The Portland daily press., 1892-01-18

The most conservative women cannot
if she would withdraw herself within
the shell of the old protection and prl-
vacy. The shell is not there to receive
her; laws and usages are all changed.
If she must, like the mass of women, toll
for her own support, she can no longer
stay at home and spin, for nobody wish
es the result of her spinning; she must
go out into that vast Babel known as the
labor market. If she is protected from
this necessity, the protection goes little
farther; law and custom all assume that
she should know something for herself,
should do something for others. The
married woman is no longer a feme
covert, an irresponsible agent, but IN
many respects stands alone. What we
do not always reconize is that all these
changes imply further changes, and that
every woman must adapt herself, as
Emerson said of all of us, to 1.-THE
new works of the new days"
MI. Higoinson refers to the time when
it was thought the less women knew
about business the better, and quotes
from Don Francisco Manoels hand
book, 1.-THE Government. of a Wife. \
which was translated into English in
1897, and was considered for long time
good model Of vigorous domestic dis
cipline. Manoel says: "A woman
ought to handle money with as much
caution as she would sword, OF lire. or
anything else she ought to be afraid OF.
Money in the hands of a woman is as
unbecoming as q weapon"
However, this is more consistent, says
Mr.. Higginson, then to put woman into
a state Of society where she is response
BILE for her own debts, can make her own
contracts, can transact business indie
pendently of her husband, and yet leave
her wholly ignorant of prices, stocks,
profit, and thus absolutely dependent
upon some man to do all this for her.
1t follows naturally that women must
know more. This they are rapidly find
ing out for themselves. A woman no
more than man is willing to remain
ignorant of what conduces to the best re-
suits, and given knowledge of the first
steps toward independence, will advance
as she has opportunity. Hard expert
ence and loss OF property through the
dishonesty and inefficiency of men will
show that if woman has money, or a
business, she must learn to look ont for
it herself.
WOVEN RAG RUGS.
In England rag carpets and rugs go by
the name of American work and a recent
writer says that well-known mat is not
disdained for the nursery. smoking-room
or in any lady's chamber. But under
J,o Je, 10. IN
different from the ordinary rag carpet
with its stiff bars and stripes. Cut cloth
or flannel in strips three-fourths of an
inch wide clear through the piece. Sew
these by the ends together till you have
pound, which makes large ball.
Fine heavy cloth of mems wear is cut
half an inch wide, and the finer the strips
the more they make in weaving. A
pound and aquarter ball is allowed to
make a yard of carpet a yard wide.
Allow two or three yards of bright red,
green or yellow for every six or more of
dark color, and you will have uneven
Earrings of gay color and dark.
Mix bright color with every yard of
dark stripes and the result is a mottled
ground. If you have enough of any rich
color, you may have carpet OF mat with
mottled centre and borders of deep blue
black and deep yellow, or red, black and
orange. The strips can be dyed bronze
peacock, deep red or any strong color
after they are sewed.
After the carpet is woven you may sew
the breadths together with an ingram
border, and have a mat which is nearly
indestructible, for there is no end to the
wear of rag carpet in any one generation.
No one seeing such a mat for the first
time would dream of chasing it with
humdrum rag carpets of old. The smooth
basket work surface, the rich colors vie
with those or foreign mats, and in point
of taste, weil-chosen homemade mat
will please better than the crude red and
green Turkish rugs which, in fact, are
the rag carpet of peasant homes in the
East. Let us show due respect to the
crafts of our own county, now that for
eigners have found out their merits for
us.-N. E. Farmer.
THE woMANs DEPARTMENT OF THE
EXPOSITION.
Uncommon interest has from the be-
ginning of the work been attracted to the
Woman's Department, the most notable
feature of the great fair. 1t was fortu-
nately placed under the charge of Mrs.
Potter Palmer. She is a society leader
in Chicago, where it is proudly boasted
that she would grace any court. She is
the possessor of great wealth, and was
wholly nnacquainted with public affairs
before she undertook this charge, and yet
she has taken hold of the Woman's De-
partment as Of something by the conduct
of which she may crown her life, and in
doing SO has shown the most marked
executive ability. In choosing plan for
its building. the Woman's Department
has copied one of the most admirable
designs made for the exposition. The
architect who drew the design is Miss
Sophia G. Hayden, of Boston. Mrs.
Palmer has planned a treasury of objects
illustrative of woman's work. The
exhibit will embrace a model kitchen,
modern creche, a Kindergarten and hospi-
tai with trained nurses, a notable exhi-