LECTURE.

THE WOMEN OF TO-DAY.

By Miss MARIANNE FARNINGHAM, delivered at the Association Hall, Peter Street, on Monday Evening, 22nd January, 1883.

to have some teaching power. Yes; but there they find their salaries are very small, and the number of applicants very large. Can they not be lady-helps? This idea has not performed all that it promised at the outset, and, indeed, it has proved to be almost impracticable. For those classes of girls who are fitted for it, domestic service is open, for good servants are very scarce indeed-almost as scarce as diamonds, and quite as precious. The reason is, that girls who might go to service

prefer to work in factories, because then they have stated hours to themselves at home. I don't know whether that kind of life is to be preferred. Probably they are mistaken. It does seem

history of the world. Her influence for good or for evil has been, and is to-day, unbounded.

The questions respecting her place and work are amongst the foremost that have to be considered; and they are questions to which it is exceedingly difficult to give satisfactory answers. Many answers are given, and, indeed, it may fairly be said that woman has formed the theme of much of the recent legislation.

There never was a time when so much was said by, or respecting, her as at the present time. It is said we are aggressive; and it is sometimes hinted that we are too numerous-too apt to get into the way of more important people, and it must be admitted there are a good many of us; but, surely, there is room for us all in God's World. Some seem to take up more room than others, but all that is required is a little good humour and good nature.

There have been many words spoken in late years respecting women's rights-words which sound very disagreeable in some ears. I do not appear before you in the character of a lecturer on "Women's Rights" tonight, but rather as an advocate of those other and better rights of women.

The right to labour, love, and pray,

The right to succour in distress;
The right when others curse to bless;
The right to lead the soul to God
Along the path the Saviour trod !

These are the women's rights which are the greatest and most necessary; no true woman would relinquish these, whatever compensation were offered her. But, while considering the old prejudices and the new ones, it seems to me the women of to-day have fallen on good times. It is quite in our favour that the throne of our country is occupied by a woman; and I would venture to ask what monarch, although a man, does the work more conscientiously than Victoria, Queen of Great Britain. Long live the Queen, the mother of her people, the beloved and honoured of all hearts, to show, as she certainly does show, how life in high places may be lived purely and nobly. How general through all ranks it is coming to be considered that dulness, frivolity, and selfish indifference are unworthy of a woman, and diligence and usefulness are qualities which are sought after and practised. Ladies with time and means are beginning to see that they have responsibilities also. Many will not submit to the life of ease and gaiety still seen in some circlesthe round of balls, parties, and dinners. Many ladies have had the courage to break away from trammels in these respects, and to live for a higher purpose. There are a good many women doing the best of work to-day, women who must, in their youth, have learned those

words:

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever ; Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long; And so make life, death, and the vast for ever One long, sweet song.

driven out of the field by young men. For it would seem that there are strong young men who prefer to sell skeins of silk and yards of lace rather than take up some heavier, and what might be considered more masculine, occupation. Perhaps, however, they do undertake the heavier portion of the work in their respective establishments. I hope it is true that young men do the hardest work.

Many occupations are now being thrown open to women which had formerly been closed against them. Everyone knows what a hard battle had to be fought before a woman could write M.D. after her name. Perhaps in some respects she has not the strong nerves and the clear brain which is expected in male doctors, but she might surely be a doctor for diseases of women and children. I remember once, in 1875, speak

ing to a medical man, when there were at that time three lady doctors in England. He said, speaking as a medical man, I am very glad there are three, but I think three are quite enough. A great advance has been made since that day. We are not, however, so progressive as the Americans. In that country no one objects to a lady being qualified, as they are regarded as specially adapted to attend to women and children.

To turn to literature: if since Mrs. Browning's day we have no poets, we have some who have proved themselves to be no mean versifiers; and certainly one of the greatest novelists of our day, perhaps, was a woman, though she wrote under the name of a man-I mean, of course, George Eliot." In painting, and works of imagination—though perhaps, one cannot allow that the subjects she chooses are very womanly-Miss Elizabeth Thompson is in the front rank, and, at any rate, her paintings serve to portray the horrors of war. Many other women, less known than these, are pressing forward into the higher ranks of literature. It is often said that women are the weaker sex. If this is quite allowed to be so, it is a very strange thing that oftentime we find them engaged in the heaviest man's work. If you have ever seen the women working in many places you must have been convinced of this. Down in the Cornish mines, in the agricultural districts, and many parts of poor London, women are to be seen doing very anwomanly work. In one part of Scotland, when the fishers come home with their fish, it is quite customary for the women to advance through the surf and to carry the fish ashore, while the men stand idle. Now, whether it is that they are careful of their husbands, or that their husbands are careful of themselves, it is no uncommon thing to see the husband mounted on his wife's back and carried ashore after the fish. done by men that women could do. It cannot be doubted, however, that there are many kinds of work Modern women do not lack courage; they seem to have adopted as their watchword, "Nothing venture, nothing win." Women of to-day are terribly afraid of being slaves, and quite right, too. Only let us be careful in our eagerness to avoid one extreme we do not go too far the other way. Let us be careful not to think of submission and obedience as a wrong. There is a class of modern girls which might come under the name of "gentlemanly young ladies." They appear to have borrowed their brothers' hats and

The feeling which affects thousands of women who have no meanswho, unless they work, are dependent on their fathers and brothers-is the feeling of independence; and that feeling, which urges them to endeavour to keep themselves, is a noble one, and it has created much of the noise that has been heard lately in regard to the lawful and unlawful businesses for women. Certainly, women who have their own way to make, and who, possibly, have orphan brothers and sisters to keep, think it a little hard when they find some of the most lucrative occupations closed against them. Can they not be governesses? For they are allowed

they adopt a kind of slang. I have heard that some of them go so far as to smoke cigarettes, but I hope that is not true. On the other hand, some gentlemen try to be as effeminate as women, and they make most lady-like gentlemen. How much better for each sex to maintain its own manner. But perhaps the modern spirit has something in it after all. Girls are no longer as helpless and as insipid as they used to be. It is no longer thought interesting to be delicate. Fewer girls than formerly rise late and sit before the fire reading trashy novels. If there be any girls present who require a little advice, I will just give it them in a homely rhyme :—

"Plenty of water, abundant fresh air,

Food, light, and wholesome freedom from care, A heart full of love, a desire to be wise,

Will make your cheeks rosy and give you bright eyes." There is a very significant name assumed by some of our sex, who call themselves "women with a mission." Sometimes the phrase means: women who think themselves not at all called upon to do ordinary things, but extraordinary things. Some of them think, "I would like to be a missionary." There is nothing to say against that if the woman is quite sure that that is her most useful line of life. But it is quite possible to be as useful if engaged in the performance of some lowly occupation-engaged in doing something to lessen the misery of the world. What we ought to do, primarily, is to do the first thing that comes to our hands. Passing from things within to things without, there are many things that women can do. She may, perhaps, be a member of the School Board; and, at any rate, she can always be a Sunday school teacher. Was it not women who first brought children over the hills of Judea to our Saviour to be blessed by Him, and are not the women most successful in winning the young hearts of the boys and girls for Christ. She may go to some wretched home and make it prettier and brighter with her influence. The flower mission has always been managed by ladies. Many ladies are, and have been, engaged in the cause of temperance, and, surely, as they know how homes are wrecked by intemperance, they should set their faces stronger against the habit of drinking.

We must be glad to see these noble bands of Christian workers which have done and are doing so much in so many ways to help the poor and the helpless. Let us remember there is something for us all to do, and let us be sure that what we give shall be returned to us. A child's kiss on thy lips shall make thee glad; the poor man helped by thee shall make thee rich; the sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong. It is always those who patiently and perseveringly perform the common acts of life that the highest rewards are given. God has one rule: "He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful in that which is much." It is possible to have a mission, and to do its work quietly; but there is a class of workers known as busy-bodies, occupied from morning till night with everybody's business, except, possibly, their own. They are clever at saying hard things, they belong to a body of volunteer detectives, they hear things and form hasty conclusions, they are apt to think no one right but themselves. But these busy-bodies here, and there, and everywhere, are doing less good than those women who quietly and industriously fill up their own places. My advice to young ladies seeking a mission is, work; but do not make a fuss of it. Set other people right if you like, for that is always a very enjoyable occupation, but let it be quite certain that you have set yourself right. Some women seem to know their mission; they think their mission is to be miserable. They say they are lonely women, and, alas, it is true that this life makes us all feel more or less as we travel onward, that we are becoming solitary, but when that trouble comes, as come it will to all, we may be made the better and the more purer by it.

But there are women who always speak in mournful language about their own lives. They are for ever telling their troubles, their failings, and their losses. Perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a woman is to have nothing to love. We must have something to love, if it is only a cat; but I often think it is a great waste of affection on the cat. I never see one of my sex kiss a cat, but I think what a waste of good things it is, because you know there are many miserable little children who would be only too thankful to have some of the love bestowed on the cat. Is there not some child's heart that would have been made merrier, some aged face that would grow brighter for that caress? Surely, some women make themselves lonely. I remember one young lady complaining to me, she said, "I am so lonely, all my friends are away;" and yet she was living at home with her father and mother and eight brothers and sisters, but I suppose to her "all the world was gone."

The maternal instinct has been put into the heart of every woman. How many orphans are there in this country in orphanages over which kind-hearted women are placed to act as "mothers"? But when she has the care of fifty children, it is only a very small share of motherly feeling that one poor child gets after all. I know a lady who was in the habit of doing what she could to assist, in a crowded district of a large city, and she went to visit a poor widow-woman who was dying and leaving a little boy a few months old. The lady used to go and pray for her, and

strive, by all the means in her power, to induce her to accept higher comfort than anything she could give. For a long time her efforts were in vain. She could not get this poor woman to say she was willing to die, and the reason was, because of her little boy. She could not bear the thought of leaving him in this cold world without friends. One day she said to the lady, "You have been so kind perhaps you will blame me, but I cannot bear the idea of dying, and leaving my little boy to go to the workhouse. Do you think you could get him into one of the orphanages when I am gone?” Certainly. I will try, and try, until I succeed. I will write to Bristol, to the orphanage there, and I will do what you wish." The young mother said, "I am now at peace, but I cannot bear to part with my boy while I am alive. What is to become of him in the interval of time that passes between my death and when he is to go into the orphanage? Must he go into the workhouse?" 66 No," said the lady, "he shall not; I will take care of him myself." The poor woman said that the thorn had been taken out of her dying pillow, and in a short time she peacefully passed away, trusting in Jesus. The lady was as good as her word. She wrapped the little boy in a warm shawl, and took him to her own house, and then wrote a letter to Bristol. She got a reply saying that they could take him, but that it would be necessary for the lady to keep him for a few weeks. This she did, looking after him like a mother. In about six weeks a letter came announcing that an opening had occurred. The lady read the letter with dismay. "Dear me," she thought, "I had forgotten all about it. I don't know how I can endure the house without the boy, bless him; I shall miss him when he is gone." After a little more thought she made a good resolution, "Why should I part with the child? I will make an orphanage for him here." And she did do so, and the home has been very much better for the presence of that boy in it, and she lives in hope that he will be one of the kind and noble men of the present generation.

It

Do not be lonely. Excuse me, ladies, if I say you need not be lonely. Take some one to your arms whom you can help. It is a good thing for our world that there are a great many people who are not lonely. Some are strong, strong-minded. There is plenty of room for strong women. It is a great misfortune when in a house the wife and mother is an invalid, though I know that this often changes home into a very sacred spot, and induces the gentleness of the father and the sons, and the hush of the home, as they do their utmost to retain amongst them the mother whom they love. It is the duty of women to make and keep themselves strong, if possible; but some strong women need to be very careful, or else their health and strength becomes harsh. Sometimes you will hear a poor lady complain of her nerves, and the strong woman listening to her has a very great disbelief in the existence of nerves. is not at all uncommon for her to say some such thing as this, "Oh, I am thankful I was born before nerves were thought of." If the thing complained of is a pain in the side, the strong woman is apt to reply, "Oh, my dear, you should work harder and you wouldn't have a pain in your side." If a cold is complained of, the reply is a recommendation to take a cold water bath every morning as a sure means of keeping off colds. Strong women think there is a good deal of sense in such remarks as these, but they should be tempered. A strong woman, who hardly knows what it is to have a headache, or a pain, talking this way to a poor woman who is full of pain and weakness, seems to be so cruel as to be altogether unwomanly. Strength and gentleness should always go together in woman. I wish they always went together in man. Strong-minded women are understood to be disagreeable, but surely it behoves us to have strong rather than weak minds-strong enough to have wills of oue's own, though never too strong to submit to judgment Let us be brave enough to frown at wrong, no wiser than our own. matter how others may smile at it-brave enough not to follow a silly or injurious fashion, brave to speak against cruelty, frivolity, vice, and oppression, whenever we can. Let us be gentle, if possible. I am not sure that you will agree with me that this is one of our difficulties; but there are times when we should break that silence which is so natural to us. We should sometimes speak our minds.

The home-life of woman is that which is the dearest to her heart. God forgive the woman who, having a home, by negligence, discontent, and ill-temper, disturbs the peace which she ought to make secure. Every true woman must value that little sanctuary which God has given her-where she can work, and pray, and smile, and weep, without a stranger to make her afraid.

No spot is so happy, or so familiar to her as that best beloved spot