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Ho. 882,. Jum - 18 i jg57.r THE LEAPEE, ...
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THE CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. T7ui Choice ...
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NEW NOVELS. Tallangetla, the Squatter's ...
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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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Tub Position Of Women. The Indushwl And ...
opponents and advocates : of reform . On one side , bigoted adherents of eon-, S i , seared by the idea of revolt from the immemoriaUnstitutes of SSk toconfine . the aspirations and utility of the female ^ to the ' solhere' assigned them by their own contracted mental view . On , theother , champfon ^ f freed om exhibit tbeir enthusiasm injuriously by contempt of SlTm talon—tlreir-scorn occasionally poisoned with morb . d . ty if not with v u ? nce The author of fhe Industrial aud Social Position of Wpmen , tWh frequently extravagant in opinions and theory , is nevertheless uniformly temperate in spirft . She writes with earnestness and an enthusiasm Z amiable to degenerate into bitterness . Her pages however are shadowed by the morbid tendency to which we have alluded as the beset ing danger of teaehers of her school , tending to induce in the mod . of their discfples conceptions and conclusions as injurious as they are , erroneous . A inoie cheerful estimate of existing obstacles is absolutely essential for the encouragement of the seff reliance necessary to effectual effort , Rather letwomen con-fide In their own ability and influence , even under existing impediments , than imagine improvement impossible till every social barrier is removed . It is m their own power , by greater independence of thought and Eelevation of purpose and pursuit , to accomplish much for their own emancipation . What can be more depressing than the following distorted picture of domestic life ? " Even in childhood , " our authoress asserts , '' parents do not protect their , little daughters , from the rude humours of their brothres . A germ , ever afterwards on the increase , is thus early planted of domineering selfishness in . man ; of dejection : and want of development in -woman . " So much for her introduction into the social state . A little further and " tlie university comes , and the fate of women is > sealed ! ' She " sees her brother going forward step by step rn his- haughty career of knowledge and ambition—she left , on her father ' s threshold , can but
« raze after him and weep . " Nor does the prospect brighten wncn entering another stage of existence . Then , the first illusion of love having Vanished in marriage ,, the separation of the sexes in interest and in character is even more felt than before ; " aud " man joins her company only when jaded ( beyond relief from a newspaper ); his spirits fit him for nothing else . " Again , " in old age and on the decay of health , there is in aenerat a short change for the better in the relation of thersexes in domestic Fife , despite the peevishness whieh is the attendant of those years . " Excluding the extravagance of reflections- such as these , occupying several chapters which do not dignify the volume ' , it contains much useful and interesting information ;—the * Analysis of employments occupying women , ' and the ' Remarks on Census returns , ' filling chapters eighth and ninth . An estimate of the returns for 1857 show the average of women of adult age to be six millions , out of which two millions , or one-third of the number are engaged in non-doinestic industry . Of this aggregate * . onefourth pursues commercial and agricultural employments , one-fourth follow the occupation of providing dress , one-fourth ape in . domestic service , and one-fourth are engaged in manufacturing labour . In addition to this number half a million was returned as farmers' or glaziers' wives , inn-Jceepers' wives , & c , considei * ed as actively engaged ? in an I forming part of the industrial community . Of those engaged in independent industry , fburfifths are unmarried or widowed , One of the great evils affecting the vocations of women in several departments of industry is , in the opinion of the writer , competition with those of her own sex not professionally engaged , who betake themselves to similar employments from reasons of economy , or as a resource for emmi , thus , reducing the amount of work and scale of remuneration for others . This , together with the disproportion in earnings to the amount of service required , it is Which weighs heavily on the very extensive class engaged in tuition and the millinery and dressmaking business . To remedy the inconvenience arising from the little value of women ' s time anaong the middle orders ( those not having non-domestic occupation ) , it fs proposed by the writer to admit women of this class to the . higher and more lucrative brandies of trade . She suggests for this end the participation of females in the industrial pursuits ot their male relatives , and recommends their aid in book-keeping , & c , as well as their admission to subordinate salaried offices generally , and posts of trust and responsibility as managers of shops , warehouses , and industrial establishments , of factories and artificers' work , as overseers and clerk 3 , & c . Advancing from this point , the author proceeds to advocate participation in the clerical , medical , and educational professions , and further , to a share in political influences . Considerations in favour of such conclusions are elaborately argued , ¦ with what success we leave to be determined by readers interested in the important subject of which she treats .
Ho. 882,. Jum - 18 I Jg57.R The Leapee, ...
Ho . 882 ,. Jum - 18 jg 57 . r THE LEAPEE , 691
The Choice Of A Profession. T7ui Choice ...
THE CHOICE OF A PROFESSION . T 7 ui Choice of a Profession , A Concise Account and Comparative Review of tho English Professions . By H . liyorlay Thomson , B . A . Clwnnaon and Hall . A more important and interesting subject—inseparable ns it is from the prosperity of the commonwealth , no less than the welfare of individuals—cannot engage discussion than tho claims and requirements , tho employments and recompenses , of the industrious classes , the promoters of public and social progress . How best to organise and direct the ceaseless and increasing toils , intellectual and physical , involved in the infinitely diversified phases of activity demanded by a complex and advancing civilization , so us to ensure results adequate to tho interests and exigencies of a great nationality , i » a topic worthy of all consideration , and ono to which wise reflection could not bo directed without a powerful influence for tho benefit of _ mankind . Argument i » now busy with the claims of women to a participation in tho dignities and emoluments of labour , and , among enlightened advocates of progress also , a desire is equally upparent for reform in several of tho industrial callings of the other sex ; so that , while not without cause , the dormant energies or' women have been lamented , there has been scarcely less reason for regret at , the ignoble and diaustrous results of tho undeveloped and misdirected energies of men . The improvements recontly effected in connexion with the preparations of candidates for depnrtments 6 f tho public sorvicfi attest tins . ML * . Thomson could not , therefore , have choson a more appropriate subject at a more appropriate svason ; the objoot and contents
of his volume rendering it in some measure a handbook for the professional classes . ' His aim has been to guide the candidate for a professional career in his-choice , by information as to the practical nature of the different vocations—^ clerical , legal , medical , military , nautical , musical , literary , and artistic—together with the various employments of the public and civil service . His method of direction is by imparting also a knowledge of the different qualifications— temperament , ability , and education—requisite to secure a prdbability of-success , and by a- , comparative estimate ,, fairly balaneed , we think , of the disadvantages and benefits attendant on the " various professional callings . For the adequate fulfilment of suck a design , it is obvious that a somewhat extensive and miscellaneous knowledge is required , and when we say that in few instances does Mr . Thomson ' s information appear defective ,, the utility of the volume is without question . As a series of suggestions to parents—indicating the errors of judgment usually precursory of failure- —in adopting a course for their sons , it will pro . ve valuable , as it constitutes a brief analysis of the necessary educational systems preparatory to entering the professions . Each chapter is dedicated to a single branch , containing a fund of useful facts connected with the costs and mode of entrance , expenses of residence or practice , Sec , interwoven with reflections and remarks proceeding from Mr . Thomson ' s special views . The book , original in design , and of an excellent iatention , appears to have been conscientiously constructed from all available materials . Mr . Thomson , is liberal in his sentiments , and too advanced in opinion not to repudiate . all hackneyed and pernicious theories . We find him thus censuring the current prejudice so detrimental to the social standing of the schoolmaster , and contradicting the old tradition , that authors are necessarily the inhabitants of garrets . " Literature , " he says ,. 41 is not only encouraged , but highly prized , and amply rewarded . "
New Novels. Tallangetla, The Squatter's ...
NEW NOVELS . Tallangetla , the Squatter ' s Home . A atory of Australian Life . By William Howitt . 2 vols . —We agree with these who think that writers are too rapid in their conclusions who predict- the growth of Australia into a powerful and flourishing empire . It is a desert with a green border ; it has its Stony Arabia by the side of its ' Happy ;¦ ' its fertile territories have comparatively little depth . The valleys , the vast river bottoms , the immense plains , five hundred miies square , beyond the Appalachian hills , the Mississippi of the American continent , are wanting . So that we prefer Mr . Howitt when he sketches to Mr . Howitt when be generalises . He took a literary photographic apparatus with him to Victoria , and brought home a variety of clear and faithful pictures , such as were needed by His Importance the General Reader . In Tallangetta many of the pictures are reproduced in a romantic setting , the colouring being more free and the characterpainting less liable than in the sober book of observations . Mr . Howitt has a preface which leads us to suspect that he has been thrown aajong bad mental associations , for it is lull of-trash about spiritualism and tableturning . The author does not allow Mr . Faraday to convince him ; of course not . But we wishTie had permitted his former work to tell-its own tale and stand upon its own merits instead of quoting personal testimonies , one of which is worthless because anonymous , and the other ridiculous because it comes from a writer who , never having had a glimpse of Australia , is no more entitled to lecture Mr . Howitt upon ' verisimilitude ? than any other miscellaneous gentleman in Europe . The novel itself is vigorous and interesting , its chief ' merits being due to the writer ' s admirable descriptive faculty , for the plot ia immeasurably antique . Marguerite ' s legacy . A Novel . By Mrs . T . F . Steward , author of ' The Prediction / 3 vols . ( Hurst and Bluckett . )—Mrs * Steward understands how to adapt her materials to the fashion of the circulating library . Tried-by this standard—a very good one—her-new novel is a success . It is full of ' business ; ' the movement is continual , the writing is free and bold , and the characters pass rapidly across the stage . There is * a pleasant mingling of romantic and historical incident , and although some of the eilects are so violent as to be inconceivable , the general result is an interesting story . We would warn Mrs . Steward , however , against the introduction of equivocal portraits such as that of Talleyrand , and against literary rocket firing . Shining after Ttaiii ; or , the Sisters' Vow . A Tale . 2 vols . ( Saundersand Otley . )—There is no historical element in this novel . It is a simple family Uistory of piety and affection , -with occasional sunbursts of passion , and is written agreeably , without any spasmodic effort at eloquence . Though a first work , we fancy , and rather of good promise than actually meritorious , rccoiuiiimiutuiuii aumui uvivtuuKijr
it uoservus our strongest ., uwuuau mu , enthusiastic and young , proposes to devote her profits to the endowment of ii little village asylum . Guy Livingstone ; or , Thorough . ( J . W . Parker . )— -We find in Guy Livingstone a grotesque blending ' of academic and sporting slang . The writer obviously thinks himself ono of the authors whoso phrases- are alluded to by JUimnorsoii— they are vascular , if you cut them they bleed . ' Wu will cut two or three of tho story-teller ' s ) turnips of rhetoric . Describing a ' patrician and proletarian prize fight , ' ho talks of ' his crushed lipa churning the crimson foiun . In a lady ' s cheeks * the rich blood mantled now and Llien like wine in iv Venice ^ liisd , ' her ' eyea bleep under then lushes , like a river under loaves of water-lilies , ' her mouth ia a pomegranate ( is moutha innumerable are in Persian poems . Two- ' ancient virgins' have ' faces like moulds of lemon ice , ' and all the author ' s dialogues are concatenations of pedantry and extravagance . He is clover , but his cleverness is lost ia Our Collage : Leaves from an Undergraduate's Scribbling Book . ( l' ] nrlo . ) -y-This is a series of sketches , beginning with u description of university lite , and ending with the execution of % \ x . and Mrs . Manning . There ia ft { food deal of variety in the volume , but not much power . Those who jroJiali collegmto reminiHccqces will find it amusing-. Pictures oft / to Olden Time , as 8 / 1010 $ in tho Fortunes - ofa FaffiU j / of the Pilgrims . By Edmund Scar . ( Woodfiuld . }—Mr . Sear has attempted to effect a lostoration of social life « mong tho pilgrims of the sixteenth contury ;
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 18, 1857, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18071857/page/19/
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