d
put an end to the despotism of the needle. But no; while the
sewing-machine has been a great blessing to well-to-do families in
many cases, it has added to the stab of the needle the crush of the
wheel; and multitudes of women, notwithstanding the re-enforcement of
the sewing-machines, can only make, work hard as they will, between
two dollars and three dollars per week.

The greatest blessing that could have happened to our first parents
was being turned out of Eden after they had done wrong. Adam and Eve,
in their perfect state, might have got along without work, or only
such slight employment as a perfect garden with no weeds in it
demanded. But as soon as they had sinned, the best thing for them was
to be turned out where they would have to work. We know what a
withering thing it is for a man to have nothing to do. Old Ashbel
Green, at fourscore years, when asked why he kept on working, said: "I
do so to keep out of mischief." We see that a man who has a large
amount of money to start with has no chance. Of the thousand
prosperous and honorable men that you know, nine hundred and
ninety-nine had to work vigorously at the beginning. But I am now to
tell you that industry is just as important for a woman's safety and
happiness. The most unhappy women in our communities to-day are those
who have no engagements to call them up in the morning; who, once
having risen and breakfasted, lounge through the dull forenoon in
slippers down at the heel and with disheveled hair, reading Ouida's
last novel, and who, having dragged through a wretched forenoon and
taken their afternoon sleep, and having passed an hour and a half at
their toilet, pick up their card-case and go out to make calls, and
who pass their evenings waiting for somebody to come in and break up
the monotony. Arabella Stuart never was imprisoned in so dark a
dungeon as that.

There is no happiness in an idle woman. It may be with hand, it may be
with brain, it may be with foot; but work she must, or be wretched
forever. The little girls of our families must be started with that
idea.

The curse of American society is that our young women are taught that
the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth,
fiftieth, thousandth thing in their life is to get somebody to take
care of them. Instead of that, the first lesson should be how under
God they may take care of themselves. The simple fact is that a
majority of them do have to take care of the