Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-23
THINGS IN GENERAL.

VIII. And the breezes blew and the dust New
and in two minutes you could not see from one
corner to the other There was plenty of revo
luton, but no reformation. Things only goi
worse. Then the woman took her turn. And
she sprinkled water here and there about the
room, and cooled the air aud laid the dust, and
then deftly and daintily, as one learned In the
art of the broom, she made that room
as clean and neat as a new pin, in no time
And the room was swept.
So there are some things that women can do
| better than men,
How many things there are in which women
are more efficient than men, the professor OF
things in general is not prepared to say. Can
she preach better, doctor better. argue better
in law vote better? Perhaps Far be it
from this PROFESSIONAL chair to deny any possi-
biity along the road of the feminine future.
We need all the good preachers, and doctors
| and lawyers, and all the intelligent and honest
| voters we can have.
A Very Foolish Theory.
The foolishest theory of human life is that
which puts great company of people together
into class and judges them all alike.
That is wise and true interpre-
| tation of life which is aware that
| there is no such thing as a "class" outside the
statistics of the census. Human beings are
| individuals. This is one of the lessons which
the race has found, somehow, very hard to
| learn. Once it was held that the only indi-
viduals in the world were the fathers of small
number OF aristocratic families Nobody else
| had any rights, or deserved any consideration.
! To these heads of families their wives, their
| children, and their slaves belonged, as their
! COWS. their horses and their pigs did. Ii the
father chose. be might kill his children. He
mad right to do that, as he had a right to kill
| his sheep.
Little by little human souls gained emancipa-
| sa1Ix,
At last, even slaves. Little by little
| human souls escaped from "classes' and
| got to be recognized as individuals, each
with Iii right to live, each with a personal re-
character of his own. Tie race has not yet
been altogether enfranchised. There is still
slavery, and denial of individuality. But the
millennium is coming.
An Idea of President EIiops.
President Eliot, of Harvard, told US the other
day, when he was here in town, that the one
chief characteristic of the most advanced ideas
of education is just this emphasis upon indi-
viduality. Students are no longer treated as
classes. but as men. The aim is to bring out
the best that is in each man. The fiction of
the average mind" is vanishing out of the
heads of teachers. and the fact of the individual
mind is taking its place. Hence elective
courses of study. and change in the whole
aim of education. knowledge is no longer the
thing which the good school tries to give, but
power And power means the mind of each
individual trained to do its best.
We are as yet only semi-civiliZed. But we
are growing. There is plenty of reason for
encouragement Year by year we are pushing
over the walls which our barbarian ancestors
built. We are tumbling down the barriers
which interfere with the great fact of human
individuality. We are learning TO estimate
human being as human being. The street on
which the human being lives is less and less
entering into account. The peculiarities of
md nn1n niporf fn fo-
nothing. OF course, there are still old fogles
and semi-civilized people as was shown the
other day at Washington. But there are
always backward swirls and eddies along the
shore. The great current is toward the open
sea. Black or white, what matters it?
The Real Difference Between individuals
And thus, among other things which we are
learning in our blundering way. we are coming
to realize that the only real difference between
Indiyi duals is difference of gifts, of aptitude.
OF efficiency. of power. When we really get
that learned, women will get their rights
There will be an end to paying unequal wages
for equal work. There will be an end to all in
ouiry at the gate of all professions as to
whether the candidate wears skirts or trousers.
However, in the meantime, there are good
many things which women not only can do |
better than men, but are actually doing. and |
doing better, to-day. Most of all, in the way of
philanthropic work, Mrs. Annie n athan Meyer, |
in her late book on Nv omsn's Work in |
America" puts the philanthropic record |
last; but she he, makes lakes up , for it by as
of her Is chapters. Charity" Care of the |
Sick" "Care of the Criminal" "Care of the |
Indian" Work :, Of r AAInt,ii-s.laayery A. i Women"
Cross Society,"" are the titles Of these chapters.
They suggest tender mercies unnumbered 1t
is indeed "a joy and an inspiration" as the
writer of one of these chapters puts it, to know
that ''all over this vast continent intelligent
and unwearying women are thinking and work.
ing and praying for the needy, the wicked, the
ignorant. the weak and the down-trodden."
What are the women of Pittsburg doipcS |
They are doing their share; we may be sure of
that beforehand. have here at my hand big
pile of pamphlets, whose business it is to tell
how much that share amounts to; to tell it.
that is so far as it can be set down in figures |
added up, set at the right hand of dollar marks
and presented in reports at annual meetings
And that, as everybody knows, Is the very |
smallest part of it.
Work of Women in Churches.
This pile of pamphlets has nothing to say of
the work of women in the churches. 1t gives
no record of the millions of stitches which help
to fill the missionary boxes Every church has
its company of faithful women who are every
week busy In good works. The sewing So
ciety" used to bea place of gossip. So the
grandmothers tell US. But to-day the women
who belong to it have no more time for gossip
than the men who work in tack factory. OF
all this the pamphlets take no account.
l know church where every week flowers
are sent to all the sick and afflicted people in
the parish. thanksgiving and Christmas din |
ners are sent to all the needy families and |
every Friday crowd of poor women are pro-
vided with sewing. which they do at home and
are paid for; besides all the missionary boxes
This providing of work is done on the most |
scale by the Women's industrial Ex- |
change, at 62S Penn avenue. The Exchange |
receives all salable articles made by women.
The articles are priced by the consignors, sub.
ect to the approval of an examining committee |
and commission of ten per cent is charged |
rhe Exchange conducts not only show room,
Tor it provide not only the fancy articles but |
he bill of fare. In 1887 the Exchange maid |
;onsignors of work, 81, 255 09; last year 1t paid
1888 IS. During the few weeks of the Christ
mas season just past, the Exchange paid more |
,han during the entire first year of its work |
Here are few gimpses of the benevolences
If this good enterprise. taken from a private
etter: "One woman reports that she has not
,een able to do, her own work, but
,as made enough at the Exchange
o pay for competent servant.
school of Design. mother has been enabled
o procure the best medical advice for an af- ,
iicted child. A cripple in chair reports that
he employment and diversion were more to her
han the money received" This good work
Will be adequately paid for in heaven. But il
lasn't to wait altogether till then. A year ago
t had more than $1,000 in its treasury. 1t must
AVE good deal more than that this year.
One Necessary Feature.
But in order to get the benefits of the Ex. 7
hange, woman mnst know something She ,
must know how to work well. The tenderest !
earted manager will not pay penny for heavy ]
read. There are several sewing schools in
own which try to teach little girls to use their
myers. There is one extensive cooking school
his is the Domestic Training School
n Penn avenue, near Highland, East | Y
md This school started out glorlously