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226 woman's work insanitary reform.
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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Transcript
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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.
" I Conclude That All Our Endowments For...
successfully for tlie elevation of her poor neighbours , and has introduced sanitary teaching at the maternal meetings conducted blier : —
y " Maternal meetings are just the opportunities for imparting * sanitary knowledge to poor mothers . I find it necessary to vary the
mode of instruction . Sometimes I have read one of the sanitary tractsand conversed a little upon its subjectconcluding the strictl
religious , part of the exercises a little sooner for , the purpose . Again y , it may happen that the ( reliious ) subject on which I may be
speaking leads to sanitary topics g . For instance , when speaking of bereavement , and the consolation which mothers may derive from .
religion in the death of their little ones , the remarks in the tract on infant management come in very naturallyand then at some
length the causes of infant mortality may with , great propriety be stated , parts of the tract read , and at the conclusion copies of it
given to those who have been led to take an interest in the subject . " As to the manner in which my teachings on the laws of health
have been received , I must remark that it is most difficult to get the poor to attend to this subjectand it is necessary to be very guarded
in bringing it before them . , Kemarks which will be well received by onewill be cavilled at by another . For instanceit seems
almost , a mockery to read to a poor woman with six small , children and a husband earning nine shillings a week , that part of the tract
wherein mothers are told to " take good , plain , wholesome food , and lenty of it . " IfthereforeI have prepared a subject to eak
p upon at a meeting , , and find , some present who I know cannot possi sp - bly carry out my proposed instructionsI postpone them for that
month , . Adaptation in such instructions , is very essential , and this is impossible unless we have a personal knowledge of the
circumstances of our poor neighbours , and that loving sympathy which they always appreciate . I do not find the poor ungrateful ; but
certainly they are very sensitive , and will not endure anything like dictation _from one , who , surrounded herself by every comfort , has
no experience of their , many privations . " Another way in which women can imart sanitknowledto
their poorer sisters is , by delivering le p ctures to them . It would ge require no great geniusor very laborious course of studyto enable
, , a woman thus to teach well and interestingly—in some respects far better than a male lecturer , for there are many important subjects
upon "which she could speak more fully and freely than conventional rules permit him to do . She _? moreovercould explain the laws of
health with relation to domestic economy , , infantile management , female dressetc . far better than the most lished male
physiologist , , thoug , h his general scientific knowled accomp ge might be very much greater .
Those women whose privilege it is to belong to the great army of professional or amateur writersmay do much towards the
diffusion of a knowledge of the laws of , health , not only among the poor ,
but among all classes of the reading public . The numerous works
226 Woman's Work Insanitary Reform.
226 woman ' s work insanitary reform .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1859, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061859/page/10/
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