The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1891-05-29
WoMA;J's WORLD IN PARAGRAPHS.
A Woman's Experiences in New York Of
fees Fifteen Years Ago.

n .
fees Fifteen Years Ago,
Mrs. Emma Beckwith. who came into
notice asa candidate FOL mayor of Brook
iyn two years ago. is the reverse of what
one would look for under the name Of
strong minded. 1t is to be hoped she is
not weak minded, that is to say; and she
certainly is not, but she is anything ex-
cept the grim, i'll favored woman who
used to be thought the only aspirant fer
rights and things. Mrs. Beckwith is a
charming, pretty woman, at the head of
q household that adore her, one and all,
from the big. manly husband to the pug
dog Merrylegs. She is thoroughly wide
awake on questions of political economy,
which she has carefully studied. She
belongs to several liberal and economic
clubs, is a graceful, effective speaker,
and is the New York state manager of
the Women's National Liberal union.
She wears handsome, beautifully fitting
gowns, and has soft pink cheeks and
wavy dark hair sprinkled with gray.
About fifteen years ago, when the Beck
with family were not so well off as they
are now, Mrs. B. acquainted herself
with bookkeeping, and went into the
Office TO help her husband in his business.
1t was an unheard of thing for a woman
to work in an Office in the business part
of New York, however, and the owner
of the building said she should not do it,
that this was not a fit place in which for
a weman to be, even with her own hus-
band. But there was need that she
should work, and Mrs. Beckwith quietly
visited one Office after another in the
huge building, and asked the gentlemen
if they were afraid to stay there if she
should come to occupy a desk and chair
alongside of Nr. Beckwith. They as
sured her they We're willing to dare the
risk, like brave men. Armed with this
permission the lady visited the stubborn
landlord, and then, after some persua-
sion, he yielded reluctantly. / have al
ways thought that maybe Mrs. B. sweet
voice and winning ways, as well as her
attractive face, had something to do
with melting the old gentleman's opposi-
ton to women in his Office building. At
any ldJCt Ills. i1CGhh WILL litIl a lIIui1Ipil-
antly successful career pioneering the
way for ladies in New York offices. All
this happened only fifteen years ago, mind
you. Now there is scarcely an Office Of
any size and Importance in New York
that has not from one to a half dozen
girls and women employed there in yari-
Jus capacities.
1 observe that old paragraph is still
going the rounds which makes Mrs.
Tenant, mother Of Stanley's wife, say
that she saw in America, as in England,
thousands of sweet, lovely, worthy girls
fading away because there were no hus-
bands for them. That may be, but I OBJ
serve that they don't fade half as fast as
the girls that get husbands.
Speaking of a suitable dress for bust
ness women and the inconvenience of
the present one the New York World
says: sit is for women themselves to
remedy this evil. The matter is entirely
in their own hands" Is it? Who is it,
pray, that boots women, mobs them and
crowds them so they must be taken to a
police station when they appear on the
streets wearing a dress unlike the con-
ventional one: Who is that says he
would not speak to his wife or own her
If she should wear a dress that showed
her feet? Who is it that is always prais-
ing "trim built" women and small feet?
Women, Of course.
| am more than ever satisfied that
women will get all the legal rights that
men have as soon as a majority of them
want these rights. The apathy of won-
en- whose sphere of thought is bounded
by a mustard seed shell is the worst
obstacle to progress that is to be over
come. And these apathetic wome will
never be walked up till some torture
wrings their own souls, Meanwhile the
rest of the world waits.
To several women whom | might
name, but will not: Let us have peace.
There is nothing in this life worth quar-
reling about. You put back the WON
ans cause q hundred years with your
petty personal spites and nonsense.
Stop it. Drop your everlasting self
seeking, and don't try to force your
selves where you are not wanted. Cease
contention and strife.
Elizabeth Sargent, daughter of ex-sen-
ator and Minister Sargent, of California,
has prepared herself thoroughly by study
in America and Europe to be an oculist,
and she is already winning Il fine repu-
tation in her practice in California.
The Little Mothers" society in New
York city is doing much good in the
line of affording rest and recreation to
little girls of the poorer classes, who
are loaded down with the care of
younger brothers and sisters. These
poor little victims of a civilization that
is out Of joint, and ont at the elbows be-
sides, never know a childhood. AS soon
as they are old enough the ever present
baby is placed in their arms to mind
while their mothers go out rag picking
scrubbing or working in a factory.
Many Of these forlorn little girls never
saw the country. One Of them, on her
little vacation trip last summer, said
with a giggle to a lady manager who
had spoken Of her own little boy, "Oh,
/ didn't think you were married, because
you laughed SO much"
have been amused many "a time at
the portraits Of women that were painted
fifty to a hundred years ago. The air of
meekness and submission expressed in