ABSTRACT
In the early days of the movement on behalf of the wives and children sent out in the Crimean war, it appeared that so very natural and kindly a movement was carried on in forgetfulness of the fact that women of that class usually earn their bread before marriage, and have every reason to expect to do it afterwards. It is understood, we believe, that in our great towns nine women in ten support themselves by their own industry; and the class into which private soldiers and seamen marry is the industrial one. Right as it was to put out a hand to save these wives from decline into beggary, it was not sufficiently remembered that their case was much like that of the great majority of their neighbours, in town and country. It is rather the exception than the rule in that class, that the husband is the only breadwinner in the household; and yet the earlier appeals to the public on that occasion assumed that the women were taken by surprise, and thrown helpless on the world. They were spoken of as their less happy, because more dependent sisters of a higher rank might have been, if they had been left widows, without income; whereas there was in many cases a clear expectation, for some time previous, of particular regiments or ships’ crews going abroad; and the wives had, for the most part, industrial habits and abilities to fall back upon. The view and practice became more rational and truly considerate as time went on; and the genuine and kindly sentiment which animated their benefactors showed itself more and more in giving the best sort of aid—means of employment. The fear at first was that the class would be sentimentalised over and pampered during the first enthusiasm of the war, only to be dropped and forgotten in a deeper adversity to come. The war closed before any adversity was felt by our soldiers’ wives at all to compare with that which the mothers or grandmothers of some of them had endured, during the great wars at the beginning of the century. The case of the soldiers’ wives who are now needing our aid, is widely different from even the recent one of three years ago. Their husbands have now been called away with the utmost suddenness, and have been carried 15,000 miles away, without having had time or opportunity to form plans for their families, while communication is infinitely more difficult than from the Crimea, when the Post-office there was once in full operation. We are not surprised to see that a proposal is abroad to organise “a system which should be permanent for ameliorating the condition of those who were left behind when their husbands were gone into distant lands.” A Committee is to be formed for attending to the cases of such persons, and for organising a central board in London, for this purpose, for receiving subscriptions, and for devising ulterior measures. Much will depend on what these ulterior measures are; but it seems questionable whether more misery will not be created than relieved if a particular class of wives is selected out of the matronage of England to be assisted by public subscription when their husbands are absent on duty, such absence being a matter of expectation with every soldier who marries. As for the sailors, they are theoretically never at home; and every one sees the absurdity of proposing that their wives should be aided by public subscription whenever they are separated. When their pay is made accessible to their families, there is nothing to complain of in the way of grievance. The wives of seamen live on the pay, as far as it goes; and if they need more, they work for it. So it should be with soldiers’ wives, in ordinary course. Under such exceptional circumstances as the present, it is fair and right that special assistance should be given. It is to be hoped that it will be afforded in the way of openings to employment for the wives, and to schools for the children. Lord Panmure has made arrangements with regard to such of the children as can attend the garrison schools: and we hope that the ladies will trouble themselves to ascertain what kind of work the mothers have been accustomed to, and help them to employment if possible. It is difficult to see what an organisation and a permanent system can do, except in the way of raising funds—a most dubious proceeding, if the best interests and the genuine good feelings of the wives are regarded. The thing most to be desired in such a case is that women should be so trained and accustomed to industry, and so qualified to earn good pay, as that the ordinary chances of the life they have chosen shall not cast them upon the charity of strangers. We believe this is really the case with many of our soldiers’ wives. As for the less capable, their lot is infinitely better than that of the widows of their own class; and it would surely be most congenial with their feelings, and favourable to the honest independence of their children, that their case should be dealt with privately, by friendly neighbours, who will see that they are employed, and not that they should be objects of a special, and extensive, and conspicuous charity which the absent husband and father cannot by any means enjoy the thought of.
