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    224 WHAT CAN EDUCATED WOMEN DO ?

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    ; *' We Should Not Omit To Mention That ...

    system wMch some most intelligent thinkers earnestly deprecate on sanitary and moral grounds—it is evident thatas thousands

    , of women and children are working within factory walls at this verhourit is most important that everything should be done , not

    tion only y to Now improve , this their cannot conditi be on done , but b to schools prevent alone their . actual To educate deteriora the - y

    new generation aright is a great matter : but even for that which is now acting or workinon earth there is much to be done and the

    mothers of the rising generation g can be taught how to train their little ones in all that concerns the bodily health and the spiritual

    culture of the earliest years . A keen eye and a practised intellect are invaluable when brought to bear on the needs of the artisan , and

    in the thousand details of domestic life , a woman ' s eye , and a _tvoman _' s intellectare indisputably more available than a man ' s . Nobody ,

    , for instance , doubts that the clergyman ' s wife and the district visitor have a distinct and important part to play in a parish ; a part

    lied very in Catholic countries bthe Soeurs de ChariteTo whom will supp the woman of the working y class come to tell a thousand _, petty

    troubles except to a woman ? Who can judge whether the meat has been made the most ofor the stuff " cut to waste , " except a

    , woman ; and who is likely to be told of the difficulties and disgraces which sooner or later touch every widely connected household , except

    a woman ? To whom will a mother speak of her wandering daughter , or her sonexcept a woman ? I do not deny that the

    clergyman scapegrace and the minister , may do an immense work , nor that they combine many of the feminine with the masculine virtues by reason

    of their special training . But I think all my readers must acknowledge that a vast deal is still left to the woman ' s peculiar province ;

    and that where hundreds of women are gathered together in any loyit is wise to introduce among them the missionary labor

    emp , very of their own sex . And though we all allow that " Bible woinen , " and Christian workers of every classhowever humblemay act

    beneficially on the population , we have not , enough of them , , and it is still evident to meeven with regard to themthat in no case is the

    superintending activit , y of educated women more , urgently demanded . I know of three cases in which it has been tried ; perhaps my

    readers may be able to furnish other instances from their own memories . The first is at Halstead , in Essex , at the silk mill

    belonging to the Messrs . Courtauld , where a lady has been employed for _^ the _xercising last ten a general years in superintendence visiting the homes over the of schools the workers . ** , and in

    The second was at Birmingham , under totally different and far more unfavorable conditions : men and women , are mixed together

    in the workshops of that town ; the trades axe in many instances yery h and dirtyand the lady who attempted to organise a

    factory roug -home there seems , to have felt her attempt almost a failure , and

    _, f * Eng * See lish " Experience Woman ' s Journal of Factory , " price ' Life 6 , d " . by M . M . Sold at the Office of the

    224 What Can Educated Women Do ?

    224 WHAT CAN EDUCATED WOMEN DO ?

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/8/