The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-02-21
Give the Women a Chance.

Every now and then we hear of some
misguided and would-be chivalrous
male member of society Directing to
women working for living on the
ground that contact with the cold COM
mercial world would deprive them of
that modesty and refinement which are
now and will always be their chiefest
charm. The latest public example of
this Anticipated and fallacious reasoning
comes from Georgia. where the Leyis-
lature recently defeated a resolution
asking the Governor to appoint a
woman to the Office of Assistant State
Librarian. No objection was offered
to the candidate on the score of fitness
and ability, but merely on account of
All obsolete, anachronistic prejudice
the members refused TO do this small
courtesy to the sex they profess to hold
in such high reverence and esteem.
We do not question the honesty Of
purpose of many who opposed the reso-
luton, and doubtless the gentleman
who protested * in the name of the
mothers, sisters and daughters of the
South was sincere in his antagonism,
but we say now as We have said before
that women have right 70 make hon.
orable use of any powers with which
GOD has endowed them, to support
themselves or to enlarge the area of
their comfort in any way. Further
than this we hold that there is no
improperly i'll their so doing. and that
it is by no means 1attering to the male
portion Of our population to say that
degration of their womanly character
would be the result.
We hold in highest respect that
sentiment that would throw eyery pro-
lection around the name of woman
and screen her from the many and
varied annOyances that must come
from contact with the outside world,
but we have little patience with that
mistaken idea that would set up idle
ness as the chief occupation of the
gentler sex. Every one, be it man or
woman, is happier when occupied. and
has higher self-respect when there is
added the consciousness of indepen-
dence. Is it. then, chivalrous. is it
fair to deprive women Of this laudable
satisfaction =: And how often has it
been necessary for women who have
been reared in the atmosphere of this
false sentiment to 60 forth and earn
support for those very men who have
SO chivalrOusly held them back, and
thus rendered it all the harder for them
when there was no escape?
AS to their ability to perform much
of the work in clerical, literary and
other lines of life, no one can doubt.
They are Enthusiastically deft, quick
and Municipalities that no business
man would despise in seeking help
and that so much energy, or ability to
do work, should be allowed to be
unutilized, is wrongful waste in the
machinery OF the universe. Look into
the inner life Of any woman whom we
reverence and respect, and see if that
woman is not always seeking to make
herself useful in some way or other.
Should we check this tendency, and
tell her to sit with folded hands and be
| merely an ornament? Common, every-
day, fair play, it seems to US, would
give her the fullest freedom and pro-
lection in the exercises of her natural
rights.
So much for the sentimental side of
the case. Those who look al the mat
ter in a plain business way object to
women entering the race on the ground
that the supply Of labor would be ill.,
creased, and thus in accordance with
the laws of trade the proportional indi-
vldual remuneration would be dimin-
ished. This is doubtless true, but as
it is better for house to have several
props to hold it up, so it is better that
family should not be dependent on
only one or two human beings to sup
port it, when there are several to help.
and whom sickness or accident might
| deprive it of the means of subsistence.
The same argument would oppose
every labor-saving machine and tell
the Edisons and Whitneys of the
| world to keep their inventions to them
selves. There is, in fact, no valid
| argument against women working, and
it is only this false idea still lingering
in the minds of many that makes pos
sible everything like insult or degrade
ton. With proper appreciation Of
the dignity of labor on the part of both
men and women all this would fade
away, and we trust that the time is
not far dlstan t.-Norfolk Public Ledger.