The National tribune., 1882-12-28
WOMANS WORK,
Home, and How to Make It Beautiful
and Happy.

One of the regular toasts at the recent New
England Dinner in New York was - Women
TO which Mark Twain replied as follows: The
toast includes the sex universally. 1t is to
woman, comprehensively, wheresoever she may
be found. Let us consider her ways. First
comes the matter of dress. This is most I'M
portaut consideration in subject OF this nature,
and must be disposed Of before we can intelli-
gently proceed to examine the pr0tOunder
depths of the theme. For text, let Us take the
dress of two antipodal types-the savage and
cultivated daughter of our high modern civlll-
Zation.
Among the Fans a great negro tribe, a
woman, when dressed for home, or to go to
market or to 90 ont calling. does not wear any
thing ut all but just her complexion. That is
all. That is her entire outfit. 1t is the lCgItl-
mate costume of the world, but it is made OF
the darkest material. 1t has often been mis-
taken for mourning. 1t is the trimmest and
neatest and graCetullcst costume that was ever
in fashion: it wears well; it docsnt show dirt.
You don't have to send it down town to wash,
and have some Of it come back scorched with
the fiat-iron, and some of it with the buttons
irOned Off and some of il pctriiiCd with starch,
and some of it chewed by the calf, and some Of
it rottcd with acids. and some of il exchanged
for other customers things that haven't any
virtue but holiness, and ten-twcltthS of the
pieces ovcrcharged for, and the rest Of the
Il.
perfection of a fit. And it is the handicst dress
in the whole realm of fashion. 1t is always
done up. When you call on a Fan lady, and
send up Your card, the hired girl never says:
Please take a seat: madame Is dressing; she
viii be down in three-quarterS of an hour.
Mo- madame is always dressed always ready
to receive, and before you can get the door
mat before your eyes she is in your midst.
Then, again, the Fan ladies don 90 70 church
10 nr.-ba j,n bar hoI-a Synt nd
don't 90 back home and describe and slandcr it.
'Such is the dark child of Savagery as to
everyday toilet, and thus, curously enough, she
finds point Of contact with the fair daughter
of civilization and high fashion, who often has
nothing 10 wear and thus these widely
separated types of the sex meet upon common
ground. Yes, such is the Fan woman as she
appears in her simple, unostcntatiouS, every
day toilet. But on State occasions she is more
dresSy. At Il banquet she wears bracelets; at
lecture she wears earrings and a belt: mt u
ball she wears stockings, and, with true temi-
nine tOndneSS for display, she wears them on
her arms: mt funeral she wears Jacket of tar
and ashes; at wedding, the bride who can
afford ii puts on pantaioJnS. There the dark
child of savagery and the fair daughter Of civ
ilizatiom meet once more upon common ground,
and these two touches of nature make the
whole world kin.
Now we will consider the dress of Our other
type. A large part of the daughter of civiiza-
ton is her dress, rs it should be. Some civil
lied women would lose half their charm without
dress and some would lose all of it. The daugh-
ter of modern civilization, dressed at her utmost
best, is a marvel of exquisite and beautiful art
and expense. All the lands, all the climes and
all the arts are laid under tribute to furnish
her forth. Her linen is from Belfast, her robe
Is from Paris her lace is from Venice or Spain
or France, her feathers are from the remote re-
gOns Of southern Africa, her furS are from the
remOtCr home of the iceberg and aurora, her
fan from Japan, her diamonds from Brazil, her
bracelets from California, her pearls from Ccy
lon, her canoes from Rome: she has gems and
trinkets from buried Pompcii, and others that
graccd comely Egyptian forms that have been
dust and ashes now for forty centuries her
watch is from Geneva, her Card-caSe is from
China. her hair is trOn-from-l don't know
where her hair is from-I never could find out,
that is, her other hair-hcr public hair-hcr
Sunday hair: don't mean the hair she goes
to bed with; why you ought to know the hair
| mean-it's that thing which She calls
switch, and which resembles a switch as much
as it resembles a brckbat or shotgun or any
other thing which you correct people with. It's
that thing which she twists and then coils
round and round her head beehive fashion,
and then tucks the end in under the hive and
harpoonS 1t with hairpin. And that reminds
me of q triflc Any time you want to you can
glance around the carpet of Pullman car and go
and pick up hairPin, but, not to save your life
can you get any woman in that car to acknowl-
edge that hairpin. Now, isn't that strange?
But its true. The woman who has never sew
cred from cast-iron vcracity and fidelity in her
whole life Will, when confronted with this
crucial test, deny her hairpin. She will deny
that hairpin before a hundred witnesses. |
have stupidity got into more trouble and more
hot water trying to hunt up the owner of hair
pin in Pullman car than by any other indis-
cretion of my life
CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.
Charity begins at home" says the old
adage and, we might add, " so does every other
good thing" Possibly we might go farther
still and say, much Of the mischievous evil of
life Gegins there, too. Certain it is that when
cvcrgood men set themselves to do a good work
in this crooked world, their thoughts turn always
to their homes, as If there they must look for
the very heart of the nation. Make the homes
what they should be and the land viii take
care Of itself. Save tire children of to-day aud
we have made sure Of a blessed tomorrow
Any uplifting influence, then. that purifcs and
strengthens the home. any cheerful influence
that eladdens it, should meet with cordial wei
come from the hearts of those who desire that
the axe be laid at the very root OF the tree"
Nay, more than cordial welcome should be given.
Every movement designed to bless the home
should have the earnest aid of parents and
even Of the little ones themselves. We ask
sympathy and cooperation. therefore, for this
new enterprise, designed to reach if possible
every household i'll the land. Send us. then.
from your observation and experience notes on
any and every subject that can influence home
life or add to the home charm. Send Us from
your Kitchens nurseries, sick rooms good and
helpful news the to best way to live the every
day and common life. Send us from your
sewing table from your bookshelf from your
still Sabbath hours OF solitude anything YOU
can say to help another human being, and let
us work together in the simplest and sweetest
and most valuable Of all reforms that which,
like charity, begins at home.
THE AUTHOR OF " HOME, SWEET HOME"
John Howard Payne the author Of Home,
Sweet Home was warm personal friend of
John Ross who will he remembered as the
celebrated chief Of the Chcrollccs. At the
time the Chcrokccs were removed from their
homes in Georgia to their present possessions
west Of the Mississippi river, Payne was spend
ing few weeks i'll Georgia with Ross, who WIS
occupying "A miserable cabin, having been for
clbly elected from his former home. A number
Of the prominent ChcrokcoS were in prison.
and that portion of Georgia in which the tribe
was located was secured by armed squads of the
Georgia militia, who had orders to arrest all
who refused TO leave the country While Ross
and Payne were seated before the fire in the
hut the door was suddenly burst open and six
or eight militiamcn sprang into the room. The
soldiers lost no time i'll taking their prisoners
away. Ross was permitted to ride his own
horse, while Payne was mounted on one led by
"A soldier As the little marty left the hoyel