Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1892-06-30
IN W0MAN'S BEHALF.
sELF.sUPPoRTlNo WOMEN.

They Are Free From u Condition of
Society That HAS Lasted for Centuries.
One Of the most interesting figures In
New York life of to-day is the self-sup-
porting woman-a figure to be found
from the highest to the humblest
socicty figure which is worthy Of the
deepest study Of metropolitan life and
manners.
"A little while ago, the sclf-supporting
woman was wonder and novelty
She was at once heroine and an
anomaly. For the poor girl of one or
two generations back there were only
two grinding and helpless
poverty or marriage She had TO marry
the first man who asked her, or consent
to n life of starved parsimony or be-
grudged help. II she became that desc
late Of all human crcaturcs-an old
maid dependent upon the charity OF
her rclativcs-shc was made to regret
the pride or dclicacy that had induced
her to refuse her suitor, and had signed
and sealed her to the bleak, grim life Of
u poor relative.
The pcnnilcss girl of to-day, with the
experience Of her limp and brow beaten
maiden aunts before her. has realized
the cruelty Of her position and has
taken bold step for life and liberty.
The modern unmarried woman of five
and-twenty, with clear mind, an
Independent spirit, refined tcmpera-
mcnt and the experience of nineteen
centuries behind her, would rather
scrub floors or sweep crossings for
l.. La. .Ia .1uNf Nf..y,
of what is commonly called marrying
for home She has seen her weaker
sisters, too feeble TO struggle hand to
hand with life, resign themselves TO
lovelcss marriage with spiritlcSs acqui-
escencc or sick dependency. She has
no wish to follow in their footsteps.
She will marry, as she herself says III
the right man comes" but to marry
for roof over her head and butter to
her bread-perish the thought! A great
deal better take her chop and cup of
coffee cooked over an oil stove in
freezing hall-bcdroom. Here She is her
own mistress, and no one can growl If
the coffee is thick and the chop tastes
Of kerosene.
So, year by year, the army of self-sup-
porting women grows apace. They are
courageous, shrewd and independent,
neither hard nor aggressive They are
as far removed from that unattraotive
class of women who do not wash their
hands, cut their hair off short, and wear
mems hats, as they are from the GLASS
who spend their days reading French
translations, changing their dresses and
kissing their pet dogs. They are not
self-supporting for the sake of being
talked about, and do not crave TO sec
their beauty and their courage sung in
the Sunday papers. They have taken up
their roles not as women seeking notori-
ETY. and advertisement, but as women
seeking freedom from condition of So
cicty that for centuries has crushed
their pride and wounded their delicacy.
Some of these women have more or
less easy time of It. That is to say,
their talents or abilities in whatever
art or profession they direct them, re-
ceivc quick recognition, and the woman,
he she artist, writer, dressmaker, book
keeper or siclSnursc, finds herself in re-
ceipt of AN income on which she can
live comfortably and maybe put away
something substantial against the al
ays-to-be-looked-fo rainy day. Al
most all the great dailies in New York
employ women at good salaries From
them is expected the mcthodical regu-
larity, the mechanical precision in their
work that n man would give. But they
are serious women, earnestly trying to
support themselves, not working mere
ly until some .man will be so kind as to
marry them, not ON chase for roman
tic adventures, or dime-novel love af-
fairs, They work conscientiously and
carefully, not often discouraged and al
ways painstaking and sincere,
These successful ones, comfortable
and hopeful, are among the happiest of
women. They have their lives laid out
before them, busy with pleasant toll
in which their hopes and energies are
conferred They are free and independ-
ent The carping cares of the house
keeper nre not theirs. II the domestic
joys of the woman who marries happily
are not for them, at least they have
none of her intolerable anxieties and
unceasing, petty trials-anxieties and
trials that would be almost unbearable
20 their more daring and Independent
nuturas- Their work Is o ioYtp ulep,