The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1900-03-16
THE WORKING WOMAN
DR.. Talmage Speaks Words of En-
couragement to Fer.
Faith and Trust In God Afford Conn
fort for Those Who Are OPP
pressed and Struggling
for q Livelihood.
copyright, 1900 by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington, March II.


to those struggling for a livelihood
text, Ecclesiastes w., 1: Behold the
tears of such as were oppressed, ant
they had no comforter"
Very long ago the needle was busy
1t was considered honorable for WON
en- to toll in olden times. Alexander
the Great stood in his place showing
garments made by his own mother
The finest tapestries at Bayeux were
made by the queen of William the Con-
queror. Augustus, the emperor, would
not wear any garments except those
that were fashioned by some member
of his royal family. So let the toiler
everywhere be respected!
The needle has slain more than the
sword. When the sewing machine was
Invented, some thought that invention
would alleviate woman's toll and put
an end to the despotism of the needle.
But no; while the sewing machine
has been great blessing to well-to-do
families in many cases, it has added to
I the stab of the needle the crush of the
wheel, and multitudes of women, not
withstanding the reinforcement of the
sewing machine, can only make, work
hard as they will, between two and
three dollars a week.
The greatest blessing that could have
happened to our first parents was be-
ing turned out of Eden after they had
done wrong. Adam and Eve in their
perfect state might have got along
1xYc eli r1+
ployment as a perfect garden with no
weeds in it demanded, but as soon as
they had sinned the best thing for
them was to be turned out where they
would have to work. We know what
a whitening thing it is for man to have
nothing to do. Of the 1000 prosperous
and honorable men that you know 500
had to work vigorously at the begin
ming. But I ON now to tell you that
industry is just as important for
woman's safety and happiness. The
most unhappy women in our commune
ties to-day are those who have no en-
gagements to call them up in the
morning, who once having risen and
breakStsted lounge through the dull
forenoon in slippers down at the heel
and with disheveled hair, reading the
last novel, and who, having dragged
through a wretched forenoon and
taken their afternoon sleep and having
passed an hour and half at their tot
let, pick up their cardcase and go out
to make calls, and who pass their even
fngs waiting for somebody to come in
and break up the monotony. Arabella
Stuart never was imprisoned in SO
dark a dungeon as that.
There is no happiness in an idle wom-
an. 1t may be with hand, it may be
with brain, it may be with foot, but
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, sec
ond, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,
tenth, fftieth, thousandth thing in
their life is to get somebody to take
care of them. Instead of that the first
lesson should be how under God they
may take care of themselves. The SIM
pie fact is that majority of them do
have to take care of themselves and
that, too, after having through the
false notions of their parents wasted
che years in which they ought to have
learned how successfully to maintain
themselves. We now and here declare
the inhumauity, cruelty and outrage
of that father and mother who pass
their daughters into womanhood hav-
ing given them no facility for earning
their livelihood.
Nine. de Stael said: at is not these
writings that am proud of, but the
fact that l have facility in ten occu-
pations in any one of which l could
make a livelihood" You say you have
fortune to leave them. o man and
wonan Have you not learned that,
like vultures, like hawks, like eagles.
riches have wings and fly away?
Though you should be successful in
leaving a competency behind you, the
trickery of executors may swamp it in
night, or some officials in our
churches may get up a mining COM
pany and induce your orphans to put
their money into a hole in Colorado
and if by the most skillful machinery
the eunken money cannot be brought
up again prove to them that it |
was eternally decreed that that was
the way they were to lose it and that
it went in the most orthodox and heav-
emily style. Oh, the damnable schemes |
that protested Christians will engage |
in until God puts His fingers into the
collar of the hypocrite's robe and strips
il clear down to the bottom! You havr
no right because you are well off to
conclude that your children are going
to DE we'll off. A man died leaving a
large fortune. Bis son fell dead in a
Philadelphia grogshop. His old COM
Iades came in and said as they bent
over his corpse: ''What is the matter
with you, Boggsey?" The surgeon
standing over him said: flush, vel
He is deadl" "Oh, he is dead!" they
said. "Come, boys, let us go and take
n drink in memory of poor Boggsey!"
Have you nothing better than money
to leave your children? Ifyou have not,
but send your daughters into the world
with empty brain and unskilled hand,
you are guilty of assassination, homi-