The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-11-28
FEMALE LABOR

The los conditions under which the in :
dustries were in many cases carried on,
after the coming of immigrants in such
hordes as to prevent even moderate effort
to provide respectfully for them, seems to
be reason enough fur the disrepute into
which industrial pursuits for women have
fallen.
In the days of our grandmothers, and
more especially on the great estates of
Englani. young daughters of the farm
ing 'pulatlon we're taken into the man.
or houses, and there were taught care
fully all the branches that pertaincd to
house and home keeping. cooking, sew
ing, nu sing and general housnwork.
Garden AMI farm wore, with the care OF
norses and of cattle. also the carpenter,
blacksmith and wagonsmlth's trades
were taught IN the same way to farmers
hoys, by the older men employed upon
the estate.
Thus each home of any pretensions he
came an industrial school. under careful
private instruction ann control, ana the
excellence of the methods used. with the
influences of refined surroundings, had
a lasting effect upon the youth of that
age ana generation
In the American home, if slaves were
not in order, the daughter Of the farming
sections and those also OF small trades
people, became respected and self-respect-
ing aids III many households.
If we LOOK still farther back we find
ladies of high degree, ladies in waiting
upon royalty, sitting in the queen s apart.
ments, not coquetting with the wheel, as
with bit of brc-a-brac, relic OF an in
dustrious ancestry. but spinning fine
thread from wsll-cleaned flax. The mer-
ry whir' OF the wheel mingled with hum
Of voices and the chit-chat and gossip OF
The court. We also see Priscilla in our
colonial days.
Ages farther back we cJme upon the
iDperial dame, who, with that faculty
most Of all that belongs to her and hers,
and having as that belonging, slken
Threads too frail for use. invented the art
of spinning; and If We ask the source
from which the frail silken uobweps had
come, we look still 1000 years farther
back, until another emperors wife stands
in the distant background, with the
name of discoverer upon her brow, and
with IL weight of honor, too, in that the
country China" bears her name. For
she it was who first dlscov cred, in the
Wrapping of the cocoon, the ii JrOus quail
ty that led to the making OF the silken
hreaI.
Thus as we go farther and farther back
we still shall find important facts con-
corning the industries, ineffaceably con
nected with the general INTEL gence of
woman.
II took many hundreds Of years to su-
persede the charm of the spinning wheel
of that ingenious EN- press. by the noisy,
clashine, all-devouring machinery of to-
day, and as We pass from scenes of COM
tort, grace and beauty to the racking ter
rors of the modern factory, let US look
at yet one other scene. pleasant in the
memory OF some still living.
On the first introduction OF machinery
into the industrial life of America, Lo-
well,a bright new village" on the banks
model factory grow. Young women en-
tered this to work. and by their work help
en to lift the mortgage from the farm, or
send the hoy o college.
in 1S4l SO fair had been the dealings of
the employers and SO wise the ecoromv
of the employ ed, that $4,000 der"-'t q e