The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-12-27
THE HIGHER DUTIES OF LIFE.

housewife and highly cultured wo-
man deft seamstress and a skillfu1
musician 'good plain" cook and
refined artist. They insist that the
woman who uses her pen successfully
will fail with the potato masher and
the pudding spoon.
1t is only through ignorance that
such assertions are made. 1 do not
suppose that woman equipped with
one pair of hands and feet only, can
fill all space, or perform all duties:
but the woman who has learned to use
her brain as well as her body cannot
only accomplish more in a given time
and of given kind of work, but she
can at the same time oversee and in
telligently direct others, thus render
ing even dull minds capable of higher
things than they otherwise would or
could undertake. It is only the wo-
man who ''knows how"-who has
learned to think and p1an-that can
effectively rule over others. Although
she may not, with her own hands, do
the mental tasks, the coarser duties,
of her household, yet her larger men
tai abilities can successfully direct
and cause others to do more thorough
work, and thus, in reality, do it her
self, through seeing that it is done.
But why should it be demanded of
her that she be past mistress of so
many trades and professions? Why
is it so imperatively urged that she
be so many-sided multi handed? !?
Her brother man is not expected to
be "all things" The lawyer does
not lay down his books that he may
shovel the coal into the cellar or carry
the ashes out of the furnace. The
merchant does not turn from his
ledger to trundle his boxes and bales
into his warehouse. The minister
does not close his Bible that he may
sweep his church aisles or dust his
altar cloth. You would feel con-
tempt for them if they did.
There are thousands of women-as
we'll as men-who, from lack of train
ing, limited development, mental in
capacity, befogged intellect or heredi-
tary unbalance, can, in no sense,
reach above the mere mechanical
yet, if only they have some one to
teach them how to "work the wires"
can do the machine work of the world
very creditably. Why should not
the woman of superior abilities leave
this lower work to these imperfect
hands-the hands that have no higher
duties imposed upon them through
unquestioned intellect? Why should
the skilled hand turn from the manip-
ulation of the worlds higher forces
in order to WELD the broom or push
the scrubbing brush?
X X X \: X X
The physical appointments of TX
istence, however important, are not
all of life; yet, if the lot of wife and
mother be given to us, we should
bring to bear upon its duties our
brightest intellect, our deepest
thought, reducing the merely me-
chanical' to a science, so that every
cog and spring of the intricate ma
chinery may respond to Our demand
with the least friction. But we should
never forget, while watching every
hand and pulley, that there is some
thing beyond the "cares of bread. !"
We owe to our families something far
higher than spotless table linen and
polished silver. We should fit our
selves to be to them, friend, comS
panion, counsellor--their wisest and
their best and this can only be done
by system of plain living and high
thinking-of cooperation along all
lines of the home work, that each
may reach the higher plane where
mind may not be hampered by ma
terial.-Helen Watts McVey.
BROUGHT ENGLISH sPARROws HERE.
The annual warfare of early sum-
mer against the troublesome English
sparrows that persist in destroying
certain seed planting and in feasting
on the cherries, etc., is engaged in by
many, but even the friends of the
sparrows probably know but little of
the man who introduced them into
this section, or of his quaint little
home still standing on Main street,
Germantown, says tbs Philadelphia
Inquirer.
The curious little old stone build
ing, whose crumbling wall face Main
street at the corner of Upsal, with
the Upsal street side protected by
frame work that is in turn rotting
away with the crumbling stone, was
standing at the time of the Revolt
ton, and has been but little changed
since. 1t was here that the English
man, John Bardsley, made his home
after the Civil War he was painter
by trade, quite successful in his
chosen line, and eager to visit his
native home.
This was about thirty years ago,
and at that time the caterpillars were
infesting the trees of the city-prob-
AMY W al NNCA SAColOA OAe@hS bAoA
the trees were raided by the pests
last year. In despair over the de-
structive inroads made by the cater
pillars, Councilman William Smith
used his influence in sending John
Bardsley to England, to bring over
lot of English sparrows to destroy
the American pest. In order to show
his appreciation of the opportunity
to visit his old home in England, Mr..
BardsIey brought back with him
great number of the sparrows, and it
is believed that this was the first in
PRODUCTION of the sparrow into this
country on any great scale, and GER
tainly the first introduction into this
section. The old house has long
been known as Sparrow Jack
House." and the name of "Jack"
Bardsley will long be associated with
the little English sparrow.