Women -- Economic conditions; Women -- Employment; Women -- Social and moral questions
This opposition of the smaller type of male, to the entrance of woman
into the callings hitherto apportioned to himself, is sometimes taken as
implying the impossibility of fellowship and affection existing between
the men and women employed in common labour, that the professional
jealousy of the man must necessitate his feeling a hatred and antagonism
towards any one who shares his fields of toil. But the most superficial
study of human life negates such a supposition. Among men, in spite
of the occasional existence of the petty professional jealousies and
antagonism, we find, viewing society as a whole, that common interests,
and above all common labours, are the most potent means of bringing them
into close and friendly relations; and, in fact, they seem generally
essential for the formation of the closest and most permanent human
friendships. In every walk of human life, whether trade, or profession,
we find men associating by choice mainly with, and entertaining often
the profoundest and most permanent friendships for, men engaged in
their own callings. The inner circle of a barrister’s friendships almost
always consists of his fellow-barristers; the city man, who is free to
select his society where he will, will be oftenest found in company with
his fellow-man of business; the medical man’s closest friendship is, in
a large number of cases, for some man who was once his fellow-student
and has passed through the different stages of his professional life
with him; the friends and chosen companions of the actor are commonly
actors; of the savant, savants; of the farmer, farmers; of the sailor,
sailors. So generally is this the case that it would almost attract
attention and cause amusement were the boon companion of the sea captain
a leading politician, and the intimate friend of the clergyman an actor,
or the dearest friend of the farmer an astronomer. Kind seeks kind.
The majority of men by choice frequent clubs where those of their own
calling are found, and especially as life advances and men sink deeper
into their professional grooves, they are found to seek fellowship
mainly among their fellow-workers. That this should be so is inevitable;
common amusements may create a certain bond between the young, but
the performance of common labours, necessitating identical knowledge,
identical habits, and modes of thought, forms a far stronger bond,
drawing men far more powerfully towards social intercourse and personal
friendship and affection than the centrifugal force of professional
jealousies can divide them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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