, 1888-03-17

~ ASAb NNO NNtb'o Va NV NiOIiNs Viva II
be getting the timber ready for their own
fortune, and their saw and axe and plane
sharpened for its construction, since
"every. wise woman buiIdeth her house"
AS no boy ought to be brought up with
ont learning some business at which he
could earn a livelihood, so no girl ought
to be brought up without learning the
science Of self support. The difficulty is
that many a family go sailing on the high
tides of success, and the husband and
the father depends on his W health and
acumen for the welfare Of his house
hold, but one day he gets his feet wet,
and IN three days pneumonia has closed
his life, and the daughters are turned out
on a cold world to earn bread, and there
is nothing practical that they can do. The
friends OF the family come in and hold con
~sultation,
Give music lessons" says an outsider.
Yes, that is a useful calling, and if YOU
have great genius for ii 90 ON III that di-
rectlon. But there are enough music tea
cheers now starving to death in all our
towns and cities to occupy al the piano
stools and sofas and chairs and front door
steps OF the city. Besides that. the daugh-
ter has been playing only for amusement,
and is only at the foot of the ladder. to
the top OF which a great multitude of mast
ers OIL piano and harp and flute and organ
have climbed.
"Put the bereft daughters as saleswo-
men III stores, Says another adviser,
But there they must compete with sales
men OF long experience or with men who
nave served an apprenticeship in commerce,
and who began as shop boys at 10 wears.
of age. Some kindhearted dry goods man
having known the father, now gone, saws.
awe are not in need of any more help lust
now, but send your daughters to my store.
and | will do as well by them as possible. .
Very soon the question ZONES up, 'NVhy
do not the female employers of that estalp
llNhment get as much wages as the male
~empIoyeeS7' For the simple reason that
III many cases the females were suddenly
flung by misfortune behind that counter.
while the males have from the day they
left the public school been learning tie
business.
How is this evil to be cured? Start clear
back in the homestead and teach your
daughters that life is an earnest thing, and
that there is a possibility, if not a strong
probability, that they will have to foht
the battle Of life alone. Let every father
and mother say to their daughters: 'Now.
what would You do for a livelihood if What
| COW W were swept away by financial
disaster, or old age or death should end
my carecrP'
"Well, | could paint on pottery or do
such decorative work. Yes, that is bean.
tltul, and if you have genius for it 90 on
III that direction. But there are enough
busy at that now to make a line Of hard.
ware from here to the East river and across;
The bridge.
"Well, | could make Rotations in pub.
lie, and earn my living as a dramatist. |
could render King Lear or Macbeth till
your hair would rise ON end, or give Won
SheridanS Ride or Dickens's Pickwick.7
Yes; that is Il beautifui art, but ever and
anon as now, there is an epidemic of dra.
matlzatlon that makes hundreds Of house
holds nervous with the cries and shrieks
amt groanS of young tragediaLs diving in
the fifth act, and the trouble is that While
your friends would like to hear YOU. and
think that you could surpass Ristori
and Charlotte CuShman and Fanny Kemble
the past, to say nothing of the present.
you could not, in the way of living, in ten
years earn 10 cents.
My advice to all girls and all unmarried
women, whether in %af1uent homes or in
homes were most stringent economies are
grinding, is to learn to dosome kind Of work
that the world must nave 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 prac-