The Project Gutenberg eBook of The education and employment of women
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The education and employment of women
Author: Josephine Elizabeth Grey Butler
Release date: February 11, 2025 [eBook #75350]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Macmillan, 1868
Credits: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN ***
THE
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.
BY
JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.
=London:=
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1868.
LIVERPOOL:
T. BRAKELL, PRINTER, COOK STREET.
THE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.
The economical position of women is one of those subjects on which there
exists a “conspiracy of silence.” While most people, perhaps, imagine
that nearly all women marry and are supported by their husbands, those
who know better how women live, or die, have rarely anything to say on
the subject. Such social problems as this are certainly painful; they
may or may not be insoluble; they must not be ignored.
The phrase “to become a governess” is sometimes used as if it were a
satisfactory outlet for any unsupported woman above the rank of
housemaid. When we see advertisements in the newspapers, offering “a
comfortable home,” with no salary, as a sufficient reward for
accomplishments of the most varied character, we sometimes wonder at the
audacity of employers; but when we learn that such an advertisement,
offering the situation of nursery governess, _unpaid_, was answered by
_three hundred women_, our surprise has in it something of despair.
The truth is, that the facts of society have changed more rapidly than
its conventions. Formerly muscles did the business of the world, and the
weak were protected by the strong; now brains do the business of the
world, and the weak are protected by law. The industrial disabilities of
women, unavoidable under the earlier _régime_, have become cruel under
the later. There is neither the old necessity of shelter, nor the old
certainty of support.
The census of 1861 gave nearly six millions of adult English women,
distributed as follows:—
Wives 3,488,952
Widows 756,717
Spinsters over 20 1,537,314
—————————
5,782,983
The census also gives the numbers of women who work for their own
subsistence, as follows:—
Wives 838,856
Widows 487,575
Spinsters (above or under 20) 2,110,318
—————————
3,436,749
In the first place, then, it appears that marriage, as a means of
subsistence (to say nothing of the indecorum of looking forward to it in
this light) is exceedingly precarious in two ways. The proportion of
wives to widows and spinsters in 1801 was just about three to two, while
of these wives themselves nearly one in four was occupied in other than
domestic duties, either as her husband’s coadjutor, as in farm-houses
and shops, or, of necessity, as his substitute in cases of his
desertion, or helplessness, or vice. In the second place, the number of
widows and spinsters supporting themselves, which in 1851 was two
millions, had increased in 1861 to more than two millions and a half.
The rapidity of the increase of this class is painfully significant. Two
and a half millions of Englishwomen without husbands, and working for
their own subsistence! This is not an accident, it is a new order of
things. Of the three and a half millions of women—wives, widows, and
spinsters—engaged in other than domestic occupations, it is probable
that scarcely a thousand make, without capital, and by their own
exertions, one hundred pounds a year. The best paid are housekeepers in
large establishments, a few finishing governesses, and professed cooks.
43,964 women are returned as outdoor agricultural labourers—a fact
worthy of remembrance when it is said that women are too weak to serve
in haberdashers’ shops. Women, refused admission to such shops on the
pretext that they are not strong enough to lift bales of goods, have
been afterwards traced to the occupations of dock porters and
coal-heavers. In practice the employments of women are not determined by
their lightness, but by their low pay. One newspaper still scoffs at the
desire of women to be self-supporting: but starvation is a sufficient
answer to sneers. As a favourable symptom of the last few years, I may
add that 1822 women are returned as employed by the Post-office. 213
women are returned as telegraph-clerks. It is instructive to note the
way in which the salary of these women telegraph-clerks has fallen. When
the telegraph companies were first formed, the pay of a female clerk was
eight shillings a week, to be increased by a shilling yearly, until it
reached fourteen shillings a week. So great, however, has been the
competition of women for these situations, that the pay has been reduced
to five shillings a week, a sum on which a woman can scarcely live
unassisted. In France the women telegraph-clerks have met with a worse
fate. The government took the management of the telegraphs, and
dismissed the women, because they had no votes to bestow on the
government candidates. The exclusion of women from the suffrage has been
called a harmless injustice; but there is no injustice which is not
liable to become an injury.
At present the principal employments open to women are teaching,
domestic service, and sewing. I come to consider the remuneration of the
highest profession open to women.
In 1801 there were 80,017 female teachers in England, of whom the
majority were governesses in private families. It is difficult to
ascertain the average salary of governesses, because the Governesses’
Institutions in London and Manchester, which are the chief sources of
information on the subject, refuse to register the applications of
governesses who accept salaries of less than £25 a year. The number of
this lowest class may be guessed from the fact that for a situation as
nursery governess, with a salary of £20 a year, advertised in a
newspaper, there were five hundred applicants; as I have already stated,
three hundred applied for a similar place with no salary at all. To
return to the higher class. The register of the last six months at the
Manchester Governesses’ Institution shows an entry of—
54 governesses who asked for £30 and under, per annum.
20 „ „ „ 40 „ „
19 „ „ „ 50 „ „
17 „ „ „ 60 „ „
10 „ „ „ 70 and upwards.
These sums, it must be remembered, are expressions of what governesses
wish to receive.[1] Taking nursery governesses into the account, and
remembering that the above statistics refer only to the higher ranks of
the profession, it is probably not too much to say, that from 0 to £50 a
year is the salary of nine governesses in ten. Situations offering more
than £50 are the prizes of the profession, but are generally such as to
compel a serious outlay on dress and personal expenditure. It is
difficult to imagine how the majority of governesses manage to scramble
through life, when we remember that their position involves several
journeys in the year, that they must sometimes provide for themselves
during holiday seasons, and that they must always dress as ladies.
Miserable must be their means of providing for old age or sickness, to
say nothing of claims of affection or of charity throughout life, or the
means required for self-culture.[2]
Probably there are few portions of society in which more of silent
suffering and misery is endured than among female teachers, and in the
class which supplies them. Charitable people who have opened little
“Homes” for decayed governesses can tell histories of struggling lives
and crushed hopes which it saddens one to hear. The reports of Bethlehem
Hospital and other lunatic asylums prove that not a few poor governesses
find their way thither. Some are found in Penitentiaries among the
fallen. Inquiry shows that insufficient food while out of situations,
added to the mental trials of an unloved and isolated being, have driven
some of these governesses to opium or to strong drink, until, penniless
and degraded, they have sought a refuge among penitents where there was
nothing to pay. “Her funds are exhausted, and she earnestly seeks a
re-engagement;” words such as these, taken from an advertisement in the
_Times_, headed—“To the benevolent,” are no unfrequent symptom of a deep
and wide distress. Some determined women there are who have devoted to
self-culture as much of their pittance as could be spared from the
barest needs of life, and of whom it is known that, night after night
when they went to bed, they have tied a band round their waist to keep
down the gnawings of hunger. One such I know who has risen by her force
of character to almost as high a place as it is at present possible for
a _woman_ to occupy in the educational world, but who is not yet free
from sufferings entailed by years of mental anxiety and bodily
privations. An insufficiency of the necessaries of life is not the
bitterest complaint of many of these sufferers, who by their lives
protest that man does not live by bread alone. “Worse than bodily
privations or pains” (I quote the words of one of them) “are these
_aches and pangs of ignorance_, this unquenched thirst for knowledge,
these unassisted and disappointed efforts to obtain it, this sight of
bread enough and to spare, but locked away from _us_, this depressing
sense of a miserable waste of powers bestowed on us by God, and which we
know we could have used for the lessening of evil and the increase of
the happiness of our fellow-creatures.”
The desire for education which is widely felt by English women, and
which has begun to find its expression in many practical ways, is a
desire which springs from no conceit of cleverness, from no ambition of
the prizes of intellectual success, as is sometimes falsely imagined,
but from the conviction that for many women to get knowledge is the only
way to get bread, and still more from that instinctive craving for light
which in many is stronger than the craving for bread. “Amongst the
wealthier classes,”—I give the words of one who has much knowledge of
that of which she speaks—“women are better provided for materially,
though even here they are often left to the mercy of the chances of
life, indulged and petted whilst fortune smiles, left helpless to face
the storm of adverse circumstances; but here, more often than elsewhere,
one meets with those sad, dreary lives, that have always seemed to me
amongst the worst permitted evils of earth,—
‘A wall so blank
My shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there’—
is true of many a life. Even sharp misfortune is sometimes a blessing in
a life of this sort; something to do, and leave to do it. I do not say
that any possible education, any freedom of career, any high training of
faculty, would spare _all_ this waste; some part of it is of that sad
mystery of life which we cannot explain, and for the unveiling of which
we can only wait and pray. But I am quite sure that much of it is
altogether needless, and comes from the shutting up in artificial
channels of those good gifts of God which were meant to flow forth
freely and bless the world. If I could only tell, as I have felt it in
my own life, and in the lives of other women whom I have loved, how
wearily one strains the eyes for light, which often comes not at all!
“God knows it all, and if men do not know it, it is because they have
been, I will not say they are, cruelly and criminally thoughtless. I
wish some of those men who talk as if they imagined our life a
delightful one, could but be women for one little year, and could feel
the dreariness I speak of, feel too the intense longing to be up and
doing, helping in the world’s work which is God’s work, and know the
depressing effect of that inaptitude, which is the want, not of capacity
or of faculty, but of training. The serious work of life needs all the
help that women as well as men can bring to it, and for helpfulness
something more than goodwill is needed. Always have my own ignorance and
helplessness been the hindrances to that for which I would have freely
given my life; and I know that other women feel in just the same way: I
have heard and known too much of thoughtful women not to be sure of
this. Confessions of this kind, the simplest and frankest confessions of
ignorance, and of why that ignorance is painful, have been made to me
many a time by women whom the world pleases to think clever, but who are
too true-hearted to believe the world.
“It is not as luxury that we crave knowledge, but as bread of life for
ourselves and others. We want it that we may distribute it to others,
with helpful hands and words of blessing. We want it as the lever by
which we may help to raise the world. If we thought only of gratifying
vanity, there are easier and shorter ways to that end. Whilst men are a
little too apt to depreciate the intelligence of women as a class, they
are apt to over-rate the intelligence of individual women whom they may
happen to know and esteem. Many a woman is credited with power merely
because she has never been brought to the test of performance.”
For the amelioration of the condition of female teachers two things are
necessary: the first is to raise the intellectual status of qualified
teachers, and to accord a juster social recognition to their profession;
the second is, to find other occupations for those who are unfit to
teach, and only take to teaching because they can do nothing else.
The first of these objects will be materially advanced—
1st—By the establishment of places for a higher education than schools
can offer, such as the projected College for women. Mr. Bryce, in his
interesting “Report on Schools in Lancashire,” says, “The teachers
cannot be greatly blamed for this” (i.e. inefficient teaching), “since
it is the result of the inadequate provision now made in this country
for the instruction of women. Conceive what schoolmasters would be, if
there were in England no Universities, or any foundation schools either
of the higher or the lower grade, and if the private schools, by which
alone education would then be supplied, were to lose the reflex
influence and the stimulating rivalry of these public institutions. This
is exactly what the state of the teachers of girls is now.”
2ndly—By the accordance of University certificates to women, provided
always that these University certificates possess intrinsic value,
declare a due amount of knowledge and of capacity to teach, and are
given “with scrupulous care to none but deserving persons.”
Governesses would, I hope, not be the only women who would avail
themselves of these privileges. Everything is good which tends to break
down the line of social demarcation which still, to a great extent,
separates governesses from other ladies, as once it separated
schoolmasters from other gentlemen; and it is greatly to be desired that
women with a real talent for teaching, whatever their social position,
should actually teach for a few years, and raise the profession of
governesses, as the profession of schoolmasters has been raised, by an
infusion of disinterested zeal and the energy of a voluntary choice.
Any effort in the cause of governesses is important, not only as it
affects individuals at this moment engaged in the profession, but still
more in its bearing upon the future of all English girls and women,
through the prospect which it holds out of an improved education for the
daughters of the middle classes, who, more and more, will have to
maintain themselves. And if we think how much honour and dignity ought
to attach to the office of a teacher (rightly understood) we should,
from the highest motives, be anxious to raise the character and social
standing of those who seek that office. For this question of woman’s
education is far from being one of intellectual progress merely; it is a
question of deep moral import, and enters far into the heart of society,
affecting the best interests of men as well as those of women. Mr.
Francis Newman says, “the increased influence of women” (through
education chiefly) “will keep in check the liquor traffic, and other
abominations which men too readily excuse.” The connection of this
question of woman’s education with some of the most grievous of social
problems is closer than might be supposed. De Tocqueville asked an
American gentleman why open immorality, such as England has to shew, was
so rare in New England: the answer was, “because of the greater respect
which men have for women, the women who are their equals in society.” It
will not be for themselves alone that enlightened and educated women
will demand respect; they will claim it also for poor women, whom it is
too often deemed a light matter to injure in the worst way, and even for
the fallen, who through the voice of their happier sisters shall yet
demand, not only compassion, but the respect due to every human being,
however clouded with misery and sin.
When, on the other hand, we consider the best means of relieving the
profession of Governesses by drafting its incompetent members into other
occupations, the whole question of the employment of women rises before
us, a painful and even a terrible problem. Three principal obstacles
stand in the way of such an enlargement of woman’s opportunities. These
are—
(1.) Prejudice of employers and of the public.
(2.) Combinations among workmen to exclude women from their trades.
(3.) Defective education and training of the women themselves.
I will consider these in order—
(1.) Prejudice is slowly dying out, but indifference remains. Educated
men who can help, who _would_ help if they knew the need, have not yet
learnt that need. I do not blame them with any bitterness. There has
been enough already of bitterness on the one side and of levity on the
other. But an acknowledgment of past error lies at the base of every
true reform. Let that be acknowledged here, which every thoughtful
observer must see, that through all ages of the world’s history the more
powerful sex have been liable to use their power carelessly, not for
protection only, but for pain. So comes it that at this day just and
chivalrous men find themselves, (as Lord Palmerston said of the Emperor
of Russia), “born to a heritage of wrong and oppression.” They cannot,
if they would, at once alter the structure of the society around them.
But even of these just men I complain that they _do not see_. If they
saw, they would act; and ought they not to see? Our best men too often
know nothing of the lives of any women except those with whom they are
immediately connected, and whom they guard in comfort and ease. They do
not think of those who sit in cold and want outside. Many a
tender-hearted but not large-hearted man, on hearing some hint of
hardships among women outside his own circle, thanks God that _his_ dear
wife or daughter is exempted from them, and so dismisses the subject.
When once such men are brought to see and to feel, we invariably find
them _more_ indignant than women themselves, who are well schooled in
patience. Much of this misery is strange and unknown to men, and was
certainly never designed by them. The old social order has changed,
giving place to the new, but women have fallen out of line with the
onward movement, fettered by their own cowardice and the careless
selfishness of men. Custom and use press heavily on women, they endure
long before they dare to think whether the system under which they
suffer is a right or a wrong one, whether their burdens be removable or
no,—whether, in short, they have fallen into the hands of God or man.
Even when they are fully persuaded that their burdens are removable,
they have no voice to raise. They are unrepresented, and the interests
of the unrepresented always tend to be overlooked.
(2.) The exclusion of women from trades is in most cases notoriously
based upon a coarse selfishness. Take the instance of the china painters
at Worcester. “It appears that both men and women are employed in this
art, but that the women having excited the jealousy of the men by
surpassing them in skilful execution, and consequently earning better
wages, were by them forcibly deprived of the maulsticks on which it is
necessary to rest the wrist while painting. Thus the women are at once
rendered incapable of any fine work, and can only be employed in the
coarser kinds of painting. The masters submit to this tyranny, though to
their own disadvantage, being probably afraid of a strike or riot if
they resist, and the women are forced to yield from the fear of personal
violence from their less skilful but heavier-fisted rivals. This story
appeared in the _Edinburgh Review_ for 1859, and it is surprising that
it did not excite more general indignation.” The conduct of the
Apothecaries’ Company is worse than that of the china painters, inasmuch
as doctors have not the excuse of indigence to justify their
exclusiveness. The _Daily News_, in a recent article, concludes an
account of some of the proceedings of that body with these words:—“We
recommend these facts to the good people who think that coercion,
restriction, and the tyranny of combination are peculiar to any one
class of society. It will be a great day in England when the right of
every individual to make the most of the ability which God has given
him, free from interested interference, is recognised, and to that goal
we are surely advancing; but our progress is slow, and it is very clear
that it is not only in the lower ranks of the community that the
obstructive trades’ union spirit is energetically operating.”
The chivalry, or the justice of educated men could scarcely be brought
to bear upon a subject where chivalry and justice are needed more. In
this matter, of the bad effects of trades’ unions, much may be hoped for
from the known character of working men themselves, as a class. They are
not wanting in justice, in tenderness of heart, and in a shrewd
perception of right and wrong when they are placed before them: but they
need enlightenment and instruction,—and they wait for it,—from those who
are their superiors in education and trained intelligence. Untold good
might be done, and much future misery averted, if those among our
leading men who have the ear and the confidence of working men would
(themselves first instructed) bring before them fairly and patiently,
such subjects as these. Economics lie at the very root of practical
morality, and it is to be hoped that men of influence, and genius, and
experience of life, will address themselves gravely to the task of
instructing the working classes on this most grave subject.
The common objection brought before the Society for promoting the
Employment of Women, is that a risk would be thus incurred of decreasing
the employment of men. Now, in the first place, this is by no means
certain. No one proposes to interfere with the men at present working at
any trade; but while the demand for young men at high wages in the
colonies continues practically unlimited, it may be questioned whether
the admission to a sedentary employment at home is not a pitfall as
often as an advantage. Many a young man would be healthier and happier
at some manly trade in Canada or Australia, than in standing behind an
English counter or plaiting straw. To take only the trades connected
with women’s dress and such matters, the census of 1861 gives the
following numbers of _men_ employed in trades, some of which would seem
as distinctly appropriate to the one sex, as soldiering and sailoring to
the other.
Males.
[3]Mercers, Drapers, and Linen Drapers 45,660
Hair Dressers and Wig Makers 10,652
Haberdashers and Hosiers 4,327
Straw Hat and Bonnet Makers 1,687
Washermen and Laundry Keepers 1,165
Stay and Corset Makers 884
Milliners and Dress Makers 803
Artificial Flower Makers 761
Berlin Wool Dealers 63
Artists in Hair—Hair Workers 42
Baby Linen Makers 13
——————
66,057
Disabilities of sex are parallel to disabilities of creed, and the
economical results are likely to be the same. Silk weaving was driven
_into_ England by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and I believe
that now several light trades are being driven _out of_ England by the
industrial proscription of women. “But supposing,” says Miss Boucherett,
“that the competition for employment were so great that whatever was
added to the prosperity of one sex must be deducted from that of the
other, is it just that the whole of the suffering thus caused should be
laid upon the weaker half of humanity? How great a contrast is there
between the spirit of Christianity, and the course of conduct too
frequently pursued in this our country!”
“Be just before you are chivalrous,” many a woman is tempted to exclaim,
when she finds every door through which she might pass to a subsistence,
closed in her face with expressions of deference. Signs have not been
wanting which have justified the saying “that a selfish disregard of the
interests of women, and indifference to their sufferings, is the great
national sin of England,—and all national sins, if unrepented, meet with
their punishment sooner or later.”
(3.) The defective training of the women themselves is the most serious
of all the hindrances which I have been considering. Here it is that the
vicious circle returns upon itself. These women cannot teach, because
they are so ill educated, and again, they are so ill educated that they
can do nothing _but_ teach.[4] Many a woman rejected from the shop-till
or housekeeper’s room for ignorance and inefficiency, is compelled to
offer herself among the lowest class of nursery governesses, or, failing
all, to embrace the career, the avenues to which stand ever wide open,
yawning like the gates of hell, when all other doors are closed.
The fault of this defective training lies mainly with the middle-class
parents who, as the Endowed Schools Commissioners say plainly enough,
educate their daughters to get husbands, and for nothing else.
Education was what the slave-owners most dreaded for their slaves, for
they knew it to be the sure road to emancipation. It is to education
that we must first look for the emancipation of women from the
industrial restrictions of a bye gone age. In the meantime I may surely
say that no lover of his country, of justice or of God, can see this
misery unmoved. “He looked for judgment, but behold oppression, for
righteousness, but behold a cry.”
I sometimes hear it said “I am weary of this question of the rights, or
the wrongs, of women.” Undoubtedly there are many who are quickly weary
of any thought which is perplexing or painful: nevertheless the facts
remain the same—that women constitute one half of the human race, that
whatever effects them, for good or evil, affects not one half, but the
whole of the human race, and that the _primary_ education of all
generations of men rests in the hands of women.
There are two classes of advocates of the improvement of the education
and condition of women. The one class urge everything from the domestic
point of view. They argue in favour of all which is likely to make women
better mothers, or better companions for men, but they seem incapable of
judging of a woman as a human being by herself, and superstitiously
afraid of anything which might strengthen her to stand alone, prepared,
singlehanded, to serve her God and her country. When it is urged upon
them that the women who do and must stand alone are counted by millions,
they are perplexed, but only fell back on expressions of a fear lest a
masculine race of women should be produced, if we admit any theories
respecting them apart from conjugal and maternal relationships.
On the other hand, there are advocates who speak with some slight
contempt of maternity, in whose advocacy there appears to me little
evidence of depth of thought, or tenderness, or wisdom, and which
bespeaks a dry, hard, unimaginative conception of human life. They
appear to have no higher ideal for a woman than that of a _man_ who has
been “tripos’ed,” and is going to “get on in the world,” either in the
way of making money or acquiring fame. They speak of women as if it were
a compliment to them, or in any way true, to say that they are like men.
Now it appears to me that both these sets of advocates have failed to
see something which is very true, and that their ears are deaf to some
of the subtle harmonies which exist in God’s creation—harmonies
sometimes evolved from discords—and which we are much hindered from
hearing by the noise of the world, and by our own discordant utterances.
The first class of advocates do not know how strong Nature is, how true
she is for the most part, and how deeply the maternal character is
rooted in almost all women, married or unmarried: they are not,
therefore, likely to see that when a better education is secured to
women, when permission is granted them not only to win bread for
themselves, but to use for the good of society, every gift bestowed on
them by God, we may expect to find, (as certainly we shall find,) that
they will become the _more_ and not the _less_ womanly. Every good
quality, every virtue which we regard as distinctively feminine, will,
under conditions of greater freedom, develop more freely, like plants
brought out into the light from a cellar in which they languished,
dwarfed and blanched, without sun or air. The woman is strong in almost
every woman; and it may be called an infidelity against God and against
the truth of nature to suppose that the removal of unjust restrictions,
and room given to breathe freely, and to do her work in life without
depression and without bitterness, will cause her to cast off her
nature. It will always be in her nature to foster, to cherish, to take
the part of the weak, to train, to guide, to have a care for
individuals, to discern the small seeds of a great future, to warm and
cherish those seeds into fulness of life. “I serve,” will always be one
of her favourite mottos, even should the utmost freedom be accorded her
in the choice of vocation; for she, more readily perhaps than men do,
recognises the wisdom and majesty of Him who said—“I am among you as he
that serveth.” In Him,—“in Christ Jesus,” says the apostle, “there is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free; there is neither
male nor female.” It has been the tendency of Christianity, gradually
and slowly, to break down all unfriendly barriers between races, and to
extinguish slavery; and last of all it will—this is our hope—remove
disabilities imposed by the stronger portion of society upon the weaker.
What do we lose by the abandonment of national exclusiveness? Is labour
demoralized because slaves are free? Does _service_ cease when servitude
is at an end? Common sense alone, without the help of historical
knowledge, might lead us to suppose that women will not do their
_special_ work in the world worse, but better, when justice shall be
done them.[5] It is in the name of _Christ_ that the removal of burdens
and disabilities is preached: much wisdom might be learned regarding
some of these matters if people would look more closely at this, and
note that this is the Person in whom all virtues which are considered
essentially womanly, as well as those which are considered essentially
manly, found their perfect development. A little meditation on this
double truth—that in Christ all distinctions are done away, and that in
Him, nevertheless, were exhibited in perfect beauty the distinctive
virtues of the feminine character—would suggest some lessons which the
world has been very slow to learn, would tend to remove groundless fears
regarding the consequences of the abandonment of many unreasonable and
unchristian theories which prevail, and to counteract the materialistic
doctrine which has sunk too deep into the heart of our so-called
Christian community, a doctrine which amounts to this, that “the weaker
races, classes, persons must struggle on unaided, and if they are
trampled down and die out, the fact proves that it is better for the
world that they should perish, so only a stronger and higher stock will
remain;”[6] a doctrine of which we see the fruits in our wickednesses in
Asia, &c., and which takes its stand on a supposed “law of nature” that
the weak must go down.
The tone in which certain foolish popular writers speak of unmarried and
childless women betrays both coarseness of feeling and ignorance. They
speak of these women as having altogether missed their vocation, and as
necessarily dwarfed in affection and motive, because they have not
performed certain physical functions. We are all mothers or
foster-mothers. The few exceptions to this rule,—the cases in which the
maternal feelings are weak or wanting,—are to be found among mothers of
families as well as among childless women. I have known many unmarried
women in whom all the best characteristics of maternity are stronger
than in some who are actually mothers. It would be wise of the State to
avail itself of this abundance of generous womanliness, of tender and
wise motherliness which lives in the hearts of thousands of women who
are free to bring their capacities to bear where they are most needed.
The country counts by tens of thousands its orphan and outcast children,
in workhouses, and in the streets of our great cities. These orphans
have lately been called “the children of the State:” for the care of
these children of the State alone, mothers and nurses of the State are
needed, women who must be free to some extent from domestic ties of
their own. These workhouse children are not likely to grow up to be
useful to the country or other than dangerous classes, while they are
left wholly to the mercy of vulgar, uneducated people.[7]
Leon Fauchat exclaimed, when told of crimes committed in our country
against children,—“Est-il possible que ces choses soient permises par
une nation qui a des entrailles!” “Take heed that ye offend not one of
these little ones,” are words of most solemn import: when women begin to
deserve and acquire more weight in the community, the warning contained
in them will be better understood. The interests of children will not
remain unrepresented any longer than women remain so. I say this with
certainty, knowing the nature of woman. It will not be left to an
indignant father, or philanthropist, or to an impassioned poetess, at
long intervals to translate in the ears of the public the inarticulate
cry of the children:
“They are weeping in the playtime of the others,
In the country of the free,
For the man’s grief abhorrent, draws and presses
Down the cheeks of infancy.”
· · · · ·
“They look up with their pale and sunken faces,
And their look is dread to see,
For they mind you of their Angels in their places,
With eyes meant for Deity:
‘How long,’ they say, ‘how long, O cruel nation,
Will you stand, to move the world, on a child’s heart,
Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation,
And tread onward to your throne amid the mart?
Our blood splashes upwards, O our tyrants,
And your purple shows your path;
_But the child’s sob curseth deeper in the silence
Than the strong man in his wrath_.’”
The ears of my reader would not endure to hear what I could tell, what
my eyes have seen, of outraged innocence, of horrors and miseries
endured among the children of the poor. I am not unmindful of the
benevolent enterprise there is in our country, the orphanages, schools
and homes springing up everywhere. God be thanked for these! but they do
not yet meet the evil; and we must remember that stone walls do not shut
out crime, nor regulations confer blessing; these institutions
themselves fail in their purpose unless the compassionate motive which
originated them be sustained in a constant and abundant flow. The
histories of many charities in foreign countries and at home prove that
institutions devised by loving hearts for protection and blessing, have
become, for lack of the constancy of the internal impulse, neither more
nor less than “habitations of cruelty.” What I here complain of is the
thriftless waste of good feelings, of emotion,—emotion which on the one
hand is ill trained, and consequently takes a false or unreal direction,
and on the other is wearing itself out, unclaimed. Tears shed over
sentimental works of fiction or some imaginative woe might well be
bestowed on the realities around us. Surely there is room enough among
_them_ for the promptings of a mighty compassion! Surely there is cause
enough _here_ for tears! “Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for
the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
And there is other work on every side waiting to be done by women,—the
work of healers, preachers, physicians, artists, organizers of labour,
captains of industry, &c., while on the other hand women are waiting to
be prepared for service, and ready to bridge over, as they alone can,
many a gulf between class and class which now presents a grave obstacle
to social and political progress.
The second kind of advocacy of the rights of women, of which I spoke,
may be said to be simply a reaction against the first. It is chiefly
held by a few women of superior intellect who feel keenly the
disadvantages of their class, their feebleness, through want of
education, against public opinion, which is taken advantage of by base
people, their inability, through want of representation, to defend their
weaker members, and the dwarfing of the faculties of the ablest and best
among them. These women have associated little with men, or at best,
know very little of their inner life, and do not therefore see as
clearly as they see their own loss, the equal loss that it is to men,
and the injury it involves to their characters, to live dissociated from
women: they therefore look forth from their isolation with something of
an excusable envy on the freer and happier lot, which includes, they
believe, a greater power to do good, and imagine that the only hope for
themselves is to push into the ranks of men, to demand the same
education, the same opportunities, in order that they may compete with
them on their own ground. They have lost the conception of the noblest
development possible for both men and women; for assuredly that which
men, for the most part, aim at, is not the noblest, and yet that is what
such women appear to wish to imitate; they have lost sight of the truth,
too, that men and women were made equal indeed, but not alike, and were
meant to supplement one another, and that in so doing,—each supplying
force which the other lacks,—they are attracted with a far greater
amount of impulse to a common centre. When St. Chrysostom preached in
Constantinople, that “men ought to be pure, and women courageous,” he
was treated as a dangerous innovator, a perverter of the facts of
nature, a changer of customs. I hope that many such innovators will
arise, who will shew forth in practice the possibility of the attainment
of a common standard of excellence for man and woman, not by usurpation
on either hand, nor by servile imitation, but by the action of each upon
each, by mutual teaching and help. The above misconception, like many
other errors, results from men and women living so dissociated as they
do in our country; hence comes also all that reserve, and incapacity for
understanding each other which has existed between the sexes for so many
generations, those false notions about women which are entertained in
society, and great injury to the work, and happiness, and dignity of man
and woman alike: for it may be truly said that many of the most serious
evils in England are but the bitter and various fruit of the
sacreligious disjoining of that which God had joined together, the
disunion of men and women, theoretically and practically, in all the
graver work of life.
The following account of the School of Art, in Newman Street, London, is
interesting, as affording some illustration of this subject. Mrs.
Heatherley writes, “This School was begun on the separate principle,
about twenty-three years ago, by Mr. James Mathews Leigh. I first knew
the place in 1848, when I studied as an amateur. Mr. Leigh, whilst
agreeing to the idea of mixed classes as a theory, always declared that
the men’s conduct and conversation would render it impossible for any
lady to come amongst them, and they were certainly very rough in manner
when, after Mr. Leigh’s death, we took the school. We were warned that
we should be ruined by introducing the mixed system. Very soon both
parties found the convenience of studying in the Gallery every day,
instead of having to take their places on alternate days. Finding it
succeed, at the end of 1861 we admitted ladies to the evening school:
there are about two hundred students in the course of the year. Great
individual freedom is allowed, and a most friendly feeling exists
amongst the students. Every one who knew the place before the admission
of women agrees that there has been great improvement; quite another
tone prevails. We have never had to dismiss anyone for conduct that was
disapproved. From here went the first ladies to the Royal Academy, one
of whom, a girl of about twenty-one, gained the gold medal, last
December, for the best historical picture. As a general rule, where
there are equal facilities, the women are the most successful. The
Academy ceased to admit them when their numbers reached about twelve,
and now takes them in only when the time of studentship of others
expires. They made this change at the end of two years, without giving
any notice here or at any other school, to the great disappointment of a
number of girls. This I think is an act of hardship, as there has been
shown positively that no incompetence exists. Unless there be chances
offered to women of being able to follow a profession, parents will
invest in consols, as a general rule, rather than in a superior
education. The mention of our school may be useful, because there are
doubts in many minds as to the expediency of free intercourse between
young people, and facts are better than theories. The more that is done
to bring young men and women together in a rational manner, the sooner
we may hope to arrive at a social state less immoral than the present.”
I am persuaded that anyone who will candidly and carefully consider the
histories of separate communities of men or women, for educational or
other purposes, must see that the evils attendant on such a system as
they represent outweigh its conveniences. The arrangement is for a given
period, but not so the evils which accompany it, for they,—and of this
men are not ignorant,—too often leave their effects, I may say their
curse, throughout life. The objection rises at once of the difficulty of
adopting any other arrangement than the present, which may be called an
unnatural one. This objection will be more effectually met by facts than
by reasoning, and in time facts will speak for themselves, while up to
the present they attest that whenever the experiment of a different
system has been tried, the difficulties have been found to be very much
less than it was believed they would be, before the trial was made.
To conclude this part of my subject, although I grant that too much
stress cannot be laid upon the improvement of the education of women who
will be actually the mothers of a future generation, yet I wish, on the
one hand, that persons who only look at it from this point of view would
take more into account the valuable service our country might command if
it but understood the truth about the condition and feelings of its
unmarried women, and that a more generous trust were felt in the
strength of woman’s nature, and the probable direction of its
development when granted more expansion, while on the other hand I
should like to see a truer conception of the highest possibilities for
women than is implied in the attempt to imitate men, and a deeper
reverence for the God of nature, whose wisdom is more manifested in
variety than in uniformity. It cannot be denied that a just cause has
sometimes been advocated by women in a spirit of bitterness. Energy
impeded in one direction, will burst forth in another; hence the defiant
and sometimes grotesque expression which the lives and acts of some few
women have been of the injustice done to them by society. This will
cease, and while it lasts, it ought to excite our pity rather than our
anger. It must be remembered that it is but a symptom of a long endured
servitude, a protest against a state of things which we hope will give
place to a better. It is folly to regard it as the natural fruit of that
of which we have scarcely seen the beginning. Acts of violence on the
part of a long oppressed nation are not the offspring of dawning
liberties, but of a doomed tyranny. Again, no important reform can be
carried without a measure of attendant confusion. Evil agencies are the
most vigilant for destruction at the beginning of a great and good work,
and many lives have to be consumed in its inauguration. Any evils which
may at first attend a social reform ought not to alarm us: they are
transient; they are but the breakers on the bar which must be crossed
before we launch into deep waters, but the “noise and dust of the wagon
which brings the harvest home.”
There is a near future and there is a far future; there are plans for
the near future and plans for the far future. The world is full of plans
for the near future; not so of plans for the far future. There are
people who do just what comes first to their hand to do, there are
others who do all for a near future, others again who do all for a far
off end. The first and the last have much in common; it is the second
aim, which when exclusively pursued, misleads. Plans and schemes for the
near future gain and obtain with most people; not unfrequently they
wither away like untimely fruit: those who look afar off prevail, yet
not they, but rather He prevails in them, who taught them to stretch
their vision to the distant horizon, and enables them to bear with
composure the disappointment of present hopes.
Some say, “in order to insure success for this or that movement, you
must have a scheme beforehand, a well-planned system, a fixed principle
of action, else you will be blown hither and thither.” Without offering
any opposition to such a theory, there are others to whom there appears
but one principle of action,—to fix the eyes on the far future, and to
do to-day the work of to-day; each day to undo the heavy burdens as they
come to their hand, each day to break some link of the chains which
bind, and to let some who are now oppressed go free. God guiding these
efforts to the desired end.[8] They have more faith in that which grows
from within than in that which is planned from without, and built
according to the preconceived plan. Such plans or schemes as must be
adopted by them are made as elastic as possible, so that the builders
can avail themselves, at each step, of experience gained, and be ready
to correct or undo any part of the work without sacrificing the whole;
they are content with the light which falls on the path immediately at
their feet, and with the fairer light in the distance. Perhaps it is by
such a principle of action that we can best supply “the needs of the
times,” and it is the possibility of adopting such a principle in times
of need that alone can ensure permanence in usefulness for the venerable
institutions of the country. What such institutions generally do is to
resist all movement, or if they admit any change, it is only to
crystallize anew in an altered form. Almost all true help is special;
and crystallized institutions seldom have help to give for great and
special necessities. But there are times when an impulse, having its
origin in the _hearts_ of men, is found to be stronger than custom and
use; if it cannot work within the established bounds, or by existing
machinery, it will work without them. Somehow or other difficulties
vanish before such an impulse, and much is accomplished which before was
held to be impossible.
I cannot conclude these remarks without expressing the gladness and
gratitude with which I am filled when I see the earnest spirit in which
some of the best and most thoughtful men are beginning to consider these
matters; and I venture especially to acknowledge the kindness of men in
high educational positions themselves, whose sympathies have lately been
enlisted on behalf of the women-teachers whose struggles, and sorrows,
and social disadvantages I have tried to indicate. Mr. Maurice says,
very truly, “Whenever in trade or in any department of human activity,
restrictions tending to the advantage of one class and the injury of
others have been removed, there a divine power has been at work
counteracting not only the selfish calculations, but often the
apparently sagacious reasonings of their defenders.” If we were not
assured that there is indeed a divine power at work in all these things
which some of us have so deeply at heart, we should lack the only
stimulus which enables us to work on, to live and to die for that which
we hold to be right and true; for “except the Lord build the house,
their labour is but vain that build it.”
JOSEPHINE E. BUTLER.
_May, 1868._
T. BRAKELL, PRINTER, COOK STREET, LIVERPOOL.
-----
Footnote 1:
Miss Strongitharm states in respect of the Governesses’ Institution at
Manchester—“Remember that those who register here are the favourable
specimens of the class, the governesses who accept salaries under
£20,—and their name is Legion,—being excluded by the Rules of the
Institution, and that the salaries asked by no means represent, in
most cases, the salaries obtained—a governess being often too glad to
get a home on almost any terms.”
Footnote 2:
The condition of governesses in schools is, on the whole, better than
in private families; they have more companionship and independence,
and, except in the very poor schools, are better paid.
Footnote 3:
Census for England and Wales. Vol. ii. Occupation of the people:
summary tables.
Footnote 4:
“In one of Jerrold’s sketches, Mr. Isaac Check is asked, ‘What can you
do?’ Now as Isaac had not dined for three days, he thought himself
justified in saying—‘_Anything._’ Hunger thus conferred the cheap
diploma of omnipotence: why not of omniscience too? In a bitter moment
I have been tempted to say that a governess is too often a poor lady
who knows nothing, and teaches everything for nothing.”—_Dr. Hodgson._
Footnote 5:
“I have preached,” says Theodore Parker, “the equivalency of man and
woman—that each in some particulars is inferior to the other, but, on
the whole, mankind and womankind, though so diverse, are yet equal in
their natural faculties; and have set forth the evils which come to
both from her present inferior position.... But I have thought she
will generally prefer domestic to public functions, and have found no
philosophic or historic argument for thinking she will ever incline
much to the rough works of man, or take any considerable part in
Republican politics.”
Footnote 6:
F. Newman.
Footnote 7:
I have spoken of the incompetency of a vast number of teachers, an
incompetency sometimes natural, more often the effect of want of
training. But I believe it is widely acknowledged that women generally
have a great aptitude for teaching boys as well as girls. Mr. Bryce,
in his Report, says, “The bright point in this otherwise gloomy
landscape is that women are naturally skilful teachers, and that they
are, as far as my observation goes, zealous and conscientious
teachers. Whenever I happened to hear the teaching of a lady of good
ability who had herself been thoroughly educated, its merits struck me
as at least equal, and probably superior, to those which would be
found in the teaching of a man of the same general capacity and
education. Women seem to have more patience as teachers, more
quickness in seeing whether the pupil understands, more skill in
adapting their explanations to the peculiarities of the pupils’ minds,
and certainly a nicer discernment of his or her character. They are
quite as clear in exposition as men are, and, when well trained, quite
as capable of making their teaching philosophical. I must confess
myself to have been also impressed by the interest which they so often
took in their pupils, and their genuine ardour to do their best for
them.”
Footnote 8:
“Is not this the fast that I have chose? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go
free, and that ye break every yoke; is it not to deal thy bread to the
hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house?”—Isaiah lviii. 6, 7.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last
chapter.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
