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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

asked on affairs of moment. Her name graces committees and boards. She is sought after, consulted and socially accepted. But the still sharper division, all the more distinct in that it is largely imaginary, with pocketbook and independence on one hand and unappreciated home work on the other.

All honor to the woman, who, when necessity compels, will bravely take up the burden of business. All honor to that consecration that will force woman from the home in order to better protect that home. All honor to her who feels that she could not give a satisfactory account of her stewardship in the great day if her talent be not put to usury. But there are other things to be taken into consideration before such a line of action becomes universal. On entrance into the business world woman becomes conversant with much that was to her a sealed book before. Knowledge at first startling soon becomes commonplace, womanly reserve wears away, feminine graces vanish, the cold practical atmosphere in time dulls the sensitive nature, and the woman worker becomes a money-making, fame-seeking machine; an ingrate, often , forgetful of friends and favors; a cold, selfish, calculating automatum, and above all a chronic discontent.

On two things the woman-heart thrives. Love and ambition. The first the nat­ural woman prefers. The second is an educated preference, against whose craving the first becomes flat, stale and unprofitable. The first means limited homage; the sec­ond the plaudits of the world. Into the circumstances that have led up to the edu­cated preference it may be best not to inquire. Years of suffering and sacrifice, of oppression and suppression, had driven the woman of the past to the wall. In her desperation she turned and fled to the world, her one eager thought to secure com­fort for those nearer and dearer to her than life itself. Now the aim is largely selfish, and as she views the passiveness with which her labors are accepted by those who should be her protectors, and notes the tendency to effeminacy in those who should be the strong ones of earth, discontent is keeping pace with her every stride, and play­ing havoc with homes and happiness. Satan finds mischief for idle women to do is applicable no longer. The women are being educated to death, organized to death and worked to death, and the stronger the pressure in any one the greater the discon­tent and dissatisfaction.

To no class of women, perhaps, is this state of affairs more apparent than to those connected with the daily press. Brought into intimate relationship with all classes and conditions of women; those in all stations of business, from the shop-girl to the head and brains of some mammoth establishment; from mistresses in homes of hum­ble degree to those of princely scope; and standing as they do on the outside, view­ing with unbiased mind the movements in all departments of life, noting now the advance and now the backward step, impartially they weigh the condition of affairs and sum it all up in the words, “social unrest.”

Social unrest! Oh, women of America, aim for suffrage if that will bring con­tentment. Pray for the millennium if that will bring a reign of peace. Educate, organize, but ever hand in hand and heart to heart for home, country, and God. Home for the wage-earning woman as well as for the wife and mother. Home for her who, out in the busy world, is so fast losing those graces which, like fragrant blossoms, should twine about the woman’s soul. Home for the young girls with their pure hearts and innocent minds. Join hands. The business woman needs the sym­pathy and counsel of the home-maker, not her wail of discontent The home-maker needs the broadening glimpse into the sunlight and shadow of life which the business woman can give, not the aggravating taunt of independence or boast of fame and for­tune. Each is responsible for domestic tranquillity; and domestic tranquillity generally assured, the public welfare will take care of itself. In this growing discontent woman is fast losing that happy, sunny disposition, once her greatest charm. The “ sweet ” woman of today is the artificial one. The “ lovable woman ” is the one with the stereo­typed smile and caress; and while now and then a thoroughly happy and contented woman is found who may be placed in the category of “motherly,” she comes like angel visits, few and far between, and does not belong to the younger class.