Samuel Fox.
WOMAN’S WORK.
In the last census returns it was shown that females exceeded by half a million the number of males in these islands. In England there are fifteen thousand governesses. A few years ago eight hundred and ten women applied for a situation of £15 per annum; and two hundred and fifty for another worth only £12. What are we to do with these poor creatures? How can we find suitable employment for them? These questions pass from lip to lip, and are re-echoed on every hand. We join issue with those who of late times have come to the strange conclusion that there is no essential difference—beyond an anatomical or sexual one—between the two great divisions of the human race—men and women. As surely as the little girl takes to the doll, and the baby-boy to his whip, his pop-gun, and his miniature ship; so surely did God plant natural instincts for their different duties in the souls of the different sexes. But although we hold that men and women were made and adapted for their own peculiar walks in life, we think woman as well as man may have a laudable ambition—she as well as he may take “Excelsior” as the device upon her banner. All honour to every woman who, sustaining the dignity of her sex, and not forgetting her modesty, turns her talent to account. Moreover, it is permissible to believe that men have sometimes invaded the province of women. Is the unrolling of ribbons and measuring of tape a suitable employment for young men? Would it not be much more natural for linendrapers and silk-mercers to employ women? The silk would lose nothing in being turned over by their little white hands. True, it requires a tolerably strong frame to be incessantly taking down and putting back in their places, samples of goods. But what prevents the hiring of a small number of men to be specially employed on heavy jobs? Besides, would there be nothing to praise from another point of view? If ladies were forced to be face to face with their own sex, who would treat them on a footing of equality, would presume to be out of temper, and would lose patience with their sauntering through a world of curious things, and then going away without buying anything,—the making of purchases which is now a pleasure would become a business. Might not females labour in the tailoring department with as much credit to themselves, and satisfaction to their employers, as males? The needle is woman’s instrument, and if the society of operative tailors would nobly give it up to her, hope and work would visit many a family, and charm many a home. The question whether women, instead of being confined as at present to a few occupations, shall in common with men, be clergymen, doctors, lawyers, professors, bankers, members of parliament, masons, sailors, and soldiers, is felt by many to be one of great difficulty and importance. There is no reason in theory why women should not make good masons, sailors, and soldiers; and there are abundant instances on record in which they have succeeded admirably in these employments. If you say these vocations are adapted to men by physical conditions, and not to women, you contravene the programme of some very able men and many strong-minded women, and admit all that those contend for who say that a line must be drawn somewhere, and add that the line which is indicated by the twofold consideration that woman is physically weaker than man, and that the business of maternity requires more devotion, time, and energy than that of paternity, has every appearance of being a natural line. Of this we are certain—that women, who have time and money at their disposal, might take the advice given to Lady Clara Vere de Vere:—
“Go teach the orphan boy to read,
And teach the orphan girl to sew.”
To visit mission schools, ragged schools, Dorcas societies, and prisons, is womanly, consistent, and noble.
BIOGRAPHY.
Elizabeth, third daughter of John Gurney, Esq., of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, was born on the 21st of May, 1780. By her mother, Catherine Bell, who died in 1792, she was descended from the ancient family of the Barklays, of Ury, in Kincardineshire, and great-granddaughter of Robert Barclay, the apologist of the Quakers. In natural talent she was quick and penetrating, but her education was rather defective. To the gaieties of the world, in the usual acceptation of the term, she was but little exposed. Music and dancing are not allowed by Friends; though a scruple as to the former is by no means universal. The Misses Gurney had all a taste for music, and some of them sang delightfully, especially Rachel and Elizabeth. They even danced, now and then, in the large anteroom; but with little of the display generally manifested on such occasions.
Years passed on, and little by little an all-wise Providence gradually led Elizabeth Gurney into the meridian light of day—the glorious liberty of the children of God. A severe illness first brought her to serious thought, but it was on the 4th of February, 1798, at the Friend’s meeting-house at Norwich, that the word was spoken which was destined to transform her into a new creature. The instrument of this great change was William Savery, an American Quaker, who had come to pay a friendly visit to this country.
The real goodness, self-denial, and devotion of the early founders and disciples of Quakerism, first brought it into existence, and kept it alive, in spite of much that was absurd, much that was bigoted, fantastic, and unmeaning. Like other strange mixtures of human error and Divine truth, it has lived its day, and is gradually dying out, as all phases of religious excitement must eventually die when based upon external peculiarities, and exceptional cases of personal consecration to a one-sided form of narrow sectarianism. It is computed that the number of Quakers in all England is now scarcely one in eleven hundred, while in their palmy days they reached one in one hundred and thirty persons. The Society of Friends now contribute much less to the great solid stock of intellectual wealth and spiritual worth which is constantly accumulating in the world, than they did in the days of our heroine. They can boast of no celebrities now such as Fox, and Penn, and Barclay, and Naylor, and Woolman. Their sole orator is Mr. Bright, who belongs to them in name rather than reality. But although Quakers may soon become extinct, their exertions in the cause of freedom will continue to bear noble and good fruit for many an age. But for the circumstances in which she was placed, there is reason to suppose that Elizabeth Gurney would have adopted some less strict, not to say more legitimate, form of Christianity. Be that as it may, she continued throughout life a Quakeress; singularly free from narrow-mindedness and intolerance.