Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-03-21
SERMON
Rev. Or. CaInaee

Subject: The Needles Havoc-An appeal
For Mercy For Oppressed Woman hOos,
-iet Her Have Equal Chance With
Man In the Struggle of Life.
TCopyrlght lsooI
WASHINGTON. d. C.-This discourse o,
DR.. Taimnge is an appeal for mercy in be-
| half of oppressed womanhood and offers
| .ncouragement to those struggling for n
livelihood; text, Ecclesiastes, iv., 1, Be
| hold the tears of such as were oppressed
and they had no comforter"
Very long ago the needle was busy. 1t
was considered honorable for women to
toll in olden times. Alexander the Great
stood in his palace showing garments made
by his own mother. The finest tapestries
at Bayeux was made by the queen of will.
lam the Conqueror. Augustus, the en-
peror, would not wear any garments ex-
cept those that vera fashioned by some
msmber OF his royal family. SO let the
toiler everywhere be respected.
The needle has slain more than the
/ sword. When the sewing machine was in
vented, some thought that invention would
alleviate woman's toll ani put an end to
/ the despotism OF the needle. But no.
! While the sewing machine has been n great
blessing to weil-to-do families in many
| cases it has added to the stab OF the needle
! the crush OF the wheel, and multitudes OF
/ women, notwithstanding the re-enforce-
ment of the sewing machine, can only
make, work hard as they will, between 81
and 80 a week.
The greatest blessing that conld hav.
happened to our first parents was being
turned out of Eden after they had done
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 1t 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
whitening thing it is for man to have
nothing TO do. OF the thousand prosper
| GUS and honorable men that you know 999
had to work vigorously mt the beginning.
But am now to tell you that industry is
just as important for a woman's safety and
l happiness. The most unhappy women in
! our communities to-day are those who have
no engagements to call them up in the
| morning; who, once having risen and
| breakfasted, lounge through the dull fore
noon in slippers down at the heel and with
disheveled hair, reading the last novel,
and VINO, having dragged through a
wretched forenoon and taken their after
noon sleep and having passed al hour and
half at their toilet, pick mp their card
case and go out to make calls, and who
pass their evenings waiting for somebody
! to come in and break up the monotony.
Arabella Stuart never was imprisoned in
so dark u dungeon as that.
There is no happiness In an idle woman
1t may be with hand, it may be with BRAIN
II may be with foot. bu. work she must or
be wretched forever. The little girls of
I our families must be started with tina:
! idea. The curse of American society is
that our young women are taught that the
first. second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth,
| seventh, tenth, 1ftieth, thonsandth 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 simple fact is
that a majority of them do have to take
care OF themselves, and that, too, after huv-
ing through the false notions of their par
ents wasted the years in which they on ,hl
to have learned how successfully to ,nniu-
tain themselves. We now and here declare
the inhumanity, cruelty sand outrage OF
that father and mother who pass their
daugh, ,ess into w0maniroSd 81 -naFi gwen
them no factty for earning their liveli-
/ hood.
Nine. de Stael said, sit is not these
writings that am proud of, but the TACT
that / have facility in ten occupations, in
any one OF which 1 could make n liyeli-
hood" You say YOU have fortune to
leave them. Oh, man and woman have
you not learned that, like vultures, like
hawks, like eagles, riches have wings and
fly away? Though you should be success
full in leaving a competency behind you.
the trickery of executors may swamp II in
a night or some Official in our churches
may get up n mining company and induce
| your orphans to put their money into a
machinery the sunken money cannot be
| brought up again prove to them that it
was eternaly decreed that that was
the way they were to lose 1t and that
it went in the most orthodox and heav-
emily style. Oh, the damnable schemes that
professed Christians will engage in until
God puts His fingers into the collar of the
bypocrite's robe and strips il clear down
to the bottom! You have no right, because
you are well off, to conclude that your chill
dren are going to be we'll Off. A man died
! leaving n large fortune. His son fell dead
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 vel He is deadl' "Oh, he is
deadl" they said. Come, boys; let us 20
and take drink in memory of poor
BoggsyT' Have you nothing better than
/ money to leave your children? II you have
not, but send your daughters into the
world with empty brnin and unskilled
hand, you are guilty Of assassination,
homicide, infanticide.
There are women toiling in our cities for
42 or So a 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 si2 gaiter In
| which her mother walked and that torn
and faded calico had ancestery OF magniil-
cent brocade that swept Pennsylvania av-
enue and Broadway clean without any ex-
| pense to the street commissioners. Though
you live in an elegant residence and fare
| sumptuously every day, let your daughters
feel it is a disgrace for them not to know
how to work. 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 livelihood is dishonorabie. 1t is n
| shame for a young woman belonging to Il
| large family to be inefficient when her
! father tolls his life away for her support
It is u shame for daughter to be idle
| while her mother tolls at the washtub. 1t Is
| as honorable to sweep house, make beds or
trim hats as 1t is to twist watch chain.
So far as can understand the line OF re-
| spectability lies between that which Is use
full and that which Is useless. II women
do that which is of no value, their work is
honorable. II they do practical work II is
dishonorable. That our young women
| may escape the censnre of doing dishonor-
able work 1 shall particularize. You may
knit tidy for the back OF an arm chair,
but by no means make the money wdere-
| with to buy the chair. You may with a
delicate brush beautify n mantei orna-
ment, but die rather than earn enough to
buy marble mshtcl. You may learn
artistic music until you can squail Italian,
but never sing "OrtonviIle'' or sold Hun
dredth.' Do nothing practical il you
| would in the eyes of refined society pre-
| serve your respectabiiity. / scout these
flnicai notions. tell you woman, no
more than a man, has right to occupy a
place in this world unless she pays a rent
tor it.
In the course of n lifetime you consume
| whole harvests and droyes OF cattle and
every day you live breathe forty hoehesds
| OF good. pure air You must by some kind
| OF usefulness pay Tor all this. Our race
was the last thing created-the birds and
fishes ON the fourth day the cattle and
| Lii d.,.. .;1.b4 L.