Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-02-18


too sweeping to say women, & women
generally apt to complain contin-
ually of lack of time when, as man is
in the habit of putting it, they show no
knowledge of how to deal with it. The
old proverb asserts that time and tide
wait for no man, which need not be
told. But many woman appears to be-
lieve, judging from her conduct, that
they will wait for her. She is fond of
declaring that her work is never done,
which is true enough. There is perpet-
ual evidence of this in the usual spheres
of her occupation. She is confident,
continues man, that this is because she
is overburdened; that her tasks are too
many and too onerous to be performed
in any allotted time. She is convinced
that she does all that any one could do
under the circumstances; that the fault
of incompleteness rests not with her as
a woman, but with the injustice and in
considerateness visited upon her sex.
Almost any man who has seen much
Of women, who has observed them care
fully, thinks that he can perceive why
their tasks are SO seldom finished; why
their days employment, whatever it be,
is without end. They won't accept his
opinion as decisive Why should they,
indeed, when many of them declare that
he does not understand and is not capa-
BILE of understanding them? Still, he
has right to express his opinion. 1t is
plausible, and not few women-of the
exceptional sort perhaps-sustain him
in it. He maintains that women fail to
accomplish what they undertake because
they do not adhere to any one thing till
it is done, but fly off to a number of
things which SO divide their attention
that nothing is concluded.
When woman refers to her work,
she usually means household work-to
what is comprised under the general
name of household duties, not drudgery
in the kitchen, but superintendent Of
servants and keeping of the home. These
she combines naturally, inevitably,
with her social obligations, and between
the two she is very apt to be balked of
entire success in either.
On rising she arranges her programme
for the day. She intends to look after a
variety of odds and ends that have ac-
cumulated and worried her They must
be disposed of to insure peace of mind.
She will remain indoors infexibly. She
will not be tempted into making or re-
ceiving visits. She will deny herself to
all or to any one who may come. That
unfulflled requirement shall torment
her no longer. She begins very well and
continues without interruption for an
hour or two.
Then the doorbell rings. The maid
brings in the card of Mrs. Furbel, who
wishes to see her particularly for few
minutes only. Mrs. Furbel is an or
dinary acquaintance. She has no claim
on her or her consideration. She tells
her maid that she is engaged, and the
maid is about to depart with the mes
sage. She recalls it suddenly, remem-
bering that Mrs. Furbel lives at a dis
tance and may have made great effort
to come. She won't stay. She has spe-
cially said SO. Mrs Furbel greets her as
she descends to the drawing room with
extraordinary warmth and many COM
pliments, which win her favor She
does not learn what Mrs. Furbel's par
ticular errand is. The talk begins with
rambling commonplaces, spiced with a
plentiful supply of gossip, and SO con-
tinues without material change The
sole particularly is concerning the va
rious persons-common acquaintances-
under rowing discussion. The "few
minutes only extend beyond an hour
and half, when Mrs. Furbel withdraws,
asking indulgence for remaining so
much longer than she had intended.
Her very dear friend-as she has called
her-returns to her intermitted work,
and, finding lunch nearly ready, post
pones it till after that meal. Then an
other caller is announced, .sS | the day
after her departure is too fl advanced
to render resumption of her task advis-
able
The next day the odds and ends shall
be religiously attended to. Nothing
shall be allowed to interfere with them
absolutely nothing. The mistress of the
house attacks them promptly and eff
GENTLY as soon as breakfast is over. She
is confident her much deferred task will
unquestionably be terminated, when a
letter is handed her. mo leisure for
correspondence now," she determinedly
asserts, laying the missive aside. In
moment she relents. "It is from one of
my admirations, she adds II will at
least glance at it. :" She reads the first
few sentences and her resolution is
overcome. She reads and re-reads the
whole. The letter is so delightful she
can't refrain from acknowledging it in
a few words. Once begun, the fatal
feminine facility is aroused. She cannot
stop. She covers page after page She is
intoxicated with expression. Pausing at
last from sheer fatigue, she can t go back
to the odds and ends.
All this is true of many women. But
is it true of the sex? What has been
cited evinces not that women are in
capable of continuous, systematic occu-
patton, but that they are impulsive,
overamiable, always sympathetic, not
hardened, as man is, by rigorous cult
vation of practically Out Of the house
hold, away from domesticity, engaged
in masculine pursuits, as vast numbers
In every large city now are, is there any
distinctive difference between their
work and mans S? It must be admitted
in all fairness that there is not. House
hold affairs are necessarily intermina-
BILE, distracting, often interrupted, de-
faint of order. They can hardly be made
subservient to method or regulation. Set
a woman to man s work, and she will
do it like man. Set man to woman's
work, and he would not, he could not,
do it at all. JUNIUs HENRI BROWNE.
Generous Miss Artz.
Miss Victorine Thamas Artz, the Chi
cago woman who gave $4,000 to the
Boston Public library for the purpose of
forming a Longfellow memorial collec-
tion, never made her home in this city,
nor even visited here Chicago knows
scarcely more of Miss Artz, although
she has dwelt there all her life She is
hermit Of her own wish, seemingly
has no intimate friends, and scarcely a
dozen persons, including servants, have
ever seen her face in the Metropolitan
hotel, where she has lived for three
years. Boston Transcript
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps relates that
once, when Longfellow was visiting her
at her Gloucester home, she pointed out