The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-03-23
THE HIGH PLANE OF HOUSE,
HOLD DUTIES

HOLO ~ lies.
To the girls who are learning the prac-
teal lessons of every day domestic life
present conditions come as a matter of
course, while to the older women they are
revelation. You do not realize how it
is all made so much easier to you than
1T was to your mothers, and how infinite
ly easier it is than your grandmothers
ever dreamed it could be. Science has
revOutionized domestic matters, and you
are just i'll time to realize the greatest
benefits from her discoveries. knowing
this. have YOU not new respect for the
everyday things which you have been
accustomed to treat with Indifference |?
Are You so much greater and wiser than
the scholar and scientist that you can
scorn and belittle that to which he con-
siders it worth while to bring training
and education and years of thought and
study to improve.
In your hands is to lie in Il great meas
ure the unravelling of the domestic prob
lem. which for so long Il time has been
vexing the home. For some inexplicable
reason the duties which go to making
a happy and comfortable household
have fallen into disrepute; the homely
tasks which lie close ut hand are looked
upon with a dlSfavOr, and in some cases,
Il contempt which they do not deserve.
1t has been the fashion to speak Of the
routine of household matters as 'monoto-
nous. and young women have openly
scorned the assumption of them, as be-
meath the educated. cultivated woman.
There has been drifting away from the
home and its influences, and the girls
have been impatient to get out into the
world and to strike out for themselves, in
some new, untried way.
In measure this is right enough. The
TO Il hill
to become part of the working force
of the world, is natural and noble
ambition for any girl. One would not
give fig for the girl who did not want
to make Il place for herself, where she
might be recognized: who did not want
her INFLUENCE to be felt for the lettering
of the world, Only the question comes;
what is her better way. the wide road
of the outside world, or the sheltered
path about the home field.
This question every girl must answer
for herself, as the best promptings of
her inner nature suggests.
But there is one word of caution and
this question comes to be a personal
one be sure that you argue fairly with
DO not let desire stihe duty
1t is so easy to make oneself believe
that the thing which one wants to do
is the right thing to be done. Eyes and
SdlS AK Suul " Tie OlutI slut. anu De-
cause one won't hear and see, she re-
mains blind and deaf. Then, with only
one side presented, says she has 'arguei
the whole thing out"
The only way this can be done is for
every girl who has the question to set
own heart, to respect and hunor the home
side of life in its simplest relation and to
remember that the homelieSt and hum
bleSt tasks and duties become glorified
and uplifted if done in the true spirit of
service.
OF late years it has been considered
'"broadening' to look outside of the
there has been, in consequence, BELT
Ting of home duties and avocations. The
real Importance of the domestic care
taker has been overlooked and underval-
ued. Other things have assumed such
unfair proportions that there has come
1t is going to be the work of the women
of the near future. those who arc girls
now, to begin the correction OF this
standard. and to help put the science of
domestic management upon the high
plane where it belongs. Surely there can
be nothing better and nobler than to pro.
vide, the resting place for the worlds
workers, to make the home where the
children shall be taught the nobler side
of life, and where they shall be protected
and made happy until the time comes for
them to prepare either to become work
ers themselves, or to in turn make the
home for the worker
And there is one more thing to remem-
Der. and that is that, the woman or girl
who disdains household duties, and af-
fects to have no knowledge of them,
writes herself down as a vulgarian of the
most hopeless stamp, who knows nothing
of the trend Of events, and fails most sig
nally to read the signs of the times.
This is the sermon the woman might
have preached from the text, which was
of her own giving. And every word is
gospel truth.-Boston Herald.