The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1897-02-26

When the last dawns are fallen OIL gray. ~
And all life's tolls and ease complete
They know who work, nor they who play.
II rest Is sweet
Arthur sy,nons.
Influence OF the Working Woman.
The question of the working woman Is
| one on which there is bound to he a d..
ycrsity of opinion. The political cs.oilo-
mist. with an ample income of his own,
looking ut the subject FROM an iu.per.
sohal point Of view, is apt to say that
women have lowered wages, and that in
communities where women are the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES III places where wGn-
en- work in mills and factories-the Incl,
belonging to them are VIGOROUSLY shift
less and worthless. Relieved of the sup
port of their families, men have less III
centiye to labor.
On the other hand, the working woni-
an, looking at the question from the i'll
tensely personal standpoint of her own
experience, will say that the opening of
almost every occupation to woman has
done nothing but good. That the woman
who ate the bitter bread of dependence
IN other days. who was half starved, lily
clad. is now as free to make a living AZ
any man, and her achievements and
Abilities &
Aside from this view of the subject il
is interesting to note the influence the
! working woman has had upon The rest
of the world Of women. 1t has been like
a pebble cast into pool whose ripples
have spread i'll every direction until they
have reached even the women of fash
No one can doubt that she has digntied
labor. Almost every family, from the
highest to the lowest, has some woman,
III it who has either from choice or the
force of circumstances, become Il work
ing woman. The example of so many
women so occupied with the practical if-
fairs of life has been contagious. IT has
deepencd and broadened the purposes
and aims of all womankihd. There are
few even of the favored daughters of
fortune who have not some serious in
terest i'll either club or study or phi]an-
thropy with which they concern them
selves.
Another result of the advent of women
III the working world has been to teach
them the advantage Of punctuality and
the value of time. The average woman
is Il spendthrift of her own and other
peoples days. 1t is Il continual surorise
to her through life that the trains won t
wait for her. and the theaters defer the
beginning Of the performance until she
gets her hat ON. The first sharp lesson
the business woman gets is that things
must be done Oh time: that nothing can
be put off, and this invaluable bit Of
experience she passes Oh to her sisters
at home.
Not the least i'll Importance is the fact
that through the business women other
women are coming to understand more
about the value of money. 1t has always
been one of the most cherished masculine
theories that women were entirely i'll
capable of understanding anything about
finance. A father, who had hundreds of
thousands of dollars to leave his daugh
tiers. would let them grow up in such alb
solute Ignorance of such matters that
when they came into possession of their
fortunes they did not know whereabouts
on check to 81 gn their names. A man
harassed with business losses will let his
wife go on ignorantly spending money
| and making bills he cannot pay The re-
suit has been that women have been the
victims of all sorts of dishonest men,
who have robbed them of their money
| take care of it. The business woman
knows better, and it is largely through
her influence that it has come to BE-
looked upon as silly, not interesting, fo1
woman not to understand the rudi.
ments, at least, OF financial transactions
In New York one of the fads of the
winter among Fashionable women is to
belong to bookkeeping classes.
Taking it all in all. the influence Of
the, working woman has been wholesome
and salutary. She has her faults, as who
has not! But she has brought the genius
Of common sense and practically into
Il sphere that is only too prone to senti-
| mentality, and for that alone the world
| owes her much.-New Orleans Picayune