Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-01-21
Girls should BE Taught Self Reliance.

AS no boy ought TO be brought up
without learning some business at
which he could earn a livelihood, SO no
girl ought to be brought up without
learning the science Of self support.
The difficulty is that many a family
goes sailing on the high tides Of success,
and the husband and father depends on
his own health and acumen for the wei
fare of his household, but one day he
gets his feet wet, and in three days
pneumonia has closed his life, and the
daughters are turned out on cold
world to earn bread, and there is moth
ing practical that they can do. The
friends come in and hold consultation.
"Giye music lessons, says al outsider.
Yes, that Is a seful calling, and if you
have great genius for il 90 on in that
direction. But there are enough music
teachers now starving to death in all
our towns and cities to occupy all the
piano stools and sofas and chairs and
front doorsteps Of the city. Besides
that, the daughter has been playing on
ly for amusement and is only at the
foot of the ladder. to the top of which a
great multitude Of masters on piano and
harp and flute and organ have climbed.
Put the bereft daughters as sales.
women in stores, says another adviser.
But there they must compete with sales
men of long experience or with men
who have served an apprenticeship in
commerce and who began as shopboys
at 10 years of age. Some kind hearted
dry goods man, having known the IA
ther, now gone, says, 1--WE are not in
need of any more help just now, but
send your daughters to my store, and |
will do as we'll by them as possible. "
Very soon the question comes up, Why
do not the female employees Of that es-
tablishment get as much wages as the
male employees? For the simple reason,
in many cases, the females were sud-
denly flung by misfortune behind that
counter. while the males have from the
day they left the public school been
learning the business.
How is this evil to be cured? Start
clear back in the homestead and teach
your daughters that life is an earnest
thing, and that there is a possibility If
not a strong probability that they will
have to fight the battle Of life alone.
Let every father and mother say to their
daughters, Now, what would you do
for a livelihood If what now own were
swept away by financial disaster or old
age or death should end my career"
Advice to Unmarried Women.
"Well, l could paint on pottery and
do such decorative work" Yes, that is
beautiful, and if you have genius for it
20 Oh in that direction. But there are
enough busy at that now to make line
of hardware as long as yon Pennsyl-
vania avenue.
well, | could make recitations in
public and earn my living as a drama
tist. Icould render King Lear or Mao
beth till your hair would rise on end or
give you Sheridan's Ride or Dickens
Pickwick. >" Yes, that is beautiful
art. but ever and anon, as now, there is
an epidemic Of dramatization that makes
hundreds Of households nervous with
the cries and shrieks and groans OF
young tragediennes dying in the fifth
act, and the trouble is that while your
friends would like to hear you and real
" think that you could surpass Ristori
and Charlotte Cushman and Fanny
Kemble Of the past, to say nothing OF
the present, you could not in the way
of living in ten years earn 10 centa
Ny advice to all girls and all unmar-
ried women, whether in affluent homes
or in homes where most stringent econ
omies are grinding, is to learn to do
some kind Of work that the world must
have while the world stands / am glad
to see a marvellous change for the better
and that women have found out that
there are hundreds Of practical things
that a woman can do for a living If she
begins soon enough and that men have
been compelled to admit it. You and l
can remember when the majority OF oc-
cupations were thought inappropriate
for women, but our civil war came,
and the hosts Of men went forth from
north and south, and to conduct the
business Of our cities during the patri-
otic absence women were demanded by
the tens OF thousands to take the vacant
places, and multitudes Of women who
had been hitherto supported by fathers
and brothers and SONS were compelled
from that time to take care OF them
selves. From that time mighty change
took place favorable TO female employ
ment
Occupations For Women.
Among the occupations appropriate
for woman | place the following, into
many of which she has already entered,
and all the others she will enter: Ste
biography, and you may find her at near
ly all the reportorial stands in our edu'
cational, political and religious meet
ines. Savings banks, the work clean
and honorable, and who so great right
to toll there, for woman founded the
first savings bank-Mrs. Priscilla Wake
field? Copyists, and there is hardly q
professional man that does not need the
service of her penmanship, and as
amanuensis many Of the greatest books
of our day have been dictated for her
writing. There they are as florists and
confectioners and music teachers and
bookkeepers. for which they are special
ly qualified by patience and accuracy,
and wood engraving, In which the Coop
or institute has turned out 20 many
qualified, and telegraphy, for which
she is specially prepared. as thousands
Of the telegraph offices will testify.
Photography. and in nearly all our e.
Establishments they may be found there
at cheerful work AS workers in ivory
and autta perchs and gum elastic and
tortoise she'll and gliding, and in chem
icals, In porcelain, in terra Gotta. As
postmistresses, and presidents have
given them appointments all over the
land.
As proofreaders, as translators, asmod-
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