The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1893-08-24
WOMAN S SPHERE.

1T is said that the French have
ninety-nine different ways of serving
boiled beet; but the variety of ways
in which the woman QUESTION is
dished up to the public is infinite.
Many writer's aver that Woman's
sphere is circumscribed by the walls
of home; others Casually women)
contend that it is commensurate
with that of man, and nothing less
than the big round globe itself; while
scores award various degrees of lati-
tude between these extremes.
The fact of the matter is, woman
has no settled sphere at present.
| Sheis on a accommodating expedition.
She has broken the moor.ng strings
which bound her little craft to the
banks Of established custom, and is
padding her own canoe into every
nook and corner which promises a
| new experience-the more novel and
| unconventional the better.
One thing, therefore, is certain;
woman's "spbere" is undergoing Il
change of phases, and the seer who
can predict its ultimate stage has
not yet been born. The changed
conditions amid which the present
generation Of women is being reared;
a broader system Of education; new
methods of thought; new employ
ments, and new interests ali conspire
to render the woman OF today in
many respects a different creature
from from the woman of the past.
This must be conceded even by those
vestal virgins who SO sedulousiy cul
tiYate the domestic virtues to the eX
cIusion of all others. The evolution
OF the sex has been, up TO this point,
a slow and difficult process. Dis
conragement and opposition have
risen like giants on every hand, but
woman has put on her seven league
boots and gained ground on them
ALL Public opinion, that most for
midable Brobdignag, is at length
succumbing TO the beleaguerings of
battalions of earnest determined
women workers., and Mrs. Grundy
for lack of listeners finds it scarcely
worth while to criticize or cavil.
Woman can be anything from law
yer to a street car conductor, and
the fact will hardly elicit the lifting
of an eyebrow.
According to recent statistics over
100000 women and girls in
America are earning their own
liyings, engaged in between twenty
ana thirty different trades and pre-
LESSONS; while the Offices OF sheriff,
aiier and other eccentric positions
are sometimes filed by females.
There can be no question that the
present condition of the s'softer sex"
is largely formative. Several gener
ations must perchance elapse before
her new privileges are sufficiently
assimilated, and the well balanced
woman energies from the plastic
state.
The old ties severed, her elastic |
nature has bounded to the opposite |
extreme. A delicious sense of free |
dom and independence, love of adj
venture, and the old serpent euriosi-
ty, if you like, have led her TO do
many odd and eccentric things, but |
her true womanIiness will ultimately |
and good sense and sound
will draw the circumference
Of her sphere.
After all is said. one cannot help
he belief that the asphere" OF woman /
depends altogether on the woman,
md as there is a variety of women
here will be variety of spheres
,ach taking it's character from its
sovereign ruler. There viii always
,e certain types, the home-Woman
md the woman who loves to go
abroad, the literary woman, the
business woman, the professional
woman. The nineteenth century has
the existence of these