WOMAN'S WORK AND DESTINY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1959, 27 January 1885, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORK AND DESTINY.

Till- following racy review is from the penof " Civis," in the Otago Witness : — I ha\e been stimulated, editied, and encouraged by the perusal of a neat pamphlet on "Womin's Work and Destiny,' by ".Jenny Wren," a disciple of Henry George in petticoats — or rather, most probably, in the divided skirt — whose place of abode seems to be the Thames. In a modest preface Jnnny Wren announces that ■woman's destiny is to be " the misticss of the two eternities in Heaven and Earth," which is about the steepest thing in destinies I e\er head of To think that a man may bocome the lord and master of this nngni ficent cicaturc and he nai>ged at by the mistiess of two eternities! It is too much, and if I thought that Mrs "Cnis" weie likely at ,my time to grasp the idea of her mysterious destiny and endeavoui to fullil it I should givp up housekeeping and retire to a monastery. There is no place, however, in Jenny Wren's scheme of life for a "loid .mil master," unless, indeed, she intends that post for woman. "The minion of woman on earth is," tutu' nttir, ''toiedcem man from en or"' — a minion which she not seldom accom phshes before the end of the hone} moon ; —"to elevate the mind of man," possibly by raising hn thoughts to an uppei and a better w 01 M, wheie there is no marry me or giving in mil ri.ige ;— finally, " to be the chief Aicliitcct, under God, of the beautiful Kingdom of Peace and Low," —the husband, pooi soul, being graciously permitted to c.ury a hod on the contract, or perhaps*, if he is intelligent, piomoted to bo clerk of the woiks. Jenny expounds woman's work and destiny "undtr the guise ot a personal vision or dieam," in which she sees things as they «ue but ought not to be, and exclaims from time to time, '" Why, oh why, id this thus '! " She then sees, still in a .ision, how things aie to be set right ; and here comes in the Gospel accoiding to Henry George, which, it seems, is to be taught to children in themuaery. On this point hear Jenny hciself : — To giw a ch'ld Heniy George's book, and bid him read it, would be little use, unless we were able to explain its pioblems, and answer all the questions that might arise in his mind. The youth would pionounce it "dry" and " unattiactnc," but if by careful study of the Social Question, we could gi.inp the truth of the author's asseitions, and catch the spiiifc of his endeavour to uniaxul the tangled skein of our social condition, we might hope so to influence his mind as to induce him to consider step by step the mighty truths of " Progi ess and Poverty." " Mother," said a little schoolboy one day, "Who doc 3 all the woild belong to ?" His mother was silent a moment, then answeied, "ToGod, my son; He made it and placed n.an on it, witli everything he needed to make him happy." The child looked up, and replied, "Then why does my father have to pay rent ?"' Whit answer the precocious cherub re cehed we are not told. But that doesn't matter. The moral effect is the same. We aie expected to -sigh and pray for tho time when our wnes shall have mastered the " Soc.al Question," and when even our little childicn shall catechise us about the " mighty tinths of 'Progress and Po\erty.'" Distmt be that day ! Not to be unfaii, however, I ought to say that although Jenny Wren's ideas are peculiar, she means well. She wants to shame her sex out of fnvolity and empty-headedncss. That is an aim which all we of the othei sc\ are bound to w ish success to We can't be happy without women, and with then we can't be happy long— if they are invol ous and empty-headed. Make them wise, Jenny, and make them good ; but don't make them rhetoricians (I prefer tho plain nag), don't tell them they have got a " mission," and above all don't tell them to become political economists. •• God bltss all good women ; to their soft hands and kind heaits we must all come at last." Amen ' But n woman may be good — nay, veiy good, and yet know no moie of Henry Geoige and his gospel than a cat knows of plajinga, fiddle. Hue let me i elate an illustiattvc stoiy, whether fact or fable matteis not ; it bc.iis a moral, and quite an good a moral as Jenny Wren's '' \ ision " : — An Ameiican housewife while cngigcd in her domestic duties eneountcied a mouse in the flour bairel. Now most women in the circumstances would have uttered a few shrieks, and then sought safely in the garrer. But this one possessed more than the ordinal y degree of feminine courage. She summoned the man servant, and told him to get the gun, call the dog, and station himself at a convenient distance ; then she clambered half way up stairs and commenced to punch the flour-banel with a pole. Piesently the mouse made its appearance, and started across the floor. The dog at once went in pei suit. The man liied, and the dog diopped dead. His mistiess fainted and fell down the staus ; the man thinking that she was killed, and fearing that he would lie arrested for murder, disappeared, and has not been seen since. The mouse escaped ! Now this is the kind of woman we know, and we don't want to improve too much. On the whole, we like her \ciy well as she is. Better the woman we know than the woman we don't know.

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