Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-09-11
WoMANs WORLD m PARAGRAPHS,
A Lady's Experience I'm New York FiE-
teen Years Ago.


A prominent lady Of Brooklyn tells
me that even fifteen years ago women In
offices down town In New York were
unknown. When she first came east
her husband was not 90 prosperuua as he
Is now, and she determined to act u; his
bookkeeper while he went abroa .hus-
ting" for the business. The owner Of
the building in which the Office was re-
fused her permission to do so, as II 1t
had been proposed to bring leper or
smallpox patient into the house. She
went to see him, and begged and pleaded
and brought credentials to prove that
she was the propere.t kind Of woman.
He could see for himself that she was .
pretty one. 1t was only her own hus-
band whose Office she was going into,
and the business would be apt to 90 to
ruin X she did not thus take hand.
Finally this eninently respectable gem
tleman went around to the other tenants
OF the offices in the building, and asked
them one by one if they would move out
IN case he permitted Mrs Blank to enter
the walls of that sacred masculine struc-
ture. They considered the matter and
concluded to stay, and for several years
my friend went regularly to the Office,
taking often her little girl with her and
keeping her all day. And now there is
scarcely down town Office of any i'm
pOrtance that hasnot one or moro women
in it as typewriters or clerks of some
kind. Many of them earn $1S and geo a
week, often more.
The Illustrated American publishes,
with their portraits, sketches of the
women lawyers who have been admitted
to practice before the supreme court of
the United States. They are good look
ing women, all of them. The first one
admitted was Mrs. Belva Lockwood.
The next, in 1887, was Laura de Ia Force
Gordon, of California. Mrs. Gordon
drafted the following clause, which was
inserted in the new state constitution of
California: mo person shall, on account
of sex, be disqualified from entering upon
or pursuing any lawful business, voca-
ton or profession" Ada NJ. Bitten
bender, of Nebraska, was admitted in
| 1888. The fourth woman was Carrie
Burnham Kilgore, of Philadelphia. A
! good year for the women lawyers has
been 1890, no less than three having re-
ceived permission to practice before the
supreme court this year. They are Clara
S. Foltz, of California; Leila Robinson
Sawtelle, of Boston, and Emma N. Gil
lett, of Washington. Miss Gillett is the
only unmarried lady on the list. On her
wedding tour i'll April at Washington,
where all brides go, Mrs. Sawtelle was
| admitted to the supreme court Mrs.
Foltz is tall, bright, handsome, merry
woman, who can get 800 night lectur-
ing, and is fond of good clothes. She
stumped California in the interest of
tariff reform during the last presidential
campaign.
! There are nearly q quarter million
schOolmistresSes i'll the Union, and yet
at teachers conventions they let the few
men do nearly all the talking, make the
rules and hold the offices. In MaSsa-
chusetts there are ninety women teach
ers to one of the other sex. In Ger
many the proportion is exactly opposite,
and there arc ninety men teachers to
one woman.
Floretta Vining is one of the largest
taxpayers in Hull, Mass. At town
meeting not long since she made n speech
calling attention to the dilapidated ap-
pearance of the public cemetery. In
consequence Of her remarks the ceme-
| terry was put in order without delay. 1t
| is when wOmen-whether they believe
| in voting or nOt-tale interest in munic-
| ipal and town matters that we shall
have beautiful landscapes and clean. at
tractive villages i'll America. They have
even more interest than men in clean,
whole streets and sidewalks. In n pOr-
| ton of the town of Norway, Me-, the
men struck, and declared they would not,
any of them, serve as road supervisor:
they had no time. ThereupOn, with
| their approval, woman was appointed
to the place. With the help of the road
machine and of workmen the public
highway was put in excellent condition.
Here is the fashionable recipe to pre-
vent wrinkles: Sleep on your back and
never smile.
A pleasant party of women, among
them Alice Stone Blackwell, have gone
off by themselves to camp on the banks
of Lake MemphremagOg. Mrs. Isabel
Barrows is another of this jolly party.
The only representatives Of the mascu-
line sex permitted in the camp arc two
bOys-one 8, the other II years old.
Helen Campbell asks for women in
business the same consideration that
would be given to men entering n new
and wholly untried field. Give the
women time to develop, she says.
| Among the reports of the United
States bureau Of education is an essay
by a man Of the name of Smith on the
cheapening Of the honorary degrees,
DID,, LII. D., etc, conferred by Amer
can colleges. He expresses bis mingled
5;srnay and disgust because even the
female colleges" have gone into the
Ii. D. business too. What are we COM
ing to when the legion. Of these so
called colleges" may bestOw titles also?
Dear, dear, how sad Smith doesn't
like it!
The British house of lords have sol
EMMY settled that women may not SIT
in county councils. They were afraid
that women would be contaminated by
coming in contact with what Earl Cow
per called the "dirty part of the business
of uolitics." There might be some dan
ger of this, if other men were like the
blackguards and blacklegs who have he
reditary seats among the noble lords OF
the British house of peers.