Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-05-21
THE WIVES SIDE OF THE CASE.
Some suggestions in Behalf of Those who
Cannot strike.

There is class of people in this country
who get up at . o'clock in the morning
and who never get back to bed until 10 or
II o'clock at night who work without
ceasina the whole of that time, and re
celve no other emolument than food and
the plainest clothing they understand
something OF. every branch of economy
ana labor, from finance to cooking .
,hough harrassed by II hundred resposi-
| Dllitles, though driven and worried
| though reprOached and looked down mon
they never revolt, and they cannot organ
lle Tor their own protection Not even
sickness releases them from their posts.
NO sacrifice is deemed too great for them
TO make, and no ncompetency in any
planch Of their work Is excused No cS-
says or books or poems are written in
tribute to their steadfasl ness They die in
lhe harness ana are supplanted as quickly
as may be.
These are the housekeeping wives of the
laboring men. 1t is they who get their
husbands breakfast at o'clock in the
morning, get the children off to school,
10 the washing, ironing, baking, sewing,
scruobln1g, sweeping and marketing,
ing the mendlng after the husband lies
snoring. they do 90 to bed, but hardly
steep, Tor nursing children often draw
their life from them all the night long.
-. W nat leisure or enjoyment for them
w hat chance for Improvement or uplift-
ing Ana what do they think of the
elShthou movement They think it
means mat the calico they now buy for five
cents VIII cost eight by and by that the
coal VIII soon be 81 and 81 Il ton, and that
lne plttances out of which they now buy
tnese VIII be less before long. Is it
pleasure to them that their husbands will
nave two hours more leisure? If the
men stay at home during that time. the
chances are the wives will be reprOached
Tor what is deemed neglect, and that some
OF the children will be whipped. VIII
the husbands fetch coal, or black the
stoves, or take the washing from the line,
or go to the market Not for one day out
OF the 800. They Will irrtate them with
Their criticisms, will make the children
unhappy and then leave for some place
more suited to their selfshness. 1t sounds
nara, but 1t IS true, and every woman
KNOWS tlat 1t Is true. She knows that
there VIII be two hours less in which to
earn money and two hours more in which
10 spend 1t. She knows that her burden
VIII be no lighter and in patient cynicism
she awaits The result
Are these women striking for eight
hours Have they Il union to which they
can appeal against the cruelty of their
taskmasters? Are eloquent voices raised
Ill thelr behalf Are there any laws en-
acted for their benefit Are There any
prominent journals advocating their
cause What would their husbands say
II these women turned out en- masse and
voted to work but a certain number Of
hours per day and demanded that more
righteous division of the income be made
hereafter
They would doubtless say that it was
midsummer madness. Is the picture over
drawn Do or do not these women re-
Gcelve their share Is working fifteen
hours day, cooking over hot stoves,
scruoblng over washtubs, exposing the
BODY to every change of our tickle climate,
bearing on an average one child year,
and making both ends meet after the rent
is paid and the husbands beer money is
spent, in return for food, shelter and the
Plalnest clothlng-is this Il fair half of
the working partnership Is this an
equal division of labor with an equal dis
trlbution of the profits? What would
some OF the men who are parading the
streets voluntarily out OF work and in
their best clothes do if they found them
selves bound to employers by tie that
could not be dissolved, while their work
was made IA thousand times more labor
Gus ana the hours nearly doubled ?