Democratic messenger., 1894-06-09

cestry of magnificent hrocadc that
swept Broadway clean without any cx-
pcnse Ia the street commissioners.
Though you live in IN elegant residence
and fare sumptuuusly every day, let
your daughters feel il is II disgrace "a
them not 10 know how to work. i de.
nouncc the idea. prevalent in society.
that, though our young women may en-
broidcr slippers and crochet and make
mats for lamps To stand on without
disgrace, til" idea of doing anything foI
livelihood is dishonorablc Ii is d
shame for . young woman, belonging tO
a large family. to be- inefficient when
the father tolls his life away for her
support. II is shame for daughter Il
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 rs | can understand, the line
of respcctability 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. il is dishonorable.
That our young women may escape the
ccnsurc of doing dishonorablo 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. bcautify mantel ornament, but
die rather than earn enough TO buy n
marble mantel. You may learn artistic
music until you can squall Italian. but
never sing "Ortonville" or "Old Hun
lred." Do nothing practical if you
woril il the eyes of refined society pre-
serve your respectability. l scout these
finical notions. i tell you no woman.
any more than man. has right to oc-
cupy a place in this world unless she
pays a rent for il.
In the course Of lifetime you con-
sumo whole harvests and droves IF 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 il. In one sense we were inno-
vators. The cattle, the lizards and the
hawks had prc-emption right. The
question is not what we are to do with
the lizards and summer insects, but
arc 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 il. The
lark by its morning song earns its break
fast before it eats it. The Bible gives
an intimation that the first duty of an
idler is 10 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 10
pay his rent. Out with him.
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 few kinds of
work. My judgment in this matter is
that "a woman has right to do anything
she can do well. There should be no de-
partment of merchandise, merchanism,
art or science barred against her. If
Miss Hosmer has genius for sculpture,
give her a chisel. If Rosa Bonheur has
a fondncss for delineating animals, let
her make "The Horse Fair" If Miss
Mitchell will study astronomy, let her
mount the starry ladder. II Lydia will
be a merchant, let her sell purple. If
Lucretia Mott will preach the gospel, let
her thrill with her womanly cloquence
the Quaker meeting house.
1t is said if woman is given such
opportunities she will occupy places
that might be taken by men. say if
she have more skill. and adaptcdness 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
ax, have made no such havoc rs the
needle would that these living sepul-
chers in which women have for ages
been buried might be opened, and that
some resurrection trumpet might bring
mp these living corpses 10 the fresh air
and sunlight
Go with me, and will show you n
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 i'll 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 rs that has body and
soul enough to fit her for any position.
She could stand beside the majority of
your statesmen and dispose of more
goods. She could 90 into your wheel
wright shops and beat one-half of your
workmen at making carriages. We talk
about woman as though we had resigned
to her all the light work. and ourselves
had shouldcred the heavier. But the day
of Judgment, which will reveal the suf-
fcrings of the stake and inquisition, will
marshal before the throne Of God and
the hierarchs of heaven the martyrs of
washtub and needle
Now. say, if there be any prefer
ence III occupation, let woman have it.
God knows her trials are the scvercst
BY her acutcr sensitivencss to misfor-
time, by her hour of anguish, demand
that no one hedge up her pathway to a
livelihood. Oh, the meanness, the de-
spicability Of men who bcgrudgc wom-
an the right to work am where in any
honorable calling!
20 still further and say that women