BY MRS. H. M. LEWIS, MADISON, WISCONSIN.
_From the transactions of the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society._
I wish to have it clearly understood that I am not an advocate of
woman’s rights in the full sense of the word, and I have no admiration
for a manly woman, but I do advocate that woman has the right to do any
and all things for herself and family that she can do with dignity, and
without losing any of her womanly delicacy. I am sure that the great
majority of women would not enter public life were its doors fully open
to them; but I believe that the unmarried woman who pays taxes and has
no protector, has the same right to the ballot box if she desires it,
that the man has who uses her money for public benefit.
“The woman’s cause is man’s; they rise or sink
Together, dwarfed or God-like, bond or free.”
Half the human race are women, and the true woman, upon whom nature has
set her seal of royalty, is now acknowledged to be the finest specimen
of womankind upon earth, and she is now fully awakening to her true
interests, and great results must follow. Perhaps education and
prejudice may retard her work, but the time is not distant when men will
“fling around her conquering footsteps more lavish praises and perfumed
flowers than ever wooed with intoxicating fragrance the fairest
butterfly of the ball-room or opera.”
No healthy woman, from Queen Victoria down to the beggar at the door,
has a right to live with nothing to do. God never put a human being on
earth to waste a life, or indeed a single hour.
“A creature out of work is beggary;
To Thee I come,
O King of Kings, find room and use for me
In Thy great home.”
Time spent in healthful rest and recreation is a necessity, and of
incalculable benefit to all workers, and they are the only ones who know
how to enjoy it. I would that all women were pleasantly situated in
homes of their own, but such is not the fact, for one-fifth of womankind
must be self-supporting; and a question of great importance before us at
present is, how shall we make our dependent, respectable women more
healthy, respectable and self-sustaining? Many women, particularly
widows with children, are feeling the necessity of having a more
agreeable work, and their thoughts are taking a new turn. They are
reaching out to new fields to claim, and conquer, and may God help them,
is our prayer.
Medical statistics show us that the average healthy life of a woman
running a sewing machine is but four years. To be sure, she lives beyond
that time, but in most instances her life is but a dull blank, for she
can do little but suffer. Many noble women are sitting down in sorrow
and objectless grief, leading dull, indolent lives, nursing every ache
and pain, who are dependent upon relatives for their support, upon whom
they have no claim, because they feel that they can do nothing for
themselves. To such and all others who feel in their hearts that they
ought to have some work to do, we would say, take up the work of
horticulture, if you have a natural love for it; if not, do not attempt
it, for you will most likely fail. But if you love it so well that you
can identify your life with it, you cannot fail of success. Some women
have a natural talent for fruit growing and market gardening. Both
fields are open to women, and some of the very best conducted farms in
the west are managed by them. One lady in the south, who was formerly
worth a million dollars, is now supporting herself finely by the
cultivation of the castor oil bean; others are supporting themselves by
cultivating nuts and various kinds of herbs. A fair degree of health is
warranted to most women in the horticultural work, for many physicians
prescribe digging in the earth and out-door exercise for the cure of
consumption, dyspepsia, and all nervous diseases.
The majority of women have a natural love for flowers, and find but
little trouble in cultivating them successfully for their own pleasure,
and I see no reason why they should not succeed as professional
florists, as the art has now become so simplified that they will be
enabled, after becoming fairly established and giving to it a few months
careful study and experience, to succeed, if they have a natural bent in
that direction. If a woman succeeds as a florist, she can do what she
cannot in many other fields; she can command the same price for her
produce that a man can, and that is most encouraging. If a woman wishes
to engage in this business, perhaps it would be the better way to begin
carefully, learning by experience, step by step; doing a small business
at first, saying in the meantime to her friends that she expects them to
patronize her liberally, and she will surely get the patronage if she
works in the right way, as the demand for flowers and vines is largely
on the increase; so much so, that no home is considered furnished
without them.
But few women have as yet taken up floriculture as a business in the
west, but in the east many are engaged in it, and not a few have secured
fortunes from its profits. One of the most refined ladies we ever knew
was a florist. She managed, with the assistance of a young German lad,
three good sized green houses. The man did the coarse, heavy work,
lifting heavy burdens, making fires, marketing the plants, etc., while
she used the brain force to keep everything in fine running order,
taking upon herself the personal supervision of each house. One house
was kept for the hardy plants, just above the freezing point. In this
was found varieties of roses, pansies, daisies, sweet alyssum and many
others for daily cutting. The second house was kept at about 60°. The
third at tropical heat. She bore the responsibility of buying, selling,
shipping, slipping, repotting and preparing plants and boquets for
market. She often re-potted three hundred plants in a day with her own
hands, and when evening came, was the life of a charmed circle, who
admired her for the beauty of her cultivated mind, fine musical talents,
and kind, loving heart. She entered upon her work with the greatest love
and enthusiasm for it. Often when she was admiring nature’s wealth and
varieties of colors, and breathing the very odors of Heaven, she would
exclaim, “You little know what beautiful thoughts come to me out of the
ground, as I study the fathomless mysteries of plant life.” Her work was
not all toil; it was truly an inspiration. Women so happily and
healthfully employed are seldom sick. One such woman worker is doing
more for the woman’s cause than a score of Susan Anthonys. We are proud
of such women, and we have thousands of them all around us. Mrs. Little,
of the blind asylum, Mrs. Harvey of hospital fame, and Mrs. Lynde, who
has done so much to relieve suffering in our poor-houses and jails, are
representatives of this type of women in our own State, and our good
President Hayes’ wife, of national fame, whose bright light shines over
the whole world, is proving that the “present epoch is initiating an
empire of the higher reason of arts, affections, aspirations, and for
that epoch the genius of woman has been reserved,” proving the old
Oriental proverb, “that every book of knowledge is implanted by nature
in the heart of woman,” to be true; scattering to the winds the
pernicious and absurd saying of Voltaire, that “ideas were like beards;
women and young men have none.”
Woman is emerging from the gloom of the dark ages into glorious light.
She is like the famished plant in the gardener’s hand. It seemingly
droops and withers without hope, but when he gives it the elements of
growth, rich soil, dew, rain and God’s sunshine, it expands into a plant
that sends out its beautiful foliage and rich blossoms, that will fill
the air with fragrance and beauty, and the “world’s autumn” with rich
fruit.
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Horticulture promotes health, furnishes appetizing and invigorating
food, is a most delightful means of recreation, cultivates a refined
taste, induces a spirit of cheerfulness, and awakens a sympathy with
nature and a love for all the Creator’s works.
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