"Pardon Me," I Answered, "I Think We Are Doing
Much, Perhaps Too Much.
At any rate we are doing something." I
then explained to her how Miss Faithful had instituted a printing
Establishment in London; how all the work in that concern was done
by females, except such heavy tasks as those for which women could
not be fitted, and I handed to her one of Miss Faithful's cards.
"Ah," said my American friend, "poor creatures! I have no doubt
their very flesh will be worked off their bones." I thought this a
little unjust on her part; but nevertheless it occurred to me as an
answer not unfit to be made by some other lady - by some woman who
had not already advocated the increased employment of women. Let
Miss Faithful look to that. Not that she will work the flesh off
her young women's bones, or allow such terrible consequences to
take place in Coram Street; not that she or that those connected
with her in that enterprise will do aught but good to those
employed therein. It will not even be said of her individually, or
of her partners, that they have worked the flesh off women's bones;
but may it not come to this, that when the tasks now done by men
have been shifted to the shoulders of women, women themselves will
so complain? May it not go further, and come even to this, that
women will have cause for such complaint? I do not think that such
a result will come, because I do not think that the object desired
by those who are active in the matter will be attained. Men, as a
general rule among civilized nations, have elected to earn their
own bread and the bread of the women also, and from this resolve on
their part I do not think that they will be beaten off.
We know that Mrs. Dall, an American lady, has taken up this
subject, and has written a book on it, in which great good sense
and honesty of purpose is shown. Mrs. Dall is a strong advocate
for the increased employment of women, and I, with great deference,
disagree with her. I allude to her book now because she has
pointed out, I think very strongly, the great reason why women do
not engage themselves advantageously in trade pursuits. She by no
means overpraises her own sex, and openly declares that young women
will not consent to place themselves in fair competition with men.
They will not undergo the labor and servitude of long study at
their trades. They will not give themselves up to an
apprenticeship. They will not enter upon their tasks as though
they were to be the tasks of their lives. They may have the same
physical and mental aptitudes for learning a trade as men, but they
have not the same devotion to the pursuit, and will not bind
themselves to it thoroughly as men do. In all which I quite agree
with Mrs. Dall; and the English of it is - that the young women want
to get married.
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