THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3754, 23 February 1926, Page 72

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE quiet noun. No. 652.

By

Duncan Weight,

Dunedin.

(Fob tub Witness.) WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. Woman has now more fields of labour open to her than ever before. But woman’s services and woman’s welfare may now be reckoned too much on the commercial basis of utility; for woman is not as capable of hard, continuous labour as is man ; the woman is a more delicate being, her average of health and strength more fluctuating, her system more sensitive to surroundings and conditions. When, as with barbarous nations, and some not reckoned barbarous, she is put to hard, unremitting labour, if she does not break down she becomes coarse and deformed physically and mentally. If woman, to earn her living; must work with man hour for hour, it is possible that man mav still be indirectly the sufferer. Woman is of use to man for other qualities than the labour of hand or brain. Her sympathy and her association are valuable "to him. When they are lacking, a great want is felt. Make the woman a drudge, and all the finer qualities „which constitute her attractiveness are repressed. Her beauty is diminished, her vitality is exhausted, and her capacity for pleasing is lessened. The world wants its best women, and wants as many as possible. The best quality of femininity may not be the quickest developed while working in an office ot perched on a cashier’s stool ten hours a day, six days in the week, from year’s end to year’s end. Industry is commendable, but when industry runs *nto overwork for a more delicately organised sex, it ceases to be a benefit. If bread must be earned by woman in this way, it may be earned eventually at heavy cost. If woman must labour on the plane of commercial estimate, no matter how skilled her calling, she is rated and treated by man precisely on the same plane as is the wife of the European peasant, who is valued chiefly for her industry on the farm and in the household. If woman is man’s “last and best gift,” *she must be kept at her best by some more considerate methods than those now employed. She is, as compared with man, a fragile vessel, and if this fragile vessel be. abused or prematurely worn out, the injury is shared equally by the stronger sex. The strongest casting may require a very delicate moulding, and the least carelessness in the moulding may cause the fatal flaw in the casting. —Anon. THE DAILY INTERVIEW. Such a sensation Sunday’s preacher made. “Christian!” he cried, “what is your stock-in-trade Alas! Too often nil. No time to pray; No interview with Christ from day to day; A hurried prayer, maybe, just gabbled through; A random text—any one will do.” Then - gently, lovingly, with look intense, He leaned towards us—“l3 this common sense? No person in hi 3 rightful mind will try To run his business so, lest by-and-by The thing collapses, smirching good name, And he, insolvent, face the world with shame.” I heard it all; and something inly said That all wag true; the daily toil and press Had crowded out my hope of holiness. Still, my old self rose, reasoning: How can you, With strenuous work to do— Real slogging work—say how can you keep With leisured folks? Why, you could grow in grace In you had time. . . the daily interview Was never meant for those who wash and bake. But all that night, With calm, insistent 'might, The gentle Voice spake softly, lovingly— Keep tryst with Me! You have devised a dozen different ways Of getting easy meals on washing days; You spend much anxious thought on hopeless socks; You who invented ways and means of making Nice spicy buns for tea, hot from the baking, When margarine was short. , . and cannot you Who make the time to join the butter queue Make time again for Me? Yes, will you not, with all your daily striving, Use woman’s wit in scheming and contriving, To keep that tryst with Me?” It is a wondrous and surprising thing How that ten minutes takes the piercing sting From vexing circumstances and poisonous dart Hurled by the enemy straight at my heart. So, to the woman tompest-tossed and tried By household cares, and hosts of things beside, With all my strength God bids me say to you: “Dear soul, do try the daily interview!” —Fay Inchfawn. Did the philosopher really mean it, or was it only a fanciful hyperhole when he 6aid: “A woman’s work, grave sirs, is never done.” Man for the field, and woman for the hearth; Man for the sword, and for the needle she; Man with the head, and woman with the heart; Man to command, and woman to obey; All else confusion. —Tennyson. A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command And yet a spirit still and bright s With something of angelio lights —Wordsworth.

For an absolutely correct photograph of a good wife and mother see Proverbs xxxi. A KINO ON WOMEN’S DUTIES. The King of Spain in an interview at Madrid with Lady Drummond Hay: “I owe everything to the beautiful character of my mother, who, by example and practice, instilled in me the meaning of duty, developed in me an understanding love of my country, fired in my heart a determination to secure the peace, happiness and freedom of the people who are hers and mine, as we are theirs, by sheer devotion. . . “The duties of a wife and mother are of such supreme national and humanitarian importance, outweighing any of politics or State, that once a woman marries, all duties, all interests pale before the Divine ones decreed by Providence, and it is neither necessary nor meet that she be troubled or distracted by other less significant calls. It would not be right to infer that a woman is supposed to lose by marriage or that an unmarried woman Joses by her single estate. The two conditions are- not comparable—they are just different, with separate interests and directions, and the law is intended to cater kindly for both. When woman takes on the exacting duties of married life should be relieved from as much outside responsibility as possible, and that is the sum total of the Government’s attitude. We honour our women in a very real and sincere way, although you, like many others, at first did not seem to understand.” PROVIDENCE AND POVERTY. A pious woman, in the days of persecution, used to say she should never want, because her God would supply her every need. She was taken before an unjust judge for attending the worship of God. The judge, on seeing her, tauntingly said, “I have often wished to have you in my power, and now I shall send you to prison, and then how will you be fed?” She replied, “If it be my Heavenly Father’s pleasure, I shall be fed from your table,’’ and that was literally the case; for the judge’s wife, being present at her examination, was greatly surprised with the good woman’s firmness, and took care to send her victuals from the table, so that she was comfortably supplied all the time she was in confinement;, and the other found her reward, for the Lord was pleased to convert her soul „nd give her the blessings of His salvation.” —The Biblical Museum. Once more listen to Fay Inchfawn: — Across the town the evening bell is ringing; Clear comes the call, through kitchen window winging! Lord, knowing Thou art kind, I heed Thy call to prayer. I have a soul to save; A heart which needs, I think, a double share Of sweetness which noble ladies crave. a Hope, faith, and diligence, and patient care, With meekness, grace, and lowliness of mind. Lord, wilt Thou grant all these To one who prays, but cannot sit at ease? They do not know, The passers-by who go Up to Thy house witji saintly faces set; Who throng about Thy seat, And sing Thy praises sweet, Till vials full of odours cloud Thy feet; They do .pot know. . . And if they knew, then they would greatly That Thy tired handmaid washed the children’s hair; Or, with red roughened hands, scoured dishes well, While through the window called the evening bell ? And that her seeking soul loolcs upward yet, They do not know. . . but Thou wilt not forget. GOOD MOTHERS. Who ‘•but God can count the precious trophies of godly sons and holy daughters which Christian mothers have "laid at the feet of Jesus for His service and glory? They are written in the great book of remembrance, and the day of eternity will reveal them. Over the tomb of many a sainted mother could be truthfully inscribed the following lines found on a village grave-stone:— A Sarah to her husband, A Eunice to her children, A Lois to her grandchildren, A Lydia to God’s ministers, A Martha to her guests, A Dorcas to the poor, and An Anna to her God. Let Christian mothers be of good cheer, and bear their burdens of care and responsibility for Christ’s sake, for in due season they shall reap a rich reward. —Anon.