i'HE BATTALION. 9
should by all means be thrown open, and instead of frighten
ing the virtuous and noble-minded from its flowered prome
nades, we should add to its innocence by throwing around it
every ameliorating influence. F. D. Perkinr.
Self=Supporting Employment for Women.
In entering upon the subject of self supporting employ
ment for women in the south, I would like to quote the words
of Mrs. T. J. Browne. She has said “That although she
was in full sympathy with the southern women, for southern
birth and rearage made her familiar with the difficulties in
the way of southern women being self supporting while years
of experience in a northern state have proved how hard it is
for southern born and educated women to adapt themselves
to a system of practical life, a life of incessant toil and con
tinual effort.
Not that southern women are less capable than other wo
men, for, in all modesty, I claim that there are no more cap
able women than the women of the southern states, and yet
with humility, it must be admitted that southern women lack
the drill, the practical application necessary for successful
self support. But this lack is not the result of natural inca
pacity, but of long established customs and prejudices.
Southern women ardent in temperament, bouyant in spirit,
quick in perception, aspiring in mind, attractive in manner,
graceful in motion are the embodiment of self supporting ele
ments.”
Not many weeks ago a gentleman said in a political speech
at Waynesville Ohio that four years experience as a Federal
soldier had given him a high respect for southern women.
For, said he, “but for their devotion, their heroism, their
self-sacrifice, their endurance, the men of the south could not
have held out in a four years contest against such powerful
odds.”
God has endowed w,oman with large capacities for suffering