, 1891-09-02

ner tint is to be passed is not a home; 1t
contains nothing which has any sympa-
thy or interest for or in her; it is nothing
more thar a workshop, with this disad-
vantage, that she cannot leave it when
her work is done. Workingmen are sell
dom so situated. Men do not take their
carpenters into their homes to live.
They are not supposed to share the pri-
vacy and home life of the family, nor
are they supposed to be devoid of the
faculties that maxi them desire a social
life of their own Only the constant
presence of the household worker is de-
manded, and she is expected to be a com
plete n~onentity when not at work; she
is only considered as a working machine;
her humanness Of allowed) is ignored.
The system of engaging people by the
week or month to cook, scrub and clean
ndremain i n the house, is wrong-a mere
remnant of feudalism with zone of feu-
dalism's advantages. Ladies cannot be
blamed for not wishing to mingle their
everyday lives with strangers, and no
h~aughtiness or superiority need necessa-
rily be felt. Many people are not con-
genial to n another, and yet there is no
question of being higher or lower in the
social scale.
1t should be remembered, however,
that employees have a life to live apart
from that of their employers, and they
should be allowed time, place and OPP
p~ortunity to live it. No satisfactory set
Element of such incongruous relations
can ever be reached. If it is not prac-
ticable to hire Homework done by the
hour, as nearly all labor is now per-
formed, leaving both mistress and maid
free a part of each day, hen we must
await the time of universal cooperation,
or at least cooperation in the drudgery
of housekeeping.
But the condition of women who work
in factories is less hopeful. The situa-
ton is perplexing, and none less than
women comprehend why it is SC. The
time is not out of memory yet when
they were signing in vain for greater op-
portunities and wider fields of action.
The monotony, the narrowness, the pri-
walton and loneliness of the old secluded
homes, where women were completely
dependent and entire submission TO the
will of masculine providers was expect
ed, became uncomfortable. A devoted
class of reformers has worked unceasing-
ly to bring women out of the old,
cramped sphere, helped them up to more
freedom and greater activity, only to
find them, alasl slaves to machines and
factory bosses for a pittance a day, in
stead of drudging In circumscribed homes
for nothing at all of their OWL. Is the
little advantage worth all the troubled
Especially when women's entrance into
the many occupations of men has made
sad havoc with their work and wages?
And yet, bad and hopeless and con-
fused as it all seems, the movement is in
the right direction. Nothing perma-
nently injurious comes of freedom; it is
woman's birthright as well as mans.
When there has been time for human So
ciety to adjust itself to the marvellous
discoveries of science and the inventions
of geniuses, when the light of human in
telligence shall be turned on the social
need of mankind with the same earnest
ness and intensity it has ever been, on
his material wants. there will be found
means of squaring equal liberty with the
equal rights of all; some way by which
the earning of an honest living by man
or woman will not be the terrible task it
now is. LIZZIE NJ. HOLMES