The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-16

for bit of description of the W. {. I.
L. booth at the Worlds Industrial Ex-
position. had ! been able to find half
hour not already filed upon
Here as elsewhere in the women s de-
partment. one IiHlds to a conviction
that the bulk Of womans work IS un-
represented. Much of it so from It's
nature; a large part because women do
not clothe their real industries with
their inherent dignity Of worth.
In the whole great, bewildering,
lovely array Of paintings on velvet, on
silks, on china, on cups and plaques Of
every kind. the exquisite embroideries
III chenille. in silk and araSene, dis
PLAYED 10y successive States and Terri.
tories in their respective booths did
not see single pair Of boys 'panties,
with neatly fitted knee patches,
stitched in with geomCtrical eXactness,
pressed down with loving painstaklng
10 hint in the remoteSt manner at an
industry Piled aS constantly as each
tenth day rolls by, 10y a world full Of
boys mothers.
In the Dakota wOmen's exhibit,
among the elegant pieces of embroid-
cry, cases Of stuffed birds, bird rugs.
and lovely bird conventions mounted
on lichen covered branches, paintings.
etc. IN sure did not see a hit Of darn
ing, or mending the size Of threc-cent
piece, to act as exponent for the basket
of weekly mending, whose eastern
regulation size is quadrupled 10y freaks
of oUr Dakota Zephyrs.
Here, or III our main exhibit, there
wasn't WiSp Of hay 10 represent the
fuel used in the newer parts OF our
Territory hy farr.IS' wives TO cook the
three hearty mcals Il day for the hands.
TO adequately represent this fuel these
.uid twists Of hay should have been
corded around Dakota's lines of limit
six feet high, and decorated at regular
intervals with worn broom stumps and
feather busters, as suggestive OF extra
sweeping nccessitated; or better, fash
iOucd into a statue Of heroic size,
modelled after that OF Bartholdi 5
Liberty Enlightening the World, "
and placarded IN the prevalent style Of
exposition monuments, with statistics
and trenchant Items--their trel d to
show Dakota's strides in the mighty
march Of progress. Among them such
bits as these, suggestive, perhaps OF
backward strides and Il smart little run.
10 catch up, Dakota wives have no
dover rights" in capitals fashioned Of
crSpcst crullers. " Dakota wives have
no ownership in property belonging to
their husbands, lettcrcd in gems made
from wheat ground m coffee mill, sup
plcmcnted hv, Property acquired
under the homestead, pre- emption and
timhcr-culture acts, through mutual
residence. economies and toll of huS-
hand and wife. belongs to the nus
band. scarlet lett.red in home cIO-
chctcd mems mittrnS, or III the gold OF
tiny rolls of homemade butter; only the
butter might prematurely suggest 4
melting mood on the part of the
powers that be
Thus our Bartholdi, while represent
ing the fuel used by pioneer wives, had
enlightened segment of the feminine
world 10y making known fact surely
big with sorroW for some, that under
Dakota ) laws, a wife may be left after,
perhaps twenty years Of toll with no
part Of the property really and truly
hers, With not even the pitlfnlly mean
interest on one third, which Is secured
to the widow in some States Wives
whose husbands are planning family
night 10 Dakota and the burning of re-
turn bridges, had possibly been en-
lightened 10 the point Of refusal to
bulge one inch DakOtaWard until just
property laws as cffccting Dakota wives
were enacted. Possibly Dakota wives
had been enlightened and electrified
to simultaneous bombardment of the
coming constitutional convention - a
hombardment with petitions TO have
embodied in the constitution to be pre-
pared clause securing to Dakota
wives &" just Stare of the property. Also
one securing the franchise for woman.
Since petition work, inclusive of
miles and miles Of weary tramping
since prayer to little legislative gods
set up and pulled down annually or bi-
enuially all over the United States has
formed 50 large part Of the work OF the
rank and file of W. G. Il. |. for decade,
| almost expected 10 see the outer walls
of their tabernacle ten feet high and
one foot thick made of great, corded
petition rolls. with cards attached 10
the embedded end of each giving an
cptome of its history, the locality date,
PRAYER itself, number of signatures Ell
rolled. its success, or failure, etc. Is il
any wonder that earnest that women
begin to ask, why should not we also
be among the gods?
In the midst of one side Of the gal
lery which sweeps around the govern
ment building, and opening the splen-
did educational exhibit which finishes
this side and stretches across the two
next sides, met Wy the wOndrous ex-
position of the colored people, which
continues the glad revelation Of the up,
/ lifting Of a race. across the entire
I length of the building, where begins
the wOman's department, with a dis
play Of its Silk Culture association will
State and Territorial booths, etc, and
/ terminating the department and ada
cent 10 the exhibit of the Christian
! Woman's exchange, is the booth of ths
Woman : Christian Temperance Union
1t occupies a space - feet square, Tn,
supports of its octagnnal temple art
wreathed in grasses from all parts oI
the Union. Borne above it is the
white silken banner Of the National w
{. 7, L. uplifting its motto, " For God
and Home, and Native Hand" 1t en-
shrines a fountain Of cold water, is lee,