The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-03-16

$i2 gaiter in which her mother walked,
and that torn and faded calico had an
cestry of magnificent brocade that
l.swept Pennsylvania avenue and Broad
way clean without any expense to the
street commissioners.
| Though YOU live in an elegant resi-
dcnce and fare sumptuously every day,
let your daughters feel it is a dis
grace for them not to know how to
work. l denounce the idea prevalent
in society that, though our young wom-
en- may embroider slippers and crochet
and make mats for lamps TO stand on
without disgrace, the idea of doing
anything for Il livelihood is dishonora-
BILE. IT is a shame for young woman
belonging 10 a large family to be in
efficient when her father tolls his life
away for her support.
So far as / can understand, the line
of respectability lies between that
which is useful and that which is use
less. If women do that which is of
no value, their work is honorable. Ii
they DO practical work, it is dishonor-
| able. That our young women may es-
/ capa the censIire of doing dishonora-
BILE work, j shall particularize. You
| may knit tidy for the back of an arm
chair. but by no means make the money
wherewith to buy the chair. You may
with a delicate brush beautify man
/ tel ornament, but die rather than earn
| enough to buy a marble mantel. You
/ may learn artistic music until you can
| squall Italian, but never sing "Orton-
/ VILE or "Old Hundredth." Do moth
4 ing practical if YOU would, in the eyes
of refined society, preserve your re-
! SpeCtability. i scout these fnical no
/ tions. l tell you a woman, no more
! than a man, has a right to occupy
/ place in this world unless she pays Il
! rent for it.
In the course of a lifetime you con-
| sumo whole haTvests and droves of cat
! tie and every day you live and breathe
/ 40 ho@shCads of good, pure air. You
| must by some kind of usefulness pay
| for all this. Our race was the last thin:,
created-thc birds and fishes on the
1 fourth day. the cattle and lizards on
/ the fifth day and man on the sixth dav.
If geologists are right, the earth was
100000 of years in the possession OF
! the insects, beasts and birds before our
race came upon it. In one sense we
were invaders. The cattle, the lizards
and the hawks had preemption right
! The question is not what we arc to do
with lizards and summer insects, but
what the lizards and summer insects
are TO do with us. If we want place
in this world. we must earn ii. The
partridge makes its own nest before it
occupies it. The lark by its morning
song earns its breakfast before it eats
*. and the Bible gives an intimation
that the first duty of an idIer is to
starve when it saws: IF he will not
work. neither shall he eat" Idlenes,
ruins the health, and very soon nature
says: This man has refused to pay his
rent. Out with him. Society is to be
reconstructed on the subject of wOm-
ans toll. y vast ma jOTity of those who
would have woman industrious shut
her up to few kinds of work. Ny
Judgment in this matter is that wom-
an has a right to do anything she can
do well. There should be no depart
ment of merchandise. mechanism, art
or science barred against her. If Miss
her a chisel. If Rosa Bonheur has a
fOndness for delineating n nails, let
her make The Horse Fair. If Miss
Mitchell will study astronomy, let her
mount the starry ladder. If Lydia will
be a merchant, let her sell purple. If
Lucretia Mott will preach the Gospel,
let her thrill with her womanly elo-
quenca the Quaker meeting house.
Years ago. one Sabbath night in the
vestibulc Of our church. after service,
woman fell in commissions. The doc
tor said she needed medicine not so
much as something to cat. As she be- |
gan to revive in her delirium she said |
gaspingly: Eight cents! Eight |
cents! ] wish / could get it done. III
am so tired. l wish I could get some |
sleep. but / must get it done. Eight |
cents. Eight cents!" We found aft
erward that she was making gar |
ments for eight cents apiece and that |
she could make but three of them in |
a day. Hear it. Three times eight |
are "a. Hear it. men and women who |
have comfortable homes Some of |
the worst villains of our cities are the |
employers OF these women. They |
beat them down to the last penny and |
try TO cheat them out of that. The |
woman must deposit dollar or two
before she gets the garments to work
on. When the work is done it is sharp
ly inspected. the most insignificant
flaws picked out and the wages re-
fused and sometimes the dollar de-
posted not given back. The Women's
Protective union reports a case where
one of the poor souls. finding place
where she could get more wages, re-
solved to change employers and went
to get her pay for work done. The
employer said: Il hear you are going
to leave me?" YES" she said, land
I have come to get what you owe me-"
He made no answer. She said: Are
you not going to pay me?' Yes" he
said, Il will pay YOU" and he kicked
her downstairs.
Oh. that Women's Protective union!
The blessings of Heaven be on it for
the merciful and Divine work it is do
ing in the defense of toiling woman
hood. What tragedies of suffering are
presented 10 them day by day! A
from their report: "Can
you make Mr.. Jones pay me? He
owes me for three weeks at $3.50 a
week. and l can't get anything. and
ny child is very sick" The speaker.
: young woman lately widowed |
burst into n food of tears as she
spoke. She was hidden to come again
he next afternoon and repeat her
story TO the attorney at his usual
weekly hearing of frauds and imposi- |