Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-05
WOMEN GOING WRONG
The Wirepulling and Bickering Of
the Modern Clubs Destroy
MORAL AND PHYSICAL BEAUTY.
Our Mothers Of Fifty Years Ago Had Better
Ideas and Customs.
HONESTY NECESSARY IN BUSINESS

| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH,l
Fifty } ears ago the American woman wh'
had in the morning set her house in ordel
with her own hands, on Saturday afternoon
sat down to her modicum of intellectual
culture In many cases this took the form
of Sunday school lesson or religious read
ing If her mind was quick enough tt
crave expression it found vent in long let
ters on huge folio paper closely written a!
lines could go, full of gossip and observa
tion we'll worth the % cent postage of those
days; or the lady kept journal, which had
the advantage over the forms of literary ex
| ercise to-day that it was not meant for pub
| lie perusal, at least until the writer's death
| Therein it was unlike club essay or the
newspaper efforts of our own, whose writers
| determine that the public shall be theil
schoolmasters, if not the nursemaids of thei,
literary ambitions.
During the week probably two-thirds Of
the woman of this country had done theil
own washing in an extremely neat manner,
ironed the snowy fresh bundles of clothes
and polished their houses with their own
hands, giving themselves an amount of ex-
ercise which called every muscle into play
more vigorously than any modern gymna-
stun. Their social aspirations were satisfied
with keeping their families neatly clad, well
turned out in public and their homes in the
incest condition.
The Women We're Good Cooks.
Good cookery was common, as French
visitors of note rem arked, and conversation
was pleasant and pointed. The two things
are apt to flourish together. Ladies of old
times were good gardeners, the old white
climbing rose, the sweetbriar, the English
violets growing wild in many New Eng
land neighborhood proving their TASTE They
had games of battledore and skipping rope,
the last, in spite of the censure it finds, Civ
ing the most elastic figures. I remember
well when sylphlike girls Of 1S and 90,
with school teachers yet older, amused
themselves regularly with the game, a
dozen running around in circle and jump
ing the rope as they came to it without
stopping, one after the other. 1t was
pretty game and left pretty color on soft
faces, and knit supple figures into strength.
The girls whose mothers were afraid to
have them jump the rope always were deli
cate and suffered from the very weaknesses
jumping was supposed to entail.
S SUmed nedn.d y, mnEm I WIZ ~efT T nos
nusSio anG uneI %y ~ any I Ane!
5eau 1 Ea.ln 1 J anu rienul .t Il no' t1allan, anu
th an dnu ap.a;.t;o', p; III, ~ =. TI
,-aua .n"m 'me - ar' sc t, ~ Soi;yt. Jny
Longfellow and Frances Sargent's poetry,
and read Byron, or their lovers read "Childe
Harold" to them. For lighter reading they
had Grdham's Magazine, Sdrtain's and Put
ndm's, which nourished a very fair critical
y. a. k1;sh "IG 80 qIati a. aIs "' AD'0n
r. s..,-a.n; :. .has1o.. lie .s .L.
IL Sa'Iy ~ a. 40. ds,h. la, " t,ie .I Ien-
luly, anu NJ" oo Tl Ilo uSuS 1U VI tiese
nc not oDsolste ny any MEANS anu its PlePara-
tlon Entails an anoun. VI enor' winch IN
many 1rses TS Is onI oo.UTMe C.I III u the mnoIe
MeeA ny .Le nJao uu, ,hI ohI oiass as mee
ing aS ene tIaonei nou1e meeAy, 'n1 VISIT
ing oI scnoIars, Wti'ins le.sefs 81. W eacn Meeh
Dy %eeA, eue 'I!P III sown W 1ne nanlnotn maj M
nlDle ciass VIII lts iec!urers anu Pano-
Ja s,hne1 .nG nnnrant;"o ~ ~ " ~ Sun az
uay Ion0Vr ~ 1t" az ,1'S, tnaS es ~ $500 y, sne
ahsnshinr az amount of daTnt;on srnsn4sd IGus hs
tb;s oap '' % '''''n 'Ape'''o "
'n1s Idsea e. J.;, =. cud, .h.,1 ,-
far ehoI1aS oIn on frono 10y sTIoO. o.hor s"o;a1
l,xx. of =, nIl
uu1y, especially I u als'as.elii 1 1atuls' | Oiu
PeoPie ale ien' tI snuOeeu anu ne
teI.su, petaLse i .ne !dvs 90 VI shen nouse-
nolds are 5aken up WIN the worhs OF Plous
creult, aau nuncleo cnances 70 uo gooo
are tro9ueh unoellooI pecaIse the eyes are
SO SO nAeu Oh tne routihe Vi seil-lnPoseo ou9y.
Lnere .1a are essays 70 oe "fis.in daJ iot anu Dy
tau.st anu Tha as n 70 secure
won1d f;nd some of the methods of secnr;5o
interest more than questionable.
Contrivances of Modern Pietv.
c.. .h.1 :, cL;o
s "a issien o 'anu"y ~. schoi mas Oicaso an-
lounceu lol hs ouneay aIoiuoon Pro-
sranme sucn entertalIme1's az q iemaie
,IrneI Piayef ano rh uu'Sanu S, anu WIG WHO
|" "nlsIleu uIe". ine tenalT 'emPerance
ecturer Is tne caro that usually draws, tne
,uliosi.y pelng n6s siat III sne 1h SPEAKS SO wel
,uI lnat sne T sPeahs at az nke ths monkey
:aI fatLlng. tIe pieIy VI so-uay iyaus I'sen
y i'n :I;,:Io nlan. ar pui O.
Ie respohsloii'es VI oustnesS houses, pu'
sueie lensUn rs Gus " tne queS'ion'
'asuiuay I As ;Ie uay y,i9 i9i o. outuGod sdmes
a uozen sHLs .oa.u @ nOS nhu tn:seves
a nH liz =, sndt apad;toto ~ ngt ehG and dr;aS ~.
ay. An - Premeu:.aeu, Gu. auu ulieu.
ne nIie hu1s oI q 'on.ia oiGo, ui an dieuey
lep. 10 pay iol Pr1es' ilhe tnat h1lch Is
flVlng its STAKES unuer NY OWN Wihoo" 10,
ay, 10 tne oemolitlon Oh an privacy ana
uiet. Wly, Will acres oi snaueo, unoGcu.
Ieu siouhu aIout, !: was st necessary so W Piaht
le 'ennts c,uu mi' ILL ..;1i Lees VI ci.ilen