Occupations for Women 293 



instinctively and above all things else a happy 

 marriage, including a contented home life and 

 children to care for, some alternatives must be now 

 pointed out in case of failure to realize the highest 

 ambition. 



1. May teach the young. School teaching is 

 perhaps the most common, as well as the most 

 commendable, occupation for unmarried women. 

 In many a case, the farmer's daughter will find it 

 greatly to her advantage to engage in this occu- 

 pation for one or more terms. Thousands of the 

 most worthy young women in our land are devoting 

 their lives to this highest of secondary vocations 

 for women. The work of teaching gives exercise 

 to the altruistic feminine nature and approaches in 

 a fair degree the satisfaction which comes to the 

 mother who is sacrificing for children of her own. 



But school teaching wears heavily on the vitality 

 of nearly all young women who follow it long. 

 Diseases peculiar to the sex are said to be very prev- 

 alent among such teachers, probably resulting from 

 an excessive amount of standing. Tens of thousands 

 of girls are going from the farm home to the school 

 room, some of them to remain permanently in the 

 business, but the majority to earn money of their 

 own and to place themselves in better position for 

 successful marriage. So, perhaps the first duty of the 

 country parents to the daughter who takes up school 

 teaching is to see that the latter's health be not 



