Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-06-06

wears is the hneal descendant of the
$12 CATERS in which her mother walked.
and that torn and faded calico had an.
cestry OF magnificent brocade that
swept Broadway clean without anv ex-
pense to the street commissioners.
Though you live in an elegant residence
and fare sumptuously every day, let
your daughters feel it is disgrace to
them not to know how to work. de-
nounce the idea, prevalent in society,
that, though our young women may EN-.
broider slippers and crochet and make
mats for lamps to stand on without
disgrace, the idea of doing anything for
"a livelihood is dishonorable 1t is a
shame for a young woman, belonging to
a large family, to be inefficient when
the father tolls his life away for her
support. 1t is shame for daughter to
be idle while her mother tolls at the
washtub. 1t is as honorable to sweep
house, make beds or trim hats as it is
to twist watch chain.
FinicaI Notions.
AS far as l can understand, the line
Of respectability lies between that
which is useful and that which is use
less If women do that which is of no
value, their work is honorable. If they
do practical work, it is dishonorable.
That our young women may escape the
censure of doing dishonorable work
shall particularize. You may knit tidy
for the back of an armchair, but by no
means make the money wherewith to
buy the chair. You may, with delicate
brush, beautify mantel ornament, but
die rather than earn enough to buy a
marble mantel. You may learn artistic
music until you can squall Italian, but
never sing "Ortonville" or "Old Hun
dred. " Do nothing practical if you
would in the eyes of refined society pre-
serve your respectability. l scout these
finical notions. 1 tell you no woman,
any more than man, has right to oc-
cupy place in this world unless she
| pays a rent for it.
In the course of lifetime you con-
sumo whole harvests and droves of cat
tie, and every day you live breathe 40
} hogsheads of good pure air. You must
| by some kind of usefulness pay for all
| this. Our race was the last thing Great
ed-the birds and fishes on the fourth
| day, the cattle and lizards on the fifth
/ day and man on the sixth day. If geol-
ogists are right, the earth was million
of years in the possession of the insects,
beasts and birds before our race came
upon it. In one sense we were inno-
| vators. TIE cattle, the lizards and the
hawks had pre-emption right. The
| question is not what we are to do with
the lizards and summer insects, but
what the lizards and summer insects
are to do with us.
If we want a place in this world, we
must earn it, The partridge makes its
own nest before it occupies it. The
lark by it's morning song earns its break
fast before it eats it. The Bible gives
an intimation that the first duty of an
idler is to starve when it says if he
''will not work neither shall he eat. !"
Idleness ruins the health, and very soon
nature says: "'This man has refused to
pay his rent. Out with himp
The Toll of the Needle.
Society is to be reconstructed on the
subject of woman s toll. A vast majority
of those who would have woman indus
trious shut her up to a few kinds of
work. My Judgment in this matter is
that woman has right to do anything
she can do well. There should be no de-
partment of merchandise, mechanism,
art or science barred against her. If
Miss Hosmer has genius for sculpture,
give her chisel. If Rosa Bonheur has
a fondness for delineating animals, let
her make "The Horse Fair. " If Miss
Mitchell will study astronomy, let her
mount the starry ladder. If Lydia will
be merchant, let her sell purple. II
Lucretia Mott will preach the gospel, let
her thrill with her womanly eloquence
the Quaker meeting house
1t is said if woman is given such
opportunities she will occupy places
that might be taken by men. say II
she have more skill and adaptedness for
any position than man has let her have
it, She has as much right to her bread,
to her apparel and to her home as men
have
But it is said that her nature is so deli
cate that she is untitled for exhausting
toll. / ask in the name of all past his
tory what toll ON earth is more severe,
exhausting and tremendous than that
toll of the needle to which for ages
she has been subjected? The battering
ram, the sword, the carbine, the battle
ak, have made no such havoc as the
needle. Iwould that these living sepul-
chers in which women have for ages
been buried 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 a
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 she 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 far from indicating
the toll to which she is subjected
Trials OF Women.
Such a woman as that has body and