Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1890-07-11
Employment of Female Labor.

Oakland. Cal, Dial.
intend to show that il is wrong,
decidedly wrong, for women TO do
manual labor. Her place and her du-
ties are at home, and away from them,
in the position OF a man, she is a det-
riment 10 herself and to womanhood
at large. l do not mean that her
place Is at home from political stand
point, but from the fact that in the
beginning she was created to be there,
and instructed by her Maker where
she was to reign. In all that goes to
make u perfect being, woman, | hold,
is as far superior to man as are the
heavens above our earth. All that
was pure, unsullied, tender and good
was instillod in her being. Endowed
with traits gentle, refined and ennob-
ling, her place was designated about
the hearth-stone, where by her virtues
and Christly precepts she was to turn
man from his nature of boisterousness
and hardness TO ways Of gentleness
and sacredness like her own. Hers
was a duty, mission; but see what
she is to-day.
i hold that it is dangerous IN the OK
treme, to the morals of women, and u
danger TO labor, for them to do man
ual work. To push them away from
the hearth-stone take away their mod
esty and that dignity and delicacy
that men so love and expect. IL gives
them hardness and blaze exterior
that breeds contempt and q lack OF res
pect from every one, and only too
soon they are kicked aside by men OF
degraded, brutal instincts, and the
gutter is their refuge. Women should
be treated with respect by every one;
but when they grow indifferent TO the
little courtesies Of life, and all through
association with men in their business
positions, nothing better than disre-
spcct and discourtesy are to be expect
ed. n
When girls are forced to tho menial
labor Of men there is something rad
ically wrong with society, with labor,
and with monopoly, and it is a dis
grace 10 all of them. AT paltry sal
aries, scarcely sufficient to pay their
board, they are compelled to clothe
and dress themselves at the expense
of their virtue. The foremen, devoid
themselves of all honor and character,
exert an influence over the young
women, that drives them utterly, help
lessly to destruction. There is the
poverty at home, they know, and for
the few dollars each week they are
forced to change, from girls whose IN
tention at first was the best, TO harlots,
to live and die unioved, unhonored
and dispised. II is better Tor women
to exist and suffer the most excruciat,
ing poverty and hunger, than 70 lead
the life being followed by twenty
thousand young working girls IN oan
Francisco and Oakland to-day. moth-
ers and fathers look at their daughters
when poverty comes at the door, ana
declare that their girls Will not go
wrong. They lot hor leave the home,
wretched though they may be, and she
enters the factory. Before long she
falls, and, cognizant OF her disgrace,
she lies about her condition. She be-
gins to wear clothes her parents, even
with her help, could not buy, and goes
from bad to worse. A brief season Of
feyerish excitement follows, and then
down she goes, dragging with her all
those 1t home, who, until now, thought
her proof against the temptation she
Il A.. ItlI