Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-10-11
WoMAN's DEPARTMENT.
WHITE SLAVES.

SekAVeSS
A Class of Laborers Who Never Strike
Women Workers Who Know No Rest.
There is a class of people in TIL
country who get up at five a m. ant
seldom get back to bed until ten ant
eleven at night; who work wlthou
reading the whole of that time, and re
ceive no other emOlument than food ant
the plainest clothing. They under
stand something of every branch o
economy and labor, from finance t.
cooking. Although harrassed by hun
dred responsibilities, driven and wor
ried, reproached and looked down upon
hey never revolt. and they can not or
ganize for their own protection. MOI
even sickness releases them from thelr
posts. No sacrifice is deemed too great
for them to make, and no incOmpetency
in any branch of their work IS excused.
No books or essays are written In trlo-
ute to their steadfastness. They die In
the harness, and are supplanted as
quickly as may be.
ueSS are CIlc uOuoChOSHAAA3 -
laboring men. 1t is they that get their
husbands breakfast at five a. m; get
the children off to school, do the wash
ing, ironing, baking. sewing. scrubbing,
sweeping and marketing, care for the
babies and do the family mending after
the husband lies asleep. They go to
bed, but hardly to sleep, for nursing
children often draw their life from them
all night long.
What leisure or enjoyment is there
for them? What chance for improve
ment or uplifting? What do they think
of the eight-hour movement? 1t means
to them that the calico they now buy
for five cents will cost eight by and by;
that the coal, instead of six, will soon
be seven and eight dollars a ton, and
that the pittances out of which they
buy these bare necessaries of life will
be less before long. Is it pleasure to
them that their husbands will have two
hours more of leisure? If the men stay
at home during that time, the chances
are that the wives will be reproached
for what is deemed neglect. and that
some of the children will be whipped.
Will the husbands fetch coal, or polish
the stove, or take the washing from the
line. or go to market? Not for one day
in the 365. Too often they will irritate
their wives with their witticisms, will
make the children unhappy, and then
leave for some place more suited to
their selfishness. 1t sounds hard. but
it is 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 it. She knows that her bur-
den will be no lighter, and in patient
cynicism she awaits the result. Are
these Nomen striking for eight hours?
Have they union to which they can
appeal against the cruelty of their task
masters? Are eloquent voices raised in
their behalf? Are there any laws en-
acted for their benefit
Are there any prominent, journals
advocating their cause? What would
their husbands say if these women
turned out en- n,aSse and voted not to
work but certain number of hours per
day, or demanded that a more righteous
division of the income be made here
a:.er? They would doubtless say it was
midsummer madness.
Is the picture overdrawn? Do or do
not these women receive their shares?
Is working fifteen hours per day, cook
ing over a hot stove. scrubbing over
washtubs, exposing the body to every
danger of our tickle climate, bearing on
an average one child year, and max
ing both ends meet after the rent is
paid and the husbands beer money is
spent, in return for food, shelter and
the plainest clOthing-is this fair
half of the working partnership Is
this an equal division OF labor with an
equal distribution of the profits? What
would some of the men who are parad-
ing the streets. voluntarily out of
work, and in their best clothes, do if
they found themselves bound to en-
ployers by tie that could not be dis
solved. while their work was made a
thousand times more laborious and the
hours nearly doubled?-W 0man'S Jour
nal.