Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-05-29
An Eighth Hour Renecslou.

rfon the Snioxo DAILY NeWA
There is a class OF people In this country who
get up ut i've O'Clock I'm the morning ana who
never get back TO bed until ten or eleven
o'clock at night; who work without ceasing the
whole OF that time, and receive no other emolu.
ment than food am the plainest clothing: they
my and labor, from finance 10 cooking; though
harasssd by a hundred respons bilities, though
driven aud worried, though reproached and
looked down upon, they never revolt and they
cannot organize for their own protection, Not
even sickness releases them from their posts
NO sacrifice Is deemed too great for them To
their work is excused. No essays or books or
poems are written In tribute 10 their steadiast-
ness. They die In the harness and ere sup.
planted as quickly as may be.
these are the housekeeping wives a the
iaboring man. IL is they who get their hus-
bands breakfast at 8 O'Clock In the rlorniug
get the children of To school, do the washing
ironing, baking, sewing, scrubbing, sweeping
ana marketing, caring all the while for the
babies, and doing the mending after the hus-
band lies snoring. They do go 10 bed, but hardly
sleep, for nursing children often draw their
life from them all the night long.
What leisure or enjoyment for Them What
chance for improvement or uplifting? And
what 90 they think OF the eight-hour move
ment? They think IL means that the calico
they now buy for cents will cost 3 cents b
and by; that the coal will soon be 8. and o. 3
ton, and that the pittances out of which they
pleasure TO them that their husbands Will have
two hours more leisure? Ii the men stay at
nome during that time the chances are the
wives will be reproached tor what IL deemed
neglect, and that some OF the children will be
whipped. Will the husbands fetch GOAL, OF
black the stoves, or take the washing from the
line, or go TO the market? Not for one day out
of the 1856. They will irritate them with their
criticisms, Will make the children unhappy
and then leave for some place more suited 10
their selfishness. II sounds hard, but it 10 true
and every woman knows that it is true. She
knows that there will be two hours less in
which To earn money and two hours more in
which TO spend IL. She knows that her burden
Will be no lighter, and In patient cynicism she
awaits the result.
Are those women striking for eight hours:
Have they union TO which they can appeal
eloquent voices raised in their behalfY Are
there any laws enacted for their benefits Are
there any prominent Journals advocating their
cause? What would their husbands say if
these women turned out en- masse and voted
not TO work but o certain number of hours Der
day, and demanded that . more righteous dlvt-
Sion OF the income be made hereafter?
They would doubtless say IL was midsummer
madness. Is the picture overdrawn? do or do
not these women receive their share? ID work,
ing Is hours day cooking over hot stovea
scrubbing over washtubs, exposing the body TO
every change OF our tickle climate, bearing on
an average one child q year, and making both
bands beer money is spent, In return for food,
shelter and the piainest clotIine-is this q fair
half OF the working partnership? 10 this an
equal division OF labor with equal distribu.
ton OF the profits? What would some OF the
men who are parading the streets voluntarily
out OF work and In their best clothes do II they
found themselves bound TO employers by tie
that could not be dissolved, while their work
was made q thousand times more laboriOus. ana
the hours nearly doubled?