Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-01-18
In addressing these women who will haz

ments your avoid. of the risk of unassimi
lated temper which you will not have to run
of the cares you will never have to cary
and of the opportunity of outside usefulnes
from which material life would hav
partially debarred you, and that you ar
free to go and come as one who ha
the responsibilities of household
can seldom be. God has not given yor
A hard lot as compared with your sis
I1ters. When young women shall make
up their minds at the start that mascu
line companionship is not necessity in Or
der to happiness, and that there is strong
probability that they will have to fight the
battle of life alone, they will be getting the
timber ready for their own fortune, and
their saw and axe and plane sharpened fol
its construction, since "Eyery wise woman
buildeth her house."
As no boy ought to be brought up with
out learning some business at which he
could earn livelihood, so no girl ought to
be brought up without learning the science
of self support. The difficulty is that many
family go sailing on the high tides of sue
cess, and the husband and father depends
on his own health and acumen fer the well
fare of his household, but one day
be gets his feet wet, and in three days
Dncumonia has closed his life, and the
l. daughters are turned out on cold
world to earn bread, and there is moth
ing practical that they can do. Tie friends
of the family come in and hold consulta-
tion.
"Give music lessons" says an outsider
Yes, that is useful calling, and ifyou have
e. eat genius for it, go on in that direction.
But there are enough music teachers now
starving to death in all our towns and cities
to occupy all the piano stools and sofas and
chairs and front-door steps of the city. Be-
side that, the daughter has been play
ing only for amusement and is only
at the foot of the ladder, to the
Top of which great multitude of mas
Il ters on piano and harp aud flute and
organ have climbed.
PUT the bereft daughters as saleswomen
in stores" says another adviser. But there
they must compete with statesmen of long
experience or with men who have served an
apprenticeship in commerce, and who be-
gan as shop boys at ten years of age. Some
kind-hearted dry goods man having known
the father, now gone says, "We are not in
need of any more help just now, but send
your daughters to my store, and will do as
well by them as possible" Very soon the
question comes up, Why do not the female
employees of that establishment get as much
wages as the male employees For the simple
reason in many cases the females were sud-
denly flung by misfortune behind tina "a
counter, while the males have from the Z
day they left the public school been
learning the business.
How is this evil to be cured2 Start clear
back in the homestead and teach your
l. r. =
that there il a possibility, if not strong
probability, that they will have to fight the
battle of life alone. Let every father and
would you do for livelihood if what | now
own were swept away by financial disaster,
or old age or death should end my caresl?"
"Well, | could paint on pottery and do
such decorative work" Yes, that is beau.
tiful, and if you have genius for it go ON in
that direction. But there are enough
busy at that now to make A
line of hardware from here to the East IN
river and across the bridge
'.Wel, ! could make reel ations in public
aud earn my living as adramstist. | could
render King Lear or Macbeth till your hair
would rise on end. or give you Sheridan s
Ride or Dickens's Pickwick." Yes; that is
beautiful art. but ever and anon. as now,
there is an epidemic of dramatization that
makes hundreds of households nervous with
the cries aud shricks and groans of young
tragedans dying in the fifth act, aud the
trouble is that while your friends would
like to hear you. and really think that you
could surpass Ristori and Charlotte Cush-
man and Fanny Kemble of the past, to say
nothing of the present, you could
not, in the way of living, in ten
years earn ten cents. My advice to al Z
girls and all unmarried women, whe- IL
ther in sff1uent homes or in homes
where most stringent economies are grind
ing, to learn to do some kind of work that
the world must have while the world
stands. / am glad to see a marvellous
change for the better, and that women have
found out that there are hundreds of prscti-
cal things that woman can do for a living
il she begin soon enough, and that men
have been compel ed to admit it. You and
I can remember when the majority of occu-
pations were thought inappropriate for wo-
men, but our civil war came and the hosts
of men went forth from North and South,
and to condnct the business of our cities
during the patriotic absence. women were
demanded by the tens of thousands to take
the vacant Places and multitudes of women
who had been hitherto supported by fathers
aud brothers and sons, were compelled from,
that time to take care of themselves. From
that time a mighty change took place, favor
able to female employment.
Among the occupations appropriate for
woman l place the following. into many of
which she has already entered and all the
others she will enter:- Stenography, and
you may find her at nearly all the reporto
rial stands, in our educational political.
and religious meetlngs; The savings BIN II
the work clean and honorable, and IN
who so great right to toll there, for
woman founded the first savings bank, Mrs.
Priscilla Wakefield?
Copys's and there is hardly a profes-
sional man that does not need the service
of the penmanship. and as amanuensis,
mapy of the greatest books of our day have
been dictated for her writing.
aSThere they are so florists and confeetion-
eTs and music teachers and stationers and
bookkeepers, for which they are specially
qualified by patience and accuracy, and
Wood engraving, in which the Cooper In
stitute has turned out so many qualified,
and telegrapby, for which she is specially
fees would testify.
lishments they may be found there at cheer.
ful work.
AS workers in ivory and gutta percha and
gum elastic and tortoise shell and gliding
and in chemicals, in porcelain, in terrain
Gotta, in embroidery.
AS postmistresses, and the President is
giving them appointments all over the
land.
As keepers of lighthouses, many of them,
if they had the chance. ready to do as brave
a thing with oar and boat as did Ida Lewis
and Grace Darling.
AS proof readers, as translators, as model
ers, as designers, as draught-women. as lith.
ographers, as teachers in schools and semi
naries, for which they are especially endow
ed, the first teacher of every child, by DIT
vine arrangement, being woman. Ash
physicians, having graduated after regular
course of study from the female colleges OF
our large cities, where they get as scientific
and thorough preparation as any doctors
ever had, and go forth to a work which nc
one but wemen could so appropriately OF
delioately do.
On the lecturiDg platform, for you know
the brilliant success of Mrs. Livermore anC
Mrs Hallowell and Miss. Willard and Mrs
Lathrop.
AS physiological lecturers to their owl
sex, for which service there is a demand ap
pallipg and terrific.
AS preachers of the Gospel, and all tbs