The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-15
Ellen HI. Richards, Instructor
 in Sanitary Chemistry


 In London is the largest employment
 agency forewpmen to be found anywhere
 the Central Labor Bureau. It's onicers
 have had so much experience in 1roing Iplaces for twbnnen. seeking employment
 that they have lately published pampn.
 let which they hope will be helpful 10 tha'
 ever increasing portion of the femnlne
 sex which must earn. money. The wnoie
 matter of women, s work is summed up
 in the following sentence: "Over the
 whole. range of the special work of women
 there is room for really Askilled labor by
 those who are, ready itozpe useful ana
 forget to be hne." That is 1t in nut
 she'll Let us be useful, no matter Wnetn-
 CT we are fine or, not.
 In the new time which ,some now living
 win certainly see it win be possible Tor
 a woman! to be -usefuE and fine, too:
 Housework is being liftsd from the plane
 of inehial labor to that of science and art;
 The time is coming when the houseKeep-
 CT must be ia skilled 4eanitarian and
 food chemist. She will have her diploma
 for perfect practical Knowledge of house.
 work. and she will be- as much respected
 socially as the woman worker in any
 other department of life, no matter what
 it is. Even now in Acittes are schools or
 housekeeping which, the green, raw girl
 may attend for "a sfven~ time andi receive
 a diploma for efficiency as laundress,
 head cook or housekeeper. In some inr
 stances young. men are taking tnese
 worker gets better pay than the aver
 age clerk In evfryr case the graduate in
 practical household economies obtains inn
 mediate work at wages that many
 school teacher would be glad to get. It is quite true also that the graduate kitcn- en worker already receives sociaI con
 siderations thAt' never could have been
 accorded to the ignorant, untidy house. girl
 We are coming back to the ideals of Solomon's wise woman, who was skhi- ed domestic economist working with her hands, and whose social standing was thereby considerable enhanced. That this is true is due to the good, hard sense oI
 women themselves who laid hold or the household problem and are working 1t out successfully. Prominent among them-foremost indeed in America in the adaptation of practical science to daily life-is Mrs. Ellen H. Richafds, now for nearly twenty years instructor in sanitary chemistry in the Massachusetts, Institute of Technology at Boston. Mrs. Richards, then Miss Ellen Henrietta Swallow, was the first woman to De graduated from the Tech" as 1t is known in Boston. This was in 1873, and she has been identified with the institute nearly ever since. She was born in Dun stable, Mass, and her father and mother before her were both teachers. Coming of long line of Puritan mothers, she was one who had to do. things. She had an excellent primary training in country schools, when these were at their best. She continued her education in private academies, next taking course in com merciaI school.
 II What next? Well, after that she en- tered Vassar college and was graduated from it in 1870. Still she had not knowl- edge enough. She went from Vassar to the Massachusetts Institute of Techno- N logys While yet a student at the insti- II ute she began the chemical analysis of \ drinking waters She was employed in Il this task by the Massachusetts State ' Board of Health, also by private firms andtindividuals This was the commence ment of her practical work as sanitary \ chemist. In 1876 she was made instructor in fine woman's laboratory connected with the Tech" This post she held till 1884 That year the department of sanitary chemistry was established in the insti- tute.: The head of the womans laboratory was made instructor in the new depart ment, and there she has been ever since giving herself with splendid enthusiasm to her work, which she loves.
 Meantime. as an episode in her busy careet Miss Swallow in 1875 was mar ' ried to Robert Hallowell Richards, pro- lessor of mining and metallurgy in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Il Thus she added the duties of practical N housewife to her abstract scientific at tainments Professor Robert H. is as &C., # complished in his way as Professor Ellen
 H. is in hers. The laboratory of mining # engineering and. metallurgy of the Tech has been developed under his direction He is the inventor of useful devices in v Laboratories and mines. These two we'd ded scientists. interested in chemical and
 physical work, remind one of that other N famous married scientific pair in France, \ Dr. and Mime. Curie. -.- There are yet other episodes in Mrs # Richards career. For twelve years she
 was chemist to a manufacturers fire in-
 surance company. During that time she made original researches on spontaneous A combustion. An investigation of oils was H also part of her work while chemist for
 the insurance company. Wool grease was & enc of the oils analysed by her, and her
 discoveries along this line led to the
 adoption of valuable plan for extracting the grease from wool. Whatever she has 4 done is of use to the world.
 Long ago she won the reputation of a
 specialist in water analysis. She is now # floods and drinks. She organized the fa-
 nous New England kitchen scheme
 founded to furnish poor families with
 cooked food at moderate prices, also tc
 teach the women of such families to pre-