The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-11-09

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fenried last week before the conyen-
tion Of Young Women's Christian
Associations on .sThe Needs OF Self
Supporting Women goes straight
to the root Of the matter she discuss
ed. The needs Of working women,
as she pointed out, are two-material
and moral. Unfortunately, the
help which is extended is too
frequently of character that tends
to aggravate rather than to cure the
trouble it is intended to relieve.
Too often the Good Samaritan of
modern times has the spirit of the
priest and the Lcvite who passed
by on the other side, and pours as
much vinegar as oil into the wounds
that he is protesting to bind up.
After all, it was not so much the aid
which the scriptural philanthropist
extended it that has maize him for
ever type of the Doblest benefac-
tor So in all efforts to lend help
ing hand to those whose lot has
been cast in rough or thorny places,
what Miss De Graffenried calls the
Haunting airs Of superiority" and
aggressive patronage" should be al
together discarded if there is de-
sire to accomplish any real good.
The moral side of tire working woman
is too often forgotten or overlooked.
Those who seek to help her do not
understand her, or remember that
she is of the same flesh and |
blood and has the same general
aspirations, hopes and fears as those
of greater wealth and opportunity |
If they would only put themselves
in her place, iiguralively speaking,
and study in the conditions and |
circumstances that surround her,
they would be abb, to do broader
and more enduring work. This
spirit of considers ion and kindli-
ness begets gratitude and conf
dence that no mere material benefac.
tions can excite, AMI produces moral
results of the higbo st value. There
10 often great complaint, for instance,
among housekeepefs of the difficulty
of securing good servants, but much
of this trouble might be avoided
if the relations t employers and
domestics were governed by higher
law than that of mere legal contract,
and were tempered on the side Of
the superior by spirit of humanity
and considerable feeling. Household
service in this way might be raised
to higher plane, such as it occu-
pies in some other sections of the
country, and man, persons who will
not accept such situations from fear
of loosing social caste among their
friends would be glad to obtain en-
ployment that was at once honorable
and advantageous. 1t is, indeed,
in the highest deg rec important to
women of every class-to those in
circumstances no less
than to poorer onlcn-that the digni-
ty of household labor should be EN-
phasized and upheld. Changes in
fortune may throw the wealthy wo-
man of today upon her own resour-
ces tomorrow, so that, apart from
any other considerations, a practical
knowledge of domestic affairs may
be of great advan age to her But
such knowledge is still more impor-
tant considered with reference TO the
power it confers OF aiding the strug-
Cling and poorer s stcrhood in their
efforts to make life better worth
living. A single example is more
effective than thousands Of precepts,
and women who ran 90 among their
less fortunate sisters and teach them
how to make thei, .nmes comfortable,
healthy and happy by practical in
structions in household duties will
do more good in II year than an army
of mere sentiment lists could accom-
plish in century The way to aid
working women is to help them t. help
to max them feel that the
sympathy offered them is not that of
the superior, but Of one human being
for another, and to show them that
no household duty is ignoble or below
the dignity of any woman, no mat
ter what her wealth or position.