Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1893-06-15
IN W0MAN'S BEHALF.
BUSINESS INDEPENDENCE.
Young Women Tried TIA Thing Of Their
Imagination Only.

Young Women Tried TIA Thing Of Their
Imagination Only.
lam surrounded every working day
of my life with women in business, and
] know something of their lives. My
particular lines throw me constantly
into contact with this class of women
and, in writing of them, shall have at
least the satisfaction of knowing
whereof | speak, and in this respect it
seems not unlikely that differ from
some who write and speak on this top
ic / think know something of what
young woman hourly and daily suf-
fers who must earn her livelihood. The
privilege has been given me to contrib
ute, in part, to the support of several
hundred of the bravest and incest little
women whom God ever ordained should
toll for their own bread and butter.
And have been allowed, too, to enter
into thir lives and been given their con-
fidences, Scores of self-supporting girls
and women are my personal friends,
and it is they, and not ], who speak
these words. am simply their mouth
piece when | counsel every woman,
young or old, TO keep miles and miles
away from the business world, unless
actual necessity drives her to its Dor
ders. Believe me, my young woman,
when / say that there is no independ-
ence in the business world for any liv-
ing woman. A business career means
drudgery, to which home duties are a
perfect elysium of leisure. There are
no such disappointments to experience,
no such pains to bear, no such blight
ed hopes to suffer, no such indignities
to be compelled to accept, no such
heart breaks or mental anguishes in the
hardest kind of domestic work, as there
are in even the easiest positions in the
business world. The poorest, hardest
working woman in her home is a queen
of independence compared to the wom-
an in business, whether she be employe
or employer.
No person, however favorably he or
she may desire to view the matter of
business life for girl, can honestly
say to her that in such career she will
find "the key of her own independ-
ence" On the contrary, it means abb
solute dependence, and not only that
but the severest kind of trials and pri-
vations. In her home she may have
been under orders but the orders came
from her mother; in the office or store
Lo &c, tbn r-Iarc nf trnr M
who, to put truth quite plainly, cares
nothing for her save the amount of
work that can be gotten out of her. 1t
is useless to deny that business is built
upon selfish lines. This must be so.
The sole object of business is to make
money. Methods of attaining that end
may differ, but the purpose is the same.
Hence everything and everybody that
comes within the attainment of that
end is judged purely upon selfish lines,
and measured by cold and calculating
standards. The sensitive womanly ma
ture never wants for respect, but it
may at times be forgotten. The man
in business is an entirely different ami
at the home of friend or when seen
in his home. do not say by this that a
gentleman ever forgets the respect due
to women in or out of business, but the
manner in which man at his ease,
and man overcharged with business
perplexities and worries shows that re-
spect may be widely different. / have
known women in home life to suppose
that allowances are made for their sex
in business life. This is not so for the
reason that it could not be so. No bust
ness could exist if conducted on such
lines
A young woman faces a succession OF
hard trials when she turns to a business
career 1t is easier for her to thinl,
that she can do what she sees Others
doing than it is for her to do it, 1t is not
so easy to be compelled to rise at a GER
tain hour day after day whether one
feels like it or not; to eat a hasty break
fast, or let me say rather to bolt it; tc
go out into the biting frosts of the win
ter and the torrid heats of the summer
to leave the comforts of home behind
and those dearest and nearest to us; tc
be compelled to write when the eyes
will scarcely keep open from the ache
in the head; to eat either cold lunch
spread on the knee or mingle with the
elements in cheap restaurant; to see
the wardrobe running behind with nc
time to sew or replenish it; to &C
through the strain of long days work
only to return home at eventide often toe
tired to eat; to feel too exhausted to dc
aught in the evening but to remain
home and seek early rest to gaiI
strength for the morrow, to go through
the same routine of mental and phys
ical anguish, VIII any one call this 6
life of independence? And yet this il
what thousands of girls go through day
after day, year in and year out, until al
twenty-five they look thirty. Enough
is it that such life should be led by
those whose circumstances demand it
know that hundreds of young WON
en- are attracted to business life by
the reports which we meet so frequent
| ly in print as to the number of success
full women in business, and the larg,
incomes earned by them. These stories
are made very attractive, and | know
how apt these things are to infuenc,
the unknowing. But l happen to per
sonally know something of many of tn,
women whose incomes are made the ba
sis for writer's and speakers to urg,
other women into business careers
Often have wished that l might fee
privileged to tell in print the actua
truth about these reports as it has beef
told me by some of these successful
women" We have read of them earn
ing all the way from two to twent,
thousand dollars per year, but som
people have very easy way of rolling
thousands of dollars under thei
tongues. 1t is easier to say that Their
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