Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1890-04-05
Written for Woman's Chronicle.]
A TRUE STORY
OF a Maiden in Search of "Woman's
Sphere"
BY ONE OF MOTHER GoosE's DESCENDANTS

An inmate OF crippled hive,
Set out without friend to cheer
To find the locus of ''Woman's Sphere"
In talking to herself she said,
"This grevious afflicton-father dead
Mother an invalid tied to her bed,
Little mouths to be constantly fed
And all depending on me as the head;
I'll bury my love for dear old Ned,
With this sacred charge never will wed
I'll fight alone this terrible BATTLE
But III never be one of the dumb, driven cattle:
III seek at once this world famed sphere
Donated by man to their sisters dear,
In which to support their loved ones near,
10 furnish food and warmth and cheer.
Kind man would give only lucrative place
10 his weak minded sister, Invested of grace,
70 think for herself, but in many case
Requi1 ed to carry the load of the Grace"
Or drop in her path overwhelmed with disgrace.
So on this errand her footsteps bent,
She thought her time would be well spent
There we're several bills besides her rent
Pending the goal of this doubtful event,
For In the exehequer there was "nary cent"
But In her pocket book many dent.
Her plans and purposes were all we'll meant,
But they'd surely have fallen in tatters and rent
Before thered been any of her money spent,
Had it depended on her finding Woman's Sphere
In any country, far or near;
She'd sure as fate shed many tear,
And in paying her bills been left in the rear,
Her first inquiry not of Beecher
But of noisy, jolly, guttonous old teacher,
One of the class whose principal feature
Consists in extracting from life all the creature
Comforts that can be collected here.
He replied in an unctuous tone, "NTy dear,
lean quickly show you Womans Sphere.
1t consists in cooking chicken brown;
For this in glory she shall wear crown;
She shall float through heaven in shining gown,
The harp in her hand she'll never lay down."
Then feeling he'd discharged his duty
lie kissed his hand to the little beauty.
She left the grand presence uncertain of light,
Having flooded her soul as dark as night
Yet she felt quite certain she'd end all right,
For she'd persevere till the path bright
Which led direct to Woman's Right.
She went to an aged man in the
And yellow leaf of his life so drear,
And asked the question we're discussing here.
IIereplied, cts surely very great sin
For woman to do aught but cook, weave and spin;
By this good husband you'll certainly WIN"
"My dear old granddad, that's entirely too thin,'
That grade of employment will never bring tim
with which to support myself and my KIM
Next she timidy knocked at the door of college;
She hungered and thirsted for classical knowledge.
In the greatest amazement the professors all wigged
Meanwhile dude masher furtivey wnked
On discovering her bangs so prettily kinked;
A professor solemnly measured her brain
And vowed it gave unutterabe pain
To report he considered the creature insane.
To imagine midget so frvilous and vain
Could ever get into the masculine train
And this was his ever and constant refrain
Until the dire thought his lifes blood did drain,
And it ended by him becoming insane
Instead of this maiden, dubbed giddy and vain,
This tragedy gave her such terrible pain
She concluded to rest and try it again.
To the lawyer who lived at the edge Of the town
In an elegant villa, a lovely stone (brown)
She laid her inquiry deliberately down,
Desiring an answer dreadng frown
He said, "Youve only to sit patiently down
And wait till lover your beauty shall crown"
She explained to the lawyer in tones quite discreet
That the question with her was just bread and meat
If he would employ her she'd work very neat
At this horrid suggestion he sprang to his feet
And quickly bounced her into the street,
Next time she inquired of a well known physician.
She acquainted him fully with her trying position
He expressed polite sorrow for her mournfu condition.
She gently implied she might assist in his mission
Instantly leaped in his blood all the latent tradition
All the old folly and old superstition
Or woman attempting with man competition,
And down went his sympathy into perdltlon
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