The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-02
BY MRS. GAIT.

 |tcopyrighted. 1908, by Joseph B, Bowles.)
 fMrs. Carrie Chapman-catt has been well known as president of the Nation al American Woman Suffrage associa. tion. Her untiring efforts on behalf of women have brought her rapidly to the front so that within the last few years she has come to be recognized as one of the most prominent and sue cessful workers forN the advancement of her sex)
 study of the stupendous move ment of progress in the last century cannot fail to thrill the student with wonder and admiration and to con vince him anew that there Is "di- vinity which shapes our ends" No changes accomplished in that wonder full hundred years are more permanent or far-reaching in effect than those in the industrial status of women and none demonstrates more clearly that the indirect results of great movements may sometimes equal direct results in importance and helpfullness. There was never a distince movement to ex- tend industrial opportunity to women. It came instead as the unpredicted but inevitable result of two parallel lines , of progress. apparently quite unrelated to each other.
 One Of these was the remarkable commercial evolution of the last cen tury, initialed and developed by a suc- l cession of inventions which revolu- | tionized methods of manufacture and l gradually replaced household indus tries by factory products; the other is we'll known as the woman movement | At the beginning of the century money was scarce and hard to get. l The main problem of every family was | fa fe uuifh I use Of money. Thrifty households | solved 1t very satisfactorily by creat- ing nearly every product consumed. As Agricultural furnished the chief source of income of a majority of the people of the United States 1t was matter of comparative ease to bring the fam- fly needs within the possibilities of it's own production. In those days of simplicity wheat and corn were ground into flour and meal at tbe village miil. the miller keeping portion by way of toll or pay. Butter and cheese were made in nearly every home. Meat was provided by the butchering of animals reared by the family for the express purpose, and system of exchange with neighbors made possible a com tinued fresh supply. Tea and sugar were practically the only articles to be purchased at the store" Many fam lilies used maple sugar only, which
 
 by exchange. The history of the ev- olution demonstrated that housewives upon occasion could content themselves with herb tea" and undoubtedly the less prosperous continued to use 1t whenever money was not forthcoming to purchase the real article. In these simple ways, nearly every family was enabled to provide it's own table with all the necessities and many comforts without the use of money.
 1 The family clothing was likewise provided by home industry. All farm CTS and many villagers had their patch of flax, which the skilled fingers of the housewife turned into snowy linen and then fashioned into undergarments for the family. bedclothing and table linen. !. Nearly every family raised few sheep as well. and the housewife wove the wool into cloth which she manufac- tured into outer garments for the whole family. The average woman not only made her own clothes but all those of her husband and children. The woman spun wool as well, and the gentle click of their needles was the inevitable accompaniment to con- versation as they knitted 1t into stockings. mittens. hoods and wraps. During the year the village shoe maker visited the family and manu- factured shoes for all members the skins of animals killed for meat hav- ing been preserved and tanned for his use.
 In the spring the women made soft soap" from scraps of grease &C., cumilated during the winter, reducing it with lye made from wood ashes; and in the fall they manufactured ! starch from potatoes, and thus sup piled the needs of the laundry. They made "tal1ow dips which served as the only lights most families had. A 1 comfortable substitute for matches was found in the homemade paper lighters. Beds were supplied with generous feather beds and pillows filled with feathers plucked from the family geese. The covers were often elaborately and skillfully 'pieced'' with bits of cloth. and the qulltinSs were among the most popular social func- tions of the day. The few needs of the family which could not be supplied by home labor were satisfied by the ex- change of farm products. It was in this way the subscription to the coun- try newspaper and the contribution to the minister's salary were paid
 | All thrifty and well-trained women of the period were manufacturers and lived busy, useful lives. The happi- ness and welfare of the family were far more dependent upon their skilled l accomplishments and untiring labor than upon the work Of men, However, every family was cooperative society, I each laboring and producing for the | common welfare, and there was little time for idleness for men, women or l children. Under these conditions there 1 was small necessity or opportunity for ] women to work outside their homes. | If spinster or widow was compelled to | take up her abode with male relative as was the custom of the day, she was not necessarily forced to suffer the i humiliation of dependence. since skilled woman in any household could far more than pay for her own keep ing. Women were happy and content ed in the useful sphere defined for them by the conditions of the times. However, this simplicity of living was 1 destined to be displaced by far more ! complicated system and the well-es- tablfshed sphere of women to be ruth 1essly destroy in consequence
 | The successful cultivation of cotton in the south and the succession of in- ! ventions which made its manufacturers | at the north a tempting enterprise to capital soon placed quantities of cot 1 ton cloth upon the market Those who did not produce their own linen bought cotton. and 1t soon became fashionable 1 The household weaver of linen be- cane ambitious to weave in the public factory, and little by little the manu- Il fact1re of linen as a household indus | fry was lost. The improved machinery II =