Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — Unbefitting Work for Women. [ARTICLE]

Unbefitting Work for Women.

Travelers in Europe frequently see women carrying heavy burdqcs or drawing great loads upon the, public highly- We are to observe the same tbinfo nmiiptnnllj. m Amjenca. Such sights are shocking to the Afitorioan sense of fitness. - wr While women, under stress of poverty, must work for their livelihood, ana while all honor should be given to those who cheerfully and bravely accept abnormal conditions and bend backs to the wheel, society should save them from that kind of employment which compels them to assume, in public view, the character of beasts of burden. The spectacle that is tolerated among the European peasantry ought hot to be suffered in this country. The fact that the women who are thus abused make no complaint has nothing to do with the proprieties of the matter. In the streets of the large cities one does not have to wander far before coming upon a woman soavenger toiling under a sack of refuse, or a woman gleane? of coals and sticks bending under the weight of picked-up fuel. In the country districts, now and then, as the train-passenger is whirled past farms and gardens, he catches a glimpse of a woman holding a plow or wielding a hoe. The man who contemplates these spectacles without regret is ont of place among true Americans. His natnre must be essentially brntalselfishness rules iu his heart, and his mind is disposed to the oppression of the weak. Suoh men have congenial existence only where tyrants flourish and where they may become the willing instruments of subject-grinding despots. The day of the knight-errant who found bis keenest inspiration in the defense of his lady-iove has passed, but there is a present demand for that higher chivalry which preserves woman from the necessity for that work which the Indian warrior assigns to his patient, enduring, slave-like squaw. The point is sometimes made against those who are seeking to place the ballot in the hands of women, that on accepting such a favor they must necessarily consent, at least by implication, to carry muskets in time of war. It is an abominable proposition, shameful to those who suggest it. The question of woman’s suffrage must be decided upon a broader and better principle than that. The very fact that such a suggestion is made gives occasion for the admonition that society take care lest it shall permit the working-women to be rated according to muscular capability. We don’t want to see women digging, carrying mortar, throwing sledges, pushing wheelbarrows, lifting bales, and similar work. Great progress has been made in opening avenues for the employment of women but, let not the time come when the sight of a woman working for bread shall become so common that society will neglect to distinguish between that which she should do and that from which she should be saved. We must not grow used to seeing women toiling in the streets. We must not grow used to seeing them struggle under heavy loads. We must not grow used to the men who allow their mothers, wives, and daughters.to do such work as Nature never intended. Such employment is a retrogression to the savage state.’ ' “ It might be asked what is the difference between the lot of a woman who scrubs a floor and that of another who carries a pack through the streets as a common laborer. An immense difference to the woman’s personality and in moral effect. Upon these nice distinctions the tone of society depends. We must not become so utterly practical that we may disregard the sentiment of things altogether. When the chivalrio quality is dulled, society drops hack toward selfishness. Deference to woman is one of the most conspicuous attributes of the natural gentleman. And when a man can regard with indifference or satisfaotion a woman drawing a wagon upon which her husbaqd reclines, or hitched with a donkey to a cart, as is so often seen among the European peasantry, or doing any manner of work like this, that man has become a vicious element in American society. That such spectacles are comparatively rare in this country, 'as yet, is an agreeable reflection, bnt they are not so rare that a prdtest is uncalled for. If the women who thus work are of foreign birth, and take such employment as a matter of sparse, society owes it not the less to them than to itself to show them better ways of earning a living.— G. C. Matthews, in Chicago Current. T -