Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-01-18
FOR THE WORKING GIRL.
A Little Sermon by Another Working
Woman

DO some useful work and do it with
nor in her Sermon to Working Girls"
which won the prize offered by the
New York Press.
UNLESS at the end of our days we
can look back and say we have striven
steadily to improve our own lives and
those of at least two OF three other
persons, then our lives have been a
dead failure. We have given no reason
for existence. We had no right to be
born. We have simply lived and taken
up room that ought to have been given
to somebody better.
''In the pursuit of the beautiful life
it is hard to say which girl has the ad-
vantage, the rich or the Door one. For
the young woman not obliged to earn
her living there open today more glori-
Gus fields of human achievement than
ever man OF woman enjoyed before.
There are magnificent branches of
scientific research that orght to be oc-
cupying the attention Of thousands of
! girls who have as yet taken up no use
full work. The girl with a musical gift
can find a refuge from her own griefs
and shed JOY around her for lifetime
! by cultivatin@ that grand gift. SO
with the woman who has talent for
art and decoration, for writing or ac-
| quirin@ languages. Queen Victoria S
| daughters every one of them, learned
! not only one but several useful occu-
pations, and could today earn their
own living if it were necessary. If !
were a rich woman [ should find my
greatest joy in showing the world what
matchless power there is in perfect in
| tellectual Towering and development
of a womans brain. I should go my
way singing as I went and thanking
God for the opportunity.
Perhaps the wealthy young woman
| does not care for mere intellectual cu1-
ture. Then there are the great social
and philalthrOpic problems she should
take up. The questions of municipal
government, labor, poverty, drunken
ness and crime will never be solved
till woman brings the light of her
heart and brain to bear upon them.
But if one is a working girl, with
only small wages, what can she do!
She can do the work immediately be
fore her eyes, putting all her soul
into it, doing it a little better than il
was done before. Whatever your labor
is, perform it not grudgingly, Sinking
it the moment your employers eye is
off you, and repining because you must
work at ALL No! Work with joy and
enthusiasm. The smaller task perfect
ly done will bring you the larger task
with wider opportunity and better pay
1--WE rise by the things that are under
our feet" Whatever your toll, do II
as though your whole future depended
on your fidelity to it. SO it does. Put
heart, soul and conscience into your
task, and some day you will find your
SCI. N a much higher place in the
world Of industry than you now occupy
Repeat to yourself night and day this
, We can be what we will to be- Be
thankful that you do work for liv
ing. You will be ten times the woman
you would have been without it.
"Outside of your employment pursue
some intellectual or artistic study
Take a course Of physical training, too
to make your body fine, strong ane
shapely. 1t is the duty of woman
young and old. to make herself as
beautiful as she cannot by smearins
cosmetics upon her face, pinching il
her waist and reforming her feet by
tight shoes and high heels, though
she can make herself cOmely to lool
upon, but by taking care of her health
keeping good tempered and living gu
of doors as much as possible"