The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-25
HOUSEHOLD THOUGHTS.
Masculine Curiosity Aroused by Pc
rusaI of "Woman's Page"
New York Commercial Advertiser

New York Commercial Advertiser.
Who writes those columns of home hints,
feminine fancies, kitchen talks and woman
from day to day which appear once or
twice a week in most Of our papers? The
thing needs looking into. There are signs
that these matters have latterly fallen into
the hands Of reckless and INSCRIPTIONS
persons. Cynicism and sometimes down.
right malice may be detected at the root
of much of their pretended advice, and
there is reason to suspect that many of
the contributors are young unmarried men
who have been soured by some reverse
and hate all women. One woman has
proved unkind and they take 1T out of all
the others by advising them to do things
that will get them into trouble, or by max
ing suggestions of a kind that insults their
intelligence. No class, of women in this
country is fairly represented by the aver
age woman's page Many of those hints
and suggestions imply a grade of intellect
below that of any social stratum in a mod
ern civilized community, and they are not
only an insult to the sex but sly attack
the sancity of domestic life itself.
If the hard heart of a man, her gaoler,
is touched by these things, how must a
sensitive, deicately organized woman feel
about them? 1t is possible OF course, that
mans ignorance of the techncalities
may lead him to misjudge them, and mat
tiers that seem preposterous to him may not
really be SO. But here are some of the
things that women are urged to do. The
language may have suffered in the para
phase, but it will suffice to set forth the
main points. For sciatica. take equal parts
of flour and red pepper and mix with vine
gar. Make paste and move from place to
place with the pain--advice which is at
once needless and cruel To make cranber-
ries look like cherries, first wash carefully,
then stew up the cranberries with a piece
n q M ma 10
cherries look like cranberries whip the but
ter TO cream, then add salt till you count
forty. Even supposing the plan works, what
is gained by the deceit? You hear much of
the indirection of women's ways, but not
one of them would think of this cranberry
swindle unless some man put her up to it.
Then the absolutely undesirable things
| that are recommended along with bits of
| enigmatic advice to how to do them.
| To make really good shrimp take you must
| first beat the eggs till they come to boil.
"A dainty device for fingerrbowls consists
| of pumpkins cut in two and scooped out.
| A larger half pumkin planted with pea
| cock feathers makes an appropriate center
| piece. Or insultingly self-evident things
| like: The secret of boiling cabbages so that
| they will not smell is to keep the pot-lid
| down and the windows open. Also add as
much chloride of lime as you can hold OH
| the shank of a spoon. Finally, there is the
| lurid plan OF giving dinner party for ten
| cents plate.
You seldom hear women complain of
| these things but that merely proves their
! divine patience. Then a good many who
| actually take the advice of their persecut-
| ors are ashamed to say anything about
! 1t: or else they blame themselves For the
| failure, thinking they must have overlooked
| some essential thing. Some of the Irore
| sanguine go on trying to the end of their
| wasted lives. Others stop in time and 70
with their shattered husbands into board
| lighthouses. In the meantime you can start
| a reform movement for anything else under
| the sun. You can organize societies for the
| suppression of abuses the most minute and
| FAR away. But this practice, which canKers
| the daily home life of thousands, is left to
| flourish in plain sight If ii is one-tenth as
| bad as on the face of it it appears to be- it
calls for prompt remedial action. Appar-
| emily there are persons who spend their
| entire lives in openly beguiling women into
| doing things that ought never to be done.
| or IN starting them at tasks that cannot
| possibly be carried out. If it is a hoax 1t
/ Is time 10 expose X. If malice, It should
| be mercilessly run to earth They set
| women at violent pieces of work, like LASH
| ing butter and humping white Of egg IN
the hope of results that can never ne al
1 tanned. They purposely mislead by cuanti-
| tative symbols that mean nothing ghey
| require mechanical means that do not exist,
| and they call for ingredients that are to be
| found outside a cabinet OF gassronon,ic
| curiosities. And the press gives them space
| rates for their infamy!