THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
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In short, whether Eve was made from one of Adam’s true or false ribs, as they are termed in physiology, matters little; for certain it is that in this good year of 1893 we must concede to Mrs. Adam her full quota of ribs, and the most prejudiced, if such there be, must admit that they are attached to just as good and stiff a backbone as any modern Adam can boast of possessing.
I need not enumerate the splendid achievements of our sisters, nor need I go into detail to show you the many ways, the many fields in which countless numbers today are earning honest bread, and I am happy to add, in some instances, are also winning health, wealth and fame. Suffice it briefly to remind you, that the professions and literary ranks alone number over two hundred thousand women. Six thousand are in postoffices in this land, aside from that mighty army of shop women and girls, office clerks, stenographers and accountants, those in factories, and especially teachers; also the few who are engaged in real estate, mercantile pursuits, even railroading, etc.
I do not know how great a proportion, but very many of these women are doubtless breadwinners not from choice, but necessity, which compelled them to put aside their sentiment, their cherished ideals, and to bend all their energies to the stern practicalities of life. All honor to this class.
Another class today enters the business world, not quite so impelled by necessity, but some definite object in life is a vent for their restless energy, and to them a happy* solution of their destiny.
A few yet higher in the social scales are today deliberately choosing business and public careers, and if therein they find independence, money, glory or.fame sweeter than old-fashioned home joys, why the world will have to abide by the consequences, and just what the outcome will be remains to be seen. Who shall prophesy?
It may be reassuring to remind you that Plato, who you remember wrote nearly four hundred years before the Saviour’s birth, tells us that “all the pursuits of men are the pursuits of women also,” and in all of them, he adds, “woman is only a weaker man.”
Well, happily all women are not breadwinners either from choice or necessity. Granted that woman may today enter upon any business career that in her opinion seems well and good, I would call your attention to just one field, by her heretofore quite overlooked or ignored. It is a field full of promise and profit for women with any aptitude in this direction, and it is an avenue that will never be crowded because it is not the majority who can succeed in this line, and this field is life insurance. The social and financial status of the business makes it a suitable, dignified calling for womankind. Comparatively few women have as yet entered its ranks as solicitors, agents or managers, but those who have attempted it are making money, and no mean fame in the business world.
To fully explain this work, let me first speak somewhat of life assurance. You are perhaps aware that it is today the greatest financial, and the most beneficent institution in this country. Its sure benefits are scattered broadcast all over this and other lands. It has clothed, warmed, fed and built homes for countless widows and made ■education possible for their fatherless children. Indeed, its merits in the business world are perhaps too well known to need any recital of them; perhaps, too, the least practical woman here must be aware that in these times of financial depression, collapsed interests, and broken banks, no one questions the security of what is termed “Old-line” Life Insurance Companies. I repeat that they are the most secure and the biggest moneyed interests in the world today, and as you doubtless know, thousands of men are covered by their protection, and there are many more thousands who need and ought to have policies in these stanch companies. And this brings me to point out to you the fact that as our country grows in age and wealth, we have among us not only scores of wealthy men, but we have also great numbers of wealthy women. To most of these their riches have come as a new thing, and American women until of late so little experienced in business and money matters, find their riches oftener than otherwise, a not unmixed blessing. Shameful as the record is, many wealthy women have