Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-02-28
A WOMAN OF TODAY.
Why SHE HAS ENTERED THE RANKS
OF LABOR.

OF LABOR.
Countess Sorraikow Defends the Modern
woman-Her Hard Battle--A Significant
Innovation Conditions Which Must Be
Faced Bravely-The widened Sphere.
Copyright, 1895, by American Press Associa
ticAl
The new woman marks an innovation
in the feminine world more significant
than mankind is able to realize. 1t is
not fair to deride this fin de steele prod
net, for circumstances have made her
what she is. 1t is customary for men in
high places to tell her that "her proper
sphere is the home;" that her highest
aim in life is bountiful reproduction
of the race and that to the monotonous
rock OF the cradle and the never ending
stitch of the needle must all her high
and holy ambitions be sacrificed. In
other words, they tell us she should be-
come household machine, an automa-
ton to supply the family needs, with
never thought of the indwelling soul
that requires but the touch of the magic
wand Of love to waken it into life, that
soul which, when aroused, responds to
humanity's needs as the soul Of man
never can.
But it is irony Of the cruelest kind to
talk or even to think of woman in such
arestricted light Tracing down through
past ages, what do we find? What does
history reveal to us? That many great
and gifted beings have always existed
who were acknowledged as such, and
across whose fair foreheads the legend
woman" was written. 1t is not the
past, however, with which we have to
deal, but the living present, with its
endless perplexities and struggles.
If home is the place where alone
woman should shine, might / ask how
many of the earnest, thoughtful work
ers of the current era have homes? Are
not the majority already struggling for
the barest existence-often, too, with
others dependent on their exertions?
1t is unnatural to suppose that woman
enters the ranks Of laborers merely to
crafty a passing whim or to exploit
some special fad. Moreover, in this age
OF progress and advanced thought, why
should she be relegated to the rear rank
in the march of progression? Conditions,
both social and economic, have forced
her into the competitive arena, and once
there she has learned to make the most
of her opportunity. 1t would indeed be
strange if it were not so, for allied to a
keenly analytic mind woman to pecul-
lar degree possesses enduring patience.
1t is true that women, as class, are
impulsive. but it is impulse born of in
tuition The same might be said in re-
gard to our methods of reasoning. The
mind of woman achieves results through
different processes from those of the
mind of man. He, it seems, must reach
conclusion by slow logic, while she in
tuitively obtains a like result with q
bound and often without knowing ex-
actly how. Thus, while mans actions
are governed solely by sluggish reason,
those of woman are largely due to quick
intuition
The new woman has had hard bat
tie to fight, for in most instances she
has been greatly misunderstood. She is
generally regarded by conservatives
among her own sex and most of the
male contingent as a pushing, agrees
i've creature devoid of all those divine
qualities which constitute female low
ableness. This is mistaken attribute
with which to endow the new woman,
for she oftentimes-in fact, it is the rule
turns out to be the daintiest bit of
femininity imaginable. A positive will
allied to earnest effort does not neces-
sarily indicate large, masculine, for
bidding looking woman
Comparisons are frequently made be-
tween the women of the present day and
those of past decades. frequently to the
disparagement of the former Grandma,
/ confess, was dear lovable old lady
Strictly proper in every sense of the
word, she was content to sit by the fire.
side ministering contentedly first to the
wants of her children and afterward to
those Of their children. But we must
remember that grandpa played an impor-
tant part in those days. He stood ready
with shield and buckler to protect his
faithful helpmeet from the slightest
passing storm of life. Grandma did not
have to think day by day how to Sc
cure the food to fill the hungry mouths
around her Grandpa attended to all
that, rejoicing in the right which his
manhood had given him. Thus his de-
voted wife could well afford to play the
personification Of gentleness and good
nature, seated in the ''inglenook
Those were the days when the coun-
try was new, when foreign immigration
had not invaded our shores and when
overpopulated cities of the old world
had not landed at our doors their sur
plus, unfed, unhoused poor. 1t is these
wage reducers that to a great extent
have helped to bring about the present
unequal and unjust state of affairs. The
influx of the non-English speaking ele-
ment among the lower classes has been
bar to material progress Injured for
centuries to poverty, they can sustain
life on the merest pittance. Hence the
father of an American family, no longer
able to secure the same compensation
for his labor as of old, is forced to call
upon sons and daughters alike to aid in
keeping the wolf from the door,
Is woman, then, to be blamed for con-
ditions over which she has no control?
1t is the cause which should be probed
to the root, not the effect alone which
should be censured and derided. Our
greatest men have invariably risen from
small beginnings, and why should not
equal success attend the footsteps Of the
new woman? She is a glorious creature,
endowed with all the gifts of the gods
What, then, is to retard her progress?
Always the ruler of the household, she
has by her present action merely widen
ed the sphere of her usefulness. Into the
larger field Of experience she steps forth
in battle array. prepared to live or die
by the result of the contest Make way
for the new womanl
COUNTESS NORRAIKOW