Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-01-14

Tabernacle, VINO Is coIlstiluuty hearing I'll
young women in all these cities who, nnqual-
ilicd by their previous luxurious surround
ings for the awful struggle of life into which
they havc been suddenly hurled, seemed to
have nothing left them but q choice between
starvation and damnation. There they go
along tho street at o'clock i'll the wintry
mornings through tho slllsh a9d storm to the
place where thcy shall earn only half enough
for subsistence, tho daughters of once
prosperous merchants, lawyers, clcrgymcn,
artists, bankers and capitalists who brought
up their children under tho internal dclusion
that it WINS not high toned for women to learn
q profitable calling. Young women take
this affair in your own hand and let there be
an instruction in all prosperous families OF
Brooklyn and New York and Christendom
on the part Of the daughters of this day, de-
manding knowledge in occupations and styles
of business by viii Ii they may be their own
defense and their own support if all fatherly
and husbandly and brotherly hands forever
fail them.
I have seen two sid sights-tho one wo-
man in I'LL the glory of her young life stricken
by disease, and in week lifeless in a homo Of
which she had been the pride. AS her hands
were folded overShe still heart. her eyes
closed for, tho last sluinber, and she was taken
ouT amid tho 1nmeutati of I;iad ,l-s.nd
friends, L thought that was sadness i'm
measurable But have seen something COM
pared with which that scene was brightand
songful 1t was q young woman who had
been MI her days amid wealthy surroundings
by the visit of death and bankruptcy to the
household turned out on a cold world without
one lesson about how to get food or shelter,
and into the awful whirlpool Of city life
where strong ships have gono down, and for
twenty years not ono word has been heard
from her. Vessels last week went out on the
Atlantic ocean looking for shipwrecked
craft that was left alone and forsal,en on the
sea few weeks ago, with the idea Of bring
Ing it into port But who shall over bring
again into the harbor Of peace and hope and
heaven that lost womanly immortal, driven
iii what tempest, nlnme in what conilagra-
ton, sinking into what abyss2 0 God, help,
0 Christ, rescue!
My sisters, give not your time to learning
fancy work which tho world may dispense
with when hard times como, but connect
Your skill with the Indispensable Of life.
Tho world will always want something to
wear and something to cat and shelter and
fuel for the body, and knowledge for the
mind, and religion for the soul. And all
these things will continue to be the reccs-
sal'ies, and il you fasten your energies upon
occupations and professions thus related the
world will be unable to do without you.
Remember that in proportion rs you are
f,,1 olr-iac
less. For unsl1illcd toll, women by the mil
lion. But you may rise to where there are
onlyn thousand; and still higher till there
are only hundred; and still higher till
there arc only ten; and still higher in some
particular department till there is only
aunt, and that yourself For o while you
may keep wages and place through the
kindly sympathies of an employer, but you
will eventually set more compensation than
you can make yourself worth.
Let me say to all women who have already
entered upon the battle of life that the time
is coming when woman shall rot only get as
much salary and wages as mon set, but for
certain styles Of employment women will
have higher salary and moro wages for the
reason that for some styles of work they havo
more adaptation But this justice will come
to woman, not through any sentiment of gal
lantry, not because woman is physically
weaker than man and therefore ought to
hnye moro consideration shown her, Tut be-
cause through her inner natural TASTE anu
more gracc Of manner ard quicker percep-
ton and more delicate touch and more edu-
Gated adroitness she will, in certain callings,
be to her employer worth 10 per cent more
or 90 per cent. moro than the other sex. She
will not get it by asking for it, but by earn
ing it, and it shall be hers by lawful con-
quest.
Now, men Of America, be fair and give the
women cEnnce Are you afraid that they
will do some Of your work and hence harm
your properties? Remember that there arc
scores of thousands Of men doing women's
work. Do not be afraid God knows the
end from the beginning and he knows how
many people this world Gail feed and shelter,
and when it gets too full he will end the
world and if need he start another. God will
halt tho inventive faculty which, By pro-
ducing q machine that will do the work Of
ten or tv:enty or a hundred men and women,
will leave that number of people without
work. hope that there will not be invented
or corn thresher or any either new machine
for the next 500 years Wo want no more
wooden hands and iron hands and steel
hands and electric hands substituted for men
aud women who would otherwise do the
work and get the pay and earn the livelihood
But God will arrange all and all we have
to do is to do orr best and trust him for the
rest. Let Inc cheer all women fighting the
battle of life alone, W. :, the fact that thou
sands of women have III that way Won the
day. Mary Lyon, founder Of Mount Holy
oako female seminary, fought the baltic
alone; Adelaide Newton, the tract distrib-
utor, alone: Fidcia Fisk. the consccratcd
missionary, alone; Dorothea Dix, tho angel
of the insane nsylurs alone; Caroline Her
schel, the acknowledgements OF her
brother alone: Maria TnklZcwslla, tho heroine
of the Berlin hospital, alone; Helen Chal-
mcrs. patron Ct sewing schools for the poor of
Edinburgh, alone Ard Thousands and tens
Of thousands of women Of whose bravery and
self sacrifice and glory Of character the world
has made no record, but whose deeds are i'll
the heavenly archives of martyrs who fought
the battle alone, and, though unrccognized
for the short thirty or fifty or eighty years
of their earthly existence, shall, through the
quintilion ages of tho higher world, be
pointed out with the admiring cry "Thesc
are they who came out of great tribulatiop
and had their robes washed and made white
by the blood of the Lamb"
Let me also say for the encourae ement of
all women fighting the battle OF life alone,
that their conflict will soon end. There is
one word written over the faces Of many of
them, and that word is Despair. Ny sister,
YOU need appeal to that Christ who COM
forted the sisters of Bethany i'll their do
nestle trouble, and who in his last hours for
got oil the pangs of his own hands and feet
md heart as he looked into the face of mater
nal anguish and called friends attention to
it, in substance saying: "John, ! cannot
take care of her any longer. Do for her as l
would have done if had lived. Behold