Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-04

| faVOrite topic Oh ldte WIN iSS'"i
ers 1T wonens club meetings mas peei'
the relative position OF men ana W.
men in business lite ana their Wase
learning capacity. The gra'ldiiio,hei
of these lecturers never thought u
lbroaching such topics at sewing Dees
land quilting parties for the reason tii''C
the al fashioned woman was not con-
jsnicuous i'm tie business world. Wher.
for instance, b. J.. Hamilton, OF Saco'
Ne IN 1854. hired two women clerks 10
Iwaif or the customers in his dry goods
lstore the town almost threw nts. for
Ia tima the store, the proprietor ana IN"
clerks were boycOttcd.
| In that not very distant day women
| clerks in stores were practically un-
known. and the community evidently
| ,oeanteS their introduCtion-at least the
| , onmcnity Of Maine did. To-Day the
woman clerk abOunds in almost every
state i'm the Union and the country is
entirely complacent.
| Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait, president
of III. National Suffrage Association,
| in commenting on this story remarked
that il was significant of the change
| in industrial conditions as relating to
men and women in the last half CEN
Itury and of the changes which might
take place in the next fifty years.
Mrs. Gait, by til" way, vas quoted III
print the other day as declaring before
q meeting of Jersey City club women.
that man was being crowded out by
woman. When confronted with this
rcpor; she said she didn't mean to con-
| vcy exactly that idea.
| "Po5sibly," sand she. "thc reported
statement was the outcome Of a story
| I told that day. Here is the story:
| Il WAS dining one day At the house
Of the president Of q well known col
Ieee. Several Of his professors were
among the guests. Tie dinner was so
good that ! could not help congratulate
| Ing my host on the possession Of so
good a cook, whereupon h" said:
| ~ have mad a man cook for 4 num-
Der of years and he is Il treasure He
added: The lady who just left the
table is his WIFE. She is Il professor Of
IGrcck in Tie college
| Il meant this story to illustrate, as
il does think. the fact that if woman
IS invading certain avenues Of employ
mcnt formerly occupied solely by man.
man, on the other hand. has taken
lHNay iIbl1i NblihllI ii'tIlN VI tii'- pSSu
nations once considered peculiarly her
Town.
| Man has taken occupations ont OF
the home ana put them into factories,
land work in the home is becoming
more and more specialized. In the old
days women made not only the clothes
they and their husbands and children
| wore, but to some extent the fabrics
| represented in the clothes. In these
days, On the other hand. even bread.
| cake, pickles and pies are bought out
side OF the home.
The very pleasures of the old-time
woman offered more chances to work.
| When she went visiting she took her
knitting or her sewing along; when
visitors dropped in on her she never
| dreamed of entertaining them while her
hands remained die. Husking bees
and quilting sociables also meant NOR
| work Tor the hands.
| The housewife of centu'y Ego had
little or no leisure. 4 circumstance
| which accounts largely for the wage
| earning desire of so many married NO.
| men OF today, and for this "easnn:
| The old-fa shioned woman was eco
! nomically indcreudent. I don't mean
in actual money, for often there was
very little ready cash in the family
| treasury for any ono to handle. In the
| DAYS when there We're small farms up
| around F'ifty-nir.th street, Manhattan
| farm products We're oftencr exchanged
for other household commodities than
for dollars and cents.
| "Althoueh the married woman was
| not legally INDEPENDENT she YVES eco
nomiCally independent She was self
supporting, or felt that she was, know
| ing that She worked just as hard from
| morning till night, often harder, than
her husband.
Nov things arc different. a mar
ried woman may fiji IN her time. may
keep busy with cards and clubs and
| charities, ana by lacking 4 few more
iurbeloWS and frillS TO her bOnnrts and
gowns. but really SIZE represents Il lei
sure class.
''Ou account of the specialization of
work and taking crrtaiu Industries out
Of the home into ;he factory, ii would
seem that by a natural order Of cvo-
luton the only Why left Tor married
women to aciiev" economic indepcn-
| dencc is To seek it in paid fields of
work"
How about the woman who mas
chil'lren"' Mrs. Gait WAS asked.
| We'll. having childrGl might lessen
her feeling of Dependence. but even 50
| il is :, question whether children would
| not he better off If brought up by
specialists. 1t is believed that not one
| woman in lG0.600 ever gives Scientifia
| study TO the proper way Of bringing up
| children.
Most mothers 80 entirely by in
| Stinct rather than by knowledge
Eventually il may come about that
children will he brought ur by special
! lists, in which ease The mothers hands
| would be free"
DO YOU think that one woman in
fifty yearns for economic indepen-
| denCe?'
| Every married woman. | think has
this warming. but as yet the proportion
| who yearn for hard work may not be
very large. Yes, that is one of wo-
| mans little Inconsistencies; and have
known some men who " ra n ffected in