The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-29
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
A woMAN's DUTY TO WOMAN.

A WoMAN's DUTY TO WOMAN.
Neglect Not our Own scr In car work.
Of Charity and Aims-Giving.
From paper read BY Frances Power
Cobbe before the G difference OF Women Work
ers held at Birmingham. England.
That the weaker half Of the human
race should want help oftencr than the
stronger. and want it more sorely. is q
mere trnism. That it should get the
help so needed first and most literally.
would seem to follow as matter Of
course. But it has fallen out very much
otherwise. First come, first served, !"
ha5 been the rule: and men have push
ed into every banquet of life. and gen.
orally left the crumbs for women. Per-
haps we are bound to make excuse for
them when they endow magnificent
schools and colleges for boys. and
build asylums for old men. without
thinking Of educating girls or of pro-
viding for aged women. Their own IA
vorite fiction, the great Masculine Myth
that every girl and every woman is am
ply and entirely provided for in mind.
body and estate. from childhood to
old age, by some individual man, has,
no doubt, something to do with their
inveterate habit Of overlooking the
claims of our sex.
But at least we might have hoped
that whenever woman grew rich. and
was charitably disposed, she would
know better: and would make the re-
lief Of the pressing needs Of her sisters
the prominent object Of her bounty.
Not SO, by any means, alas. Till the
present generation rich women have
simply followed in the ruts Of the mas
culine almsgivers They have built
almshouses for old men; hospitals for
sick men; schools and colleges for
young men; and. finally, have even en-
dowed bishoprics-of course. for clergy
men, But of all the wise plans to-day,
having for their object to support and
reach and protect women. young and
old, scarcely one was SO much as
thought of even by famous female phi
lanthropists thirty years ago How
often. at that remote date, was my in
dignation aroused when went around,
for example. the warehouses of Lon
don with good Louisa Twining and Wis
tied other infirmaries and hospitals and
asylums in the provinces in France
and Italy: and nearly everywhere
found that wherever there was choice
between large and fairly good wards
and others with some terrible defect
(such. for example. as a carpet beating
yard Immediately beneath the window,
SO that they could never be opened, or
an iron yard. where the din rendered
the strongest voice inandible to the in
mates), the good wards were given to
the sick men, and the defective ones to
the sick women. How much worse was
it when / went over Christ church. at
Oxford. and compared that and all the
other glorious old colleges, where my
own three brothers had been educated,
to the humble little beginnings Of Cir
ton. then at Kitchen. The sick, the
destitute, the young and the old-it was
all the same. The wants of women
were either unprovided for altogether.
or allowed a mean and miserable resi-
due of the provision made for men. It
Is like dream verified in daylight to me
TO witness the present state Of things,
and the number of able. active, gifted
women who are to-day devotedly per-
forming the duty Of women to women.
am not one of those who hold that
all women ought to be devoted $50 far
as public work is concerned) to charity
only: and to be all nurses of the sick, or
all teachers of the young There are
many women with small gifts for these
vocations, and large ones for art, sci
ence, learning. literature. commerce
and administration. But, nevertheless,
1t does seem to me that Of the divine
the true, the beautiful and
the good. the leaf of the good will always
be the chosen one Of the majority of
women. ! mean the definite effort to
soothe the bodily pains and promote
the joys. and train and lift and purify
the souls of their brothers and sisters.
] believe charity essentially to be =
feminine divinity. and that . woman is
never SO thoroughly in her natural
groove, working in the plane of her
best faculties mot, as in many other
pursuits. across their bent) as when she
is engaged in some sort of philanthro-
ply. She is like collie dog who may.
indeed. be taught to live sleckly and
behave himself admirably on the draw
ing-room rug, but who never shows
himself for what he is worth, and is
never SO gleeful as when he is sent to
gather all the stray lambs on the side
Of the mountain.
BY giving your hearts to your cause
of charity, even II it be sad and pain
full charity. you will learn thereby
precious secrets. You will find how all
your personal cares and aims seem to
dwindle and becom. comparatively in.
significant You will learn how noble
are the friendships which spring out
on common work in unselfsh and holy
tasks; friendships to which the CON-
radcships of social pleasures are as
dross to gold And you will learn what
1t is to feel, when the evening of life
closes in-whether you have or have
not been allowed to see of the travail
of your soul"-that you have done
what in you lay to bring relief to the
suffering, guidance to the erring, res
toration to the fallen and justice to
the wronged aud miserable. In other
words. you will feel that You have not
only prayed to God, but lived the pray.
-Nomans journal
THE UTILITY WOMAN.