New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-10
ERRORS IN THE HOME.
Prehistoric Squa5O Characteristics as
Preserved in the Modern Womar.

Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Gilman rarely says any
thing that accords with commonly accepted views
and her new book The Home tMcClure APs
& Coz is no exception to the rule IL ~ o"es'e
against what the author calls "school Oh ny us
and among these myths are numbered some OF inc
most cherished and least questioned ideas OF mis-
and mast times more tenacious in their hold on
the popular mind than even religious 0elets,
Let rs begin" Mrs. Gilman says. with one
esneciallv dominant domestic myth. that fondIy
cherished popular tdea-'the privacy OF the home
In the home who has privacy? Privacy means the
decent secIusion OF the individual the right 10 90
what one likes unmatched. uncTiucised. unhih-
dered Neither father. mother nor child has this
right at home. The young man setting up IN
chambers the young woman In college room or
studio. at last realize what privacy is The home
does provide privacy for the family as "A
!uulp-but It remains lump There is no privacy
OF the Individual The usual result IS the pickering
which is so destructive a feature Of family lie
Sore from too much rubbing. there Is n state OF
chronic irrtabiity in the more sensitive; caI!ous
from too much rubbing. there is state OF chronic
indifference in the moro hardy, and indtsnitles are
common in family lie which would shock and
break the bonds o. friendship or OF love, and
which would be simply inconcelvabe among polite
acquaintance The home. we know IT, does
not furnish privacy the individual rich or poor.
With the poor there IS such crowding as renders
It impossible and the rich admit TO tina most int-
mate personal association absolute strangers
strangers by birth. by class. By race by education.
utterly alien as II Is possible 70 conceive
Another devoutly believed domestic myth" Mrs.
Gilman continues is the economy OF tho home.
The economic dependence OF women upon men and
all its deadly consequences is defended because OF
our conviction that her labor In the home Is as
productive as hts out OF H. When plain financial
facts appear when economic laws explained.
It is show that domestic economy is the
wasteful department Of life. The domestic
system Of feeding, clothing and cleaning humanity
costs more time, strength and money than 1t could
NrT,cn Irn frA4 stHal
isolation. The most effort and the least result are
found where each person does all things for him
self. The least effort and the most result
found in the largest specialization and exchange.
Still another domestic myth is the beloved
dogma OF the maternal instinct The mother by
what is right for her children. But If there were
an instinct inherent In human mothers sufficient
TO enable them TO care rightly for their children.
then al human mothers would care rightly Tor
their children ID, DO they? What psGceniage OF our
What percentage are healthy? We do not even
children grow UP wise and good? ASK the
great army Of teachers and preachers who are try
ing forever and ever somewhat to improve the
world from the care Q: its inmumerabe mothers
and their instincts. The mothers OF each nation
repeat from generation TO generation the mistakes
Of their more ignorant ancestors and that the care
and education Of children have developed al all IS
que TO the in5ehgSt em0ttS OF doctofS nurses
their human brains instead OF their brute instincts.
Of all false worship which prevents US from recog-
nzing the truth this matrlolatry, this blind bow
BerOuS
Mrs. Gilmans solution Of the problem she has
proposed is one which she has offered before. but
works out now IN more detail II IS namely, TO
remove from the home a great part OF the work
which is now supposed 10 be inseparably connected
with 1.-THE preparation of food the making OF
clothes and 20 great extent the caro- and educa-
ton Of children-and TO employ the woman re-
Heved from this towering pile OF domestic duty
and household service" in gainful occupa-
ton. II is impossible. she maintains, for a
wife to do all this work for family in salts
factory manner as for a husband 10 build and
make the furnishings for his own house, and the
only way to improve the present conditions he
home is 10 bring its industries under the conditions
which have governed Industrial evolution else
where. The present system, Mrs. Gilman says
has preserved alive In the twentieth century the
prehistoric squaw At the bottom OF civilization
Untouched by the whirling centuries the primitive
woman. in the primitive home. still tolls her
primitive tasks"
And in conclusion she asks: rs II time that
the home be freed from these industries palpa-
bly, out of placs-that our homes, longer greasy
dusty workshops, but centres OF and peace
longer gorgeous places OF entertainment that
do entertain, but quiet places OF happiness:
longer costing the Iaborious lives of overworked
women, or supporting the useless lives OF idle
ones. but properly maintained by organized in
dustries. may be enjoyed by and women alike
both glad and honorable workers in easy world?i