Employment For Women

The New York Tribune thus writcs on omplojoient for woraen : ïïo rcceivo ovcry duy letters from women from the Middlo and even tlio extreme Western States, asking for emplojmcnt or advice. The story is praciaely tiio taino ia all, with the diff'erence of rmniu and date. Tbc ivoraan is a widovv, or unmarried and iijUft find bread and butter for hersclf, nnij perhapa for her cliildrcn. Slie is fittod to he a teacher, copyiat, apent, or companion ; what "open door" is thers i'or her in the Eastern cities? We have answercd these queries so often that patienco ia threadbare ; we are wcary (.f it; and yet thfi cry for help, hacknoyed tbougli it be, ia ulways pitiable, and, let us remember, postibly B matter of life and dcath to her who utlers it. The doora :nost widely opon for uuo'nployeil women io the aeaboard cities are thofc of ruin and starvatiou. For every chance of ëmploymeot as teacher, agent, or Cópyist, thero aro a hnudred loan and hungry applicants - towc-bied women too, who know the vantage of the ground. The ratt's of living aro at least quadruple thoso of the country villages of Iowa, Mbnesota, and Geoagia. Yot it ia precisely frnn theso obscure places t!i;it ycrang men and women avo straining their eycs toward New York, Philadelphia, nnd other Euetern citiea, as to lauds purplo witb the grapes of Ssoho1, wliich only wait. their victorious pbiokisg. Tlio rcason for this wide spread delusion.' probably, is that a chance fur work does open itscit' for women in connection with certain kums oí manufactures confined 10 arge cities ; saoh asfurriers, fcather and fiowcr maker", confoctioners, and the ecmi-artistic branches of labor required by makers of sword-worlc, or toys, jappanoers, uianufacturers of wallpapcr, carpeta, or gas-fixturcs, nnd engraver in wood and steel. TLa list sceras largo enough to justify the sanguine hopes of these would-be in-comers. J3tit wo late!y put theso vague repcrts of chances to the test of accurate st.atis lies, and the nurnber of woinen actually bo employed was found to be? incredibly small'when compared to ibe popular misfonception of the. matter. Tho most paiiiful and significant fact, too, in cenneolion with it, was (bat thia nurnber had greatly decreased in the last five years, wbiJe the need of employmeiit for women, owing to the fit solation of the war, was propor'.ionably greater. The work of des gning, mgraving, and typesetting has giadually slipped back into the hauds of men, simply because these of women provüd inadequato to hold it, the prospect of imirriage nlways interfering to rendor thom unable, vaeillatinif, nnd not lo bu depended upon. Wc have no in tention of ojeuin this sorest proLltm of the day, whother tL nt eex is most capable of being nrtisi, or woman, or búth, or wbich it ia de.sirable it should be. Wo slate a simple fuct ; and a fact so patent to metropoüuin manufaoturers tl at a woman re'it uring liere from ihe tountry in .sesrch oí' such employmi t wo.uld run the risk of :nrvation betVe the obtained it. Our ünal advice to all punt or future BppltcaDtS is : "Stav at home. wIilmo vou ara known, and whero you wil] at least bu suro of tbat Inimiin FvmyalLy - that april du corps which forma part of tho atmosphere of a tbiiulry villngo, You will fiud nono of it wuiting for you in tho streots of a greut city, Lowcver laudable your endeavor ; and a woman, cali lierseifby what unwomanly name sbo will, dies without if, as surely as a bird in an exhausted rcceivcr. Being at home, taire up any work, man's or woman's, for which you are fitted, and which pays living prices. Do it as thorooghly as a man, ond you nced not fear Lis competition. The very Dovelty of the attempt will insuro sucecss." The cmployment of the weaker sex, even as saleswomcn io shops, is unknown in most Southern or Western towns. ïhey are confined there, by custora, to the necdlc or the teacber's desk. The woman who cpcus any othcr avenue for them by the example of her own courage and integrity in labor not only serves herself, but establisbes a city of rt'fnge für countless other needy and fecbler victims to whom tho social barrieis are now impregnable. 13ut let her remeniber, beforc beginning, that in the world of trade her pitiablo condit'on will avail her nothing. lts laws are hard, but inflexibla ; it is the contract honestly fulüüed, tlm undertalung most thoroughly finisked, the artist's touch in the picture, the tound, hard logio in tho speech, that in tho end commands the rcward ; not beauty in distress or starving childron. Wages follow the worker, not tho pauper; charity belongs to anotber question. If tho nccessities of raind and body to-day forco womon to take up the work of men, few men would be so churlish, for the sake of tlieir own ehattered ideal, as to refuse to bid them Godspeed. But, oming into our world of labor, they must subniit to our laws, and bo subject to our defeats ; and the first and most inexorable of its maxims is that whioh demandi hard drudgery from overy aspirant iu every path, nud assurc us, with kocu worldly wisdom, that it is only Buccess which insures succcss.