The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-01-09
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

LIN WUMAN y DEI1ALEe
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
Ineseasing Opportunities for Working
wOmen-AAvantages Of . Business Edu.
cation.
Work was never meant to be . curse
or q shame, but the surest clement Of
growth and happiness. With woman
rests especially the power to right her
own sex as to the absurd prejudice often
existing, by working herself, when gift
cd with great powers, and recognizing
with real sympathy the work, however
Of other women.
It is but score Of years since, writes
Mrs. 6. Hall, in The Home. a prominent
writer declared that she could find but
seven occupations in which women
might engage. A few years later the
list was increased to thirteen. Two
months ago, the Chief OF the National
Bureau Of Statistics OF Labor made the
statement that the occupations in which
women are now working number three
hundred and forty-two. An astonishing
increase in so short time; and 1t Is not
prcsumptious to believe that even
dozen years hence we shall see certain
branches Of many trades largely occu-
pied by women. Women at work in the
Offices of architects. in wallpaper de-
signing, mixing paints, and even con-
trolling the frescoes and other designs
for the ornamentation Of our homes. and
farther yet, from the college annex may
emerge from long nse Of the higher
mathematics, the plan and elevation OF
the house itself! Who knows? We are
drifting to time when it shall be un-
derstood that woman's sphere is like
the sphere of man-that sphere which
she can fill by her capacity and taste,
all the traditions Of the past, and even
the conventionalities OF the present not
withstanding.
1t is not an unusual thing now in
England for ladies of rare education and
full attainments, on finding an income
reduced, to turn to one Of the many occu-
pations now opening for them. And in
hundreds Of cases they are more success
full than men, doing thriving business
and rcaping abundant profits, setting
aside, by so doing, all the absurd notions
of their grandmothers as to the gentility
Of the thing.
Who ever objects to q hammer or saw
in the hands Of son, even though he
be very young? "a boys birthright."
they say. But If girl touch them, silly
mothers command them to be laid aside
instantly, for fear Of injury. But as
certainly as We arc advising In an age Of
rapid progress. SO surely the time is not
far distant when in every house in the
land there will be room set apart for
the tools and the bench. and 1t shall be
as free to the girls as to the boys. Have
they not reached many steps toward 1t
even now in the fashionable wood carv-
ing and hammerings on brass? Ten out
OF every dozen children would much
rather take lessons In such things
as these than employ music teacher.
Ask them and see.
Let us then work. we who are called
upon by Providence to meet demand,
and II we may not work with our brain
then with our hands. Let it be done
bravely. openly keeping while We do Il
our self-respect and our independence.
And wherever we SEQ the timid young
teacher, the obscure artist, the humble
sewing girl, may we be quick to recog'
nize with unerring feminine tact. signs
OF education and refinement. while on
the other hand we may be equally in
dulgent to the want of it.
Many women arc naturally inclined
TO domestic life, and not having it, must
seek another career. They enter shrink
ingly at first into these various avenues
Of support, which only few years agt
were monopolizcd by men. Yet there
is no assertion anywhere that they have
become less womanly, less feminine, o.
that they have been robbed in any way
of those exclusive charms that belong
to woman alone. On the other hand i,
is again and again admitted that they
have been greatly benefited by these
enlarged opportunities.
| Work partakes always Of the worker
and good work, like fine character. is o.
no sex. In every department. Of science
from astronomy down, in every depart
ment of art and Of industry, we dnt
women doing excellent work, and fitting
themselves to do still better work, whel
admitted to branches Of industry, nov
not open to them.
The training OF business education
then. is invaluable to every woman VIII,
/ receives it. She becomes wider in he
apprehension, larger In her sympathies
firmer in her convictions and more capa
BILE Of graphing with the problems ant
labors Of life. Her patience, her endur
ance. her confidence. is strengthened
making her better able to stand u
against the mutations OF fortune, an
sure Of life Of honorable industry an
independence.