ORIGINAL.
WOMAN.
[Footnote 143]
[Footnote 143: Essays on Woman's Work, by Bessie R. Parkes. The higher Education of Woman, by Emily Davis. Woman's Work in the Church, by J. M. Ludlow. London and New York: Alex. Strahan.]
Among the social topics of the day, that of the present position and future prospects of woman holds a prominent place. This is the less to be wondered at, in that the course of civilization, the force of public opinion, together with the effect of the progress of machinery upon labor, have materially altered the duties which were once esteemed peculiarly her own.
We have three small books before plus, all from England, and all bearing on this one topic. The first ("Essays on Woman's Work") delineates very forcibly the fact, that the actual work of women, independently of that performed within the domestic circle, is (relatively to the employment of numbers) immense. Our authoress calls it "the great revolution which has been so little noticed amidst the noise of politics and the clash of war—the withdrawal of women from the life of the household, and the suction of them by the hundreds of thousands within the vortex of industrial life." Page 20 she says: "I was told in Manchester, by one of the most eminent and thoughtful women in England, that the outpouring of a mill in full work at the hour of dinner was such a torrent of living humanity that a lady could not walk against the stream. I was told the same thing at Bradford by a female friend." (Page 22)—"It is clear then, since modern society will have it so, women must work." But not women only; "young female children are winding silk for twelve clear hours a day beneath a hot African sun, in a charitably economical institution," (27) and "mothers have left the hearth and the cradle, and the young girls and the little children themselves have run to offer their feeble arms; whole villages are silent, while huge brick buildings swallow up thousands of living humanity from dawn of day until twilight shades." (33)—"There are to be seen the obvious results of the absence of married women from their homes, in discomfort, etc., and in the utter want of domestic teaching and training during the most important years of youth; besides the sure deterioration of health consequent on long confinement." Well may Miss Parkes consider it "a purely economical and selfish tendency, acting by competition alone and casting aside unprofitable material. Women are more and more left to provide for themselves, and society takes hardly any trouble to enable them to do so, either by education or by opening the doors to salaried employment. The great overplus of the female sex in England, caused chiefly by the wholesale emigration of men to the colonies, increases the difficulty tenfold." "In fact, the general freedom and laisser aller of English political and social life, while it serves many admirable purposes in the general economy of the nation, allows the weaker classes, those who are in any way unfitted for the race, to go to the wall, while the others pass by. I believe the very poor to suffer far more in England than elsewhere; and I am sure there is no country on earth where so many women are allowed to drift helplessly about, picking up the scanty bread of insufficient earnings." "We are at present in an extraordinary state of social disorganization." (Pp 37, 38.)
This is but a dismal result of progress, of civilization; modern society with all its boasting seems to have [{418}] achieved little for happiness. After this witness for the uneducated class, Miss Parkes proceeds to show the difficulties that encompass the educated strivers after bread, and here difficulties seem to increase, from the danger incurred by exposing young women to intercourse with a corrupted social state; "it is better," says Miss Parkes, "to be starved in body than made worse in the moral and spiritual life," and in this we can but agree with her, as also in the conclusion that this fact renders many an occupation ineligible which would otherwise be good in itself. The lady's remarks on the changes of eighty years are interesting, as her accounts of "educated destitution" are graphic and painful in their truth. Her remarks are sensible, and her plans proposed are so modest and unassuming they seem rather suggestions, "helps to thought," than projects, and as such we cordially recommend them; for though American society is not yet in the state depicted of the superabundant populations of Europe, we cannot fail to recognize that if the same principles are exercised on this side of the Atlantic as have been exercised on that, the same results will follow when population becomes denser; it behooves us, then, to be wise in time, and acknowledge some higher law than that provided by an inexorable system of political economy, if we would be happy. Men and women are not necessarily blind agents of capitalists, mere creators of a wealth which they do not share in due proportion to their intelligence and their industry. They are moral beings, if they would but know it, if they would but exercise and cultivate their moral powers; beings capable of controlling themselves, and, by enlightened industrial arrangements, of providing for themselves and for their neighbors. The tendencies of Miss Parkes are evidently to the formation of joint-stock societies, making the laborer at once a worker and a capitalist. This might be so contrived as to form another style of "guild" of auld lang syne, when Catholic workmen protected each other from want. Christian love, and earnest thought, endeavoring, to form associations for mutual interchange of kind offices, and for encouraging each other in practices of piety and good will to men, are essentially Catholic; it is only when based on a purely selfish motive, and with purely earthly aims, that they lose their charm and best security. We confess that for ourselves we do not expect to see any great improvement in the condition of the worker, whether male or female, in Europe or elsewhere, by combination or otherwise, while the effort for improvement is unsustained by a recurrence to first principles, and unbased on positive religious forms and dogmas. As long as the world is unchristian it must remain selfish, and the weakest will go to the wall, in every form of of civilization, whether named co-operative or competitive. But once recognize that man's most essential life resides in his soul, and that he is bound to provide for the wants of that soul as his first object, "guilds" take form and shape, and the laborer, rising in dignity, performing his labor as an ordinance of God, "loving his neighbor as himself," establishes, or may establish, associations, in which the weaker shall be protected, and the poor recognized as the representatives of Christ. This we shall see exemplified on another page in speaking of the "Rosines" instituted by Rosa Governo, who had been a servant.
Miss Davis's book on the Higher Education of Woman, is addressed more especially to the middle classes, for whom she requires education has a means of obtaining a livelihood. The discrepancies between the education accorded to English girls and boys are greater than those existing between American boys and girls; still there is much room for improvement. Girls are too apt to be superficial, "to read too much, and think too little;" and even here in free America, some may be found who think they should lose [{419}] caste being useful, thorough, and energetic. To such as these we particularly recommend Miss Davis's book, for it sifts all such fallacies, and regards the question of woman's place in the social order, primarily considering them as "children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; and, secondarily, as wives, mothers daughters, sisters" (p. 36). Miss Davis writes modestly, suggestively, not dogmatically; feeling her way as it were at every step. Her descriptions are of course English, but much that she says of the necessity of suitable employment for woman, not only for a maintenance but for healthy existence as a moral and intellectual being, is applicable to every nation, and will afford useful hints to any one who has pondered seriously on woman's present position and future prospects.
We regret that we cannot speak so favorably of the tone of Mr. Ludlow's book, valuable as is the information it affords as to what the collective energy of women can effect when strong religious motive is the prompter of their actions. The author gives a consecutive account of the work of women in the church from the time all the apostles to the present era, tracing their usefulness, their power of varying their action according to the exigencies of the day in which they lived; the devotedness of the ancient deaconesses the learning of the nuns, when the world was the prey of the Goths and Vandals and their successors; the intellectual activity that characterized the communities while the outer world was sunk in barbarism; the books they spent their lives in copying, and the works they themselves composed. Then he gives an account of the active orders, or, perhaps, rather associations, as of the Béguines—
"who, without renouncing the society of men or the business of life, or vowing poverty, perpetual chastity; or absolute obedience, yet lead, either at their own homes or in common dwellings, a life of prayer, meditation, and labor. Matthew Paris mentions it as one of the wonders of the age for the year 1250, that 'in Germany there rose up an innumerable multitude of those continent women who wish to be called Béguines, to that extent that Cologne was inhabited by more than 1,000 of them.' Indeed, by the latter half of this century, there seems to have been scarcely a town of any importance without them in France, Belgium, Northern Germany, and Switzerland." (P. 118.)
"The first of these fellowships was composed of weavers of either sex; and so diligent were they with their work, that their industry had to be restricted, lest they should deprive the weavrers' guilds of their bread. Wholly self-maintained at first, they rendered moreover essential service in the performance of works of charity. As soon as a Béguinage became at all firmly established, there were almost invariably added to it hospitals or asylums for the reception, maintenance, or relief of the aged, the poor, the sick. To this purpose were devoted the greater part of the revenues of the sisterhood, however acquired, another portion going to the maintenance of the common chapel. The sisters moreover received young girls to educate; went out to nurse and console the sick, to attend death-beds, to wash and lay out the dead; were called in to pacify family disputes." (P. 118.).
"The Béguines had no community of goods, no common purse for ordinary needs. Nevertheless, those among them who were wholly destitute, or broken down with infirmities, were maintained at the public expense, or out of the poor fund; mendicancy was never allowed, unless in the extremely rare case of the establishment not being able to relieve its poorest members." (P. 120.)
This is refreshing testimony to woman's powers, and were a similar devoted principle now at work, many of the problems troubling earnest, thoughtful female minds might be solved. "The striking feature of her self-maintenance by labor" is a very valuable evidence, for now that machinery is called in to help the race, we cannot believe that under its rightful application, Christian women could effect less at the present time than they did in ancient days. A similar devotedness, a similar idea of the duty of living for God, a similar appreciation of the divine institution of industry as a means of sanctification, would produce equal or even superior effects, since intelligence is more diffused now than formerly, and mechanical assistance more within the reach of the many. [{420}] That which is needed is simply the spirit of godliness, and to him that asketh this is promised. Shall we then longer look calmly on the evils that beset the sex, when the means are at hand to remedy them, whenever we sincerely wish for them?
Mr. Ludlow proceeds to trace the educational fellowships, the Ursulines, Angustinians, and others. He says that in the sixteenth century female orders generally devoted themselves to education, even when founded on the old Franciscan basis of manual labor. Then comes the enumeration of the charitable sisterhoods, in all their varied modes of assuaging human misery or diminishing temptation to sin; in all their efforts for succoring the poor, the sick, the infirm, and for recalling the lost sheep to the fold. The information contained in the volume renders the book valuable in spite of Mr. Ludlow's prejudices, broadly and oftentimes coarsely expressed. We dare not repeat his blasphemies relative to the adoration of the blessed eucharist, to the vow of chastity, or to other dogmas; they are introduced, as he acknowledges, to free the author from the imputation of Romanizing tendencies, to which the involuntary testimony he bears to the right action of the church has subjected him. We pity him, that he did not see the force of his own evidence, that he was not led to the truth, rather than to the vilifying it. We give but one instance of the manner he has adopted in order to prove himself no Romanist; it will suffice to show the want of candor which reigns throughout the book when the Romish Church is touched upon. Having described, con amore, the institution of the Béguines as "being exempt from almost all the inconveniences of a convent life" (to which he appears to entertain an insuperable objection), he attributes at first their fall to the jealousy of the regular congregations. Yet after a while, the innate force of truth compels him to confess that the institution fell by its own fault. The free fellowships departed from the spirit of their foundation. "In place of the self-supporting industry and active charity which at first characterized them, there crept in the opposites of these—reliance upon others' alms and indifference to good works! So complete was the change that the very term Béghard, prayer, surviving in our 'beggar,' has come to designate clamorous pauperism" (pp. 136, 137) He continues on another page:
"But the Béguine sisterhoods of the north were too numerous, too useful, too much in harmony with the spirit of their age and country, too deeply rooted in the affections of the people, to perish before the canons of the council or a papal bull. Nor, indeed, it was soon seen, did Rome's safety require that they should perish. The existence of free brotherhoods was, indeed, inconsistent with that of Romanism itself; for every community of men, not bound by rule or vows, not subject to a clerical head, must be of necessity an asylum of free thought, such as a monastic church with an infallible head could not, without the greatest danger, allow. Sisterhoods, on the other hand, although equally unbound by vow or rule, might safely be tolerated; since, through the priestly director or confessor, generally an essential part of the organization of any Béguinage, they could be kept in dependence, tempted on into monachism. And thus, parallel with the current of censure against Béghardism and Béguinism as a system, there begins to flow another current of toleration, and even, as the danger diminishes, approval, for those 'faithful women who, having vowed continence, or even without having vowed it, choose honestly to do penance in their hospitals, and serve the Lord of virtues in spirit of humility.'"
The Béguines were finally absolved from censure by the Council of Constance, 1414 (pp. 139, 140). The mind which does not see in this account that one set of Béguines were suppressed on account of disorder and that the others were retained from the desire of promoting virtue, is singularly blinded by prejudice, notwithstanding that he walks, as he says himself (p. 139), "in the brightness of Luther's most blessed name."
The Béguines, according to our author, were eventually merged into [{421}] Tertiaries, or more regularly organized religious bodies, of whom he gives so interesting an account that we can but wonder and admire the more that the account comes, from such a source. There is, however, in the author's mind, a notable ignorance of the "purity of intention" enforced by the church as necessary to the sanctification of good works, and this accounts for much misconception on his part. He says that when Madame de Miramon, a young widow, began her religious life in works of active charity, "her director exhorted her to make a 'retreat' for a year, in order to devote herself to her own perfection, without exercising her charity toward her neighbor." This Mr. Ludlow styles "a trait characteristically Romish," in which we must presume he is right, for if he represents the anti-Romish party, we must say, judging by his book, there is little apprehension shown by that party that "good good works," to be acceptable, to be sanctifying to the agent, must be wrought in God, and therefore that a year spent in the repression of self-seeking, in acts of humiliation and self-abasement, might be and probably was necessary to insure that the future acts of the pious lady should be performed in that "pure intention" which would draw down upon them the fructifying blessing of divine grace. We are fain to confess that this is, as "the gentleman says, characteristically Romish;" and much we rejoice at so beautiful a characteristic of our faith.
We cannot follow Mr. Ludlow through all his accounts, which we regret the more as he gives important evidence to the fact, that in every age of the church pious women have been found to comprehend the needs of the age in which they live, and to associate with the special purpose of providing the assistance necessary. In a barbarous age, when vandalism overturned human learning, "nunneries, like monasteries for men, became schools or store houses of learning, sometimes even centres of intellectual activity. At the beginning of the sixth century, the nunnery founded by St. Cesarius at Arles contained two hundred nuns, mostly employed in copying books. Their rule bound them to learn 'human letters' for two hours a day, and to work in common, either in transcribing or in female labor" (p. 106). The convents of Tours, founded in the sixth century by Queen Radegund, and the Swabian nunnery of Gaudesheim, in the latter half of the tenth century, the glory of female monachism, were specially centres of intellectual activity. In the latter dwelt the poetess Hrotsvitha, herself not the first authoress of her convent, whose Latin plays seem to have especial attraction for Mr. Ludlow, for his panegyric is couched in these words, "Hrotsvitha, at least, was no hooded Pharisee" (pp. 119, 111).
During the Crusades and European wars, the communities of the Tertiarian hospitaller nuns, under various names, excite his admiration, though he thinks "the worship of these nuns may not be the highest and best, but it is surely genuine" (p. 142). Thanks even for that admission, Mr. Ludlow. The Béguines, of whom we have already spoken, and the educational nuns spring up at the hour of need, and for the present day "the institute of 'Rosines' of Turin presents an interesting feature." These latter have no vows, no seclusion. They are a genuine working association of women, only with a strong religious element infused in their work. They were founded by Rosa Governo, who had been a servant. There Mrs. Jameson found (see Communion of Labor) "nearly four hundred women, from fifteen years of age upwards, gathered together in an assemblage of buildings, where they carry on tailoring, embroidery, especially of military accoutrements for the army, weaving, spinning, shirt-making, lace-making, every trade, in short, in which female ingenuity is available. They have a well-kept garden, a school for the poor children of the neighborhood, an infirmary, including a ward for the aged, a capital dispensary, with a small medical library. [{422}] They are ruled by a superior, elected from among themselves; the work-rooms are divided into classes and groups, each under a monitress. The rules of admission and the interior regulations are strict; any inmate may leave at once, but cannot be readmitted. Finally, they are entirely self-supporting, and have a yearly income of between 70,000f. to 80,000f., that is, about from £2,800 to £3,200. No female organization is more pregnant with hope than this" (p. 181). With this we conclude our notice of Mr. Ludlow's book, although he has also accounts of some few Protestant associations, imitated and modified from the foregoing.
We cannot but rejoice at so much welcome testimony, from an outsider, to the benefits flowing from the female religious institutions of the church of Christ, and feel encouraged to believe that whatever may be the necessities of the times, bands of holy women will rise up to administer thereunto.
It is refreshing, too, as an evidence that the gratitude which woman owes to the church, she is willing to repay in self-devotedness to the wants of the members of that church. No woman who has ever reflected for one brief hour on the emancipation from slavery that has been wrought for her by the ministry of the church, can fail to recognize that in the Church alone is her real protection, her true safety. The pagan woman—what was she? You may see her type in the Eastern harem, the Hindoo suttee, the Indian burden-bearer. The few women of antiquity who broke their chains did so at a fearful cost. The Aspasias, the Diotemes, the Semiramises, the Zenobias, the Cleopatras—alas! a cloud obscures their greatness; and even heathenism condemns while it admires them. Respectable women were slaves; if not nominally so, yet slaves in intellect, slaves by inferior position, slaves through ignorance; slaves because their souls could find no scope for exertion. And now what are the tendencies of the age? I fear we must confess that they are purely materialistic, that they point rather to the reign of physical power than that of moral force; and if so, what must woman expect save a return in some shape, modified by existing machinery, to the old idea of enslavement under another name? The laws of the church are already annulled by society in respect of marriage. The power of easy divorce exists in the Eastern states, and polygamy flourishes in Utah. These are matters calculated to make Catholic women reflect ere they march too readily with the tendencies of the age. The church, and the church only, raised the standard of woman, and that incidentally, by proclaiming that she had a soul to save, and that the powers of the soul were will, memory, and understanding. Christian men were obliged to concede to her the exercise of these powers, by the same authority through which they claimed the right to exercise them for themselves. But now, the world is for the most part not Christian, and we must look well to the principles that it puts forth; its associations or co-operations, if founded on a merely selfish principle, must end in disorder. It requires the strong religious element spoken of by Mrs. Jameson as existing among the Rosines, and the "pure intention" which induced Madame de Miramon to obey her director and make the year's retreat he prescribed, in order that her future acts might be begun, continued, and ended in God, to insure that a community life or association shall produce good. That joint-stock companies may for a while flourish and contribute to the wealth of the shareholders is doubtless true; but if the wealth thus obtained is made merely to contribute to material enjoyment, it will rather injure than profit the possessor, whether that possessor be man or woman. Strong moral power is produced by exercise, by endurance, renunciation, rather than by gratification. [{423}] Strong intellectual power is produced by deep thought, head study, unremitting exertion, as strong physical power is produced by labor, continuous activity, hard fare, and unluxurious habits. We must not lose sight of these facts when we seek to improve the condition of either man or woman; and desirable as are associations for mutual benefit, we must not forget that if they are to be permanent, they most aim at something higher than improving in temporalities. The union of the natural law with the supernatural law should form the especial study of every thinking member of the church; and to women's associations it seems a study peculiarly desirable, as woman owes her present improved condition entirely to the effects produced by that supernatural action on her previous condition. If we might be allowed to suggest a subject of thought to such Catholic women as see the evils depicted by Misses Parkes and Davis, and wish to assist in their removal, it would be that they should meditate and study the practical bearing of the ancient associations of the church to mitigate the then existing evils, and having caught the spirit of devotedness from the many examples therein presented, should proceed to consider what form of devotedness is demanded by the present needs—and in the spirit of the church assemble to promote the needful work.
That there is much to be done, all must confess; but in what way it is to be done is not altogether so evident. Only tracing from all history "that woman's work in the church" is to see the difficulties of the times, to enter with warm sympathy into its distresses, and having purified the human tenderness with which she is gifted by casting it into the furnace of divine love, to direct that tenderness, enlightened by intellectual culture and strengthened by acetic practice, into the channels needing assistance. We can but feel confident that Catholic women will now as heretofore ponder over the position of their sex with regard to labor and intellectual culture, and that to meet its requirements such institutions will be formed as will push forward "progress" in the most approved system compatible with the solemn duties of Catholicity: that is, uniting the human privilege to the far higher and loftier privilege involved in being a member of the church of Christ.