Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1902-09-24


krkkSEsLS1k SOpening with the statement by Mrs.
| ATAVMEH Charlotte Perkins Gilman thateve
HEhvNSfN though the picture OF mother stand
Y'lkAT ing in the kitchen door is pleas
~ IHZkF o.ag one to poets it is not as pleas
ing to mother as it mi .bt be. Mrs.
Gilman says shei convinced that wives should pur-
sue occupations outside the home as their'husbands
do. She thinks that many wives who have found
unhappinoss in marriage would be less miserable if
they had outside her duties to accupy their attention
A woman disaponted0 in love "would have re-
outside her broken heart, says Mrs Gilman,
elf she could go into the busy world as the men
do" But Virginia Van de Water, writing for the
Chicago Herald, without saying whether she is a
Mrs. or Miss, opposes this idea Of outside employ.
ment for women. at least she claims that the fiji st
duty of woman is "tO home, husband and chill
dren," though she agrees that elf she still has
hours for other work, she may do as she pleases
with them" And here there naturally arises
query Can any woman who does her full d1ty to
home, husband and children find even the fraction
Of hour, il we allow anything for recreation for
outside business Occupations3
Mrs. Brady, circuit clerk in Vernon county, Mo-,
draws on her personal experience to prove that
"wOman's proper sphere is home" In the Jefferson
City Democrat Mrs. Brady declares that she is
weary of politics and that she will return to pri-
vate life at the end Of her present term. She be-
lieves that ''shOuld not dabbe in affairs of
government, and if she does not have a tribe Of
equal suragists in her back hair should be great
ly disappointed. In quoting Mrs. Brady, the Dem
OcTat agrees with her, and observes that 'f there
were more COrnelias there would be more Gracchi" j"
Still, we doubt if Mrs. Brady has proved as faith
less (Or as hOnest) as another woman writer. In
EverybOdy's Magazine, Charlotte Teller stands the
whole female sex up In line and tells them they
are failures. "WOman," she says, 'has failed in
her own peculiar sphere She has never made any
effort to change her environment by 1nventing ways
and means consequently her work Is still disOrgan-
lied and generally inefficient. II it we're not for
man hurTying to her rescue by "bringing order out
Of domestic chaos through taking the various house
hold occupations into the business world, " she
would be little further advanced than the savages
These are strong words and it will be interesting
to see how far they will bear analysis lis woman
the helpless unprOgressive factor of society that
Mrs or Miss Teller says she isl If we lsOk back
over the inventions and improvements which have
facilitated the great business OF excepting hOuse
we shall find that every one of them was the work
Of man. A man brought the stove to the kitchen
and the heating register to the parlOr. few CEN
turies ago women borrowed their brands OF fire from
more prOvident neighbOrs, and then man developed
the flint and steel into lucifer matches. Man put
away the old tallow candles, replacing them first
with kerosene lamps and then with gas or electric
ity. Man sent the spinning wheels and the hand
looms to the gaTrets. Man developed the modern
laundry and did away with most OF the trials and
tribHlatOns OF Washday. Man has taken over the
manufacture Of nearly all the clothing for the whole
Ihullly Wnei6 once lb was Q0no Dy woman. Man
even invaded the privacy Of the female wardrobe
and replaced with artistic cOrses and chemises the
denominations the women used to wear. Man
makes her furbelOWs, her hats and her gowns
Man took away her knitting needles and relegated
her crochet hook to an almost fOrgottev era. And
If there Is anything distinCtively fem left aside
from the duties Of maternity, it will require a par
ticulaTly close search in order to fnd it,
But this is aside from the discussion Of woman by
women which is the subject Of this article Mrs
or Mr.. Teller declares that ''when man stepped
over the threshold Of tbe kitchen he showed his
daring. But his excuse again was 9 valid One-it
paid him to do It. He began to can fruits and fish
In great quantities. vegetables we're grown far away
from the home Of the probable consumer and sent
either canned Grated in refrigerator cars which
had come into being with the demand for them
Prepared foods for those who must cook before go
ing OF to work in the morning, delicacies for the
epicure and health foods for those who have ac0uir
ed conscious digestion from too great cerebraliOn
were put on the market. The tendency OF all occu-
pati0ns to leave the home has never been regarded
as dangerous, yetit means that man is rObbing wOm-
an Of her sphere. He is freeing labor in the home
and calling for more OF it upon the market places
and in the factories. Woman will answer the call
and step into the industrial open with the assurance
that her presence is needed there more than in
household affairs, because man has stepped into
her place in the kitchen, the laundry and the sew
ing room. he is doing this work better than she
ever did it, because he is working on the principle
he has found to underlie good results in any trade
division Of labor and organization When he /
has undertaken q domestic problem, be has looked
It squarely in the face, and if the equipment was