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    OUR TEN THOUSAND. 313 A

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    Tomed War ! War Since ! Is 1848 The Cry ...

    walked fearless in the midst of the plague , consoling * tlie dying , and ministering to the livingso we in our day are invited to

    follow in their footsteps . Happ , ily no pestilence is within our bordersbut there are diseases as deadly to be dealt with , and

    igno-, rance and vice have to Ibe assailed in all their strongholds . For this purpose , women must unite , and by union support each , other .

    " Labor are est or are " has passed into a proverb , but the truth of the saying greatldepends upon the spirit in which the work is

    per-. formed . Many speak y of _toorJc as if it were a charming and easy thing , requiring only a strong will ; but herein lies an error , for with

    the best and strongest of wills we may nevertheless prove unskilful or bungling workersas there is a right and a wrong way of

    performing even the simp , lest task , and one of the first points to be settled when the laborers offer themselves is the mode in which

    the labor can best be accomplished . That work is work , and not amusement , is a fact not sufficiently dwelt upon .

    . From what ranks are our ten thousand " to come . We cannot expect that women lapped in luxuryliving in silken ease , could

    per-, form ( without serving a novitiate ) the arduous work required . We cannot expect , nor would it be desirable , that women of the middle

    class should leave their home duties to "wait on the wants of strangers . We speak of course of the married , those who happily have

    homes . Neither can recruits come from the humbler walks in life , from those who earn their bread by the labor of their hands . Yet

    by a well organised system , each of these classes may effectually lend their aid . The rich can give of their abundance and remunerate

    the poorer for their work ; from the middle class of unmarried womenthose whose vocation it is " to serve tlie Lord" the great

    their body respective must , be looked tastes for or . the Free ir sense to dispose of duty of , their no hinderance time , according besets to ¦

    them , except it may be the false conception of what real work is , with its difficultiesits unpleasantnessits incessant demands on

    patience and temper , , its non-respect for , " nerves" or sentinientalismsboth equallignored by its stern laws .

    From , the women y then of the middle class this army of workers must Ibe enrolled .

    Years since , when aware of what was done by women in other countries vowed to the service of religion , we marvelled why in

    Protestant England no Sisterhoods for similar purposes existed , without vowsas vows binding for life were repugnant to the

    national mind , : why our works of charity and mercy were performed ( if we so speak ) spasmodically and capriciouslytaken up

    and laid may down , just as the impulse or whim seized the actor , ; whereas in these communities the right person was selected to do the right

    work , and all went on smoothly without jerks or pauses , no one was overworked one day and idle the next . By our working system , we

    are often made painfully aware that the best intentioned acts of

    excellent persons have frequently been more productive of harm

    Our Ten Thousand. 313 A

    OUR TEN THOUSAND . 313 A

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1860, page 313, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011860/page/25/