Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-07-02
THE WOMEN OF THE NEW ERA.
Specialization in Self Culture Underlies
Modern Civilization.

Specialization in self-culture or in di-
rect labor is the basis principle which
underlies the modern life Cor woman.
We recognize that there has been grad
ual upheaval in woman's scheme of liy-
ing until evolving from the abnormal
stage, she has attained to i normal place
in the social economy That club life
has been actively concerned in this re-
adjustment must be conceded. 1t is like
wise true that an equal allotment of
encomium and opprobrium is due this
means to an end"
Club life has been an efficient motto. in
reversing the status of woman. especially
/ in the south, and during the transition
period clubs were inevitably held resron-
sible for tiagrant abuses of the home and
family life. In no other section had the
position Of woman been SO firmly fixed
by tradition and custom as in the south.
She was the hOmemaker, the home
keeper Tin the passive senSel, to be
shielded by man from contact with prac-
teal participation in the vital affairs of
ilfe. Ottentimes this relationship proved
tallaciouS, hut it paved the way for final
equation. Enchanted with the new slim
uius To slip the sheath of mental leth-
argy, the southern woman entered upon
M orgy of clubs. Not one nor two. nor
SIX. was always the limit of her club
membership. There resulted satiety-a
reversal of the lever of enthusiasm. Now
we approximate the ideal club woman
She who. having learned her limitations,
hndS her niche in the universal economy
The stage of reStleSsness and exaggera-
ton has passed.
After tioundering in an apparently linn
itleSs sea of literary inconseauenee. pre-
senting papers on topics which had never
touched the outerm0ST rim of her mental
horIZon, debating an assortment Of
themes which would appall an IL. D..
woman has at last graSped the idea of
specialization. She is no longer fana tie
IN the expenditure of her upbu;tled ener-
SieS She is seeking her own specific tai
eAt or work in the home or abroad. fol-
loving a single bent, strengthening the
faculty that counts. The literary club
was pionecr-the picket or sharpshooter
which blazed the way for its followers,
me art club. the music club the history
cub the philanthropc and reform club,
the mothers club, the civic club, the
business woman'S club. the working girls
specialization.
These hurgcon now in the South where
Tor decades the word Club carried for
definition convivial. masculine, unrefined,
non-eNclusive - all opposed 10 the in
grained teuetS of Southern tradition. The
plnerence between wOman'S attitude
toward the club ten years ago and her
attitude toward the club today is the
difference between the alopathic and the
homeopathic schools of medicine - the
possibility of injury. the impossibility OF
injury
CARLYLE said Thou canst not know
myself but find thv work
and do it." Has not the club been the
most active factor in bringing about this
contamination for woman? The school,
the shop, the Office, where she has esrab-
hSbed herself with ross ot neither self
respect nor social standing. bear witness
70 the value Of altruiSm. specialization,
n2ivi1ualiSm.
Woman has found her work. and is
doing il. Annie Booth Mckinney in
Wumau'S Home Compan'ar