Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-12
PRIMITIVE CULTURE.
woman's Important Share In the In
dustrial Arts.
Otis l. Mason. in the Antinuarian.

woman's Important share I'm the In
dustrial Arts.
Otis r. Mason in the Antiquarian.
The first human beings were wandering
savages, naked, and without a home. The
first houses were rock shelters, caves woven
boughs and undressed skins. The very first
picture of refuge from storms, cold, wild
beasts and savage foes. Now, why this embryo
home? Do you not see that maternity, child
life. period of helpless dependency first sug-
gests the home, where the curtain rises on
woman arrnyed for her role OF industrialism
that is to transform the face Of the earth?
Let US follow the savage woman through her
daily cares, in order that we may comprehend
the significance of her partin the play. The slain
deer lying before her cave. or brush shelter or
wigwam, shall be the point of departure in the
inquiry. She strikes off a sharp fake of flint
for a knife. By that act she becomes the first
cutler. the real founder of Sheffield. With
this knife she carefully removes the skin. little
dreaming thatshe is thereby making herself
the patron saint of all subsequent butchers.
She rolls up the hide. then dresses it with brains,
smokes 1t, curries it, breaks it with implements
of stone and bone, with much toll and sweat,
until she makes her reputation the first cur
rier and tanner. With fingers weary and worn,
with needle of bone and thread of snew,
and scissors of flint, she c1ts and makes the
sign is over the door, but within dwells the first
tailor and dressmaker. From leather espe
clally prepared she cuts and makes moccaslns
for her husband which to his speed add wings.
Compared with the tardy progress of her bare
footed man in the chase, they are indeed the
winged sandals of Hermes, and she is the
aboriginal ST. Crispin. Out of little scraps of
fur and feathers, supplemented with bits of
colored shell or stone or seeds, she dresses
dolls for her children, makes head-dresses and
toggery for the coming dance. adorns the walls
of her sCualId dwelling. creating at a single
pass half dozen modern industries-at once
toy-maker. milliner, modiste, halter, uphol-
sterer. and wall-decker.
The UNIVERSAL COOK.
OF the carcass she makes the daintest food for
all. If Prometheus brought fire from Heaven
in dried reed, or the woman's husband
evoked fire from the dried fre-drills she at
least on her weary back brought fagots from
the forest to preserve and utilize the flame.
She was at first and is now the universal cook,
preserving food from decomposition and doub
hing the longevity of man. OF the bones at
last she fabrcates her needles and charms.
Or. we may follow our heroine on another err
rand. From the grasses around her cabin she
constructs the foor-mat. the mattress, the
screen, the wallet, the sail. She is the mother
of all sPinners. weavers. upholsterers, sail
makers. Counting and varying stitches and
adding bits of black. blue, red and yellow on
her textures. she becomes the first decorative
artist. she invents the chevrons. clearinghouse.
frets, and scrolls of all future art. To the field
she goes with this basket or wallet strapped
across her forehead. By the sweat of her face
she earns her bread and becomes the first pack
animal that ever bent under a burden in the
world. L never see q train of freight cars
ereaking along that do not seem to hear
THE MOAN OF THIS FIRST COMMON CARRIER
Art has caught her portrait as her gait be-
came more erect and has given us the Carya-
tides. Home she comes with her load of acorns
roots. seeds, &C.. and proceeds to crush them
in a mortar or to roll them a stone slab.
Here she appears clearly as the primitive
miller, barring the unrighteous toll. Or. per-
chance she LAYS her seeds in fiat tray and by
help of the wind or a hot stone removes the
chat. Here begins her first lesson in thresh-
ing. The meal cooked on a fiat stone. made
into porridge. or stewed with the flesh of the
slain deer. attests the handiwOrk of the first
baker. Perhaps, with stick, hardened and
pointed in the fire, she digs the roots from the
earth. or CLANS from the sand. tears away
troublOus weeds from useful plants. or digs a
hole and drops the seeds of pumpkins. gourds
or maize therein. While We watch her working
We are looking at the first gardener. farmer
and nurseryman. II may be that on some lone
ly plain or alluvial river bank there is no cave
TO shelter her and her babes. How long viii it
take this aforetime basket-maker and leather
worker to devise shelter of grass or skin and
become the architect primeval? 1t was at first
Uncovered that clay would hold water. that
dried clay would cement rocks together, and
that fire and clay would make pottery. The
prlmeval woman was not potter. 1t was not
until near the polished stone age that she be-
came the pristine plastic artist This is true.
however. that every form. decoration. and
function of pottery were invented by women
could never understand why the climax of this
art of arts. exclusively womans own art. should |
have been entirely abandoned by her in its
highest forms.
Ny gentle sisters. in your homes of comfort !
I'm HarNa
BILE forms of things inanimate and animate on (
textures wrought by steel, listen to the story |
that down the ages comes. Long. long before /
men had time to spin weave. with natures I
thread of grass or pine root. bast palm leaf. |
osler or rattan. there arose most skillful and
dainty weavers unparalleled embroderers. |
All your geometrlc figures. the meander. scroll. |
honeysuckle and many others unnamed. whose |
beauty never fades, are milleniums old. She
who rocked the cradle of our race, or hung it |
on the nearest bough for the winds to rock !
who crooned the first music of tenderness. who
inscribed the history OF pristine art-forms on
soft clay. and invoked Prometheus to render it
lmperishable. she. with needle of bone and
floss from natures distsff. painfully studied
out all those lines of beauty which delight YOU
and which gave birth to the science of geome- |
try.
MANS WORK AND woMANs WORK.
In the struggle for existence and exaltation |
which takes place among many occupations, as
among individuals and species. militancy DO
longer demands all mans waking moments. |
The arts devised by women are in the ascend |
ancy, and the man militant has glorified them !
by his cooperation. Her very ancient digging !
stick Is now a pillow; her rude carrying-strap 1
over her aching forehead is now the railroad |
train; her women's boat. the ocean steamer; /
her stone hand-mill, the costly roller-mill: her
simple scraper for softening hides, the great /
tanneries and shoe factories: her distaff and /
Weft-stick. the power-loom: her clay and 4
smooth pebble. the potter's wheel; her sharp |
ened stick and bundle of hairs are all the |
apparatus of the plastic and pictorial arts 1
In all this mans work and woman's work are |
woven and intertwined like the threads of a |
beautiful tapestry, in many places undis- |
tinguishable in the vast design.
Turning the Tables