St. Landry democrat., 1885-06-13
THE BALLOT no REMEDY.

Some say: "GTlV6 women Iue Da1Ob'''
What effect such ballot might have on 9TH
ker questions am not here to discuss; but
what would be the effect of female
suffrage on women's wages? l do not be-
Iieye that women will ever get justice by
woman's ballot. Indeed, women oppose
women as much as men do. Do not
women, as much as men, beat down to the
lowest figure the woman who sews for
them? Are not women as sharp as men on
washer women, milliners and mantua-
makers? IF a woman asks one dollar for
her work. does not her female employer
/ ask her if she will not take ninety cents?
| You saw: "Only ten cents difference" but
that is sometimes the difference between
Heaven and hell. Women have often less
commiseration for women than men. Ii a
woman steps aside from the path OF recu-
tude man may forgive, woman never!
Woman will never get justice done her
| from woman's ballot; neither will she get
| il from mans ballot. How then? God will
rise up for her. God has more resources
than we know of. The flaming sword that
hung at Eden's gate when woman was
driven ont will cleave with it's terrible edge
her oppressors.
But there is something for women to do
| Let young people prepare to excel IN
spheres of work and they will be able aft
| er awhile to get larger wages. Ii it be
| shown that a woman can in store sell
more goods in a year than man she Will
| soon be able not only to ask, but to demand
more wages, and to demand them success
fully, Unskilled and incompetent labor
must take what is given; skilled and COM
petent labor will eventually make its own
standard. Admitting that the law of sup
plv and demand regulates these things,
contend that the demand for skilled la
Dor is very great and the supply very
small. Start with the idea that work
| is honorable, and that you can do some
one thing better than any body else.
| Resolve that, God helping, you will
| take care of yourself. If you are, after
awhile, called into another relation, you
will all the better be qualified for it by
your spirit of self-reliance; or If you are
| called to stay as you are you can be happy
and self-supporting. Poets are fond of
talking about man as an oak, and woman
as the vine that climbs it; but I have seen
many tree fall that not only went down
itself, but took all the vines with it. can
tell you of something stronger than an oak
to climb on, and that is the throne of the
| Great Jehovah. Single or affianced, that
woman is strong who leans on God and
does her best. The needle may break, the
factory band may slip, the wages may
fail, but over every good woman's head
there are spread the two great, gentle,
stupendous wings of the Almighty.
SHARP CONTRAST.
| MANY of you will go single-handed
through life, and you will have to choose
between two characters. Young woman,
am sure you will turn your back upon the
useless, giggling, irresponsible nonentity
which society ANONYMOUSLY acknowledges
| to be a woman, and ask God to make you
| humble, activey earnest Christian. What
will become of that womanly disciple of
the world? She is more thoughtful of the
attitude she strikes upon the carpet than
| how she will look upon the Judgment;
more worried about her freckles than her
sins; more interested in her apparel than
in her redemption. The dying actress
whose life had been vicious said: "The
scene closes; draw the curtain" Gener-
4 ally the tragedy comes first and the farce
afterward; but in her life it was first the
| farce of wretched life and then the trag-
| edy of wretched eternity.
Compare the life and death of such a
| one with that of some Christian aunt that
was once blessing to your household.
do not know that she was ever offered the
| hand in marriage She lived single that,
untrammeled, she might be everybody's
blessing. Whenever the sick were to be
visited or the poor to be provided with
bread she went with blessing. She could
pray or sing "Rock of Ages" for any sick
pauper who asked her. AS she got older
there were days when she was little
| sharp; but for the most part auntie was
| sunbeam-justa the one for Christmas
eve. She knew better than any one
else how to fix things. Her every
prayer, as God heard it, was full
of every body who had trouble. The
brightest things in all the house dropped
| from her fingers. She had peculiar no.
-tions, but the grandest notion she ever
had was to make you happy. She dressed
well-aunt!e always dressed well; but her
| highest adornment was that of meek
and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of
God, is of great price. When she died
You all gathered lovingly about her, and
as you carried her out to rest the Sun
day school class almost covered the coffin
with japonicas; and the poor people stood
at the alley with their aprons to their
eyes, sobbing bitterly, and the man of the
world said with Solomon: "Her price
was above rubies;" and Jesus, as unto the
maiden of Judea, commanded: L say
unto thee, arise"
|
Ruling Passion Strong in Old Age.
Boston Beacon.l