Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-09-04
TEMPERATURES ~,
(This column is devoted to the interests OF and
edited by the Ladies' OF the Women's Chris.
5ian Temperance Union.)
EDITED BY Mrs. Z. v, MILES.
A New Profession for Women.

| Work; s.
The memory of my own early aspi-
rations leads me to address you. de-
sired financial independence. that is, to
bear my own weight; said with Archi-
medes, Grant NE a placetostand, and
sought a lever by which I might help
to move the world: If this describes
your mental outlook. let us confer to-
gether concerning yourvoca5ion. There
is none nobler than that ola teacher or
a professor in an institution for the
higher education. But these ranks are
overcrowded. and without decided tai
ent, some experience or rare influence,
you risk much in making choice of
teaching as your field of labor.
Journalism is difficult and uncertain.
Literature, without the highest order
of talent, is hopeless. tLyceum lectur-
ing has passed its prime, and the most
gifted and famous alone can win in the
arduous field. Public reading as an
avocation for women, is as much v
crowded as the legal profession is for
men. Inmusic, vocal and instrument
tai there is an absolute glut of the mar
ket, save for the highly endowed.
Moreover, in all these lines, the stand
ard is rising so steadily and to such a
height, that m%ediocrity, once endurable
is now hopelessly condemned. 10 be a
fourth or even a third-rate musician is
to have failed outright. To paint
daubs and call them pictures, is a posi-
tive sin. To murder the modern Ian
guages by false accent and atrocious
grammar, hath not forgiveness in this
world. But behold, all these things are
done daily by droves Of voting persons
who are blindly or ignorantly resolved
upon the unattainable.
The inventory L have outlined in
cludes most Of the higher occupations
open to women, save one, and that is
the broad, nay, the well nigh boundless
field of practical philanthropy. Here,
at last, the world is all before you,
where to choose. There is a welcome
from the best, for women, on the moral
battle-ields of this busy age. Soldiers
are needed; new recruits eagerly sought
No class Of workers here outrank wo-
men in opportunity, dignity, or the re-
wards that a sincere heart prizes most.
To be sure, wealth cannot be won here,
but a moderate income, sufficient for
current needs, is certain to all faithful
workers. A noisy fame is not to be at
tanned, but a thousand homes will be
your own andten thousand hearts will
bless and shelter you. Growth of brain,
heart and conscience, is nowhere more
certainly assured. There is no one sid
ed development, as in purely intellec-
tual work, but thought and sympathy
go hand in hand. 1t is a home-like
place for a woman's soul to dwell in,
this golden harvest field of Christian
work. The Ruths have been here long
as cleaners only. They have grown to
be reapers at last. I might enumerate
the societies for Home and Foreign
Missions, Indian Reform, Associated
Charities, and many other attractive
lines Of work, but my present object is
to win your attention to the Woman's
Temperance Union as the most prom
Using field of labor and reward that
can be named for Christian women,
young or middle-aged or old. Let me
tell you something of its history and
aims:
The National Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, with it's thirty
eight auxiliary State and nine Territor-
ial Unions, besides that Of the District
Of Columbia, is the largest society ever
composed exclusively Of women, and
conducted entirely by them 1t is now
organized in every State and Territory
of the nation, and locally in all 1mpor-
tant towns and cities. Great Britain,
Canada and Australia are also organ
lied, and Mrs. Mary G. Leavitt, of Mas
sachusetts, is making a preliminary
reconnaissance for a Worlds w. C. T.
U. AS a general estimate (the returns
being altogether incomplete), we think
the number of local unions in the Uni.
ted States about 10000, with a mem
nership of about 100000, besides num-
erous juvenile associations. This So
ciety is the lineal descendant of the
great temperance crusade of 1894, and
is a union of Christian women of all
churches, for the purpose Of educating
the young; forming a better public SEN
timent; reforming the drinking class
es; transforming, by the power of Di-
vine Grace, those who are enslaved by
alcohol; and removing the dram-shop
from our streets by law.
In the order Of evolution, the depart
ments of work are embraced under the
following general classification: Organ
izing; Preventive; Educational; Evan
gelistic; Social: Legal.
Eleven years Of constant study and