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204 THE REVIEWER REVIEWED.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
. . The ' Saturday Review' Has Addressed...
bes be got t workman at a Christian in des eating ite of house the . laws The of Hindoo caste ; will the Tory not select minister the
will not take the , best p Chancellor of the Exchequer , if he is only to be found in the Liberal ranks and so the banker will not pick the
best bookkeeper in England , if ; the best bookkeeper should happen to be a woman , since the _novelty of a wonian-clerk would be likely
to startle his customers = In fact , custom and prejudice are at work to exclude us from earning a living : here we contendand will not
, cease to contend , is a great evil . There are innumerable employments for -which women are fitted : there are but few from which
t they of heir a merchant are dut not ies excluded wholl ' s , banker be . ' How s , or women a is ttorney it that ' s ' s there owers clerk is being ? no W solitary h a woman surel ins ? t no ance are t yy ;
for women are alread y y y engaged in pursuits p far more , arduous and exac [ London ting , of both a female mentally hy and sician physicall attorney y . Is proctor any case Governmen known in t
employee , hair-cutter , house p -paint , , gold or , silver worker , , printer , or engraver on metal ? And if notwhat is the reason ? The
Reviewer does not believe in successful , combinations of workmen against women : butlet him propose to introduce a woman
comtake positor to , however that the skilful , result , into will his prin l ting convince -office , and him we . will This under with - y
the habit say or prejudice of employers amp or of their customers , and , some dof culpable resignation in women themselves , are the true }
the egree only reasons why women are universally excluded from many occupations ; and although we are convinced that a cha / nge is at
work , it cannot appear other than too slow to those who are really anxious for women ' s welfare .
Here stands our case . It may be true that a large proportion of women are wanted for domestic life : but we are too good political
economists to . desire , like our critic , to decide beforehand that the world "wants but one kind of workerand determine to supply no
other . That too many women are alread , y spared from domestic life for the few occupations into which they can at present find admission
is abundantly proved by the wretched earnings of our starving seamstresses and teachers . We ask but to throw down the barriers ,
so that women may be free to choose their own way of life—to earn _, their living independently , and to marry or not to marry , as they
h may ave t deem , s t riven tha it t well p in oor vain or milliners prudent to improve , . wh We ose under ask cond for iti the on a wider b present enevo field len state t of gen emp t of lemen lo the y-
market for their labour , may not be , compelled , with wasted cheeks , starve and glassy We eyes ask , to but work to let all things hours of find Sunday a more and natural of week and -day health —or to y
. level who , now hoping strugg and le trusting honestly that upon all women the brink , down of at a shameful least to those and
degraded life , may gather hope , and walk with firmer footing .
204 The Reviewer Reviewed.
204 THE REVIEWER REVIEWED .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 204, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/60/
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