I have often thought that it was the shadow of the curse of slavery still resting upon our land that prevents, even in the wide and generous light of the present day, a proper recognition of the true majesty of labor. Unfortunately, the term is still regarded as synonymous with servitude, not precisely degraded servitude, but certainly something so near akin to it that it could never be confused with badges of the Legion of Honor! Sewing, for a woman, means starvation, or slow death by torture; factories and shops tell their own pitiful stories; the paths of music, art, literature, and the drama, are strewn with dismal failures; and when I come to teaching, that worst abused vocation of all, language fails me. In Boston, I have heard it said that a faithful teacher can support the burden of existence only about seven years. I can well believe it; but on the other hand, to one such worker there are ten thousand drones. The first impulse of every gentlewoman, thrown upon her own resources, seems to be to teach; as to what or how, she is nebulous, delightfully vague, the only point settled being the choice of occupation. Governesses are engaged, to whom the entire charge of children is given, who receive the treatment and wages of servants. In our public schools the felicitous standard of excellence is a high percentage in examination, while the far more important considerations of adaptability, patience and self-control are disregarded. The evil effects of such a system are visited upon defenseless children. Women, as a rule, regard their work, whatever it may be, as only a temporary makeshift; the hope of something better lures them like the _ignis fatuus_; the dim and uncertain prospect of a distant future imparts a half-hearted exertion to the present, and this fact touches the key-note of a large proportion of their failures. If all of them could be brought to a thorough realization that we are a surplus quantity, an unwelcome factor, yet one that can not be eliminated, the answer to these problems which confront us might still be hidden, but we should at least stand upon the threshold. On the other hand, I have known women of singleness of purpose, of unalterable resolution, and the courage of heroes arrayed in the ranks of the breadwinners. True, they belonged to a hopeless minority, but this only served to render their virtues the more conspicuous. Long observation and thorough investigation have led me to the conclusion that the government departments at Washington afford the best field for female labor now open to the sex. Best, because the hours are not unreasonable, and the compensation fair; best, because there are no three months’ vacations to be tided over without pay, and also, on account of the certainty of retention unless just cause can be shown for removal. It has been now nearly a quarter of a century since it was decided that women were eligible to these positions, being, I believe, during the late war that the first