Woman in the Vineyard. 



41 



tended no''" slur on Illinois wines gen- 

 erally, or his wines specially." We 

 know him to be a very skillful and 

 intelligent grape grower and wine 

 maker, and attribute much of the gen- 

 eral good qualit}^ of his wines to his 

 superior handling. We cannot afford 



to be on unfriendly terms with him, 

 because our readers need the advice he 

 is so well able to give, and because we 

 esteem him too highly, personally, 

 therefore hope he will " smoke the pipe 

 of peace " with us, and let bygones be 

 bygones. — Ed.] 



WOMAN IN TUB VINEYAED. 



In these days of agitation for wo- 

 man's rights, when the question of 

 female suffrage is discussed all over 

 the land, in every journal, it cannot 

 be expected that the Grape Culturist 

 should be entirely silent on this very 

 important question. But we confess 

 that we are not entirely sure whether 

 the right of suffrage, if extended to 

 our lady friends, wovild be desired 

 or desirable by a majority of them, 

 nor do we intend to argue its pros 

 and cons. We think that this question 

 can be decided without our help, and 

 as our fair lady friends have generally 

 a way of their own by which they 

 carry their point, if they really mean 

 to do it, we think it may safely be left 

 to them. 



But we think it the duty of the 

 stronger sex, to listen to at least and 

 obviate one of the complaints made 

 by our fair friends, that ot insufficient 

 and poorly paid work. We think that 

 more ways should be opened for the 

 solitaiy female, left without a natural 

 protector, to earn an honest living if 

 she so desires. We do not think it 

 fair or just if a woman does the same 

 amount of work or even more than a 

 man can do, that she should receive 

 less for it because she is a woman. If 



we consider labor honorable, we 

 should also pay for it fairly and hon- 

 orably, and not take advantage of the 

 weaker part, because they are weak. 



If we desire, therefore, that justice 

 be done in this respect, let us consider 

 next how we can best obviate the evil 

 under which many a fair female 

 flower now droops and withers away 

 to an untimely grave. Female labor 

 outside of the proper home sphere, so 

 far has been restricted mostly to the 

 work in factories, sewing, washing 

 and ironing, embroidery, etc. and it 

 was almost considered a loss of caste 

 to engage in anything else. Especially 

 has this been the case in the South 

 and Southwest. It was almost con- 

 sidered degrading for a woman to 

 work out of doors, and those women 

 who attempted to spend their spare 

 time at some useful employment out 

 of door8,th©reby becoming the faithful 

 helpmates of their husbands, were look- 

 ed upon with a sort of pity, and not 

 considered good company. If the farm- 

 er's daughter tried to help her aged 

 father out of doors, she was looked 

 down upon and despised by the high 

 strung damsels of the neighborhood, 

 who spent the day in reading a fash- 

 ionable novel, or lounging in the rock- 



