396 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ness exposes them. There is no greater source of suffering and vice 

 among women than the fallacy of taking for granted that they will 

 not need to support themselves. 



4. The wider the range of occupations for women, the more numer- 

 ous will he the points at which the lives of men and women touch. 

 One of the objects to be accomplished by advancing civilization is the 

 bringing of men and women into easy and natural companionship. 

 Under existing circumstances almost the only meeting-ground for 

 young men and women is in society. Those who can not take an 

 active part in this are almost shut off from acquaintance with the 

 opposite sex. Numbers of girls educated at girls' schools, and after- 

 ward living at home in narrow circumstances, or going into work con- 

 ducted by and among women, remain single because they pass the age 

 for marriage without sufficient opportunity for meeting men of their 

 own standing, or make unsatisfactory marriages, because they do not 

 choose from knowledge, but accept the only opportunity that offers. 

 The same is true of young men not in society. Their life is passed 

 almost exclusively among men from their school-days upward. Their 

 acquaintance with women of their own age is extremely limited and 

 superficial. The more complete the separation of men and women in 

 work, the more must this division in life be the result. The more 

 numerous the common interests and occupations in which they meet 

 in recognized and honorable companionship, the more numerous the 

 chances for suitable and happy marriage. So far, therefore, from de- 

 ploring the encroachments of business organization on domestic work 

 as a danger to the happiness of domestic life, we should see in them 

 an agency which will lead to its higher development. 



But if, as we have shown, it be in the natural course of things for 

 women to take part in industrial pursuits, what is the meaning of the 

 warning notes that attend their steps in that direction ? We are told 

 that women break down under the strain of college education ; that 

 their health gives way under the requirements of book-keeping, teleg- 

 raphy, factory-work, every kind of business ; that their work is poor 

 and unreliable, and will command only starvation wages, etc., and 

 these discouraging reports come not only from illiberal opponents, but 

 from sincere friends and well-wishers. The most important of these 

 objections is based upon the assumption that the physical constitution 

 of women unfits them for safely bearing the strain of brain-work or 

 business. 



It is true that the health of women is not what it should be ; but 

 the cause of this lies neither in their peculiar organization nor in their 

 efforts in new directions. It is to be found in the influences surround- 

 ing them from infancy, which prevent our girls from acquiring the 

 physical vigor which should accompany maturity. This defective 

 health is nowhere shown more conspicuously than in domestic life. 

 Nowhere do women break down more frequently and completely than 



