AN APPEAL TO AMERICAN WOMEN



AN APPEAL TO AMERICAN WOMEN BY THE SENIOR AUTHOR OF THIS VOLUME.


My honored countrywomen:

It is now over forty years that I have been seeking to elevate the
character and condition of our sex, relying, as to earthly aid, chiefly
on your counsel and cooperation. I am sorrowful at results that have
followed these and similar efforts, and ask your sympathy and aid.

Let me commence with a brief outline of the past. I commenced as an
educator in the city of Hartford, Ct., when only the primary branches
and one or two imperfect accomplishments were the ordinary school
education, and was among the first pioneers in seeking to introduce
some of the higher branches. The staid, conservative citizen's queried
of what use to women were Latin, Geometry, and Algebra, and wondered
at a request for six recitation rooms and a study-hall for a school
of nearly a hundred, who had as yet only one room. The appeal was then
made to benevolent, intelligent women, and by their influence all that
was sought was liberally bestowed.

But the course of study then attempted was scarcely half of what is
now pursued in most of our colleges for young women, while there has
been added a round and extent of accomplishments then unknown. Yet
this moderate amount so stimulated brain and nerves, and so excited
competition, that it became needful to enforce a rule, requiring a
daily report, that only two hours a day had been devoted to study out
of school hours. Even this did not avail to save from injured health
both the teacher who projected these improvements and many of her
pupils. This example and that of similar institutions spread all over
the nation, with constantly increasing demand for more studies, and
decreasing value and respect for domestic pursuits and duties.

Ten years of such intellectual excitement exhausted the nervous
fountain, and my profession as a school-teacher was ended.

The next attempt was to introduce Domestic Economy as _a science to
be studied_ in schools for girls. For a while it seemed to succeed;
but ere long was crowded out by Political Economy and many other
economies, except those most needed to prepare a woman for her
difficult and sacred duties.

In the progress of years, it came to pass that the older States teemed
with educated women, qualified for no other department of woman's
profession but that of a schoolteacher, while the newer States abounded
in children without schools.

I again appealed to my countrywomen for help, addressing them through
the press and also by the assistance of a brother (in assemblies in
many chief cities) in order to raise funds to support an agent. The
funds were bestowed, and thus the services of Governor Slade were
secured, and, mainly by these agencies, nearly one thousand teachers
were provided with schools, chiefly in the West.

Meantime, the intellectual taxation in both private and public schools,
the want of proper ventilation in both families and schools, the want
of domestic exercise which is so valuable to the feminine constitution,
the pernicious modes of dress, and the prevailing neglect of the laws
of health, resulted in the general decay of health among women. At the
same time, the overworking of the brain and nerves, and the "cramming"
system of study, resulted in a deficiency of mental development which
is very marked. It is now a subject of general observation that young
women, at this day, are decidedly inferior in mental power to those
of an earlier period, notwithstanding their increased advantages. For
the mind, crowded with undigested matter, is debilitated the same as
is the body by over-feeding,

Recent scientific investigations give the philosophy of these results.
For example, Professor Houghton, of Trinity College, Dublin, gives as
one item of protracted experiments in animal chemistry, that two hours
of severe study abstracts as much vital strength as is demanded by a
whole day of manual labor. The reports of the Massachusetts Board of
Education add other facts that, in this connection, should be deeply
pondered. For example, in one public school of eighty-five pupils only
fifty-four had refreshing sleep; fifty-nine had headaches or constant
weariness, and only fifteen were perfectly well. In this school it was
found, and similar facts are common in all our public and high schools,
that, in addition to six school-hours, thirty-one studied three hours
and a half; thirty-five, four hours; and twelve, from four to seven
hours. And yet the most learned medical men maintain that the time
devoted to brain labor, daily, should not exceed six hours for healthy
men, and three hours for growing children.

Alarmed at the dangerous tendencies of female education, I made another
appeal to my sex, which resulted in the organization of the American
Woman's Education Association, the object being to establish
_endowed_ professional schools, in connection with literary
institutions, in which woman's profession should be honored and taught
as are the professions of men, and where woman should be trained for
some self-supporting business. From this effort several institutions
of a high literary character have come into existence at the West, but
the organization and endowment of the professional schools is yet
incomplete from many combining impediments, the chief being a want of
appreciation of woman's profession, and of the _science_ and _training_
which its high and sacred duties require. But the reports of the
Association will show that never before were such superior intellectual
advantages secured to a new country by so economical an outlay.

Let us now look at the dangers which are impending. And first, in
regard to the welfare of the family state, the decay of the female
constitution and health has involved such terrific sufferings, in
addition to former cares and pains of maternity, that multitudes of
both sexes so dread the risks of marriage as either to avoid it, or
meet them by methods _always_ injurious and often criminal. Not
only so, multitudes of intelligent and conscientious persons, in private
and by the press, unaware of the penalties of violating nature, openly
impugn the inspired declaration, "Children are a heritage of the Lord."

Add to these, other influences that are robbing home of its safe and
peaceful enjoyments. Of such, the condition of domestic service is not
the least. We abound in domestic helpers from foreign shores, but they
are to a large extent thriftless, ignorant, and unscrupulous, while
as thriftless and inexperienced housekeepers, from boarding-school
life, have no ability to train or to control. Hence come antagonism
and ceaseless "worries" in the parlor, nursery, and kitchen, while the
husband is wearied with endless complaints of breakage, waste of fuel
and food, neglect, dishonesty, and deception, and home is any thing
but a harbor of comfort and peace. Thus come clubs to draw men from
comfortless homes, and, next, clubs for the deserted women.

Meantime, domestic service--disgraced, on one side, by the stigma of
our late slavery, and, on the other, by the influx into our kitchens
of the uncleanly and ignorant--is shunned by the self-respecting and
well educated, many of whom prefer either a miserable pittance or the
career of vice to this fancied degradation. Thus comes the overcrowding
in all avenues for woman's work, and the consequent lowering of wages
to starvation prices for long protracted toils.

From this come diseases to the operatives, bequeathed often to their
offspring. Factory girls must stand ten hours or more, and consequently
in a few years debility and disease ensue, so that they never can rear
healthy children, while the foreigners who supplant them in kitchen
labor are almost the only strong and healthy women to rear large
families. The sewing-machine, hailed as a blessing, has proved a curse
to the poor; for it takes away profits from needlewomen, while employers
testify that women who use this machine for steady work, in two years
or less become hopelessly diseased and can rear no children. Thus it
is that the controlling political majority of New-England is passing
from the educated to the children of ignorant foreigners.

Add to these disastrous influences, the teachings of "free love;" the
baneful influence of spiritualism, so called; the fascinations of the
_demi-monde_; the poverty of thousands of women who, but for
desperate temptations, would be pure--all these malign influences are
sapping the foundations of the family state. Meantime, many intelligent
and benevolent persons imagine that the grand remedy for the heavy
evils that oppress our sex is to introduce woman to political power
and office, to make her a party in primary political meetings, in
political caucuses, and in the scramble and fight for political offices;
thus bringing into this dangerous _melee_ the distinctive tempting
power of her sex. Who can look at this new danger without dismay?
But it is neither generous nor wise to join in the calumny and ridicule
that are directed toward philanthropic and conscientious laborers for
the good of our sex, because we fear their methods are not safe. It
would be far wiser to show by example a better way.

Let us suppose that our friends have gained the ballot and the powers
of office: are there any real beneficent measures for our sex, which
they would enforce by law and penalties, that fathers, brothers, and
husbands would not grant to a united petition of our sex, or even to
a majority of the wise and good? Would these not confer what the wives,
mothers, and sisters deemed best for themselves and the children they
are to train, very much sooner than they would give power and office
to our sex to enforce these advantages by law? Would it not be a wiser
thing to _ask_ for what we need, before trying so circuitous and
dangerous a method? God has given to man the physical power, so that
all that woman may gain, either by petitions or by ballot, will be the
gift of love or of duty; and the ballot never will be accorded till
benevolent and conscientious men are the majority--a millennial point
far beyond our present ken.

The American Woman's Education Association aims at a plan which its
members believe, in its full development, will more effectually remedy
the "wrongs of woman" than any other urged on public notice. Its general
aim has been stated; its details will appear at another time and place.
Its managers include ladies of high character and position from six
religious denominations, and also some of the most reliable business
men of New York. Any person who is desirous to aid by contributions
to this object can learn more of the details of the plan by addressing
me at No. 69 West Thirty-eighth Street. But it is needful to state
that letters from those who seek aid or employment of any sort can not
be answered at present, nor for some months to come.

Every woman who wishes to aid in this effort for the safety and
elevation of our sex can do so by promoting the sale of this work, and
its introduction as a text-book into schools. An edition for the use
of schools will be in readiness next fall, which will contain school
exercises, and questions that will promote thought and discussion in
classrooms, in reference to various topics included in the science of
Domestic Economy. And it is hoped that a previous large sale of the
present volume will prepare the public mind to favor the introduction
of this branch of study into both public and private schools. Ladies
who write for the press, and all those who have influence with editors,
can aid by directing general attention to this effort.

All the profits of the authors derived from the edition of this volume
prepared for schools, will be paid into the Treasury of the A. W.E.
Association, and the amount will be stated in the annual reports.

The complementary volume of this work will follow in a few months, and
will consist, to a great extent, of _receipts and directions_ in
all branches of domestic economy, especially in the department of
_healthful and economical cooking_. The most valuable receipts
in my _Domestic Receipt Book_, heretofore published by the Harpers,
will be retained, and a very large number added of new ones, which are
healthful, economical, and in many cases ornamental. One special aim
will be to point out modes of _economizing labor_ in preparing food.

Many directions will be given that will save from purchasing poisonous
milk, meats, beers, and other medicated drinks. Directions for detecting
poisonous ingredients in articles for preserving the hair, and in
cosmetics for the complexion, which now are ruining health, eyesight,
and comfort all over the nation, will also be given.

Particular attention will be given to modes of preparing and preserving
clothing, at once economical, healthful, and in good taste.

A large portion of the book will be devoted to instruction, in the
various ways in which women may _earn an independent livelihood_,
especially in employments that can be pursued in sunlight and the open
air.

Should any who read this work wish for more minute directions in regard
to ventilation of a house already built, or one projected, they can
obtain his aid by addressing Lewis Leeds, No. 110 Broadway, New York
City. His associate, Mr. Herman Kreitler, who prepared the architectural
plans in this work relating to Mr. Leeds's system, can be addressed
at the same place.

CATHARINE E. BEECHER.

NEW YORK, June 1, 1869.