The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-21

the tenth anniversary of the society.
! Mrs sam Guy of Chicago and Mrs.
| James Forsythe of The Needles.
Cal, were among the guests.
! There's more intellectual develop
ment,' says a Topeka woman in one
/ day at home with your thoughts and
a boil. than in six weeks in society
Speaking of plutocrats. thrifty
Country club caddy has $500 "in the
bank" which is $500 more than sor c
of the people he >caddies for will ever
! save.
II have new ice box" said a To-
pelIa man today land it holds a case
of beer and a pint of milk besides
y y
Mrs. Ellen II. Richards, a writer
and lecturer on domestic economy who
is a recent addition to the faculty of
the University of California, has
theories of her own about the woman
of the future. She is not in sympathy
with the suffragette or the other mod
ern activities of the Unquiet Sax and
predicts a return to earlier conditions
and the recrudescence of the old fash
Toned house wife. In the first of
series of lectures on domestic science
and the improvement of the household
conditions, Mrs. Richards said:
1.-The home life described in Whit
tiers 'Sno wbound' is to be the life of
the American family of the future.
Women will be sitting at spinning
wheels, rag rugs will be made in the
large living rooms. the knitting needles
will be brought again into use and the
old ideal home of the Puritans Will
again be a reality in America.
But this does not signify that wo-
men will not be educated. Our Amer
lean mothers will, in the future, be
college graduates. They will under
stand chemistry and physics. They
will be versed in Latin and Greek
Il. rlsaAr Tv~za my
part It is based on facts that can not
be disproved.
1.-The reason that families are at
present living in apartment houses
and boarding at hotels is that the in
terest in the old home life has been
taken away. The old rag rug is no
longer made in the home. 1t is not
fashionabl and it does not pay to
make them. We can buy machine
made rugs-imitation Persians-so
cheapIy that the time consumed in
making rugs at home is wasted. But
the life of the American family is not
healthy and therefore not happy. And
as the home is the cornerstone of the
nation, it must be preserved To bring
back the interest in the home that
formerly existed we will have to get
back to the old regime And, as I
know that America stands for prog
ress, I claim that the old regime will
again be reality in the American
home.
L
lie life. 1 am against women's suf-
frage. Politics is not the sphere OF
women. It is the woman to whom the
true home life is distasteful who
this nation may some day succeed in
gaining the privilege of voting But,
if they do, the privilege will be speed
iIv withdrawn They are not edu-
Gated enough to be intelligent voters
Speaking from q standpoint of political
economy, the women of this nation are
absolutely ignorant, as class 1t IS
the desire of some women Tor an OPP
portunity to rush into the limelight
that is undermining many home.
women are now entering the com
mercia1 and industrial world They
are standing side by side in the world
with men. but they are destined to
soon find their way bay to the home
I am a great believer In the theory
that the world is constantly advancing
in the direction of ideal conditions
And my work has proved to me that
the ideal sphere of woman is to be
a mother of a family She was not
destined to become politician, ana
accountant or a stock broker. She be-
longs in the home. and when educated
woman has changed the home so that
there is again interest in the work OF
the household, she will return to her
proper place.
"Health is to be a large factor in
renewing the interest in the home.
human bein~ I believe, is now held at
a greater value rhan IN FORMER days
But the health of children is being
sadly neglected. In our, schools the
conditions are deplorable. School
children combat the greatest dangers
to their health. The eyesight of over
half the children is defective. This is
directly due to poor lighting, in my
opinion From investigation 1 have
found out that 40 per cent of the light
that would naturally come into
school room is shut out by the dirty
windows Again. many diseases Turk
in the school desks. Soap and water
for the children's hands are lacking.
It has been proved that contact of the
dirtv hands with the desks breeds the
microbes that are causing the epidem-
les of disease in our schools. And this
is not all because of ignorance, but on
account of negligence
s.rThere is a limit to the resistance
Of the human body against unsanitary
conditions and maltreatment of the
hndv. Nine out of every ten students
give way under the strain and are
never again as fit individuals as when
they commenced their studies The
treatment that is given to the body is
the cause of large part Of the dis