The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-10-24
1Dnnen'H DnrIo.
why Giris Leave home Ito work.

FRESNO, Oct. 6.
A great deal has been written OF late
about the fact that girls are employed
In shops. stores and factories In recent
years 10 a much greater extent than
their mothers and grandmothers were,
soma writer's deploring the change and
others apparently regarding 1t with com
plaeeney II not with satisfaction. Yari-
ous supposed reasons have been ad-
vanced. but have not seen among them
any reference to what i consider the
great and fully justifying reason for
girls seeking employment outside OF
their homes, and that Is the fact that all
kinds OF manufacturing work are being
concentrated In factories instead OF being
carried ON on the farm and in the home.
When our grandmothers were young
they made butter and cheese which are
now made with one-tenth the labor at
the creamery and the cheese factory.
They spun and wove underwear. towels.
napery and bed linen from the fax their
fathers and brothers raised and prepared
for the linen wheel. Now all this Is done
In the factory, where devices Of iron
and steel take the places OF thousands OF
nimble hands. They carded, spun and
wove the wool from the family foeks of
sheep, knitted the socks and stockings
for the family, woye the cloth and made
the coats and trousers and wooden shirts
or the men and dresses and pettieoats
for themselves. Now all this ls done in
the factory and the male portion OF the
family Is clad In ready-made clothing,
while the most the girls can do is 10
buy cloth and make up their own gar
ments- They picked berries in summer
aud sold them TO aequaintances in the
neighboring villages. Now the village
has become manufacturing town where
nobody knows as much as his neIghbor's
name and the berries and fruits come in
/ In carloads and families get their sup
l plies from Italian retailers or from hood
/ lum-like boy peddlers with strong lungs.
! The boys on the farms In those days
I learned trades. as shoemaking harness
making eoopering. etc. and as for ear
I penber work. every man was his own
carpenter When rainy day came, or
a very cold snap IN winter. the farmer
| got out his tools and made or mended
shoes for the family or the neighborS,
made tubs and buckets or otherwise
/ turned an honest penny. Now the fac
tory does all this work and people Won
der why each succeeding census shows
an increase OF population in cities and a
decrease in the country in the older see
tions.
Why do ls5ss leaye the farm :" and
what shall we do with our girls ;" are
stock subjects for newspaper discussion
Boys leave the farm because the occgpa-
lions which used to be found there have
left and the boys follow them. Girls go
to the factory towns for the same rea-
son. But we cannot feel rs safe in send
ing our girls out from the home nest
into the great, wide world as We do
when our sturdy sons start to learn q
trade and seek fortune and fame. We
shrink from the thought OF our daughters
being surrounded by the hurly-burly OF
the great unsympathetie city, with nc
mother near TO sympathize with and
comfortsthen when in trouble and coun-
sci them when in perplexity. Then helr
them TO get employment near home
where they may spend their evenings al
home, or. IL not that, they can at Least
come home once q week and remain dur
ing the day of rest.
Let them be sehooIteachers, typewr-t
ers, bookkeepers, compositors. salesgirl:
! or what they may Do not let anybody
|, deceive you with the lie that these oceupa
tions are unwomanly or immodest. Hon
est work is neither. 1t is the girl wht
: is brought up in idleness. because th'
! occupations once followed in the home
. have been transferred to the factory
J who is In the greatest danger OF making
; failure of life. The objection that girl
: are filling positions that belong to young
men is the veriest bosh. A position b.
: longs to whoever fills it. as long as h
| or she fills it and no longer.
1 The contention that girls should learl
2 housekeeping and nothing else heeausi
they expect to have homes OF their owl
2 to care for some time may look nice oI
. paper, but it is not practical. Every gir
I If brought up as she should be learn
E housekeeping before she is old enough
/ to learn a trade, and she does not forge
1 it again. Besides, If thrown upon he
: own resources some day, as any OF u
;. may be, they cannot earn a living a
/ housekeeping without being somebody
' drudge, and girls born under the star
= and stripes have no fancy for that.
: is quite true that any good kitchen gin
e can get s25 or $50 month now, Will
e in our grandmothers' youth 81 wee
: was fair pay ami 81 so was something
t grand. but in the old days the girl wa
n treated as an equal, and ate at the tabl
: with the family, while now she is locke
g down upon as something tolerated abou
+ the house for the convenience of tn
= family. II you hire an American for
t slave you must pay a good price, an
y they are hard TO get at that.
d ABIGAIL HALE.