Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-17

"aaJteRS on the face OF the
T1tfu- 5s,s SITS are to be be-
lives hfd i't 2use would rule.
a. 4seveY relations is a fact
Nf Teri rSservant note at once
Nj ert ~ ed, in time come to ques-
very fact may not hold more
reconstruction of theories,
,corously yelled, but no less
Eo f things existing in London
kpA3degree in New York or any
American or English. The saw
flor these last is that such con-
tute against the real spirit OF the
~ and adopted only by those whose
lgof life is as close an imitation as
o'le of the worst features of London
q iris. 1t is Paris that dominates,
for q Ter spirit that is infused into the
sEE III I life of every great capital, which
ale rs the characteristics Of the people
s. lines it possible, copies, the world over,
: WS-sSsf musements, designations, and gen.
X Teral scheme of living. That this scheme
includes ass5peral1 degradation of women
is the fact for Paris, and thus in degree,
for any point where her influence is
strongest, and now comes the question
how and why this degradation Is a fixed
fact.
To one who deals directly with the mass
of women-workers in Paris, it is very
soon plain that no nation of Europe ap-
proaehes the French in careful economy
and the knowledge Of how to extract the
utmost from every centime of income
But this capacity, intensified by long
generations of experiment, has resulted
IL bringing wages to subsistence
poI1t. The Paris seamstreSs or worker
egirlsy of the trades open to women,
lSuisl and apparently thrives on a sum
which to~the English worker would mean
simply slow starvation. Absolute dit
terence of temperament is one factor
The Parlsienne catches at every CLEAN of
brightness, and if she starves through
the week manages some small recreation
Tor Sunday. Accepting the fact
that there must be continuous
struggle, she diversifies it with as
many aleyiatiOnS as can be intro
ddced, and one Of these is the lover,
whose wages also are at minimum who
cannot marry, ana who, unlike the En-
glshman, has been taught from his cradle
that TO marry with no sufficient means of
support for both is criminal For Paris
and for many of the large manufacturing
towns OF France, it seems to be regarded
10y the majority, as a perfectly simple,
legitimate, and even commendable ar
TAngemenI, that the man, till he chooses
marriage, should have his mistress, also
worker, who makes and VIII make no
cialm upon him; but who helps his
money TO 60 a little further than
II would without her management,
and is his companion in such small
pleasures as may come in the weeks
work. Content with this arrangement
marriage becomes less and less a neees-
sity, and this is the statement which NAV
be made at present for French towns of
any size.
1t is not this class who are actually IL
centious. On the contrary. IN all save
the legal tie, there are all the Qualities
needed to make successful family life.
1T is from below ana from above that the
ieentious side is recruited Below.
among the non-workers, those whose
employment is precarious, and those who
VIII not work at an, aud above. among
the mass of students, of clerks. and the
throng who ind employment of some ma
ture III Paris, and who furnish another
Illustration OF what an absolutely mate
rialistie ideal may bring about.
This IDEAL far the present joins itself to
the traditions Sof the past ana the two
work togetheE3 their baleful viii. 1t is
fhechasoll OF khe Dark Ages that has be-
gun tAe work. and THAT has determined |