The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1900-03-17
,ood. What tragedies Of suffering are

uOOu' NHuN tIuBcNiCb VI Quilting uAo
presented to them day by day! A
paragraph from their report: Scan
you make Mr.. Jones pay me? He
owes me for three weeks at $3.50 II
week, and | can't get anything, and
my child is very sick" The speaker.
n young woman lately widowed,
burst into food of tears as she
spoke. She was hidden to como again
the next afternoon and repeat her
story to the attorney at his usual
weekly hearing of frauds and imposi-
tions. Means were found by which Mr..
Jones was induced to pay the $780,
Another paragraph from their re-
port: "A fortnight had passed, when
she modestly limited desire to know
how much her services were worth
oh, my dear he replied, you are get
ting to be one of the most valuable
hands in the trade. You will always
get the very best price. Ten dollars
week you will be able to earn very
easily And the girls fingers flew on
with her work at a marvellous rate.
The picture of ten dollars week had
almost turned her head. A few nights
later, while crossing the ferry, she
overheard the name of her employer
in the conversation of girls who stood
near: What, John Snipes? Why, he
don't pay! Look out for him every
time. He'll keep you on trial, as he
calls it, for weeks, and then he'll let
xyo,, m on1 rot Gonna nfhar foNlb And
thus Jane Smith gained her warning
against the swindler. But the union
held him in the tolls of the law until
he paid the worth of each of those
days of trial."
Another paragraph: "Her mortifca-
ton may be imagined when told that
one of the two five-dollar bills which
she had just received for her work was
counterfeit. But her modification
was swallowed up with indignation
when her employer denied having paid
her the money and insultingly asked
her to prove it. When the Protective
union had placed this matter in the
courts, the judge said: You will pay
Eleanor the amount of her claim, $5.Sj,
and also the costs of the court"
How are these evils TO be eradicated?
Some say: s'Give woman the ballot"
What effect such ballot might have on
other questions l am not here to dis
cuss, but what would be the effect of
female suffrage on women's wages? |
do not believe that woman will ever get
justice by woman's ballot. Indeed
women Cypress women as much as
men do. Do not women, as much as
men, beat down to the lowest figure
the woman who sews for them? Are
not women as sharp as men on washer
women and milliners and mantua
makers. If woman asks one dollar
for her work, does not her female en-
ployer ask her if she will not take go
cents? You say: "Only ten cents diff
ference" But that is sometimes the
difference between Heaven and hell.
Women often have less commiseration
for women than men. If woman
steps aside from the path of rectitude,
man may forgive; woman never:
Woman will never get justice done her
from woman's ballot. Neither will she
get it from mans ballot. How then?
God will rise up for her. God has more
resources than we know of.
But there is something for women to
do. Let young people prepare to excel
in spheres of work, and they will be
able after awhile to get larger wages.
Unskilled and incompetent labor must
take what is given; skilled and COM
petent labor will eventually make its
own standard. Admitting that the law
of supply and demand regulates these
things, l contend that the demand for
skilled labor is very great and the sup
ply very small. Start with the idea
that work is honorable and that you
can do some one thing better than any
body else. Resolve that, God helping,
you will take care of yourself. If you
are after awhile called into another
relation, you will be all the better
qualified for it by your spirit of self
reliance, or if you are called to stay as
you are you can be happy and self
supporting.
Poets are fond of talking about man
as an oak and woman the vine that
climbs it, but have seen many tree
fall that not only went down itself. but
took all the vines with it. l can tell
you of something stronger than an oak
for an ivy to climb on, and that is the
throne of the great Jehovah. Single or
affianced, that woman is strong who
81 Nd Iooc hav. host
of you will go single-handed through
life, and you will have to choose be-
tween two characters. Young woman,
l am sure you will turn your back upon
the useless, giggling, irresponsible
nonentity which society ANONYMOUSLY
acknowledges to be woman and ask
God to make you humble, active,
earnest Christian. What will become
of that womanly disciple of the world?
She is more thoughtful of the attitude
she strikes upon the carpet than how
she will look in the Judgment; more
worried about her freckles than her
sins; more interested in her apparel
than in her redemption. The dying
actress whose life had been vicious
said: "The scene closes. Draw the cur
tain" Generally the tragedy comes
first and the farce afterward, but in
her life it was first the farce of a use
less life and then the tragedy of q
wretched eternity.
Compare the life and death of such
a one with that of some Christian aunt
that was once blessing to your house
hold. l do not know that she was ever
asked to give her hand in marriage.
She lived single, that, untrammeled,
she might be everybody's blessing.
Whenever the sick were to be visited or
the poor to be provided with bread she
went with blessing. She could pray