The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-04-14
TALMAGE
SERMON
subject. The Needles Havoc-An Appeal
For Mercy For Oppressed womanhood
Let Her Have an Equal Chance with
Man In the Struggle of Life.

[Copyright 1asol
WAsHlSGToN, d. C.-Thi5 discourse o.
Or. IainaSe is an appeal for mercy in be-
haIt OF oppressed womanhooi and offers
announcement TO those struggling FOR
| livelihood; text, Ecclesastes, ", /, "Be-
hold the tears Of such rs were oppressed,
| and they had no comforter"
Very long ago the needle was busy. II
| was considered honorable for women to
toll In 0lden times. Alexander the Great
stood in his palace showing garments made
by his oSn mother. The finest tapes. rie )
ht Gayeux was made by the queen OF Will
| lam tho Conqueror. Augustus. the EN-
peror, would not wear any garments ex-
| cept those that werH fashioned by some
member OF his royal family. SO let the
toller everywhere be respected.
| IAe needle has slain more than ths
sword. When the sewing machine was in
vented, some thought that invention would
alleviate womans toll AMI put an end to
| the desPOtism OF the needle But no.
| While the sewing machine has been a great
! blessing to well-to-do families in many
| cases 1t has added to the stab OF the needle
! the crush Of the wheel and mutitut!es az
| women, notwithstanding the rc-enforc4-
| ment OF the sewing machine, can only
make, work hard as they will, between q
| and % q week
The greatest blessing that could have
turned out OF Eden after thev had dnoe
wrong. Adam and Eve, In their perfect
state, might have got along without work
or only such slight employment as per-
feet garden with no weeds in II demanded.
But rs soon as they had sinnei the best
thing for them was to be turned ont where
they would have to work. We know what
| a whitening thing ii IS for man to have
nothing to do. OF the thousand prosper
Gus and honorable men that you know 991
had to work vigorously at the beginning.
But | am now to tell you that industry is
Just rs important for a womans safety and
happiness. The most unhappy women In
our.comnunities to-day are those who have
no engagements to cali them up in tho
morning; who, once having risen and
breakfasted, lounge through the duh fore
noon in slippers down at the heel and with
disheveled hair, reading the last novel,
and VINO, having dragged through u
wretched forenoon and taken their alter
noon sleep and having passed al hour ana
half at their toilet, pick up their card
case and so out to make cGlls, and who
pass their evenings waiting for somebody
to come In and break up the monotony.
Arabela Stuart never was imprisoned In
so dark dungeon as that.
There Is no happiness in an idle woman.
1t may be with hand, it may be with brain,
1t may be with foot, bu: work she must or
be wretched forever. The little girls of
our families must be started with that
idea. The curse of American society is
that our young women are taught that the
first. second, third, fourth, fifth. sixth
seventh, tenth. flftieth, thousandth thing
In their life is to get somebody to take care
OF them. Instead OF that tho first lesson
should be how under God they may take
care OF themselves. The simple fact is
that MAJ ority Of them do have to take
care OF themselves, and that, too, after hav-
ing through the false notions of their par
ents wasted the years in which they ought
to have learned how successfully to main
tain themselves. We now and here declare
the inhumanity, cruelty and outrage Of
that father and mother who pass their
daughters into womanhood having given
them no faculty for earning their liveli.
hood.
Nine. de Stael said, 'It is not these
writings that am proud of, but the tact
that have facility In ten occupations, IN
any one OF which l could make n liveli-
hood" You say you have fortune to
leave them. Oh, man and woman, have
you not learned that, like vutures, like
hawks, like eagles, riches have wings and
fly away? Though YOU should be success
full In leaving competency behind you,
the trickery OF executors may swamp it in
a night or some official in our churches
may get up mining company and induce
your orphans to put their money into Il
hole in Colorado and il by the most skllfnl
machinery the sunken money cannot BE-
brought up again prove to them that it
was eternaIly decreed that that was
the way they were to lose 1t and that
1t went In the most orthodox and heav-
emily style. Oh the uamnable schemes that
professed Christians will engage In until
God puts His fingers into the collar of the
hynnocsite's robe and strips 1t clear down
to The bottom! You have no right, because
you are we'll Off. to conclude that your chii-
dren are going to be we'll off. A man diei
leaving large fortune. His son fell deaf
In Philadelphia grogshop. His old COM
rades came in and said as they bent over
his corpse, "What is the matter with you,
Boggsy?" The surgeon standing over him
said: "Hush ye! He is dead" "Oh, he is
dead!" they said. Come, boys; let us so
and take drink in memory Of poor
Boggsy" Have you nothing better than
money to leave your children? II you have
not, but send your daughters into the
world with empty brain and unski!lcd
hand, you are guilty OF assassination,
infanticide.
There are women toiling in our cities for
81 or So n week who were the daughters OF
merchant princes. These suffering ones
now would be glad to have the crumbs
that once fell from their fathers table.
That worn out broken shoe that she wears
is the lineal descendant Of the :i2 gater in
which her mother walked and that torn
and faded calico had ancns.ary OF magnil-
cent brocade that swept Pennsylvania av-
enue and Broadway c;enn without any ex-
pense to the street commissioners. Though
you live in an elegant residence and fare
every day, let your daughters
feel 1t is disgrace for them not to know
how to work. l denounce the idea prev
alent in society that though our young
women may embroider slippers and crochet
and make mats for lamps TO stand on with
out Disgrace, the Idea OF doing anything
for q livelihood Is dishonorabie. 1t is a
shame for young woman belonging 10 4
large family to be inefficient when her
father tolls his life away for her support.
It is shame for q daughter to be lido
while her mother tolls at the washtub. 1t is
as honorable to sweep house. make beds or
trim hats as it is to twist a watch chain.
So far as l can understand the line OF re-
spectablity lies between that which IS use
full and that which is useless II women
do that which is or no value, their work is
honorable. II they do practical work, it is
That our young women
may escape the censure OF doing dishonor-
able work shall particularize. You may
knit a tidy for the back OF an arm chair,
but by no means make the money where
with to buy the chair. You may with Il
delicate brush beautisy mantel orna-
ment, but die rather than earn enough to
buy marble mantel. You may learn
artistic music until you can squall Italian.