The San Francisco call., 1895-05-23

constituting of the motives OF women. The
ancient Greeks regarded their women in the
light of slaves, and unless the men of the
present day recognized intellect in
women the condition of the latter would
not be superior to that of the ancient Greek
women.
1.-THE woman of to-day" concluded Mrs.
Peet, 'is the outgrowth of ideas conceived
in the days of our Puritan fathers, and
later of those born of the American free
dom of 1776. We may be thankful that we
have advanced women among us, for to
them will we look for the elevation of the
home to higher planes"
There seemed to be no desire on the part
of those present to discuss the paper, for
the reason, as Mrs. Alice McComas stated,
that the paper was so excellent in itself
that it needed no discussion.
The Rev. Ada G. Bowles of Pomona was
announced to handle the next subject,
Home Industries-Past. Present and Fu-
ture."
:" In talking of this question of home"
she said, Z" you will see the exceeding
limits 1 am under. The idea of discussing
the home in twenty minutes-the whole
round earth of homes-is a matter of i'm
possibility. l am going to talk to you
about the old New England home as 1
knew it fifty years ago, and which, be-
lieve, is the foundation of the home of the
present in its highest and best estate, and
will be the foundation of the home of the
future by laying broad and deep those in
dustrial ideas and respect for honest
household service that must lie at the
foundation of home making.
am going to take you straight into
one OF these old New England Kitchens,
and you will notice the exceeding white
ness of the foor and the shining of the
pewter on the dresser, and you will ask
how this cleanliness was accom- plished;
and then will show You the ash-barrel
set up for the leach, and should tell you
how the four-barrel was set up
there on its stand, with hole about
sticks and straws put in; and then, all the
ashes accumulated from that beautiful
hearthstone put in there and water poured
Into the top, andIgradually coming out of
that spill at the bottom you would see
clean, honest lye and there was not bit of
any other kind of lie about it. Then with
the nice clear scrap grease saved from the
soft soap that when it filled the barrel to
the brim you could stand two-year-old
child on the top of it. With this soap and
the sand that the New England coast
provided so literally all kinds of cleanli-
ness were possible"
The shoemaker's bench in the corner,
which was such source of industry and
profit, the loom, the quilting frame, every
thing that occupied the attention of all
the family, came in for glowing and
loving description by Mrs. Bowles. The
home tailoring and weaving of rag carpets,
the spinning and the cotton cardings were
kindly remembered as all tending to the
development of that thrift which
went to build up and maintain the
pleasant home. But the time came at
last, she said, when man, audacious man,
came with his inventions and knocked the
spinning and the knitting, the tatting and
the weaving and the sewing of the women
higher than Gilderoy's kite. He even
would not let her rock her own baby, but
came along with a new-fangled machine
where all you had to do was turn the
crank, wind up some clockwork and the
cradle would be rocked for an hour.
Man even then" said Mrs. Bowles,
must have had foreboding that the time
was coming when he would have to rock
the baby while the woman went to vote,
and he was forestalling against 1t. 1t will
only be necessary to put your babies into
one of these patent cradles when you go to
vote and you will find them rocking when
you come back.
"I have only hinted," she continued, "at
what the industry of the past has done
laid the foundation for the industry out of
which come the present homes, with all
the marvellous intricacies of present house
keeping, but they are the prophecy of the
day to come when the men will still more
closely divide the care with women in the
household. The men are going to take
spring housekeeping into their own
hands"
"Amen" shouted stout, red-faced