Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/298

 This section comprises articles showing how women may help in all branches of religious work. All the orincipal charities will be described, as well as home and foreign missions The chief headings are : Woman's Work in Religion Missionaries Zenana Missions Home Missions, etc. Great Leaders of Religious Thought Charities to IVor/c for Great How Charities Great Charity Organisations Local Charities, etc. The Women ol the Bible Bazaars How to Alanage a Church Bazaar What to Makejor Bazaars Garden Bazaars, etc. How to Manage a Sunday-school THE IHVALID l^FOMAN AMD SERVICE FOR OTHERS By THE REV. CANON DENTON THOMPSON M.A., Rector of Birmingham MoTHiNG in human life appeals more strongly to our sympathies than an; invalid — the man, woman, or child who is suffering from prolonged or permanent illness. Whether under such conditions men suffer more or less than women is a matter upon which opinions may well differ. It is prob- able that we have not sufficient data upon which to differentiate between the sexes with any degree of certainl >• on this question, and, after all, so much depends upon the individual tempera- ment as also upon the general surroundings of the invalid. On the whole, and speaking quite generally, I am inclined to think that women suffer more than men, and for two reasons, one of which is to be found in the physical constitution of woman, and the other in her moral nature. In the first place, wo- men, as a rule, are more sensitive to pain than men. Their general structure is built up of finer material. Their nervous system is formed of more d.licate texture. If their bodies are not more liable to the inroad of microbes, they are cer- tainly less able to withstand their attack. Woman not only naturally suffers more, but suffers more acutely. If judged phy- CANON DENTON THOMPSON Elliott &• Fry sically, she is unquestionably the weaKei vessel. Again, women, as a class, are more sympathetic than men. They are less self-centred and more self-sacrificing. They are more solicitous for the health of others and less concerned with their own ailments. If, therefore, the woman be a wife or mother, the whole household suffers more through her sufferings than if the sufferer be a man. She is naturally anxious, for the recovery of health for her own sake, but even more for the sake of her husband and children. Destined by the Creator to be "a helpmeet," she is never so happy as when she is helping others, and, correspondingly, the loss of power to help is the direct cause of added suffering. Of course, I am assuming in my argument that the woman is really and truly good. There are exceptions to this as to every rule, only I am not now thinking of ex- ceptions, which, of course, might easily be given. There are some selfish women, alas! who think so much of themselves and their own ailments that they have no time to think of others and their sufferings. There are some foolish women whose condition is mainly due to delusive id:as of their own