The Brookhaven leader., 1888-04-12
THE WORKING-WOMEN.


Daughters of The Rich.
Surely no ablc-boliel, self-respecting
woman has any complaint to make of the
fact that in the past fifty years there has
been secured to her the right to earn her
living. This is rather an occasion for re-
1oicing In this age, when the public press
is devoting so much attcnt on to opening
fields of labor for women, when from pul-
pit and rostrum and works shop and school
room are coming words of help and Gu
cOuragcment, it is curious to hear one voics
raised in lamCntatiOn over the fact that all
this means the setting of women to work,
as if they had not always been working
shaving, in fact-'i unrecognizcd corners
and against fearful odds, as though the So
called curse of labor had not, for women az
we'll as men, concealed the "farest boon
Gods love could send" rs though there
were any reason IN fact for such state
mcnt as the one that women who are out
in the world at work are growing hard and
bitter and losing their wGman!y dellcacv,
etc. The writer's experience with several
organizations of working women has been
that among no class of women are there SO
few bitter or Disconnected ones Nothing
so broadens ones life aud mind and char
acter as hearty, wholesome WORK. 1t is the
greatest OF fOllieS to spend so much time in
commissioning the hard lot of the work.
ng-girl in having to work Many an idle,
nOvel-reading, diSConte tented daughter Of
wealth is more to be piticd. Pity the con.
ditiOns under which women have to work,
the inadequate wages, the unreasonable
demands, tho cruel oppression and the
many disadvantages which the agitat on of
strong minded women have not yet been
sufficient to remove, but offer your sym
pathy to q bright, wde-awake American
business IgirI, because she has to work, and
note her astoniShmcnt at your views
And who with the score of examples upon
every side of noble women, supporting
themselves and others, going to and from
Their business daily, and maintaining in
every relation of life a dignity and delicIcy
OF wOmanly character that commands tho
respect of all. dares maintain that our bust
ness women are losing their delicacy and
refinement: Nor do men lose their chiv-
airy. 1t is the testimony of all who have
tried the experiment. that the best way to
elevate the tone Of a business establishment
in which there are many employees, is to
employ self-respecting women and let them
work side by side with the men.
An Eastern manager of mercantile busi-
ness which boasts an Office in every large
city in the Union, desrous of introducing
better tone of morality and department
among the employees of his office, tried the
experiment of employing women in several
of the departments. The experiment was
decided success, and to-day that office, for
thorough business ability and equipment,
and for the moral and social character OF
its employees is a model among the offices
of that concern, and its example is widely
copied, Men do not respect women less
for being independent and self-helpful, and
the chivalry that only regards protected
womanhOod as worthy of consideration is
poor sort of article that the world is lust as
well off without.-SGl Francisco Cal.