News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-09-11


and honorable, and even our mother
Eve might have found it better for
herself and her family had she been
born to labor instead of idleness. |
know of no success worth the name
that must not be purchased by labor,
and the richest legacy ever bequeath-
ed to man or woman is a love and
appreciation of honest toll. We read
Of illustrious women, distinguished
for their virtue ana worth; but you
cannot find one among them all who
was not q worker From the bright
est light in the home, to her who has
shone most brightly in the heliterary or
musical world; follow them where and
as you will and you will find them at
work. Woman has been renowned
from early time to the present for
deeds of kindness, both in the house
Of the Lord and outside. 1t was
woman who brought of the works of
/ her hands to adorn the tabernacle,
built by Moses under the direction of
the Almighty, land all the women
that were wise hearted did spin with
their hands, and brought that which
they had spun, both of blue and pur-
pie, and of scarlet and of fine linen,
and all the women whose heart stirred
them up in wisdom spun goats hair, !"
and so the spinning has been going
on from that time onward even down
almost to the present, and has only
ceased with our mothers or grand
mothers because machinery can do
work faster; not better 1t was
Hannah who yearly made Samuel his
coat and brought it to him while he
ministered unto the Lord before Eli;
1t was DOrcas who wrought with her
needle and was so full of good works
and alms-deeds that the many whom
she had befriended could not be rec
onciled to her death, and even Peter
could not withhold his grief; but
when he had seen the garments which
she had made, kneeled and prayed so
fervently that her life returned to her
again, and the saints and widows
whom she had blessed received her
alive rejoicing. 1t is the working
women whom the world knows when
! living, and mOurns when dead.
Such was our own illustrious Har-
riet Beecher Stowe, she toiled with
! hand and mind, she looked after her
domestic affairs and at the same time
wroteso effectually that her language
has gone into all parts of the earth.
If she had been OF queenly birth she
could never have had the power to
shake the pillars upon which Ameri-
can slavery depended for support.
And sowe might 60 Onrehearsing the
names of the heroines of the world
and we should not find one of them
all who would blush at honest toll
Why, it was labor that made them
what they were. From Florence
Nightingale to the most brilliant
singer that ever charmed an audi
ence, one and all have arisen to emf
nence by hard toll and persistent eff
fort. The butterfly may live without
toll, but its life is short and soon for
gotten and of value to nobody, but
the bee which blesses the world is a
worker
Again, woman to be successful musl
be practical. There is a great love
among the yodng for the fanciful, and
it would be lamentable if this appre-
ciation of the beautiful were wholly
obliterated. The house of God would
feel the loss not only, but our homes.
These little paradises, ornamented
and beautified by the handy-work of
dear ones would lose much of their
attraction if woman were deprived OF
her appreciation of the beautiful, and
then too, the music that she brings
into our homes and churches we could
not dispense with. How tame would
life be if it were not for these attrac-
tions to eye and ear that greet us in
response to the magic in woman S
fingers and voice. We have no deris-
i've word to speak respecting these
things. Far be it from me to extract
single drop of real honey from
woman's life, or by unwarranted
structures add a single grain of the
bitter to her cross, but while we thus
speak and feel, we believe that the
practical in wOman's sphere is falling
into disrepute, and instead of its be
ing accounted honorable to do the es-
sential it is looked upon by some as
disgrace, and it is not uncommonto to
hear the complaint of our Overworked
mothers asking, "Dost thou not care
that my sister hath left me to serve
alone" Perchance Mary might have
excused herself upon the ground that
she never did love to serve tables anC
she was much better suited to enter
. tain guests. Be her excuse what il
, may, our sympathy leans towards
Martha. We think she had right tC
, feel hurt, and so we think the Marthas
of our day have a right to feel wrong
f ed on account of the odium unjustly
! attached to the practical duties o
? life, which too many are striving tC
, shun by rem aiming in a blissful igno
? rance of a knowledge essential tC
> their accomplishment. When tht
: good man said those fiattering words
of her whom he pictured so graphicly
J that we might admire, Many
+ daughters have done virtuously, but
i. thou eXcellest them al" he spoke o
' a practical working woman. He
: boast was not that she had nevel
| learned, but she had learned, every
; thing in her line she had mastered
= She was no idler. "She seeketh WOO
p and fax, and worketh willingly witt
: her hands. She riseth also while 1T Il
e vet night, and giveth meat to he
r household, and a portion to her maid
0 ems. She layeth her hand to tn
n spindle, and her hands hold the dis
. taft. She is not afraid of the snow 70
+ her household; for all her household
# are clothed with scarlet;" and Will
10 she thus looks after her householder
t cares for her own person. "She mai
.. eth herself covering of tapestry, he
d clothing is silk and purple. She lool
,e eth well to the ways of her househol
,e and eateth not the bread of idlenes
er Her children arise up and call ht
" blessed; her husband also, and |
le praiseth her" In short, she was
ID practical woman and n wise woma
Sc too, For she openeth her mout
with wisdom; and in her tongue W;
D. the law of kindness. Her life pract
in cal and her words sensible, twin 81
ne ters, always found together.
70 But why should woman be pract
r. cal? She should be practical, frs
n that she may help herself. There
n no humiliation like that which is Il
t: outgrowth of dependence. Helples
il, ness, dependence, and when it is ign
st rance that begets them it is the wor
It. kind of dependence. | have se'
en many objects to pity among the po
re and helpless which memoryis faitht
nd to recall. | have seen the rag pick
rd who went round from house to hou
te and gathered up the bits of rags, fu