Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-11-21

*
Briefly Enens your speciality, well trained,
is your best bread-Wining implement,
and she who earliest grasps this, and who
hrmest holds it, comes off best in the
race. lBe not simply good, be good for
something" said Henry d. ThOreau. A
bright-eyed girl Of 16used to come to me
on Friday evenings to give me German
lessons. To be sure, had lived in Ger
many, and she had never been out Of
Illinois, but then that language is not
my speciality, while it is hers "HoW Is
it that, though so young, you have made
yourself independents" / inquired Of
her one day. Listen to the reply: "MY
mother was always quoting this saying
of Carlyle: The man who has q sixpence
commands the WOrld-to the extent of
that eixpence.' I early laid this senti-
ment to heart. Besides, when 1 was Is
years old heard a sermon on the text:
'Thig one thing I do Being Of a prac-
teal turn of mind 1 made an application
Of which the preacher perhaps had no
intention. / thought, why not in every
day affairs as well as in religion do one
thing we'll, rather than many things in
differently, and In that way secure the
magic sixpence of Carlyle? My father
was a rich man then, but resolved to
prepare myself to teach the German
language, Of which was very fond, by
way Of profession. When the Chicago
fire came We lost our property, but dis
covered that I could not only support
myself, but help my father to many a
convenient sixpenCe, because in prosper
GUS days I had fOreaImed myself with
cultivated specially"
As she told me this I thought how,
from widely different premises and con-
ditions in life, young people may reach
similar conclusions. For instance, on the
top of the great st. Bernard, said to the
"hospitable father, noble young monk,
How Is 1t that you, so gifted and well
taught, are spending your life away up
here among eternal snOWsW And I
shall never forget his look of eXaltatiOn
as he simply answered, otis my Voca-
ton"
After all, this is the vital question:
With what sort of weapon will you ward
off the attacks of the bloodhound poverty,
which Dame Fortune is pretty sure to let
on every b 1dy's track sooner or later
that she may try his mettle, and learn
what manner of spirit he is of? In times
like these, when mems hearts are falling
them for fear, when riches are saved the
trouble of taking to themselves Wings
by the faithless cashiers and book
keepers who are adopts at furnishing
these flying implements, and, above all,
when labor is coming to be king, the
question What will you dor" has fresh
significance. Remember, going forth
from the uncertain Eden of your dreams
into the satisfying pleasures of honest,
hard work, "the world is all before you
where to choose" VIII you snare some
other WOman's home, and help her
to make it beautiful No task more
noble or more needed awaits the
thoughtful worker of to-day. The world
exists but for the sake of its homes. viii
you bestoW your hand upon some fine
aesthetic industry, as drawing, designing,
engraving, telegraphing, phOnOgraphing,
pilot graphing? VIII you be an archi-
tect2 printer? an editOr2 Will you enter
one of the three learned professions?
Drawer women than you or 1 have won
a foOthOld for us in each of them; as to
the brainhOld, that is our affair. I will
not now pursue the question further.
Think moment. Wall you be led TO
say: "The good old ways are good
enough for me" and so drop into the
swollen ranks of teacherdOm, or rattle
awhile on a martyrized piano, and then
set up for q musician, though you have
not particle of music in throat or fin
ger-tips? Or will you stay at home and
let papa support you until you grow tired
Of doing nothing and expecting nothing,
and proceed to marry some man whom
you endure rather than love, Just to get
decently out of your dilemma?
Nav, / do you injustice. Few girls
who breathe the free air of our Western
prairies viii be so cOWardly. I may not
cons ruct horoscope, but this much
will venture-that when you marry, no
matter what you find, you. will seek not
a name, behind which to cover up the
insigniticanCe of your own; not a good
prOvider," to feed and clOthe one who
has learned how to feed and clOthe her
self; not natural protector" to shield
you in his plaidie, the gallant gallantlad-
die, from the cauld, cauld blast: but you
will seek land may heaven grant that
you shall hnd) that rarest, choicest, most
elusive prize of mans existence as of
WOman's; one fundamentally I say
1.-THE modern marriage Is by no means
certain to involve, namely, q mate. x
In this century, when the wage of battle
has cost our land an army of her sons, !
when widows mourn, and unWedded
thousands are forced to meet the hard ]
faced world from which rOse-water the
orists would shield them, America is
coming to the rescue of her daughters |
For the nearer perfect-that is, the more /
Christian civilization has become, the |
more carefully are the exceptional classes |
Of society provided for. All our philan- |
thropic institutions under State or pri- |
vate patronage illustrate this.
In less enlightened days your ideal 1
woman composed the single grand class |
for which public prejudice set itself to |
provide. She was TO be the wife and /
mother, and she was carefully enshrined /
at home. But. happily, this is the 4
worlds way no longer. The exceptions |
are so many, made by war, by the thOus-
and misunderstanding and cross-pur-
poses of social intercourse, by the pecu-
liar features of the transition period in |
which We live, by the absurdly extrava-
giant customs of our day, and the false /
notions of both men and wOmen-that /
not to provide for them would be a mon i
etrous mesnness, if not crime. And /