The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-06-20
Gospel, let her thrill with her womanly elo-
nnan "a fha lna Ear naatin0 hnnsa

II.
right to her bread, to her apparel and to her
home as men have.
But it Is said that her nature is 80 delicate
that she is untitled for exhaustng toll.
ask In the name of all past history what toll
on earth Is more severe, exhausttng and tre-
mendous than that toll OF the needle to
which for ages she has been subjected? The
batterlng ram. the sword. the carbine. the
battleax, have made no such havoc as the
needle. Iwould that these living sepulchres
In which women have for ages been burlet
might be opened, and that some resurrection
trumpet might bring up these living corpses
to the fresh air and sunlight
Go with me, and will show you woman
who by hardest toll supports her children;
her drunken husband. her old father and
mother, pays her house rent, always has
wholesome food on the table, and when sae
can get some neighbor on the Sabbath to
come In and take care OF her family appears
In church with hat and cloak that are lar
from indicating the toll to which she Is sab
jected.
Such woman as that has body and soul
enough to fit her for any position. She
could stand beside the majority OF your
salesmen and dispose of more goods. She
could 20 into your wheelwright shops aud
beat one-half of your workmen at making
we had resigned to her all the light work,
and ourselves had shouldered the heavier.
But the day Of judgment, which will rsveal
the sufferings Of the stake and inquisition.
will marshal before the throne OF God and
the hierarchs of heaven the martyrs OF wash
tub and needle.
Now. Isay, If there be any preference in
occupation, let woman have 1t. God knows
her trials are the severest. By her acutei
sensitiveness to misfortune, by her hour OF
anguish, demand that no one hedge up her
pathway to a livelihood. Oh: the meanness,
the despicabiity OF men who begrudge
woman the right to work anywhere in any
honorable calling
I 20 still further and say that women
should have equal compensation With men.
By what principle of justice is 1t that women
in many Of our cities get only two-thirds as
much pay as men. and in many cases only
half? Here Is the gigantic iniustice-that
work equally we'll il not better zone woman
receives tar less compensation than man.
Start with the national government. For a
long while women clerks in Washington got
5000 for doing that for which men received
$500.
To thousands OF young women in our cities
to-day there IS only this Observation-Disclosures
tion or dishonor Many Of the largest mer-
camille establishments of our cities are ac-
cessory to these denominations, and from
their large establishments there are scores OF
souls being pitched of into death, and their
employers know it!
Is there God? Will there be q judgment?
tell you, II God rises up to redress woman's
wrongs, many OF our large establishments
will be swallowed up quicker than q South
American earthquake ever took down city.
God will catch these oppressors between ths
80 ~ io a n fhqm
to powder!
I hear from all this land the wall OF wo-
manhood. Man has nothing to answer to
that wall but batteries. He says she Is an
angel, She Is not. She knows she IS moi.
She is human being, who gets hungry when
she has no food and cold when she has no
fire. Give her no more batteries. Give her
justice!
There are about so. 900 sewing girls in New
York and BROOKLYN. Across the darkness OF
this night hear their death groans. It Is
not such cry as comes from those who are
suddenly hurled out OF life, but slow,
grinding, horrible wasting away. Gather
them before you and look into their faces,
pinched, CHASTITY, hunger struck! Look at
their fingers, needle prlcSe1 and blood
tipped! See that premature stoop in the
shoulders! Hear that dry, hacking, merci'
less cough!
At large meeting of these women, held
In hall in Philadelphia, grand speeches
were delivered, but needle woman toos
the stand, threw aside her faded shawl, and
with her snriveled arm hurled very thunder
bolt OF eloquence, speaking out ths horrors
of her own experience.
Stand at the corner of q street in New
York In the very early morning as the Wo.
men 60 to their work. Many OF them had
no breakfast except the crumbs that we're
left over from the night before or cr5st
they chew on their way through the
streets. Here they come-the work.
ing girls OF the city! These engaged In
beadwork, these in flower making. in millin-
cry, enameling, cigar making, bookbinding,
labelling, feather picking, print coloring,
paper box making. but, most overworked OF
all and least compensated, the sewing
women. Why do they not take the city cars
on their way up? They cannot afford the
five cents If, concluding to deny herself
something else, she gets into the car, give
her seat. You want to see how Latimer and
Ridley appeared in the fire. Look at that
woman and behold a more horrible martyr
dom-a hotter fire, more agontzlnS death.
One Sabbath night, in the vestibule OF my
church, after service woman fell in con.
yulslons. The doctor said she neeied msdi-
cine not so muca as something to eat. As
she began 10 revive, In her delirium she said
easpinsly: "Elght cents Eight cents Eight
cents wish could get it done! am SO
tired I wish I could get some sleep, but
must get It dons Eight cents Eight cents =
We found afterwari that she was making
garments at eight cents apiece. and that she
could make but three OF them in day. Hear
Il Three times eight are twsnty-four. Hear
It, men and women who have comfortable
homes!
Some Of the worst villains OF the city ara
the employers Of these women. They beat
them down to the last penny aud try to
cheat them out of that. The woman must
deposit 81 or 80 before she gets the gar
ments to work on. When the work Is done,
it Is sharply inspected, the most inslgnif-
cant flaws picked out and the wages refused,
and sometimes the 81 deposited not given
back. The Women's Protective Union re-
ports q case where one OF these poor souls,
finding q place where she could get more
wages, resolved to change employers and
went to get her pay for work done. inc
employer says, ~ hear you are going to
leave me?" :'Yes," she said. "and have
come to get what you owe me-" He made
no answer. She said, "Are you not going
to pay me?' yes" he said, 81 will pay
you" and he kicked her down stairs.
How are these evils to be eradicated?
What have you to answer, you who sell
coats and have shoes made and contract 1or
the southern and western marketsP What
help Is there, what panacea, what redemp-
ton? Some say, "Give women the ballot"
What effect sach ballot might have on other
questions am not here to discuss, but
what would be the effect Of female suffrage
upon woman's wages? do not believe that
woman will ever get justice by woman's
ballot.
Indeed, women oppress women as much as
men do. Do not women, as much es men,
beat down to the lowest figure the woman
who sews for them? Are not women as sharp
as men on washerwomen and milllners and