Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20

time and thought of an ducated and clever
young women? Let us see. eff only
housework were not so distressing in Its
details" sighs the young woman, ''or if I
only liked it betteri But as it is, it doesn't
seem worth my while. I hate brooms, and
pots, and kettles, and my fingers crawl at
the thought of dish cloth and besides, ID
seems to me that ought to put my time to
better use, that ought to be improving my
mind"
Indictments Discussed Seriatim.
So here is her Indictment against house,
work. First, that it is unpleasant. So it
is; it is very unpleasant. To deny that
would be a waste of time to say nothing Of
its being nonsense. But have you never
stopped to consider that the details of most
work are unpleasant? The details of q
physicians work are unpleasant in the ex-
treme. Tine lawyers life is a hard grind
after petty facts; the teacher gets little fun
out of disciplining youngsters and drilling
at the third person singular of the German
verb, until the class nicknames her ''Ths
Third Person Singular" Nobody's life is
fun, young woman. If you're taking your
stand on that foot, just SHIFT over to the
other. Living is pretty serious business,
and all we've got to do is to make the best
of it. And the details of living are sure to
be undignifed and uninteresting.
The second Indictment that this young
woman draws up is that she doesn't like it.
Of course she doesn't. What woman does?
Suppose you don't like them? 1t isn't
likely that your mother likes them. But
she has done them for years and is still
doing them, because there's no one else.
Do them, and do them well and heartily,
but don't insist upon liking them. To like
the results of them is all that you will find
necessary. A happy atmosphere in the
home, more comfort for all the family, anew
appreciation of your own dignity and worth
in the family-these are some of the ends.
And these should keep you working, be-
cause, indeed, they are worth having. There
is dignity, but it is in you-not in your
work. No work is dignifed, except the
worker makes it so, and the dignity in the
worker comes from a realization OF the
moral qualities that go into work.
The Coming Estimate of Work.
There are many wise and helpful people
in the world who sincerely believe that we
are going to have within the next few gen.
erations a new estimate of the worth of
work-an estimate based not upon the
amount of money piece of work is worth,
not upon the seeming Importance it bears to
the world, but upon the conscientious spirit
which goes into the work. When, for e1-
ample, we shall honor the man and the SER
vice of him who laws a stone wall just as
well as a stone wall can be laid, quite as
much as we shall honor the man who stands
at the head of nation or leads armies to
victory.
If that day ever comes. it will be the day
in which housework and the houseworker
will have their innings. Because there is
no work in all the world that has such .
deep spiritual significance, such bearing
upon the welfaring of the world. There is
no question that good housekeeping will
not help to settle. How can You expect
man to entertain sane opinions on matters
that deal with women's welfare when he
puts contempt for her into his mouth with
every bit of unwholesome, soddel bread
that he eats?
And so, you see, we come to the last in
dictment which you draw up-that it isn't
worth your while that you ought to be sim
proving YOUR mind NV dear young
woman. don't get any such inflted ideas as
these into your head. If you don't lind
plenty of chances for rmind-imnrovement in
the exigencies and emergencies of house.
work, YOU won't find them i'll books, or in
music, or in painting.
Plenty of Mental op,ortun;'i-
You'll get more chemistry in one days
thoughtful prowling about the cooking
stove than you are likely to have got ont
of school books. You'll find more physics
in the plumbers pipe than you id in the
big book you carTisil in to class 90 faithfully
every dav. You'll find human ra'ure rlors
interesting and more natural in your kitchen
than in your novels. Don't worry about
your mind. 1. can take care of itself, and
will grow without anxious feeding, ii it's
anv kind of mind st all.
And suppose you take into consideration
your duty to somebody else besides YOUR
self. That counts because there really is
such an an old-fasEion ID thing in the world,
for all this pew-fashioned thought of ours,
as our duty to others. The family income
is small, the service is small, and there is
plenty OF work for young, strong arms to DO.
Then shame be unto your young, strong
self if you take no share in it; if you keep
laying the burden of your living on the
shoulders of your tired, willing mother
And if the education which you've been
years in getting has done anything for
YOU, let it show in ability to make the |,
hard way of work smoother and easier in
the house. 1t isn't beneath the dignity 9TH
IN educated young woman. Do you know
hat nearly all the cultivated. keen, think
ing women of this country are famous houe-
keepers and pride themselves a deal more
IN their bread than they do on their brains?