith
full, diligent effort along one line. Shall
it be suffered to fail of its reward?
Surely not, while the words of the Mas
ter stand. To him that hath shall be
given. From him that hathnot shall be
taken away even that which he hath.
If YOU have a distinct gift for nursing,
and are still young enough to enter one
of the training schools for nurses. 60
there and qualify yourself for the exer-
else of your profession. The hospital
service will be severe and exacting; it
will demand intelligence, self-abnega-
ton and health But wien you shall
have completed the prescribed course,
and been duly graduated, you will find
remunerative work without difficulty,
work which, at the very lowest esti-
mate. will pay YOU from fifteen to
twenty-five dollars weekly, with board
included.
If YOU are too old to enter on such a
novitiate, begin, without waiting to
make money. at whatever small sum you
can get, or, if need be, for nothing, to
exercise your talent where you are. Is
there scarlet fever or typhoid in your
town? Then there are families to whom
you can 90 as a ministering angel, and,
sooner or later, your fame will be sent
abroad. The doctor will notice the
steady hand, the quiet manner, the con-
scientious fidelity which seconds his ef-
forts and follows his directions; friends
and neighbors will remember, and
though you may nev0r know Just how or
when it came about, you will by and by
be wanted for other and hetter work.
Do YOU know how to mend, neatly.
beautifully. so that you can make old
clothes new again? The delicate mend
ing which every gentlewOman once
prided herself upon, is fast getting to
be Il lost art do not see why mend
ing woman in any village or city should
not be able to support herself in real
independence. Ny missionary friends
in China tell OF the peripatetic members,
women who carry little stool and q
thimble, needle and thread, and sill
down in the streets to sew unlucky peo-
pie up, deity repairing rips and rents
on the instant. Nearly everything we
have came from China in the first
instance, but we have not attained to
the mending women yet. | should not
recommend the street as point of adj
vantage. but little room, and a little
sign in the window to begin with, al
first, why not?
Then there IS fine ironing, clear
starching, fut.1g. The perfect doing
of laundry work, ladies' work, my
friends, Is not at all demeaning. Itmakes
the heart ache to see how clumsy
Bridget, poor thing. ruins dainty linen.
and tears of buttons in her zeal. She
is .'hard on the clothes" Why should
a c,entlewoman not acquire this artistic
ACCOMPLISHMENT. if she has not learned
it already, and then take in the wash
inc at home? She might do it without
the ghost of an ofense to that social
ogre, respectability.
1t is that fatal, ,fateful word ''menial, y
which affrights impecunious gentle.
women. | wish we might blot it from
our lexicons. l wish women of the bet
ter classes, women who are born, ol
who have been lifted to the American
purple of easy living and high think.
inc. would agree to call nothing menial
which is honest. necessary and reputa
BILE. and which ministers to the well
being of the home. And if you Car
help it, do not fly to writing. The guile
has its delights, but it is Oyercrowded
and a novice cannot reasonably exDec
to compete at once successfully witt
those who have served a patient ap
premiership. Margaret E. Sangster, u
Chicago Interior.
I |
OleOmargarine.
If YOU suspect your groceryman O
selling you oleomargarine for pure but
| tn- r-n,I can dofarrnninea the frf1fh nv h