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Women In The Departments

Women In The Departments image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
November
Year
1865
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The Washington Chronwle publishes a sensible, raey letter from Mrs. Jane (x. Swishelm, on the duties of womcin n the public departtnents, which is applicablo to thein and also to the sterner sex, in all relations of life. After stating her claims to be heard on the ground that she led tbe advanoe on the woman's rights question, at a time wheu it was impopular to do so, she says : The employuient of women in the Government Departments is an experimeut. It has not, thus far, been so complete a suoeess as its friends could vvish, and may possibly be yet pronounced a failure. The fault is chiefly all on our side of the house. Women persevere in carrying the drawiug-room to the office. ITnless this mistake can be corrected the experiment must fail. A fixed rule of good breeding excludes the shop froni the parlor. A man who lugs hia business, habitually, into his social hours is always a bore ; and what sbould we think of one who went to his couuling or consulting room iu theball dress oí the previous eveniug ? Dur'mg business hours tnen reqnire to be released from the restraints of the drawing-room - not certaiuly from the rules of good manners or good moráis, but from the etiquette of society. In the social circle it is all right ; they Bhould pay all dne attention to their "natura! enemies," who continue to present them with the old apple of disobodience ; but to ask them to keep up a state of chronic admiration for taper waists, glossy ringlets, bewitching smiles, and all the et cuteras, is a strain upon humau endurance which must snap the cord. In business hours men must " mind their own business," or the world'swoik vvill be left undone; and if the presence of women among them disturbsthe even flow of thoughts, the women raust and should getout of the way. It is painfully humiliating to auy lover of the race to see American women of education holding important places in the grandest Government the world ever saw, and imituting the oostutne and inanuer of Parisian grisettes. Let any thinker watch the troops of women stump, stump, stumpiug, or rather thump thurnp, thurnping up and down the ioug stone stairways of our different dtpartments, with their feet crushed into shoes so tight that all elasticity of step isgone aüd the loot comes down like an olüfasbioned stick leg, while the shoe, which, f lai'ge euough, would last easily sis months, would burst io ono; let him or her look at the spreading hoop and flashily festooned and oruarnented skirts which iuvite attention to these poor, crushed, and crippled feet; let him or her note the jaunty hals and " cunning" feathers; the poor hair stufled with "rats" and "mice" and bundies of buifalohide, which tuake one sick with disgust, and then bedizened with buds and epangle enough to satisfy the vanity of a brace of Chippewa squaws, and let him sa; what these women are, exterually, bu bad iinitations of the genuine grisette ? It would certaiuly bo better for humanity that all of this clas.s oí' Government mnployes should starve at home thitn that ihey ehouid corrupt public moráis, and we lower the national standard of womanly delicacy by recoguizing their right lo fill the honorablo pusitions many of tbem ocoupy. I kiiow that ome, perhaps a majority, of these dress thus frotri misapprehending the situation. ïhey fail to see the distinction between business and social Iie, and so drag the drawing-room with them, with its coquetrien, to and iuto ! the office. Two incidente, in my own office lile, will best Ilústrate my ideas of' the proprieties oi that life ■ A brother editor, by whose desk mine had stood for nearly two years, turned to me one day with a puzzied look, and aeked : " Is uiiything the matter with jem huir V" To my aüswer that tbere wan not, he replied : "Theu why do you wear that thiogon it ? " I said it kept my hair out of tho way. " But," he added, " do you know how old it makes you look ? A gentleman, speaking of you but yesterday, thought you were fifty. He wns surprised wbea I said you could not be more than thirty." I knew before that my toilette was a success. One whose bus ness with me referred simply to tho contenta of the skull could never imagine its covering was iutended to challenge the admiration. Tuut same true frieud, upou iny first entrance upon public life, aided me in a way which commauds my veueration for his memory to-day, and showed then a spirit ripening for a near intercourse with disembodied intelligences of that higher order to whose society he has long sioce gone. It was neoessary, one evening, I should remain in the office until near midnight. As I Ie ft the room, where were some e:ght or teu editor, reporters, proof-readers and clerks, he simply nodded bis good night. A sub-editor, whoso wife was my friend, got bis bat, and bowing, retnarked : " Since our senior has resigncd his privilege, will you permit me to see you safely home ? " ïhe senior drew bimself up to his full height of six feet four, and looking down at the kind little man said, sternly - " I want it understood tliat Mra 's relations in this office are purely lbose of business, and that when she requires auything of any one in it she will command his services. She bas not coinmanded mine, and the fact that she bas kept her servant here all the eveuiug to attend her home, should be suffioient notice that she requires no other escort." ïbis fixed my status. Por ten years I carne and went at wil!, and thiuk I was oever in the way. The mea folk and I had a tacit understaoding that they tihould not swear in my presenoe ; but if they forgot I waa uot deaf, sotnelitlle act oi kindness was usually the apology. ütherwise than this, I tbink it seldom occurred to any of theru that I was not oue of them. Ïhi8 inay appear uawomanly, but I insist that if woiaen are to be the companions of men o public em ploymeut, the idea of sex must not be the piovaiüug thought of their lives - They must establish ''business relatious," and keep them purely and entirtly business relations. Hume, in peaking of Eliïabuth, the greatest of Euglaud's sovereigns, saya: One must not judge her as a woman, ut as a ruler." A wife, mother, sister, laughler, lot woman be judged as womau ; as a clerk, let her be judged as a lerk. The display of personal uharms, of adornments, of dress. of graues of' eonversation, should be reserved for the ooial circle. What man of sBuse and delicacy eouid vulue tlio sccond-hand arleles of this de.script.ion whieh have )een hawked around througb public offi'ces as lbo priee ol som trifliug pnvilegti, some immunity or preferenee ? When one takes a place in a depart ment, hu cooiractH tó work u eeiuin ; number of hour.s daily for a cortáis sum. [t is understood that she is to work 'aithfully through these liours, and whu fihe spends a portiou of ihem, habilually, lq reading or gossipiouj, or in any other way shirks her duty, she is a swiudler - only this and uothing more; aud the man she induces to overlook her delinquency is an aucomplioe io the dishonest evasion. He is her best Irieud who bolds her most firmly to the fulfillmeot of her contract. Nor should the sickness, brou-iht on by folly, be any excuse for a fallare to iill the contract. The headaches and backaches and dyspepfiaa and ondless miseries brotight on by impeded circula tion irom pinched feet and crushed waists; the eolds and chills and catarrhs caught froin halt-clad feot and anns and shoulders, snould be no apology for undone or half done woik. Women as well as mn are uoder moral obligation to " use all lawful endeavours to preserve their owu üves and the tives of others," and their failure to dn so is no justifiation of their fuilure to perform any other düty. That niiietuetitwentieths of women's siekness is the direct rtsult of improper dress, is a faet patent to all thinking pbysieians ; and until vvomen can uiake up thoir iniiids to studv the laws of health rather than those of fashion, thoir demand for eqality in employment aud salary 8 simply ridiculous.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus