Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-06

and women, no matter whether we live
in the town or the country, and no matter
what our occupations may be. The root
problems are much the same for all OF
us widely though they may differ in out
ward manifestation. The most important
conditions that tell for happiness within
the homo are the same for the town and
the country; and the relations between
employer and employo are not always
satisfactory on the farm any moro than
In the factory. All over the country there
Is constant complaint of paucity of
farm labor. without attempting to go
into all the features of this question /
would like to point out that you can never
get the right kind, the best kind, of labor
II you offer employment only for few
months, for no man worth anything will
permanently accept a system which
leaves him In idleness for half the year.
And most important of all, / want to say
special word on behalf of the one who
Is too often the very hardest worked
laborer on the farIn-the farmers wife
Reform. like charity while 1t should not
end at home, should certainly begin ther.;
and the man, whether he lives on n farm
or in town, who Is anxious to see better
social and economic conditions prevail
through the country at large. should be
exceedingly careful that they prevail first
as regards his own womankind. I en-
phatically believe that for the great ma
jority of women the really Indispensable
industry in which they should engage is
the industry OF the home. There are
exceptions, of course; but exactly as the
| first duty of the normal man is the duty
! of being the home maker, so the first
| duty of the normal woman is to be the
| home maker; and exactly as no other
| learning is as important for the average
| man as the learning which will teach him
| how to make his livelihood, so no other
| learning is as important for the averag e
woman as the learning which will make
| her a good housewife and mother But
| this does not mean that she should be an
| overworked drudge. ! have hearty SYM
patty with tho movement to better the
/ condition of the average tller of the soil.
| of the average wargeworker and I ha "
an even heartier sympathy and applause
| for the movement which Is to better the
| condition of their respective wives. There
is plenty that is hard and rough and dis
| agreeable in the necessary work of actual
| life; and under the best circumstances
| and no matter how tender and considera e
| the husband, the wife will have at least
| her full share of work and worry ans
anxiety; but If the man is worth his sal!
he will try to take as much as possible Of
the burden off the shoulders of his help
| mate. There is nothing Utopian in tn,
movement: all that Is necessary is Il
strive toward raising the average. both o.
| men and women. to the level on whicl
the highest type of family now stands
| among American farmers. among Amer
can skilled mechanics, among American
| citizens generally; for in all the worlr
| there is no better and healthier home life
no finer factory Of individual character
nothing more representative of what &
best and most characteristic in American
life than that which exists in the h!ghe
type of American family; and this highe
type of family is to be found everywher,
among us, and is the property of n
special group of citizens.