which weighed so heavily upon them.

Thus, in the pangs of bitter necessity, was born among women the era of
the worker. It was an era which was to last to the present and to reach
into the future as far as the eye of prophecy can penetrate; but, like
all infants, it was feeble at birth and even its first steps were
tottering and uncertain. The beginnings of the true Feminine
Reconstruction were made under stress of circumstance and not of choice;
but they were none the less admirable in result, though slower in
attaining thereto. This was the fruit of the Civil War, its great gift
to the womanhood of our land. That fruit first blossomed in the South,
since here there was the greater need; and her daughters went out from
their homes into the crowded marts of business and claimed a share in
the work of men. Not at first; indeed, the more radical impulse in this
wise came from the North, where also conditions had changed since the
first half of the century. The Southern girl saw but little proper
direction for her efforts beyond the profession of education; she went
out as teacher or governess, and considered that thus she had reached
the uttermost bourne of possibility in this wise. But the educational
circle became so thronged that on its margin, vainly endeavoring to
enter, stood a countless throng of girls and women who must work or be a
burden upon those they loved, if even this shameful refuge was open to
them. So perforce they turned away, battling with their prejudices, to
seek other employment; and when they had found it they discovered to
their relief and delight that they had gained rather than lost caste in
the eyes of the world, even of their own circles.

Under varying conditions but to similar purpose, there was an equal
movement among Northern womanhood. Timidly at first, for they too had
their prejudices to conquer, the women of the North sought to enter into
the great competition for the means of existence; and, having once
tasted independence, they found it sweet. There was almost the same
hesitancy and the same circumscription of womanly calling in the North
as in the South; but the Northern woman, with her stronger sense of
independence in right-doing, sooner shook herself free from the shackles
of tradition. Had there been equal need in both sections, the North
would doubtless have taken and maintained the lead in the emancipation
of women from the servitude of the obligations of caste as in those da