The Saint Paul globe., 1899-12-11

giants was the result. 1t is true. the life
of the farm was sometimes arduouS, but
its surroundings were those of health.
worked in the fields. Now we are per-
mitting our young and immature girl
hood to be sacrificed upon the altar OF
Mammon-working out their individuality
so the fine phrase runs. but In truth
working out the degeneracy OF the na-
ton. One-fourth of our working girls
break down in health by their own ac-
acknowledgement. Large numbers of the
rest are mere wrecks of women. Why
In the factories of Nottingham, England,
pulmonary consumption increased from
one victim in fOrty-hve to one in eight
in the stretch of a single ten years time.
Their are many attractions to girls In
these occupations. 1t gratities love of So
ciety. love of excitement, and sometimes
their vanity out of their poor earnings.
1t aids also shiftless and worthless pa
rents in their shirking the struggle for
the unholy greed of the man who owns
the machine. But even deeper goes the
evil, for not alone does the woman be-
come unfit for the duties Of maternity,
the man by her competition finds it i'm
possible to keep up for her the standard
she has set in expenditure, and maintain
a home. The. more she succeeds. the
more this will be the case. If she
achieves equal wages with the man, and
has to care for herself alone,- neither he
nor she will be willing to reduce their
a home. The man becomes immoral, and
the working girl who has not succeeded
in the struggle becomes the final victim
of the economic immortality.
But, am asked, what would you have
women do? Are they to be confined.
strictly to home duties? Must every
woman rock a cradle? There is nothing
finer or nObler In all the world than the
duties of home The sneer at the home
which the question implies Is one Of the
saddest features Of our time, No people
can ever rise higher than the mother
hood which it expresses. 1t is the gauge
of national glory. Call the roll of the
great nations. and see what answer you
will get to the sneer at the cradle. Look
which decays first.
Domestic service is the most womanly,
most healthy and most profitable of all
the employments now open to women. It
seems the last one they seek. About the
only place where man has been holding
his own is in the matter of domestic
service. He has risen from II per cent
of the house servants in 1870 to Is per cent
in 1890.
But you mean what part in the larger
economy of life should woman fill? Would
George Eliot. Elizabeth Barrett Brown
ing and Rosa Bonheur had no other mis-
sion than the home? Well. these women
were able to take care of themselves. and
when their successors appear they will
not need to blow trumpet before them.
But woman has her place, not so
much as the worker of life, as she has
as the inspirer of all good work. The
heroes on the battlefield, the statesmen,
authors. leaders of men. have themselves
been. led by the gentle power of some
gracious woman, who has helped God
make them great.
But there are plenty Of avenues in the
world even for the new woman. Let her
write, paint, sing, speak-do what she
can. But let her be saved from industrial
slavery in the name of freedom. Let her
give her leisure and her hops to the al
trulstlc side Of humanity. Let her be
saved from the coarseness of the conflict
Tor power and from every taint Of hu-
man greed. Let her know and think, but
let US use her divine powers in the realm
of civic righteousness.
THE world is longing for unselfishness,
for purity, for peace. 1t is the business
ests of q new world, which he ought to
seek to know before he speaks about its
problems. to yet point out the dangers
idealism enough to believe in better
world. and SO become the true prophet Of
progress If the world Is to grow in
strength and virtue it will be because
while man does its coarser work, and he
shall be blessed in his work. because he
has the upper hemisphere of his nature
sunkissed by a blessed woman's smile
And she will do the worlds work no
less than he, and even more than he de-
serve the praise for its doing"
Following his address upon the subject,
DR.. Smith paid his respects in no uncer-
tain terms to the writer of an editorial
which appeared In a morning paper chaTg-
ing him with being unfavorable to kinder
gartens, and stated that one of the first
free kindergartens in the city was estab-
Hshed by the Peoples church. He was
certain. he said. that the editorial was
not written by woman.
An opportunity was given the audience
to ask any questions. and but one slip
of paper bearing query came to the
rostrum. 1t said: Would You Favor a
Single Tax on Bachelors?" DR.. Smith only
replied by saying that he thought the
remedy was not sufficient.