USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > The Congress of Women : held in the Woman's building, World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, U.S.A., 1893 : with portraits, biographies and addresses > Part 73
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require submission and dependence, economic virtues are wanting. What, then, may be said of the moral growth resulting from a lifelong and complete dependence of one- half of the civilized world upon the other half-and the case aggravated through count- less generations of inheritance? For it is not alone that the economic pressure upon woman compels submission, it is that because of her inheritance of class dependence she can not rightly judge or strongly act independently of others. Her moral nature is stunted by her environment-her slavery.
I understand how inconsistent is this statement compared with the immoderate estimate of moral superiority granted to women within the last century or so; but her claim does not bear analysis, nor does it appear that in general cases women are cred- ited with superior moral sense. She is superior only in those virtues enforced upon her by her position-who is not?
Is the moral sense strong when almost every woman bears upon her hips, even while admitting the injury to her health, a dangerous weight of skirts, too often lying inches deep on floors and pavements, that sweep up and carry into homes and nurseries germs of stealthy pestilence?
Is the moral sense strong that leads women to spend millions of dollars annually in laces, jewels and idle ornaments, in cities where one-fourth of the population are paupers-where thousands of our own sex annually sell their souls for the necessaries of life; where multitudes of children are brought to an untimely grave from hunger and cold? Says Ruskin: "So long as there is nakedness and cold in the land around you, so long will there be no question but that splendor of dress will be a crime."
Is the moral sense strong when ninety-nine women out of a hundred scorn true standards of beauty in the human form and voluntarily so deform and weaken their own bodies as to increase the rate of infant mortality and otherwise lower health standards as to threaten the physical degeneracy of the race through this gigantic folly alone?
Is the moral sense strong when women, to whom society has a right to look for examples in matters of propriety, enter public gatherings so immodestly clad as to compel good men to turn their gaze away, and unprincipled ones to believe that wom- anly virtue exists but in name? And this, too, in defiance of a law of the land that requires, as an essential to modesty, that the body be covered? Such intelligent, high- minded women too often encouraging their daughters to attract the opposite sex by dis- plays of personal beauty and physical charms, rather than intellectuality and moral worth.
Can it be claimed that the moral sense is strong when women condemn the same sin a thousand-fold more severely in woman than in man; and for the sake of wealth or position, give an innocent daughter to a man of notoriously unclean life. Aye, 'tis claimed that the greatest stumbling-block men find to leading purer lives, is that women do not care.
If the moral sense of mothers is what it is painted, do you think she would ignore the sacred duty of teaching her sons that to take a wife who is to come to him in the beauty of purity, when he has shameful secrets to hide, is perfidy in the last degree? That to dishonor the poorest, giddiest, weakest girl will bring disgrace upon his kin- dred, his manhood, his unborn sons and daughters?
It is the economic pressure upon woman that has made her what she is. And it is by seeing herself apart from the ideal virtues ascribed to her, that she may ever hope to realize the glorious possibilities now opening to her, and properly estimate her value as a source of strength to others through the power and influence of a noble life
The woman who enters the married relation for any pecuniary consideration what- ever, is either making a wicked sacrifice of herself or is lacking in moral sense or courage. And but for the economic pressure brought to bear upon her, would be regarded as little less fortunate than the woman who enters into a similar relation from similar motives without the sanction of the law. And the woman who marries to live in
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case and idleness can hardly be expected to see as clearly that her husband has no right to dictate her actions or opinions as the woman who supports herself. The woman with a definite industrial position of her own is not likely to marry for mercenary rea- sons, she may therefore be expected to see the rights, duties and obligations of wife and mother from quite a different standpoint from one who marries for her support.
As another has expressed it, this nineteenth century is sweeping grandly on to its close, " carrying with it mighty movements that can no more be staid by the hand of man than the rushing waters of Niagara or the tides of the ocean." Of woman's mis- sion in this field of human progress we would repeat the Divine command, " Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her within the gates." And she who is to be the product of these future conditions of absolute freedom for woman- she who is to come? Will be-
"A woman in so far as she beholdeth Her one Beloved's face; A mother-with a great heart that enfoldeth The children of her race. A body free and strong, with that high beauty That comes of perfect use, is built thereof; A mind where reason ruleth over duty, And justice reigns with love; A self-poised royal soul, brave, wise and tender, No longer blind and dumb: A human being of an unknown splendor, Is she who is to come! "
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AVOCATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. By MRS. THERESA ELIZABETH COPE.
Modern enthusiasm for the enlightenment of the masses is at all events beginning to show some good results, whatever grumblers may say to the contrary. If properly conducted, general education does encourage a good deal of invigorating brain gymnastics, favorable to the subsequent development of interests that are wholesome relaxations from the specialty we call " our work." More than that, a slight insight into the infinite breadth and depth of possible learning is, and always has been, to anyone inclined to reflect at all, a source of constant humility and tolerance. So vast a vista of what we do not know stretches out before us, as we plant our feet firmly on our small square of conquered knowledge, that consciousness of the tol- erance our ignorance must plead for may well make us forbearing with those who, we may fancy, know a little less. We will feel, too, that our "Special" work offers sufficient possibilities of action and im- provement for a lifetime, and realize fully why "Jack of all trades was master of none," and never could be. Sympathy with those who, like ourselves, are serving life's apprenticeship, and interest in their efforts, however different from our own, ought surely to be the result of a good education; by which I mean, MRS. THERESA ELIZABETH COPE. one that has engrafted into its disciples the conviction that honest individual effort is beset with difficulties, and that no field of action use- ful to the community is contemptible or incapable of improvement. Petty cantanker- ous fault finding should perish among those who have sufficient "general education" to grasp the fact that the limits of man's mind are narrow, and that failure is possible in every branch of human effort, in our own case as in those of our fellow-men. Since the possibility, nay the necessity, of merging the terms gentlewoman and working- woman has been widely recognized, and woman's labor placed in the balance against man's, we have heard much of the selfish and jealous opposition of the stronger sex, more especially of work under-paid because it was woman's work. That many of these complaints are only too well justified it is impossible to deny, but it is well to make out a clear case, and be just, before we begin to argue, above all dispute, for rights, or we may find those so-called rights a fruitful source of palpable wrongs, for the develop- ment of which we shall, in the first case, have to thank our own semination of the seeds of discord.
If we women really wish to enter the vast world's factory on equal terms with
Mrs. Theresa Elizabeth Copeis a native of London, England. She was born in January, 1858. Her parents were J. M. Jaquemot and A. F. Dopry de Lavouse. She was educated in England, Germany, France and Italy, and passed "B. A." of the London University. She has traveled over the world-India, China, Japan and America. She married in 1877 Captain Cope, of the English army. Her special work has been in the interest of the philanthropic work in the East End of London, among women. Her principal literary works are a work on women, dealing with labor questions, and articles in the newspapers. She was a member of the Women's Committee of the Royal British Commission, and had charge of part of the British exhibit in the Woman's Building during the Columbian Exposition. She was also American correspondent during that time to " The Queen," published in London. She is a fluent writer and a brilliant journalist. In religious faith she is a Protestant, and is a member of the Church of England. Her permanent postoffice address is No. 11 Holbein House, London, England.
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men, that is, as animated machines, to be paid for according to our marketable value, we must fairly and squarely acknowledge that, on the whole (giving a large margin to the numerous exceptions that go to prove the rule) man is a more lusty and reli- able piece of machinery than woman. During a recent discussion and investigation of the vexed subject of relative salaries in the case of government clerks in England, it was pointed out that female clerks required more frequent holidays. Upheld by a purpose, women workers do frequently succeed in walks that would be tough for men to follow, but sudden collapse has been known to be the aftermath of a rich harvest reaped by female enterprise; and, on the whole, permanent success and enjoyment of it will depend largely on our knowledge of what is familiarly termed " the length of our tether."
Logical argument has hitherto been an exceptional power among us, and I am sure many of us have only fully realized the humiliating fact on perusing the combative newspaper tussles of a few of the women champions of our rights, many of whose barbed words are obviously doomed to miss their mark and recoil upon unintended victims. We have certainly often seen professional men come warmly forward and applaud those who have won laurels in domains hitherto deemed their exclusive hunting-grounds, and the frank "well done" that not long ago greeted Miss Fawcett, of England, who, in the mathematical triumphs, left all competitors far behind, had nothing of envy in its ring.
Some of us are still weak-minded or old-fashioned enough to believe that honor does come to whom honor is due, and that work honestly done for its own sake carries its own reward with it; and many of us have good reason to doubt the asser- tion of an Amazon of wordy warfare and platform celebrity, to the effect that, "chivalry is dead!"
No mawkish serenades under our window are likely to disturb our night's rest, it is true; but many a noble woman finds gallant knight proud to buckle on his sword in her service, and ready to go forth on her quest, even in these apparently prosaic days of top hats and gaiters. I may safely venture to assert that many, even most women, had rather be fought for than fight, and do not at all care about proving the excellence of their intellect, having never realized that they belonged to an oppressed racc.
The consumptive little tailor (alas! I have seen so many in the East End of Lon- don), toiling wearily and ceaselessly for his ill-fed family, is not a less pathetic spec- tacle than the hard working shirtmaker in her attic. The anxious workman, forced unwillingly into a strike by his companions, is as much to be pitied as the hardy char-woman or "scrub-lady," as I hear they term themselves, who fights want single handed, tidies up her children every Sunday and sends them to Sunday-school and chapel, and sobs over her scrubbing brush for the sickly baby who kept her awake at nights, and whom a kind Providence has saved from the evil to come.
How many women have we met whose daily martyrdom was the fear of being crowded out of the work that earned their bread and cheese, are doomed to battle with their bete noire till they fall. Who has not met with them in England, all lonely and unfit for toil; trying, trying, trying, only to be jostled aside at last, and who has not longed at some time or other to help them by teaching them to help themselves?
Every suggestion that promises a reduction of the martyrdom of "worry " and lonely failure is generally welcome. Not long ago a lady gave a sketch of her prac- tical experience of profitable gardening. The publication is valuable for its cheery common sense, and for the really encouraging account of the success in a field of effort as yet almost unexplored for lucrative purposes by educated women in Eng- land. The writer tells how, by co-operation and activity, a few ladies with very small capital succeeded in gaining their livelihood from the produce of Mother Earth; how they all improved in health, and to judge from the tone of the writer's article, enjoyed their occupation in spite of its fatigue, disappointments and drawbacks.
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These lady horticulturists did a good deal of grafting; they sold young rose plants, and some cut flowers; had a few shops in London and other towns which they managed and supplied. They found that the roses which were most valued were those that, to my mind, were ugly little enormities. A small, all but black, rose, only redeemed from entirely resembling an undertaker's rosette by a faint carnation flush, which in the eyes of its growers was its one fault; a tiny green rose, like a pale and bilious Brussel sprout among the darker foliage, and a small orange-colored rose, recalling a double king cup without its gloss. These floral aristocrats had a corner of the garden to themselves, fared delicately, and were sheltered from every blast and every parasite with the tenderest solicitude. May they long retain their exclusiveness!
Old ecclesiastical chronicles sometimes solicit our admiration for St. Thomas or St. Somebody Else, because he never doffed his penitential hair shirt, nor washed and anointed his body. If being uncomfortable were virtue, virtuous indeed those dirty old monks must have been. Well-born ladies, too, would dry a beggar's feet with the hem of their garments to show their lowliness of mind, and walk about humbly in miserable, scrappy under-vests for the glorification of their creed. Our nineteenth century ladies have left them far behind. With the hem of costly gowns they do not dry a tramp's feet that have first been well soaped; no, they sweep up the dust tramps have carried in on unwashed feet from the slums of our great cities, mingled, perhaps, with the refuse of garbage dogs disdained.
Well may they wear those large hats so much the fashion now. Are they not nineteenth century halves? Fit circlets for those who humble themselves to the dust! Our own young men and maidens vie with each other in boating, cricket and golfing. The common, sensible and not unsightly costumes worn during these favorite pastimes are influencing the costumes of working hours and social intercourse. Dress need neither be ugly nor masculine because they are clothes instead of fetters. Indoor trailing garments may be graceful, but even then no garment should be a hindrance.
Women are very eloquent nowadays on what is due to them. "Rights!" " Fran- chise!" " Equality!" is the burden of a good many speeches.
"When I contemplate the vicious brutality of tyrant man," remarked a lady speaker when I was last in London, to a deeply interested audience, " I am not only glad to be formed in a different mold; I regret that I do not belong to a different genus of created being!"
After all, one must have something to make speeches out of, and if "brutal man" is the topic of the day, why not discuss him? Reaction will surely set in! It always does. In twenty or thirty years we shall probably be devoted to worsted work and cooing gently. If we progress as we are doing now, the pinnacle will soon be reached.
Nevertheless, at no time have women been such eager candidates for the servi- tude of government as today, and in fairness be it added, at no time have a greater number been willing to serve the rough apprenticeship that alone can fit them for holding the reigns of government.
The avocations of English women are numerous. We have thousands of lady clerks, typewriters, bookkeepers, cashiers, shop girls, governesses, postoffice and tele- graph clerks, sick nurses, a few lady doctors and dispensers of medicine, matrons of hospitals, etc., but the time is too short and my paper too circumscribed to give you all these in detail; suffice it to say that all these women, each in their own specialty, are earning their living nobly and well.
Chopping wood with a razor, and shaving with a hatchet, are laborious, even dan- gerous, tasks. The razor and the hatchet may be most excellent and useful tools, each in its way and used in the manner its maker intended; but reverse and exchange the work you consigned to them and the chances are ten to one they will cut your fingers, or even your throat. So it is with man and woman-they are each perfect in and fitted for their own sphere, but there is danger and disaster in one climbing into the place of the other. To fill her place fitly is not the ideal of woman's life!
Perhaps the time is not far off when the relative positions of trivial and great
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will be more clearly taught, more perfectly understood. Perhaps the pettiness of tyranny and dignity of true humility will then become accepted realities instead of theories suitable for copy-book quotations. We may then possibly realize that it is given to the poorest in earth's dross, thic least influential in earth's puppet show to govern by a better and nobler right than can ever be gained in incompetent platform speeches and struggles. Our kingdom will be a garden for weary men and women to rest in. Our ambition will be to make it so fair that the world will protect it unasked.
The noblest lady in our land is such a queen-not by right of the crown she wept to wear, and wears so fitly, but by right of a broad and noble charity that can sympa- thize with the weak, encourage the strong, that is purified by personal suffering into a more tender pity for those that weep. Not only because Victoria reigns queen and empress of the grandest country in the world are we women of England proud to serve her, but because, as Carlyle says, " she has been a guide and deliverer of many by being servant of many."
EXTRACTS FROM "POSSIBILITIES OF THE SOUTHERN STATES."
By MRS. SALLIE RHETT ROMAN.
John Bright, the great English commoner, who said: "Those beautiful states of the South! Those regions, than which the whole earth offers nothing more lovely or more fertile."
And, in truth, upon investigation, the agricult- ural, mineral and commercial advantages possessed by them loom up towering and imposing. To appre- ciate the length and breadth of these resources, a cursory glance over the past decade is imperative.
In 1865 the states of the South were in a wrecked and shattered condition. Their banking system was destroyed, agriculture was dead, no manufacturing industries existed, capital had vanished, their rail- roads had been all but completely destroyed, poverty reigned supreme in town and hamlet, and recupera- tion seemed wellnigh impossible.
Turning from this desolate picture to the present period, we see that the conditions which exist every- where today throughout that section justify the as- sertion and the belief that these states must possess great and unusual advantages to have reached within the short space of thirty years a condition of pros- perity which points with a confident finger to a trium- phant future.
MRS. SALLIE RHETT ROMAN.
The London Financial Times said recently : "The phenomenal progress of the Southern States since 1881, must be profoundly gratifying to every patriotic American. Within these past ten years they have shown a most marvelous recuperative power." This assertion was made in connection with the location of English capital; hence its importance.
To understand this statement a few figures will suffice: In 1881 the South pro- duced 400,000,000 bushels of wheat, corn and oats. In 1891 the production in that section has grown to 600,000,000 bushels, with a corresponding increase in the cotton crop, and, despite the recent decline in the prices of that commodity, the advance in money and benefit to the Southern States was not less than 200,000,000. Turning toward the carrying power of the South, we see that the mileage of the Southern rail- roads has grown from 23,000 to 44,000 miles, and that these roads have made far greater strides within the past ten years than other lines, while their reductions for freight and passengers have been greater.
The South's production of pig-iron in 1881 was 400,000 tons. In 1891 its output reached 1,000,000 tons. The great Western roads have viewed with some apprehen-
Mrs. Alfred Roman is the daughter of Hon. Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina. She was born in Washington, D. C., while Mr. Rhett was serving his state as senator in the United States Congress. Mrs. Roman's mother was the daughter of Chancellor De Saussure, originally from Lucerne, Switzerland. Mrs. Roman was educated at home by an accomplished French governess. Her knowledge of French and music is most thorough. She married Col. Alfred Roman, a son of Gov. A. B. Roman of Louisiana. Their permanent residence was in New Orleans, Colonel Roman being Judge of the Criminal Court of that city. That eminent gentleman died in the early fall of 1892. Mrs. Roman is a member of two brilliant literary clubs, and a weekly contributor to the New Orleans Times-Democrat. Mrs. Roman was reared as a mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church, but after marriage she embraced the creed of her husband, and became a Roman Catholic. Her postoffice address is No. 92 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, La.
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sion the diversion of traffic to Southern ports, for a marked and noticeable increase of exports from these points has there taken place.
In 1881 the value of the produce exported from the Southern ports was $200,- 000,000. In 1891 it had increased to $300,000,000. The further fact is established that the assessed value of property per capita in 1881 was $142, which in 1891 had advanced to $232, while the capital of the national banks in the South increased within these past ten years from $45,000,000 to $95,000,000.
As the agricultural industries of the Southern States are the foundation of their prosperity, they demand priority of consideration in the present investigation. Among them, cotton, the greatest staple production of the world, stands unquestionably fore- most; for the ramifications of interests interwoven in the cotton trade, which embrace the planter, manufacturer, merchant and exporter, aggregate a colossal amount of capi- tal and absorb the energies, ingenuity and genius of millions of men. The importance, therefore, of this textile upon the commercial and financial destinies of all communi- ties can not be over-estimated.
The Southern States of America furnish eighty per cent of the raw cotton con . sumption of the whole world, retaining for home uses one-third of the quantity pro- duced, the rest going to foreign markets. Of late years capital and enterprise have combined to erect magnificent cotton mills throughout all the Southern States.
Nor could a more sagacious investment be devised, for the demonstration seems plain that if Great Britain (which has no raw cotton at command and must import its raw material from foreign countries, chiefly from the Southern States) finds it profit- able to establish and maintain gigantic cotton mills, the South would clearly reap a larger profit by locating and working mills in close proximity to her own cotton fields. Great Britain's supremacy in cotton manufacture is solely owing to the fact that it has been the home of the most improved applications of machinery to that industry. The Eastern mills of the United States, by their present superior equipment, now rival those of Lancashire, while those splendid manufacturing structures being now erected in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, will eventually outstrip both in the near coming years, because of the superior economic conditions which they control.
These Southern cotton mills embody the newest forms of improved machinery, and are located close to the raw material they employ.
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