The San Francisco call., 1895-05-23
THE AFTERNOON SESSION.
Able Papers and interesting Dis
cussions on the Home In All
Its Relations.

cussions on the Home In All
Its Relations.
The first paper of the afternoon-'tDo-
J mestic Duties,'' written by Mrs. Harriet
w. r. Strong, was read by Mrs. Humphrey
Smith, as the author was absent. with
universal consent man sustains four dis
tinct relations" she said, s'first to God
second to himself, third to things animate
and inanimate, and fourth to his kind.
There are two chief questions to be
answered. What are the obligations to the
home and what are the duties of the
mother? Are there any obligations of the
home enforced by law? Two. The hus-
band is required to provide home and s.
living for the wife. Hence it becomes a
necessity for the husband, if he wishes to
keep his wife and preserve the harmony OF
the home TO provide the partner of his
Joys ana sorrows with those things which
she most Graves. If she becomes dissatis-
ned she can leave that home and husband.
The law gives the children to the father.
"A woman should be familiar with her
husbands business. 1t enlarges her views
ana makes her much better partner.
She should constitute herself as advisory
board. The husband gives his wife so
tnucn money TO carry on the household
expenses. Ii she is a careful wife she will
save 10 cents out of each dollar for her pri-
Vate bank account, and he from time to
The ideal home, therefore, will become the
rule, instead of the exception, when the
wife and mother becomes more enlight-
ened and is fully impressed with the grand
responsibility devolving on her. It is the
duty of the true wife to preserve the home
which her husband has established. There
are no laws to protect the home, and there
Will not be until the jury system is changed
therefore. the responsibilities of the wife
are SO much greater.
"Self-control is more necessary on the
part of the dutiful wife and mother than
self-sacrifice. All duty and right of obli-
cation comes from good itself and the idea
OF order. The home Is the center from
which all things radiate"
Mrs. Duncan said if this paper should
become true she would like to know what
would become of the silly Jokes about the
inability OF women to make a home
Mrs. Cooper replied that they would
Nanl like the dew before the sun.
Mrs. Gregory said that the ignorance of
business was the principal stumbling block
IN the way of women's development. She
Thought it was the duty of the husbands,
: brothers and fathers to teach the women
finance and business.
Mrs. Fairchild spoke on the same line.
1t is time if the women knew anything
about the money question to let the world
know it.
Mrs Sullivan thought economy was the
basis of women's business knowledge. As
TO suffrage. she thought the women should
Ind out about their taxes before they try
10 vote and let the men see that they know
what they are talking about. In conclu-
sion she spoke about the necessity for a
universal divorce law.
Miss Severance said that if universal
divorce law was needed, we had better get
. q universal marriage law first.
Jack of All Trades and Mistresses of
None" was the subject OF Mrs. Lowell
rfnf .kt Al
among men," she said, that woman is
incapable OF business, because her judg-
ments are more the result of her emotions
than of thought. All that man has done,
and more, women might have accom-
plished, except for the too great diversity
of education and variety of duty. When
Abel worked it is probable that he rested
on Sunday, and had time to think how he
might get two blades of grass TO grow in
place of one. But women do not have
that time. Their work is incessant. In
olden times leisure for women was almost
forbidden.
1--WE now come to the money question.
She must know the prices of all household
commodities, and her buying for the
household must not only be with reference
to economy but also to the tastes Of the
members of her family. Every woman is
brought up in the belief that at some time
in life she will adorn some mans house.
She lives in the expectation of some day
being borne away willing vlctlm-as
bride-to adorn a home and entertain.
But if she lives long enough she viii see
how far out of the way were her ideas Of
wifely duties. Instead of finding that she
has nothing to do but adorn parlor and
entertain her husband when he comes
home she learns that on her devolve
sterner and graver duties-duties reQu1r-
ing preparation that she has not had or
possibly given any thought. The differ
pnca hotWePrl the woman nnDrenareQ and
the one who has prepared herself for the
changed position which matrimony brings
with it is understood by all. When
woman becomes self-sustaining and do not
regard marriage as the event of life, but
merely an incident of life, then will she
not disown the criticism that she is a
lack of all trades and mistress of none. y"
The usual ten-minute discussion then
followed.
''It is not SO much fixity of purpose as
continuity of purpose which women need, :"
said Mrs. Gregory. women who have
leisure havesas great an inventive ingenuity
as men. The great sweeping machines in
New York, the device used to decrease the
noise of the elevated railway in New York
and the best car coupler used were all the
tinuity of purpose and opportunity"
Mrs. Sarah Pratt Carr said that women
themselves were to blame for many of the
perplexities of household duties. Most
husbands would prefer that there were less
complications and not the great multi
plicity of duties But women are them
selves alone to blame for much of which
they complain.
Mrs. Eliza A. Orr then read a paper
"Home or Workshop" She said: ''The
term impliSs two different places, but they
are one. The first definite relationship
= of humankind was mother and child.
The primitive human mother followed the
example of the animal mother in trying to
preserve the life of her offspring. Her
duties were ever at home looking after the
children and the comfort of the family.
In the course of evolution the home
means much more now than mere place
of shelter. In reading evolution backward
we see how the Inventions which have
been evolved for the needs of women In
her sphere as the mother of the race are
being used to administer to the comforts
of mankind at large. Housekeeping under
the present condition of affairs is burden.
This is due to the misconceptlon existing
as to the needs of the household. 1t is the
popular fallacy that any woman, simply
because she is a woman, is instinctively