Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-13

IN HRIEF.
Throughout the different sections of the
Union the civil war created social disturb
ances. In the South The negro appreciated
the reversed conditions and asserted his
right to new privileges by proverbial
form Of expression, the dazed whites being
frequently reminded of these radical
changes By being told that the bottom rail
was on top. while the NOrthcrner, seeing
the haunlings Of the new rich, " made so
by contracts and despoilings, taught himself
forbearancc in the remembrance that all
scum rises and is finally rejected.
In the confusion begotten of unsettled
times the terms woman and ''lady'' be-
came 50 tangled thai the intertwist is not
yet entirely loosened. The fact is, these
terms seem 10 nave made complete.somcr-
sault, and lady, once the highest term de-
noting the true dignity i'll wolnan is often
applied to the vulgar who can only ape
gentility, and woman" has thus become
the better term.
Each of these has its legitimate use yet
the misapphcatou is SO common that there
Is scarcely lady who has not been told,
DE wash lady is waiting" or who has not
overheard those il her employ call her
woman" 1t IS thus almost daily appar-
Ont that while woman is grand and all
embracing, the term may be made very Of
fensive, and although ''lady'' has in il d
hint of chivalric devotion to woman and is
mentally associated with culture and re-
&c. 81, l.l
preference for the former as expressive of
real worth.
Lady and woman are properly inter-
changcable terms and the difficulty mainly
lies in a want of correct taste in their use.
Custom has made lady" a title due one
whose chief qualities are refinement and
nobility Of character, and when Difference
or formal consideration is to be shown, and
when tribute is paid to the graces or intel
lectual endowment of a woman, then her
womaulineSs is emphasized.
1t is well to study the right uses of the
terms and to bear in mind that a coarse
"wOmau" may ride in her carriage, while
a lady waits upon her, and also that TO
eviuce a lack of that disccrnment which en-
ables one to make just discrimination, is
betrayal which stamps the individual as
one void of qualities inseparable from the
genuine lady or gentleman.
-
There has been an amount of senseless
twaddle about .'woman's work" Now, 4
woman'S work is any work that she can do
well. The difficulty has been that
women in their newly acquired liberty
have been impatient of the preparatory
drilling necessary to the doing of good
work More than this. she has, like all the
lately emancipated, expected the considera-
ton, if not the charity, that was once hers
by right of her inferior privileges. No
longer occupying back seat, she must by
her independence and energy prove herself
capable 10 direct. In the mad pace at which
the world Is going there is little time and
less inclination 10 help on the laggard or to
set the fallen on their feet. Philosophize
rs one may. success is the popular test. and
woman must succeed if she hopes TO be
recognized in the grand scramble.
womau's most precious right is to fol-
low where her tastes and will guide, aud if
in these paths she wins, there is little to
fear from Il narrow criticism that talks of
uletes and bounds ~ her field. Already has
she de.'o-"tr;ted a capacity of endurance
and an ability 10 perform that has sur
prised auti-progrcSsionists, and when
woman learns 10 unite perseverance and
energy with native quickness and to keep
the objective point ever in view, making
everything subsidiary TO it, then will she
force praise from the mouths of her de-
tractors and forever silence the talk that
diSparages any attempt to do what has
heretofore been claSSed as 'nen's work"
AS the days go on women have cause for
gratitude, in that new avenues are being
opened whereby they may ascend to higher |
planes, and lift themselves from the hard |
drudgeries that self-maintenance in the |
past imposed.
Not, perhaps, in the line of easy work, |
but certainly new, is a departure in Chicago |
that is TO give employment TO women. In |
that city there is to be introduced a long, |
low car, to De run either by electricity or |
horse power, and called the Columbian |
coach. This coach will have a seating ca |
pacity of siXty-five, and is to have women |
as car-conductors. This position has been |
held by women in Chill and Peru, and while !
it can be scarcely urged that the occupation |
is a particularly exalted one, still when one |
remembers the laborious employments !
which women have been compelled to fol- /
low bread winners, there is cause for I
graduation that there is another opening |
from the slop-shop and the chilly garnet, |
where, with pricked fingers and worn and !
wasted frame. she has battled for the NOR
sci that is necessary to life.
Kate Tannett Woods, who writes for the |