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The ' Great Social Evil' bids fair to become the leading topic of the day . Its actual extent , the causes of its increase , and the best means of diminishing it , are discussed in a sober , earnest , practical spirit . It is no longer unreservedly tabooed as a subject too revolting for mention in the presence of ears polite , too hopelessly degraded for inquiry or relief , or if mentioned at all mentioned only to be at once dismissed with a brief exclamation of hatred and contempt . Society has thus advanced the first step towards dealing with this evil—it recognizes its existence . And the salutary change is certainly in great measure due to the exertions of the press , which has , in this instance , been true to its office as the corrective reflex of our existing social state . To the desolating blight of English domestic life , ignored alike by society and the Church , the press has directed public attention with success . The public must now co-operate with the press , or nothing will be done to the purpose . The press , at least , can only point at the evil and suggest the remedies , society must do the rest . And there are many signs which show an awakening consciousness of its duty
in thcmatter . The evil may be dealt with in two ways , legally and socially . The power of the Crst is very limited and negative . Government can only prevent its obtrusive manifestations by police regulations for keeping the streets decent . Of course , what can be done in this way without injustice or oppression ought to be done at once . That very little , however , can be thus effected is sufficiently proved by the deputation of the metropolitan parishes which waited on the Home Secretary this week ; the suggestions they had to offer for the abatement of the public evil being strikingly few and feeble . Social influences and social efforts may , however , be brought to bear on it with effect , and this remedial action is already commencing in many directions . Take , for example , the discussion of the frugal marriage question which is directed , in commercial phrase , towards diminishing the demand , and the efforts made to lighten and multiply the industrial occupations of women , which are directed towards lessening the supply of street-walkers . Amongst the most useful of the latter kind arejthe ' Society for the Assistance of Distressed Needlewomen , ' and the ' Governesses' Benevolent Institution , ' which deserve more public
attention and support than they have yet received . A good outline of the nature and object of the latter institution , with a sketch of what it has effected , is given in the first paper of a new monthly magazine devoted to the discussion of such subjects—The English Woman ' s Journal . The following extract contains a summary of the main results : — The germ of the institution dates from the year " 1841 , but little was done until 1843 , when the society "was newly organized , many members were added to the committee , and the Rev . David Laing undertook the office of honorary secretary . On application to the late Duke of Cambridge , he presided at a public meeting in the month of May of the latter year ; the Duchess of Gloucester , the Duchess of Cambridge , and the Queen Dowager gave their names ; subscriptions were entered , and donations bestowed ; and within a month of the public meeting the first practical plan was organized for action , in the form of a ladies' committee , for ' affording assistance pr ivately and delicately to ladiea in temporary distress . ' The committee met once a fortnight , and the amount of actual destitution among educated women which thus came to their ears is appalling to imagine . Many who would have shrunk from appealing to private charity ' hailed the establishment of the institution as a message from Providence to save them from despair ; ' and from the month of June , 1843 , until the following March , the ladies' committee received and examined a hundred and two cases , and assisted fifty-six ; of the remainder , the greater number were ' reluctantly declined for want of sufficient funds . ' The report gives a sad classification of some of the cases relieved in this first 3 ear ' s work ; one woman had * saved nothing during twenty-six years of exertion , liaving supported her mother , three younger Sisters , and a brother , and educated the four . ' Three were entirely impoverished by attempts to uphold their fathers' efforts In business ; six were burdened by the support of invalid sisters who had no other props in life ; and three were incapable of taking another situation from , extreme nervout excitement , caused by over-exertion and anxiety . In short , says the Report , " the inquiries made into these cases may be briefly stated to show how many governesses spend the early part of their lives in working for others . " Her time of exertion comprising " twenty-five years at the utmost , at a salary commencing at 25 / ., and seldom exceeding 80 / . per annum , if domestic ties take part of her savings , or if ill-health come , attended by that worst of all pains , compulsory rest—not only stopping the accumulation of her little fund , but Instantly praying on it—how shall the governess provide for herself in her old age ?" As some slight solution of this fearful question—fearful when the sex , the years , and the probable physical delicacy of tho class referred to are considered—the general committee sot them selves to work to found annuities for aged governesses . In this first year , 600 / . was got together and invested to create a perpetual annuity of 15 / . ; and for this small yearly sum there at once appeared about thirty candidates , rnanyqf them entirely destitute . By 1850 the number of annuitants at 15 / . per annum was seventeen , for which annuities a proportionate capital had boon raised , while twenty-flvo received 20 / ., and one annuity amounted to 80 / . These annuities were all permanent , and upon the death of any recipient another is elected , In like munner , 1852 saw the ladies' committee distributing temporary assistance to tho amount of 1000 / . a year . The third branch of exertion consisted in tho formation of provident annuities , paid ——for-by-theteacliers-tlieni 8 elvoM . ^—Gontriiotw-v / oro-niuderttt-tho ^ utionul-X ) obt .. Oflico ,. on . bettor terms than tlio Life Assuranceottloos would luTord ; and between March , 1848 , nncl March , 1844 , tho honorary secretary received 2851 / . 9 s . 9 d . from ladiea towards the purchase of annuities for themselves . In 185 G tho amount received -was 8756 / . ; and two hundred and sovonty-four ludios had scoured thoir nnnultios— " an amount of permanent usefulness to tho society ' s credit , which In often overlooked by those of Its frionda who think more of tho relief of distress than of Its prevention . ' , ' Tho total amount received for provident annuities during tho working of this branch had reached in 1858 to tlio enormous sum of 104 , 000 / .
The general principle of assurance is so little applied or understood by the female sex , that no greater kindness can , be done to working women than to put them , in the way of such safe and profitable investments of their earnings , thus helping them to modes of self help which they have neither the knowledge nor the courage to attempt
alone . . In 1844 another branch of usefulness 1 was planned , namely , a temporary home for governesses out of situations , where they could be more cheaply and respectably lodged than elsewhere ; and in connexion with this Home , a system of free registration . The latter plan was first carried into operation at the office in 1845 , and in 1846 was transferred to the Home , which received , during the first six months of its existence , fifty-two governesses as inmates . Finally , 1849 , an aged asylum was completed and inhabited , and in 1856 its inmates numbered twenty-two . The writer points out the great social misery produced by overcrowding the profession of the teacher , which naturally results from the fact that it is at present almost the only occupation which necessitous women of education and family can resort to for a livelihood . With a view to relieve this misery , the latter part of the article inquires whether the industry of educated women may not be directed into other and more profitable channels . Here is the opening passage of the reply : —
To the first question we can see but one solution . Every race has its specialUe of function in the great sum total of humanity . While the Hindoo pecks rice , sleeps , bathes , fights , and embroiders coats of many colours , and the Mohammedan Arab sits cross-legged in the son and plays endless games of backgammon , the Anglo-Saxon man digs and ploughs , spins and weaves , buys and sells . He is a sturdy , sensible fellow , has a square forehead and an active body ; he can calculate well , and usually knows how to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market . If he be neither literary nor artistic , and nationally he is surely neither the one nor the other , Mr . Bull has an unusually fair share of what is termed " good common sense . Has Mrs . Bull no feminine counterpart to these fine sterling qualities ? We think she has . Mrs . Bull is what is usually termed a " motherly body , " and not only looks after the children , but after the store-room too . She weighs the cheese and bacon , and metes out the flannel . She looks after the farmer ' s men , and flatters her husband ' s customers with a certain honest frankness which is delightful to behold . In fine , the Englishwoman in country districts , where many duties lie ready to her hand , and where the mania for rising in life has not turned the best parlour into a boudoir , and
the fiddle into a cornet a piston , represents the feminine side of the same active and sterling character which is supposed to mark the Englishman ; witness a host of popular songs , tales , and caricatures . Nay , when Punch takes our gracious Queen as the typical lady of the country , what an indescribable air of wholesome activity he communicates to the picture , reminding one of Solomon ' s good woman ! Surely , then , the daughters of our flourishing tradesmen , our small merchants and manufacturers , who remain single for a few , or more than a few years , may find some occupation more healthy , more exciting , and more profitable than the under ranks of governessing . If women so situated could more frequently assist their fathers and brothers as accountants or clerks , or would enter bravely into all such descriptions of business as are even now open to their sex , cultivating those virtues of order , economy , and punctuality which business demands , they would find themselves far more happily and successfully engaged than by rig-idly confining themselves to what they deem the gentilities of private life , and selling themselves to a family but little above their own station for 25 / . a year . And thus the higher class of governesses , who are fully educated up to the requirements of a higher social scale , would meet with but little
competition and more assured pay . We entirely agree with the writer's suggestions , and though it might be difficult at first for gentlewomen when engaged in these occupations to preserve their , social status , this would in the end be overcome . The hurtful stringency of our existing social code would be relaxed , and social recognition would soon dignify all honest labour . The second paper in . the Journal , giving an account of the London Diocesan Penitentiary at Highgate , is interesting and seasonable . If the new Journal continues to give papers equall ydirect and practical , it must serve efficiently the cause to which it is devoted .
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Mr . Shirle y Brooks pursues his new Serial , The Gordian Knot ( Bentley ) , with increasing animation and purpose in the narrative , and with a force and freedom in the writing , which seem to indicate happily enough a strong prepossession on the author ' s part in favour of his own creation . Every page is marked with the thoughtfulness of an active brain and a generous heart , and the style is ready and fluent almost to a fault . If neither tho characters nor the situations may be pronounced absolutely new in conception ( where is absolute novelty to be found ?) , and if the thread that runs through the chapters be the old and well-worn golden thread of human love , who shall j udgo the author by default P Every artist will confess that within the whole l'auge of art the ' situations' are few and limited ; it is in tho force and cor - rcctness of the drawing , the fineness and the fulness of tho colour , the composition of tho picture , the expression , tho interpretation , that superiority of hand is scon , and the divine gift made manifest . Mr . Shirley Brooks has bestowed evident caro and affection upon the composition of his picture , and upon tho expression of tho faces and figures on his canvas , and there is independence if not fertility of invention in the choice of subjects . Considerable acquaintance with something rnoro and better than London life ( which tho author , no doubt , knows best , and has most intimately observed ) , much quiet humour , and a happy familiar ' setting' of old wisdom , unfailing vivacity in the dialogue , and , above all , a bravo , kindly , reverent , humane , and healthful * p imVmttke-u i > -rft ~ 8 uin-of ~ pugos-w —HWMU , title , which Mr . Shirley Brooks has , wo duro say , selected witli a purpose , seoms to promise a searching glance into some of tho great perplexities of existing sooicty ; indeed , this promiso is already nioro than indicated . Wo trust Mr . Shirley Baookb nmy bo onoounigod to persevere ; for one who writes so purely and hoalthily , as woll as fearlessly , may do inflnito sorvico ta tho honosty of the present and to the morality of tho coming generation .
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No . 416 , March 13 , 1858 . ] T H E L E A B E B . 257
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Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1858, page 257, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2234/page/17/
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