Year: 1879

|


necessity for it. There will be relief frol


that all-pervading curse of Southern life,


dependence on the negro for labor; and


relief from the anxiety, hereafter always


be felt under the present system, of an exc


dus of that class of our population.


One of the most difficult problems of OH
present civilization is to increase the spher


of female usefulness s-to furnish womel


the opportunity OF usefulness and of self


support, without unsexing them.


Practically, now in the South the labo


of women, outside of the sphere of domes


tic and family duties, is restricted to th


needle and teaching The number of thos'


who can get employment in the latter voca


ton is necessarily small, and besides i


allows no room for those "a very large mum


ber) who, for want of proper education ant


skill, are untitled to follow it. Those who


ply the needle now, are largely in excess Of


the demand, and it is proverbial that the


labor of that class is the poorest paid of al
the avocations of life.


But there is very large class, and it con,


tinues to increase the wives and daughters


of farmers are without the opportu-
nifty of employment. 1t is hard fate when
young unmarried woman is remitted to
labor in the corn and cotton fields, under
our Southern sun, as the means to prevent
starvation. Such labor Is neither fitted to
her strength, nor if made effective, entirely
consistent with her personal attractiveness.
1t is not sight we like to indulge in, to see
young woman begrimed with dust or dirt
or mud, or bronzed by the scorching rays
Of tropical sun, performing masculine
labor. We recognize the duty to labor on
the part of all. And labor is honorable,
whatever it may be; and the more honor
able, if voluntarily undertaken, in the pro-
portion that it is the more repulsive. But
we are not all stoios-not all philosophers
we are human beings, with the aspirations,
capacities and weaknesses of human nature.
The poor and unfortunate are not without
these aspirations and capacities, though too
often without the opportunity Of gratifying
them. There is nothing of material
nature woman prizes more highly, or none
she parts with, with more reluctance, than
her personal attractiveness. vocation
which impairs it, is not fit for her. Field
work is of that kind. The beautiful Re-
becca, though she watered her fathers cam
els, was not field hand and though lovely
Ruth, cleaned the fields of Boaz, she
did not perform mans work, but supple-
mented and perfected it.


The garden, the orchard, and the vineyard
furnish the proper outdoor work for wo-
men. On every farm, the raising of fruits
and grapes, and wine-making should be
carried on. If the poorer classes havo not
been educated to understand and success
fully practice these industries, they must be
only through the slow progress of instruct
ing boys in the A. 4 M. College, but must
be begun at once by those who have the
means and the leisure to inaugurate these
Industries. Wealth has no higher nor
lobler mission than employment in the bet
ering of the condition of those who are
Without it.


The addition to the income of our people |
md their consequent advancement and i'm
which would follow the intro>
luction of these new industries, would be
If only our rural home could |
,e made more attractive, and rural labor
ess repulsive, the good accomplished would
IMPLY compensate the risk and labor ex-
ended therein, if not one dollar of real
roft was realized,


The true mission of government and So
iety is to produce the greatest happiness
} the greatest number. All tho forces of
material, moral, and intellec-
1al, should be SO organized and operated
nat there shall be no one, however humble,
ho shall not know and feel that he has the
pportunity and means of attaining what
YER is necessary to happiness.
If wealth and intelligence shall abdicate
leir duties and shall fail to do their full
lare to lift the veil of gloom and dispair I
hich now shuts out all prospect of improv-
q the condition of the poor and humble,
ley will raise up enemies who, in the effort, {
Iough necessarily vain, to reduce all to l
'mmon level, will succeed in destroying {
10 one, and robbing of its just influence l
I'd control, the other. 1
If, however, there shall be a harmonious I
I'd hearty cooperation between all con- l
tions and classes in forwarding and pro- t
citing the interests of the whole, there can e
,ither be want nor discomfort in this v
eaven favored land. There will be that s
ogress which holds out to each honest a
ID industrious member of the community a
9 reasonable hope of that degree of pe- e
MARY gain which will make him comfort (
lie. Honest poverty submits to irregu- b
rites in life, necessarily produced by the P
lequal efforts and abilities of mankind, z
It if the conviction prevail that these in Il
ualities are magnifed by the operation of s
and social forces, which have o
Gated an insuperable barrier to the pro- a
ess of labor, despair will iDoite such "
gression on property rights as now char D
terize the Commune in less favored lands
an ours, o