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472 THE LEADER. [No. 373, Saturday ,
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TO MARRY OR NOT TO MARRY ? Cobbett once ...
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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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"Women And Work. Amojtg The Inmates Of B...
career in the world , and maintain a position by her own efforts . So she can , you say . She may become an artist—if she has the faculty . She may become a governess—perhaps to be treated worse than a domestic servant . She may turn dressmaker . So can the son of a clergyman turn journeyman tailor . She may make watches , suggests Mr . Bennet ; but suppose she does not belong to the class which makes watches , or does slopwork , or elaborates I / hoy ' s mantle , or flounce
builds up the tower of frame and , in which is lost all that was classic in the shape ofAEABEiLA . Forty-three women out of a hundred are unmarried . Therefore , not being wives or mothers , it is mere irony to talk of their domestic duties ; a large proportion of them , at least , have no home or other establishments to administer . And is the unprovided widow , whatever her former station , to become a teacher , or a flowermaker , or a hat-liner , or a map-colourer , or
an embroideress , or a button-coverer , such being the principal occupations open to her sex ? " At present the language practically held by modern society to destitute women may be resolved into Marry—Stitch—Dieor do worse , " says the Times . They cannot all marry ; it would be disgraceful to eompel them all to stitch ; ' die' can scarcely be entered among the injunctions of political economy ; but ' do worse' is our eleventh commandment .
What else can they do ? Miss Baebaea Smith has prepared a reply well worth consideration : *—Apprentice 10 , 000 to watchmakers ; train 10 , 000 for teachers for the young ; make 10 , 000 good accountants ; put 10 , 000 more to be nurses under deacpnnesses trained by Florence Nightingale ; put some thousands in the electric telegraph offices over all the country ; educate 1000 lecturers for mechanics ' institutions ; 1000 readers to read the best btfoks to the -working people ; train up 10 , 000 to manage washing-machines , sewing-machines , & c .
You may smile at the notions of a female accountant ; but is a distressed needlewoman better ? Compare the type of a decayed gentlewoman with that of a lady lecturer—why should a woman not cultivate eloquence as well as tragedy ? For ourselves , we have a weak conviction that it is more womanly to occupy an independent position in the public view than to be shown into a heavily-furnished dining-room , in which some citizen ' lady intimates that four children are to be instructed and walked out morning or evening
five miles into the country for half-a-crown a day . The young people must be hardened against all sorts of weather , so that no delicate persons need apply . A few happy instances there are in which a woman of high spirit and rare accomplishments can maintain an independent position , even as a governess ; but the reverse is the rule . We shall be satisfied to hear the orthodox language about feminine timidity , shrinking from the gaze of the world , and separate spheres , when all this has been remedied . It seems at leaat
as repulsive to womanly modesty to live among vulgar strangers , who speak of her as a ' young person , ' and to tend a flock of children daily in the parks , as to follow out Mrs . Jameson ' s views , and develop a higher set of qualities than are essential in an ordinary governess . This is an old question , and has frequently been discussed ; yet it ia peculiarly a topic of to-day . Society has been confessing its sins , and pitying the miserable among women . There are , however , gradations in misery , and it would be well to arrest the process before it has reached its last stage , when little reinn ins but remorse , penitence , and death . * Women and Work . By Barbara Loigh Smith . Boaworth nnd Harrison .
472 The Leader. [No. 373, Saturday ,
472 THE LEADER . [ No . 373 , Saturday ,
To Marry Or Not To Marry ? Cobbett Once ...
TO MARRY OR NOT TO MARRY ? Cobbett once affirmed that he could find an able-bodied man who would competently transact ; all the business of a prime minister for five hundred a year . Prime ministers do not agree with Cobbett .- When Lord John BussEiii- was Prime Minister , lie was examined before the Committee on Official Salaries , and stated that he never was in debt before he attained the highest political position in the realm . " I am paying it off now , "
he added ; but complained of being obliged to receive ambassadors with splendour , having tall servants lolling in the hall , and other appurtenances , undoubtedly costly , and supposed to be dignified . Lord John Russei / l was troubled by the social difficulty of keeping up appearances . We are are all doing the same , and we , who are veteran and wellestablished , are counselling young people not to marry . Not because they could not live comfortably if married , but that their income
will pay for no appearances . As to young men who inhabit the colder edge of the temperate zone of the social sphere—with small salaries and slender prospects—we have always held that marriage is economy ; but the curse of appearance confronts us . It is all very well for a bachelor to have quietly-furnished rooms so long as his coat is unexceptionable ; but an establishment must be an
establishment , and he must not risk the happiness of another . Besides , the parents of ' another ' have an eye to the dulness of the times , and it is not convenient at this particular moment to ' in ' for a grand wedding . Now , holding special views on that subject , we must allow the possibility of ~ being wrong ; but why should Laura , who is about to inhabit a tenement at forty pounds a year , be charioted to the altar at the tail of a
train of friends , the cost of whose equipages , for one day only , would redeem George Frederick from two } r ears of taxation ? Why should her bridal table glow superciliously with borrowed plate , when her domestic table is to display none but uupresuming crockery ? Why should Dives be feasted at the table of Lazarus ? The Rajpoots were accustomed to kill the majority of their daughters to avoid the ruinous expenditure of marriage festivals ; it was
easier to murder the babies than to mitigate the extravagance . And we have no right to cavil at the Rajpoots if they have one way , and we have anothei * . Costly weddings , then , among people of moderate ' means , are immoral farces , but the contagion of expensive habits spreads further . Everything now must be costly , and we cannot help saying that Great Exhibitions have given an impetus to the love of superfluity . You cut and carve , you line and lace , you dye and bedeck , you insist on doing ' the thing ;'
and if you cannot do it , economists warn you not to marry . Wo might as easily find Cobbett ' s prime minister as two plighted hearts , in a respectable sphere , that nre willing to wear the golden link irrespective of upholstery considerations . The fact seems to be , that most persons have what are called grand friends , and they must have houses at which these grand friends can call . There is a youthful beauty , but one summer since made a brido , who
stints her own and her servant ' s table , and sacrifices all daily comfort , simply that she may not bo ashamod of her curtains when Lady Mart calls . But it is only through an acoidont that she is married at all . The betrothal took place years ago , but something turned up last spring which allowed of a furnishing speculation , and the two dewdrops molted into ono , on tho strength of an arabesque floorcloth , a Brussels carpet , and cut-glass decanters . Yot , to keep up tho
arabesque floorcloth and cut-glass decanter system , it is necessary to keep down the necessaries of life supplies , and my heart ' s own dwells with my only love , doing things well , but intensely pinched and uncomfortable . And all resulting from the passion that makes Robsons and Redpaths—the worship of wealth , the craving for display . " He wanted more money poor people for to give , " said the sympathetic ballad of the Seven Dials concerning the dealer in
transfers , late of Chester-terrace , now of Newgate , and soon , probably , of Bermuda ; but he only drank while others thirsted . It ia for damask and ormolu , for velvet-pile and brocade , for buhl and marqueterie , that society hungers , and the intellect commits suicide in quest of these illusions . Yet why talk in this commonplace manner ? We have the question to answer—Is it right and wise to marry when young ?—and on that point perhaps we had better say nothing .
Thunderstorm at Reading . —A very violent storm of thunder , lightning , and rain burst over Reading and the vicinity on Monday afternoon . A great deal of damage was done . Wargrave church , has been struck , and much injured ; and on the Oxfordshire hills a ball of fire fell , which shattered some trees . Entire Rebuilding of the Gaol of Newgate . — Workmen were engaged on Tuesday in making preparations for pulling down and entirely rebuilding the interior of this gaol , and at present it is not known whether the outer walls which front the Old Bailey will not give place to new ones . The interior is to be rebuilt upon the model of the Pentonville prison and the Holloway House of Correction . The separate system will be enforced . At present , the prisoners are confined in one half of the gaol , while the other part is bfiir . g
altered . The Ballot Society . —At the last meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ballot Society , a letter was read from Mr . Cobden to Mr . Thomas Prout , the treasurer , enclosing his annual subscription of 10 / . Mr . Cobden remarks : —" Now is the time for agitating your question . Mr . Grote was accustomed to say he was always well supported in the first session of a new Parliament , for that then the wounds of the electors -were fresh and green from the electoral battlefield . I hope and to
you will be able to set up branch societies , gather in subscriptions all over the country . " A letter has been received by the agent of the Ballot Society in Manchester from Mr . Whitehurst , the Vice-President . We here read : — " In reply to an inquiry addressed to you whether the society intends now to make a vigorous effort to obtain the ballot , you may with perfect truth reply , ' Yes . ' The degree of the vigour of that eftort depends upon the amount of money which the friends of free and protected ^ voting will place at our disposal . met last
Convocation . —The two Houses Saturday , In the Upper , certain formalities with respect to some amendments by the Lower House on the Address ( which were ultimately omitted ) were got through , and tho House was prorogued to the 20 th of May . Tho Lower House was also prorogued to the same day , after discussing several motions . In the course of tho sitting the Rev . Mr . Claughton presented a gravamen on the suhjeet of presentments of churchwardens , so far as they relate to notorious offenders . By tho canons of the Church , churchwardens are required to present notorious offenders , and the clorgy to announce such offenders nt tho time of service . Such a proceeding has become prnctically impossible , and the gravamen prayed that it should be roconsidercd . The gravamen was referred to tho usual committee on such documents .
Sin Henry Kawunson on Moiiammkraii . —»» Honry Rawlinson , on Monday evening , delivered at n mooting of tho Royal Geographical Society a very interesting lecture on Mohammorah and tho Shat-el-AnU ) , with roforenco to tho lato operations at tho mouth ol tun Euphrates . There has been a groat deal of dispute as to whether Mohammcrah belongs to Persia or Turkey , xiw very situation is not clearly defined . Tho town a gomrally assigned to Poraia , and aaicl to bo seated on tm . Karoon rivor ; but Sir Henry believed that tho placew situated on tho Euphrates , in which ease it would oeloi * indeed lintfo
to Turkey . Tho Turkish Government , , ; torcd a protest against our attacking it . 1 » OF * position of Sir . Jamoa Outrun , in tho opinion of the oc iuror , would be unhealthy during tho summer inont w , but by moving up tho Karoon very salubrious quortorj might bo reached . Sir Henry referred to the lufltorj o « Mohammorah from tho curliest time * . it > w *« generally known that Mohammorah was formorly n > of a very famous Greek kingdom Although t m . , i » t have boon tho qapit . il , it formed part of the , klnguon of Kuraknia and Maudlin ? . It was a city ofNerQ ax portanco , and there wore extant coins which w ""^ itfl mint . Alexander tho Groat founded n ooloi y ™ V and named it Pellooun , uftor hia nutivo'p lace , 1 ««»» \ , Macedonia .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 16, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16051857/page/16/
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